Question about loops

M

Mike_In_KC

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I am learning "Dreams" by Fleetwood Mac. I have never been a Fleetwood Mac fan but I love the drums in "Dreams". Anytime I learn a new song I try to read about the song to get an idea of what the artists, specifically the drummer, were thinking about when they made the song and if there are any "connection points" I can make with the song. I was reading about the making of "Dreams" and read this:

“We made an eight-bar loop of Mick's playing, which created this fantastic, deep hypnotic effect. It’s funny, but when people talk about the classic rhythm section of Mick Fleetwood and John McVie and they point to this one song, I’m always amused that they’re talking about a drum loop.”

Is the drum loop they speak of the "main" beat of the song? If so why did they feel the need to create a loop? Maybe I don't know what a drum loop really is. Can anyone shed some insight into the drum loop for "Dreams" specifically and looping in general?

Thanks in advance -

Mike
 
They simply played/recorded 8 bars, copied it and repeated it over and over throughout the song.

Why did they do it?

Because they could? Because it was easy? Because studio time was expensive? Because the other players liked playing to a drum beat instead of a click? Because the drummer was stoned or drunk and could only play 8 bars without screwing it up? Who Knows?
 
They simply played/recorded 8 bars, copied it and repeated it over and over throughout the song.

Why did they do it?

Because they could? Because it was easy? Because the drummer was stoned or drunk and could only play 8 bars without screwing it up? Who Knows?

I want to know where they used the loop and I was not aware that Mick Fleetwood could not play 8 bars of a song without screwing up. Now if it were me in the studio I get it :)

Got Glibness?

MM
 
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I never listened to it close enough to notice it was a drum loop.

No wonder the drum fills sound so strange.

HEY, wait a minute, that's not fair.
I had to play that song al the way through last week at open mic jam night !!!


.
 
Wow, all these years I just thought Mick was the most amazingly consistent drummer ever.

There is serious groove in that song though, one of the best ever examples of understated groove in pop music. MOO*


*MOO is something my wife insists on using, an abbreviation for "My opinion only" because it makes it look like everything is being spoken by cows.
 
“We made an eight-bar loop of Mick's playing..."

...Maybe I don't know what a drum loop really is. Can anyone shed some insight into the drum loop for "Dreams" specifically and looping in general?

"Dreams" being an older track, it would have been an actual physical loop of magnetic tape. The concept is pretty straight forward: just take your source tape, which is probably the drums playing for a lot more than 8 bars, and find the 8 (or whatever length) you like the best. Then you physically cut the tape with a razor blade and tape the ends together for a complete physical loop. (So calling something a "loop" in digital recording is basically a metaphor for this old-skool loop of actual tape.)

The trick with long physical loops of tape is getting them to run through your tape machine without getting fouled up. I've seen big commercial machines doing that for manufacturing cassette tapes back in the day, but doing it in a recording studio could probably get messy.
 
Toto's Africa was done in a similar way. Evidently, they wanted to get a different vibe other than their usual so they went about it this way.

Chaka Khan's Ain't Nobody had all of the drum parts recoded separately and not played as complete groove. This is not "looped" per se but just another oddity and another way to create something different. No doubt that there are a few others out there too.
 
I was just listening to this when I pulled up to work this morning. I always get sucked in by Stevie Nicks' performance on that song. I'll have to start it over and pay attention to Fleetwood.

One (slightly) more current song that comes to mind is "Cautioners" by Jimmy Eat World. The drums on that record are a loop built, I believe, by the producer, from random drum sounds they had recorded. The guitar on that song was pieced together digitally, too, which is what gives it that choppy, digitized feel.

For whatever reason, I love the idea of "live" drum loops like this. It bridges the gap between man and machine.
 
"Dreams" being an older track, it would have been an actual physical loop of magnetic tape. The concept is pretty straight forward: just take your source tape, which is probably the drums playing for a lot more than 8 bars, and find the 8 (or whatever length) you like the best. Then you physically cut the tape with a razor blade and tape the ends together for a complete physical loop. (So calling something a "loop" in digital recording is basically a metaphor for this old-skool loop of actual tape.)

The trick with long physical loops of tape is getting them to run through your tape machine without getting fouled up. I've seen big commercial machines doing that for manufacturing cassette tapes back in the day, but doing it in a recording studio could probably get messy.

Good stuff - you would have won the prize but it turned out that big inheritance I am getting from Nairobi is delayed...
 
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