Hello steemians!

Multiple times, I have mentioned about the stress that producers go through, being the least recognised in the chain that a music goes through, yet doing a great deal of work.

Like many who has ventured into this will say, the work of a producer is never done.

Personally as a person and as a producer, I have read and continue to read a great deal of books, some of which have zero relation to beat making and more to do with the engineering side of things.

One especially has continued to be read over and over again.

The Yahama sound reinforcement handbook by Gary Davis & Ralph Jones
the above pictured book actually goes deep into the creation of sound, the instruments that create the sound, the techniques used in shaping the sound and a host of other works.
But today, I am not complaining about the unfair treatment, frankly, I believe someone who knows my worth would eventually be available.

Nope, I am her about the issue of loops!

To loop or not to loop

Loop, a simple word meaning to go around a complete series or sequence of event over and over again, or to go round a circle.

The dictionary defines it as;

See, a word like loop may be random, but in the production world, there are two debates which feature this word.

The

''fruity loops is/was for non-serious producers'' debate

and the

''using loops is not good'' debate.

I thought to share a story about an experience I had in the studio.

It was a dark lonely night

So on a fine dandy day, In a fine dandy street in Delta, I was called by a client. He was in need, and in need of a beat.He told me the genre, the tempo and all other details he needed to know and we booked a session.

On the day of the recording, rain fell so I had to wait for a while before going out to the studio(which is only about 15 mins away on foot). On getting there, I saw my client with a not-so-happy face, standing and waiting for me to come around. Turns out I had taken an hour off his time, and sessions are usually booked in set hours.

Long story short, I had to give him an extra hour to record his song.

Now the main thing I wrote this for was the statement he made once I opened my laptop and booted up my DAW.
The conversation, spoken i Nigerian pidgin goes like this;

Client :How far na, I dey wait you since(i have been waiting for you)
Me:Padi sorry, make we sha record, I go give you extra 1 hour(do not be angry, Ill give you an extra 1 hour)
boots up laptop and powers up DAW

Client: Ahh shey na this ''toy'' you dey use?, I think say na protools or cubase( Is it this toy you are using? I imagined you using protools or cubase)

Me:FL isnt a toy bro, its a fully fledged DAW, its comes a long way

and so on and on. . . . . . .

The conversation mainly revolved around why and how FL studio aka Fruity loops is or is not a full fledged daw.

I noticed this misconception stems from the early days of production. When fruity loops was easy to get(torrents) and more easier to get into.The end result of this was that more and more producers, amateur upcoming producers were able to get their hands on the software,and install it.

But music production is more than the tools, the people using the tools matter as well.Unfortunately, many of these early adopters of fl studio were not experienced and so their sounds were bad.

The issue of bad sound was associated with flstudio and today the stigma remains.

you shall not use the loops

The second issue here is the use of loops for production.As an individual, I usually support the opinion that people are free to do whatever they want, as long as an end result shows up.

Loops, in this sense, is a premade 2 or 4 or 8 or even 16 bar section of an instrumental, piece or tuned created for the genre of music you intendto create.

I tell another story again, this time one of recent, one of the works I did in recent memory.

On a good day, while siting on my bed, I got an idea to make a quick beat and pattern. Opening Up my fl studio I loaded a bunch of presets and loops. A friend came in and looked at the screen intensely for 5 seconds before condemning me for using loops.

The use of loops for me is mainly a matter of choice. After all, some of these packs are sold very high, and money flows..

The packs are usually copy write free, containing some amazing synths, bassline , synth and bassline.

I have people on one side saying the use of loops, makes one lazy as a producer,while others say using loops isn't bad.
Whatever the case may be though, I admit to using loops, though not all the time.

While I do admit to have used loops before, I still prefer the ''keyboard'' and music theory phase of things.

---

Music, is always dynamic and fluid. The rules and instruments used today, might become outdated tomorrow.

What matters the most is the person behind the console.