Lessons

Lesson Info

Cue Points and Loops Part 1

Before I set like a loop um let's break this song down really quick so we did this yesterday I'm going to break this down we'll break it down on the board really quick if you guys want to follow along and if you need a sheet of paper something like that and for those of you at home we did this yesterday and you want to kind of test yourself to see if you've got this down we can do this together so um one of things I'll do is I'll start off by doing that on the board here and then I'll have you guys helped fill it in when we're done saying we need some paper a couple of guys did here come on up here paper and pens there you are sweet actually let me grab a sheet of paper for me just warn she cool sweet thank you all right, so, uh we're going to wrap this thing out all right? So I'm just gonna we're gonna worry about the intro part the part that has, like, the talking on it you're saying no, no yeah as faras we're gonna worry about like needing to know what that is and we're gonna use th...

at for you want to use it in your life set on yeah, right, but for this we probably won't write we just your there's no beat so it be like to be scratched material right? It could be some good scratch material but it really won't be anything great that would be able to use for mixing doesn't give us any sort of beat we talked about this yesterday and as a quick sort of review as we have a track we've also got drums, melody and vocals which are we focused on as djs drums right? And so we're not really so concerned with the focus of the melody ralph focused on the structure and that's why we're going to do right now we're going to make a map of the structure so I'll start you off and then and then I will have you guys continue it on and then we'll go back and see if we've got it right here and really quick to finish off the review I need to know tempo and then what else do I need to know? Um I mean, he is not a bad thing to know, but that will almost be sort of like last that we want to check out. I want to focus on structure more than anything um what else guys that were here yesterday, your ends and you're out how to get in how to get out, which is why we're doing this what we're mapping out this song ok, so here we go um market one of every phrase here I know you've got to feel like you're back has pinned against the wall most times, but in no stops you remain open those minds that get you know we're got him with no fear so dear so with everything you've been through is just the journey everything was take. The key for some is not to make the same mistakes of more victims in the chaos the world creates in the heat of the moment you missed a canal I've fallen opponent wipe your own now what a wasted in the face of pain you discover that is to know what you want to do so you want to be jack dipping into being straight out would you got before your daughter's even though it's getting hard of what you want to do? So you wanna be shot, colin, keeping it straight out even though is getting a better demonstrations situation got you wishing for ventilation kind of paint a free kind of find without believe it's hard for a tree to grow with about the biggest leave plus I got to see that I don't let you continue from here a little weak to keep free only got it does sold him I leave fits in my hands in the midst of a man that I should know what all that I supposed to fall in love duffin bythe protocol brains on the wall fighting for the calls, read a letter from the world and said, you know what you wanted so you want to be jack different into being straight out? What would you have before your daughter's? Even though it's getting hard of what you want to do? So you wanna be powerless shock collars dipping into being straight hours? Would you be forces to get doors even though it's getting hard? But you want to do deals with those who say they have your back? I feel your pain, I know you're under attack to be strong in all things and always just really so some straight lives left in hallways, steps, breakfast in and let your thirst for life persevere someone once said you were chosen, but as you've gotten older doors and now close it call comes around and almost silly things you did as a grown child were down in your direction, but our home was lost. Gather your thoughts for the second coming, and I'm guessing you're going so you want to be jack dipping into straight out would you got before your daughter's, even though it's getting what you want to do? So you wanna be shock collars dipping into being straight out? Would you rather be forces to get yours even know it's getting harder? What you want to do? Ok. Cool. So that was the that was that track. What do we got here? Help me finish this off. How long is the? Well, one of these phrases is equal to how many bars for yet? For so this is for bars. And then how long is this? This is four times three two of ours. Course. Eight bars. Right on. Then how long is that common versus six. For did you guys get you had eight become miscounted? Yeah. Thank you. I didn't catch that one. Not sure. Got either three or four. Okay. All right. So let me go back to really quick. The nice thing about this is like you can go back and check your work it's important that you that you do and remember that the reason why this is so important to figure out how to get in and out of each of each record. All right, ok. So you're being straight out. Would you be forces to get doors even know is getting hard. But you want a way for at least three three kind of fund would be more for treating grow with about the biggest leave why I got to see that my baby mama me too little need to keep my free three got it just sold him I leave for my hands in the midst of a man I want to know what all that I supposed from too tough to buy stocks protocol drinks on the wall are fighting for the cause for two and they get one so you have to be so it's the same like yeah twelve bars cool how is the course the second one to yeah cool says the same length it's the same length as the first one right and then this light comes back for a third verse here they might get how long that is three phrases yep same thing twelve bars. Okay. And then after that what's the last piece we have to uh to phrases and and that's another what's the what is it reverses it of course course of course right on. I mean, it kind of services an outrageous because it's like that's the out of it but that's it's a course cool so if we were going to change the record where would we change it? Where should I put those arrows like I did yesterday? Probably one right here, right? Where else right there cool and I'm right here may be right so you've got, like, three points that we can then makes out of this on right? Cool. So it's important to know this information now what I'm going to do is this I'm gonna go in here and I'm going to show you exactly how I'm gonna