DAW with looped recording?

JohnnyGoodyear

@aaronpc said:
@syrupcore I do remember watching some of that. Very interested to see how Loopy 3 manages to tow the line between mass market Fallon appeal and potentially frustrating pro features.

With Mister Fallon on speed-dial these days I don't imagine Mister @Michael lies in bed too much at night over this dilemma....

smund

Educational chat, I'm getting what you all are saying and picking up some stuff to watch out for. What I was looking for was a linear situation where you can mark one part of the track to looprecord over, then select takes without workarrounds or undo's. So far I guess I'm back to extending sections to play over if i'd like to keep things linear, or have a go at Bricks eternal recording over parts(looks effective!), but I'm not sure how I will take to dividing the track I want to record over into bits all the time.
I make mostly guitar driven music, and sometimes I'd like to re record move parts here and there or add a second track with something without it having to be considered a brick. Sometimes the part of the track you want to record over is a bit to askew for wanting to have it as a section in the beat sequence all the time,--->when marking it for looping over for a while is livable to hash things out, but how to put it back in the song afterwards, not as a individual section in Bricks?

Perhaps i can get used to it. If you get my description, is this a concern for Bricks?

supadom

Great answers here.

To add my 5p do practice your timing before takes and focus on trying to get as tight as possible for your and your brains sake. Even if you can have several takes and choose between them, nobody can give you back the time wasted recording them.

richardyot

Slightly OT but small timing errors are very easily fixed using audio time-warping in Auria.

Doing multiple takes of a performance and then sifting through all of them isn't much fun. Makes more sense to try and practice the performance a few times first, then limit your takes to two or three at most, and if need be fix any sloppy timing with warping. That would be for a musical performance such as a guitar part though, for vocals comping makes more sense (to try and get the best inflection/emotion etc) but even then I wouldn't record more than 4 takes of each section.

theconnactic

I never used any kind of loop audio overdubbing in my life, be it as a session musician, as a producer/engineer, or when recording my own stuff. I simply cannot make sense of it.

My overdubbing approach for improvised solos is to record different takes on separate channels, and for vocal parts I use the same approach, but break it down in sections (verse, chorus etc) as well, with a maximum of five takes - or a fixed amount of five takes with an inexperienced singer.

For well-rehearsed parts or composed (rather than improvised) solo parts, or vocals by a great singer, I'd rather punch-in and correct the offending phrase than record a whole new take in the hopes of a better performance.

For MIDI, loop recording makes sense as a songwriting tool - for instance, creating a drum part, where you play the kick and snare in the first turn, than add instruments while the part loops - but never as a performance tool for correcting mistakes or getting a better take or jam a better solo; in this case my approach is the same as with audio.

Telefunky

that's correct, but it seems there's some overcomplicating in this thread.
If you have your rhythm, bassline or melody (already), then play it tight and with emotion.
No need to dig through many attemts as you should know immediately what fits.
In case one of the parts is to be developed, looping is a very nice feature, even if attempts are not stored.
If some apps (like MTD) keep takes due to their technical design (originally only one take was kept) it's no big deal. 2 taps and they are cleaned off storage.
Just because the feature is available doesn't need you have to use it...

Will

On that note, a kind DAW citizen with a takes/loop recording feature should also provide for a "consolidate and delete takes" feature for both mental and drive space considerations.

theconnactic

Auria already has the "condense audio" feature, despite not having loop recording yet.

smund

I for one would totally adore better loop recording aspects as I develop songs or practice jamming, and I like to record after i first make an idea. Sometimes practicing is a must but that does not remove the loop recording desire for me. I see all my song ideas becoming twice as long instantly and for me that is a good thing. It would allow me to lean back as it were and let loose for x4-10 takes. I would use it in all my Tracks and grab me that feeling of puling things from the ether. I'm allso not a session musician yet, so i need more takes to treat myself right.
I was hesistant to check out MTD because of its design(superficial of me), but I will try it aswell to i have a linear alternative.
I'd love to develop all the tracks i make but don't feel i have time to muck around with it in Garage band any longer.
(:

Telefunky

I've listened to your Soundcloud example (nice slaptone btw, I'd prefer your approach over Mark King anytime)
You seem to collect ideas to further elaborate them during production.
Ihmo an iPad does a great job in performance, but is a pain in the back to arrange (at least in my experience... and I work in a similiar way)
It'd take me roughly an hour to cut 5 minutes per instrument from that 23 minutes collection and arrange them to a proper song backing.
I wouldn't even start something like that on an iPad, precise cuts are way too much fatigue.
This kind of music is very different from a strictly song driven workflow...

smund

Thank uuu Telefunky, that means alot to me. Why don't you send me a link to some of your stuff in a message? About cutting and pasting and all that stuff, I can confirm it has been more painful then I feel necessary, but I'm hoping the ipad in time will develop into the alchemical stone of music recording for me, as I'd like to keep it simple. I can see myself mastering it much more then I do now anyway. I'm thinking maybe to pick up an ipad pro with a big screen when new connector sockets come around in a couple of years, to maybe minimize some more latency(at least its a nice idea right?).

-About cutting and pasting parts here and there, was it you that suggested Bricks app earlier asswell? I looked at it and it had a nice zoomy zoom window you can use on your 'eternal' recording over the looped part and cut out the part you liked. I'm thinking the potential jamming has to be completely sectional that way tho. IDK could be good for my song making anyhow to try that. I'll write you about trying MTD when i get around to it!

-BTW when I mean looped recording I am not thinking about adding small parts here and there within the same area of the track, then adding more to it next time the playhead comes around while keeping the earlier parts inn the looped recording like in building a drum loop, I'm thinking about whole re takes for move parts on guitar

Telefunky

yes, I understood that it's not about 'loops' in club tracks.
No idea about that 'Bricks' app, but moving parts by finger is no option for me.
I use a VERY exotic DAW for that, SawStudio, probably the 1st Audio DAW ever, but aside from that it's the most simply and effective way to cut pure audio.
Saw doesn't look cool in any way, in fact it rather shrieks people away - but it does it's job (imho) just brilliantly.
I'd much appreciate something similiar on IOS, but there just isn't...
So my workflow is to track with either Audioshare (single files) or MTD if there's a backing or if I want instruments and effects on separate tracks.
An iPad mounted to the mic stand is so much more convenient than a PC.