Okay so you’ve got some loops thrown together and your ready to start using them with your band. Now onto one of the most important parts of it all, Rehearsing with the Loops. In this Article we will be taking a look at a few tips to properly rehearse your band when using loops.
#1 Make Sure the Band is confident on chords & arrangement of Song
It is crucial when starting to use loops that you make sure your band is confident on the arrangement and structure of the song. It may be time to create “BAND RULES”. A good place to start would be. “Rehearsal is to “rehearse” the song as a whole not “learn” your part.” It will be near impossible to get a band playing a new song if they don’t know the chords and you are constantly reviewing them. If you are wanting to start using a click or loops then it will be the longest rehearsal of your life. More thoughts on that can be found here.
#2 Set Markers within the Loop
The biggest folly of most people when they first begin to use loops is that rehearsals become so painful long. This is primarily because they don’t know how to only rehearse a “section” of the song. It takes them 45 minutes to rehearse a 5 minute song. If that is the case then why use loops? Well the key to remedying that is to set-up markers withing your DAW software so you can jump to various sections. This way when you need to rehearse the verse you can just rehearse the verse, and if you need to continually repeat a section then just set some markers and repeat it over and over and your good to go. There is no reason to go over three verses and choruses if you only need to rehearse the bridge. The time this will save your band is huge!!
#3 Keep Loop un-rendered in multi-track format
So no matter how much musical theory training you have, from time to time you still can write a horribly crappy part. It clashes with the guitar, the keys, the drums, the vocals, the dance team, the drama team,the message, and wow.. did you get any formal training?? Well we all have those moments from time to time. What if that part was recorded in the loop and you already have the loop rendered out and set to correct arrangement. Well you can go back in later and fix it, but what if it is in the verse every other measure and there are 3 verses? That is a lot of dissonance. Dissonance is a good thing but too much may result in mass chaos breaking out in rehearsal, and no-one likes to throw down in fisticuffs in rehearsal do they?
If you keep the loop in the original multi-track format you were working with before you rendered it then you can “mix it on the fly”. Go out into the house and listen to see what is clashing and you can pull that part out or mix it softer. If the pad is too loud you can turn it down. If you are running your loops mono then this skill is essential! You have less room sonically to work with then if you had both sides so it is crucial to have the essentials and just enough to fill out the space. So keep your loops multi-tracked you will have the most consistent sounding loops around.
If you have markers set up within your file and you have it multi-tracked then you now have the ability to re-arrange the song on the go. This way you can double the chorus if you feel the need or take out the last verse, and when your done render it down and you have a well mixed, effectively arranged loop.
#4 Keep the original Song file on hand for reference
No matter how much you or your band prepares we still all have brain farts from time to time. If you keep the original song file on hand and you have it sliced up to the arrangement of the loop you are doing, you now have the ability to reference it for chords or parts, etc. This will make your songs much more accurate and will again speed-up rehearsal. Imagine being able to immediately jump to the Chorus and hear the parts with out having to rewind through the whole song. Your rehearsal time has been rescued yet again!!
So there you have it. Four quick tips to make your rehearsals more effective. The goal may or may not be to have quicker rehearsals, but for sure the goal should be to make the most out of however much time you have scheduled.
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