put those in like I'm gonna put this information in here so, um let me change this stuff first, then you change the name of this teo this's dear john lite future in common okay, uh, genre, this is definitely hip hop track. Um all right, so for my comment, this is what I'm going to put this information in it's an eight bar uh she's not it's a four bar intro, right? And then it's an eight far book and I'm only gonna write a bar hook because all of the hooks or a part right so there's all the information that I need to know really right there at my fingertips ready to go now this will save to the actual mp three. So if I were to give you this mp three, it would have those notes on it already. And in fact, I mentioned this yesterday, but it also save q points, so now I'm going to go in and set q points I want to show you how we're going to do this here this's are one I'm going to set a two point on the one so if you don't see the overhead really quick you'll see how I can do this on a controller really fast. This section down here is meant for cues rolls slicer sampler except for a lot of different things so I'm gonna have hack you up just like that have said thank you what that you will do is this makes this that jumped two q meaning by hit play on I had that first two point it's gonna jump back to it and I can set you sort of on the fly if I wanted to so I could do other things where I'm setting a q let's say one s o I couldn't said choose I want him for I don't want that q anymore I can delete the queue the easy way to do that would be here if you go up onto the screen you'll see I could just hit this x that would delete it the other way that I could do that is by on the controller for one two on the control of a hit shift and hit the same cue it would delete it ok, so a lot of and a lot of these controllers worked very similarly um so I'm gonna set one q for the beginning here e I know you've got okay, so um I could do a couple things I could set cues for every section if I wanted teo and set a queue for the one of every section I don't think I want to do all of that that'll set too many cues for me, but one of things I do want to do is I want to set a q point. If you look back on this board here on this white board, I want to set a q point here for the beginning of the course. I want to set a key point here for the beginning of the second course and that you point here for the beginning of the third course reason why I want to do that, and this is a strategy that I've that I use is so that I know exactly where each courses and I can see and I can get a visual representation here on the screen, even of, like, sort of how long I haven't. This next q point comes up, okay s o I'm gonna do that really fast. I know you've got to feel like you're open stakes of long on a boat, in the face of pain, to discover that is to know what you want to do it now, this is a good example of, of course, where does the course start? Let's just start on now. Or to start on what wasted in the face of pain you discover that is to know what you want to do so you or it doesn't. So I'm sorry to start on do or does this start on mistaking a fallen opponent and wipe your own now what a wasted in the face of pain you discover that is to know what you want to do so you do right? Yeah so we're focused remember we're following the structure of the drums like that's really important so the course technically yes the vocal piece of that starts before the one but do is on the one and that is where our course really starts that for us that's the concern you know why'd you go now what a wasted in the face of pain you discover that is to know what you wanted okay, thank you point do so you want to be straight with tio thank you point that way so they keep going there. So now I've got forty points sort of set up ok, so the first one is for the intro it's all it's your metal thieves should teach be courses so you want to be oh yeah, they're all hooks, right? Okay, so what I'm going to do is I actually this is a really great feature inside of the software is if I hit control you're on like an apple if you hit control and click or if you right click this on a pc you'll be to change the color of the queue point okay, so what? I I tend to use this quite a bit and actually I I can't take personal credit for this student of mine a couple of years ago did come up with this sort of like color idea of like coloring q points um I myself from a very visual learner and a very visual person so this made a ton of sense to me when we started, you know, talking it through so the thing that we came up with is creating the color system for length so that the two point length would be a color. So come for instance, red would be eight bars. So when you see this cute point you know that this point of interest is eight bars now I know that that's not an intro like I know that this one down here this orange one I know that this is not an intro because it's in the middle of a song so I assume that instead of it being an in point it's probably an out point that I need to be mindful of right? So instead of like making the q colors be like, oh, this is an intro this is an outro this is a course or what? Not really there's only two types of things that I'm interested in ways to get in and ways to get out. So I'm going to change this color and I'm gonna make this red for eight bars I can also right on the actual um I can change the q point and label it, so this is really helpful to say the same thing here. This is also a hook. This is also a hook cool and then the first one, the first one is not a bar, so this would screw me up if I didn't recall of this because otherwise I think this is a farce. So the system that we've that I use here, I would make this yellow and yellow is actually four bars I'm writing instrumental light vocal because it does have this low so it's not a pure clean instrumental it's just it's ah it's got a little, you know, a little ad lib in there, which I can still probably use that depend on what I'm mixing it with, but now this gives me a better insight for what this is. So now this track is all tag for me, this is the way that I tag tracks this is a strategy that I use when I do this feel free to use it, feel free to modify it you know, if there's people out there that have suggestions in the chapter of the ways that they do it, you know, this is there's what we're all here for, we're all here to learn and to better what it is that we're doing so by no means am I saying you must do it this way. This is a way that I've found that works for me makes sense. So what I also said is I'm telling you these markers disappear, I had four of them yesterday, three of them are gone, all right? So I'd use red as a bars I use yellow as four bars and I use pink as sixteen bars, and this is what I used to help keep track, but now check this out what's really cool about this this controller take a look at the colors