Tips For iPad GarageBand - Using Loops

In the coming weeks, I will be also providing this series of GarageBand's tips and tricks here on this blog.

Most of these will be culled from my experience in making music using this incredible app, and hopefully, provide an insight on the process of creating great music using the iPad in this manner.

Today, I would just like to highlight the use of loops within the app. If you can learn learn to handle this feature, I believe it will greatly enhance your music if you can manage to use it wisely.

Like its Mac counterpart, the iPad GarageBand comes pre-installed with a library of about a hundred or more loops.

Granted, it is not as rich or as much as what the Mac version can provide, but for a mobile device, the loops provided here are more than sufficient.

Using loops is really easy. You can choose from a range of categories, from drum kits to guitars and synths, and once you have selected one, just touch and drag into the console view as a new track.

You can edit the loop as you would any other instrument track, meaning you can cut, copy, trim and move according to your requirements.

Wide Range of Drum Loops

The one thing I use loops more is probably the excellent drum tracks here. But there is also a caveat, in the sense that you cannot be as flexible as you would with touch or smart drums.

However, you can combine different loops within a track, so you can still mix and match drum patterns and drum fills using loops, but it will be somewhat tedious.

Whilst the touch and smart drums do a very good job of reproducing drum sounds, the loop drums add another dimensional of authenticity.

I tend to combine both loop and smart/touch drums to provide the ideal drum track, but then, you just have to monitor how many tracks you use up in order not to compromise on your other instruments.

The synth and guitar loops are also excellent, but I tend to use them more as embellishments rather than actual rhythm tracks as they might not be right for every track.

My final advice on using loops here is simply not to be over indulgent. Use them correctly, and the results will be quite stunning.

So, enjoy using loops and give it a go!