How to have a vocal pickup

danm

Any workarounds anyone can suggest for having vocals in song sections that come in just before the beat as a pickup and happen every time through the loop (not just the first time through)

I may have asked a related question long ago, but lots changes over time, so I wanted to get current thoughts on this issue.

The workaround I'm using now is to record a clip with an intro (which LP only plays the first time through) and in another clip in the same play group, record a mostly empty vocal clip that just has the same pickup vocal but right at the very end of the clip

This sounds good for the 1st time looping through the play group and every other time looping through the play group except the very last time, when there is an extra vocal pickup right before the transition to the next section of the song

It's fine for demos, but I wondered if anyone had any ideas?

I'm thinking I may just include a mute clip or mute channel color action into the list of actions that happen when I queue up a transition to the next song section (then I can unmute that clip or color channel when the next section starts)

Thoughts? Other ideas?

Thanks

espiegel123

There are a few options:

• record a full length clip with an intro that is the pick up plus all the repeats and omits the pickup the last time through.
• Record a loop with an intro that also includes the pickup in the loop. Stop or mute the clip the last time through before the last pickup.

danm

Thanks @espiegel123, your 2nd suggestion is what I suggested in my post that I was going to try...Any specific implementation suggestions to do this for a clip in a play group / scene in your most recent song scene template would be welcome.

Also, don't follow the first option...perhaps I wasn't clear, it's just an 8 bar long song section and the vocal pickup happens only at the beginning of the loop / section

espiegel123

@danm said:
Thanks @espiegel123, your 2nd suggestion is what I suggested in my post that I was going to try...Any specific implementation suggestions to do this for a clip in a play group / scene in your most recent song scene template would be welcome.

Also, don't follow the first option...perhaps I wasn't clear, it's just an 8 bar long song section and the vocal pickup happens only at the beginning of the loop / section

The first option is to record the 8 bars of vocals with intro on to capture the pickup. Record the other 8 bars as you want them. If that doesn’t cover the situation, I must not understand something about the situation.

danm

Play group 1: 8 bars of vocal with intro on to capture the pickup. That plays the intro only the first time through.

So, what I do in addition in play group 1 is record another vocal clip in the same scene / play group that is almost entirely empty except it has the pickup at the very end, so that all times after the 1st time through the play group, we still get the pickup right before the 1st beat of the 1st bar (but the pickup is actually in the last beat of the last bar).

This approach works fine for the 1st time through (LP plays the intro) and all other times (bc the vocal pickup from the other vocal clip with the pickup at the end plays) EXCEPT its not what I want for the very last time through bc you don't want the vocal pickup to be played as you transition to the next song scene (but it will play since anytime after the 1st time through, the vocal clip that has the vocal pickup at the end will play)

Hope that's more clear.

Also, if you can provide some specifics on how you would implement your 2nd option, that'd be great...Thanks

espiegel123

@danm said:
Play group 1: 8 bars of vocal with intro on to capture the pickup. That plays the intro only the first time through.

So, what I do in addition in play group 1 is record another vocal clip in the same scene / play group that is almost entirely empty except it has the pickup at the very end, so that all times after the 1st time through the play group, we still get the pickup right before the 1st beat of the 1st bar (but the pickup is actually in the last beat of the last bar).

This approach works fine for the 1st time through (LP plays the intro) and all other times (bc the vocal pickup from the other vocal clip with the pickup at the end plays) EXCEPT its not what I want for the very last time through bc you don't want the vocal pickup to be played as you transition to the next song scene (but it will play since anytime after the 1st time through, the vocal clip that has the vocal pickup at the end will play)

Hope that's more clear.

Also, if you can provide some specifics on how you would implement your 2nd option, that'd be great...Thanks

How long is your vocal section? There must be something I am not understanding as method 1 seems pretty straightforward: you create a non-looping clip that has an intro and lasts the full length of the vocal section.