on the pads now, if you can see the overhead yellow, red, red, red, so I don't even actually have to look at the screen to know when we know what these next ones are. I could tell right now using my system if something else was tagged and the first one was yellow and and then the other ones were read, I know that this isn't a four bar intro and each one of these out are a bars that makes it pretty easy for me to figure out all right, so now this goes into, like, a really interesting piece because I do have this for bar section of intro. But what if that's not enough for me? What if I want to make it a little bit longer? How can I make this longer by using the software saying we have a suggestion here? Yeah. Loop it, aiken, set a loop. Okay, so let's, talk about loops really quick. So by the way, does anybody know who is? Ah, sort of credited with creating the first loop. That one program acid something it's, not a program. This is actually back in the seventies. And it's it's a it's, a guy it's, a deejay, two of the same records. Two of the same records is able, you know, grand master no. Here. Close, though. Grandmaster flash is one of the founders of no, some of things that we do use, including the headphone q, but it was a guy by the name of d j kool herc. Um, so I don't have any of you heard of court. This is a really interesting thing in quick sidebar story. I feel like you know, one of the things I mentioned this yesterday, one of the biggest pieces for us is to provide education and access to the deejay art form to me, it's really important that you guys get a skill set that you're learning that's why most of you are tuned in now online or that you guys are here in studio is to try and better your skills as a deejay, which I totally respected him all four I also think, though the bigger output for that we need as a culture and as a community is to make sure that we know mohr information than just simply like how to set a loop, but also like where this comes from and sort of paying homage back to the guys who, you know started this and names like d j kool herc so court was a deejay back in the seventies is still around um, and this is back in the bronx in the early seventies and at the time, uh, you know, the stuff that they were playing was like funk and disco records like that's what was popular is playing this music for the kids at the time. Now what he noticed was when his playing records that the kids weren't really feeling it, that it wasn't really their music that they connected to until it got to a point in the record that was a bit different I'm in that point of the record was the bridge, so a bridge often referred to as a break is just that it's like a break from the actual track right and it's usually a bit more stripped down maybe a bit more instrumental in that section on dh that's where things kind of got a lot more funky in the records, right? So cork is noticing that like the kids aren't dancing until the break start when the break starts, the kids start dancing we'll call her saying to himself like man, this is great I've got these kids dancing but there's a problem what's the problem the brakes gonna end it's going to go back to the regular record kids are going to feel it anymore so I need some way to keep this break going uh I'll go get a second copy of the exact same record stood cue it up to the break before the break ends I'll start the break over again and in this way I'll keep this break going and keep the kids dancing well, the kids that were dancing during the break were then called break dancers they were called break boys and break girls, which then got shortened to be boys and be girls court will yell out on a microphone when the kids started dancing during the breaks was like the boys get down break boys get down break girls get down that whole style of dance that you now see that's been so popularized you know, with all the so you think you can dance and all of the movies like around like, you know, b boy culture that all comes from ironically a deejay um and as this break is going, it is just that it's instrumental so before all of this kool herc was the guy that did everything he would be the guy on the mic which we're going to talk about mike's later on today would be the guy on the mic you know? You know, everybody throw your hands in the air like and doing all of that sort of thing well, guess what now he's busy keeping the break going otherwise we'll stop dancing so a mike is literally just sitting here you are, my friend. You came with me you're sitting here looking at this like man there's all these kids here there's like, you know all these people they're a parting nobody's using that mike and they pick up this mike and all of what hurt is doing now is instrumental so there's no music there's no lyrics on it or something like that like it's all just the break so you pick up the mic and you start rattling and things off the top of your head pretty much like a nursery rhyme sort of sounds and things like that and this is the birth of the emcee it was said that kool herc was taking the hippest part of the record and hopping back and forth on the decks, hence hip hop. So the idea, though, was that this guy essentially created a loop, which today is this like thing that we take for granted all musicians from pretty much every genre that exists out there are using some form of a lute when you go in and you create a record, even if you're create any sort of record you make I mean, there's very, very few people that I know that take a full band, go into a studio record, hit, hit record, play the whole track all the way through and then hit end record. And if something was wrong, go back and re record the whole thing over again. I don't think that ever happens in this day and age of the way that music is recorded and played and whatnot. So the fact that this guy heads created a loop, a deejay had created a loop that now is, like, gone into popular music is absolutely crazy. Now, what's what's really kind of crazy about this is, you know, he doesn't own that nobody owns that, in fact, you know, a couple of years ago, kool herc was having a really hard time. Um, in terms of you know, I mean, the guy's not gigging anymore and, like he's, a bit older and like this is what he's dedicated his life to. Is d jane so there's really no way to pay this guy back? For all of what he's done for music, I think the biggest thing that we can do is to be able to honor his legacy and keep his name alive. So, you know, I know there's a little bit of a sidebar, but I think it's important like point to make. And for all of those who are out there now, I mean google kool herc and see what comes up like it's it's, really quite crazy. And I've had the pleasure of working with her several times and to me, it's absolutely insane to be able to meet the guy who essentially created on. And it is such a founder for what my life is basically based on.