Re method 2: there are so many mays that you could do it . Here are a few. Simplest: manually stop or mute the clip when you want it to stop. Another method, have a follow action that stops the clip after the appropriate amount of time after it starts playing. Another: use the timeline.

danm

@espiegel123, the vocal section is very short, just about 1 beat...imagine the vocal of the 1st bar of the song should have the vocal "A B C D" but the "A" comes just before beat 1 of bar 1 so only "B C D" happens during the 1st bar ... so then I have to do a quick "A" just at the end of the last bar of the loop in order to emulate the LP intro ... does this help?

danm

Sorry if I'm not doing a good job describing the situation, can send a video if that'd be more helpful

espiegel123

@danm said:
@espiegel123, the vocal section is very short, just about 1 beat...imagine the vocal of the 1st bar of the song should have the vocal "A B C D" but the "A" comes just before beat 1 of bar 1 so only "B C D" happens during the 1st bar ... so then I have to do a quick "A" just at the end of the last bar of the loop in order to emulate the LP intro ... does this help?

I am confused. Earlier you said the section is 8 bars. Now, you say 1 beat.

danm

@espiegel123, the scene is 8 bars, but the vocal part that is the anacrusis/pickup/pre-beat part is short...Anyway, the length of the scene is not really relevant, so let me explain again with the help of a video, below, showing what I mean:
The yellow clip is recorded with intro, which plays the 1st time through...the lime clip repeats the vocal pickup ("A") just at the end in order to get the pre-beat/anacrusis vocal pickup after the 1st time

The issue is, as you'll see, that when I queue up scene 2, the last time thru scene 1 I don't want that vocal pickup to play (as it's logically part of the beginning of scene 1, not scene 2), but it does, given this hack/workaround

So, I'm interested in another workaround to not have that lime clip play, but need that workaround to work within this scene framework, where scenes are queue'ed up

Let me know, please, if this helps or if you still have questions...Thanks

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/t2eicsr1ch6dhropr1vsk/ScreenRecording_01-23-2026-17-52-20_1.MP4?rlkey=q3603on6mg4aze0brq2crt5fm&st=pq9dg8iy&dl=0

espiegel123

@danm : the scene length matters for the method 1 that I described. Method 1 is: record a scene-length vocal clip with a pickup rather than loop one bar 8 times.” If you don’t want to use that method, that is fine. I was just explaining that that’s one way of avoiding having to stop a looping clip early or having two versions of the clip, etc.

danm

@espiegel123 said:
@danm : the scene length matters for the method 1 that I described. Method 1 is: record a scene-length vocal clip with a pickup rather than loop one bar 8 times.” If you don’t want to use that method, that is fine. I was just explaining that that’s one way of avoiding having to stop a looping clip early or having two versions of the clip, etc.

@espiegel123, perhaps I'm misunderstanding, but don't think this is accurate, bc it is the scene/play group that gets looped multiple times and the number of times it loops is not always exactly the same

Regardless, I posted a video, above, with a detailed explanation, so hope that helps since obviously I've not done an effective job communicating the problem thus far

Thanks

espiegel123

@danm: I guess method 1 work for your situation if your scene itself loops. Then you will have to use a method of switching that mutes or stops the clip before it reaches the end. There isn’t a simple built-in way.

danm

@espiegel123, understood. Given that there's not a simple built in way, wondering if you might have some specifics you could offer about how you're thinking to approach this, given that I'm using a template based on your most recent scenes template that allows for queuing up the next scene but also allows canceling the queue'ed up scene...Thanks

espiegel123

@danm said:
@espiegel123, understood. Given that there's not a simple built in way, wondering if you might have some specifics you could offer about how you're thinking to approach this, given that I'm using a template based on your most recent scenes template that allows for queuing up the next scene but also allows canceling the queue'ed up scene...Thanks

I don’t really have anything specific beyond the possibilities I mentioned earlier. I think you will need to experiment to see what works for you.

Is this using pre-recorded loops or for live looping?

danm

@espiegel123, this is for prerecorded loops

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espiegel123

@offbrands said:
I’m sorry for being uninformed and bumping this thread @espiegel123 and @danm

But internet searches proved fruitless and my curiosity is piqued. What is a vocal pickup in this context?

Also see the manual for more information about intros/outros

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