Should You Use Loops in Worship?
February 22, 2010
It’s pretty obvious these days that most Christian bands and artists have a bit of help on the platform. From AutoTune to Vocoders, musicians are getting pretty technologically advanced when it comes to creating music for worship. While some of this technology can easily be thrown to the wayside as “trendy” and not worth truly exploring, one simple fact remains: “loops” are here to stay. Originally a loop (as it applies to music) involved repeating a short section of music, a riff or motif, or a repeated background part or texture. While this still may be the case in some instances, bands and artists that use “loops” usually are referring to the background musical ideas and pieces that accompany the live band. Think karaoke without the main instruments and much less lame. Today loops incorporate synth patches and rhythmic textures, drum beats and guitar riffs, and are used commonly to fill out a thin texture or just add a fresh element to a worship experience.
So the question is: should you use them in a worship environment? Obviously there are benefits that loops can bring to the table, including:
- Perfect tempo. Loops are played with a click track that is piped into key musicians’ ears (drums, leaders, etc.), meaning that you’ll STAY in time throughout the entire song.
- Fill-in-the-blanks. Missing a musician you’d really like to have in your lineup? Adding a piano part or some background synth to a loop can wake up an old arrangement and really make your worship set come alive.
- Freedom. Ironically, loops tend to help musicians feel more “free” in their worship: they’re able to play around the loop’s textures, melodies, and harmonic elements in ways that weren’t possible before.
There are certainly other ways loos can add to a worship experience, but as with all good things, they can also come with a price:
- Adds points of failure. Using loops means you’ll need extra equipment, a computer, and someone trained to run them. All this can be a blessing to your ministry, or just chaos. Choose wisely in your setup and you should be fine, but computers inevitably crash and people don’t always show up.
- Money. Buying the equipment to get started may be the option available to you, and while you can save some money following some of our guidelines, budgets always seem to be tightest around uncertain musical ventures…
- Musical constraints. Some of your musicians may not be ready to “hang” with a loop right away, especially if you have a drummer who loves to drag, or a singer who can’t count. These problems can be easy to work around in a normal band setting, but a loop is unforgiving–tempos must be locked in and lead sheets must be accurate!
While brief, these points outline the first things most leaders look for in the pros and cons of introducing loops to a worship team’s repertoire. Playing around with loops should obviously happen during practices and rehearsals, and ONLY when all musicians needed are ready should they be introduced (slowly) to a congregation.
We’ll cover more about introducing loops to a church in later posts, but if you’re interested in learning more, check out our website at www.LoopingWorship.com. Also, follow us on Twitter at LoopingWorship!
Related posts:
- Why should I consider using loops in my worship service?
- Introduction to Music Loops in Worship
- Transitioning Your Band To Using Loops
- Transitioning your Band to Using Loops: “Using a Click”
- How to introduce click tracks to your band
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Interesting article. I think I will look a little closer to loops now. Thanks.
Another issue to consider while using loops or any other accompaniment track is the impact on your ability to webcast your services.
While the WORSHIPcast license covers your performances of copyrighted songs, it does not cover accompaniment tracks.
For each accompaniment track that you use, you will require an internet master recording license in order to web cast that track.
Technically, if we create our own loops, they are not accompaniment tracks, though, right?
Yes, if you created the accompaniment tracks, you do not need to get a master recording license to put them on the web.
However, an internet performance license is required to put performances of copyrighted music on the web, whether the song is pre-recorded or not.
Here is a good article on the subject of creating and using rehearsal and accompaniment tracks legally.
Ha! Shameless plug. Nice.
..there is nothing to be ashamed about. Just sharing information that some find useful
I've had four people contact me with questions on this thread and I was happy to spend time with them answering their questions and directing them to the right solution, regardless of whether it involved us or not.
Copyrights are becoming a regular issue that many music ministries are looking to address. We are here to help.
Hey Copyright, wasn't referring to you but the article. Seems like all the sudden that there are a ton of people on here selling something right now, and they are all newbies for some reason. Maybe there is a new marketing campaign behind the site. There isn't anything wrong with that, but this was one of the things that I really enjoyed about this forum, that being a group of people offering one another advice without any other self promoting aspirations.
Fair enough. In my mind, either the information is useful or it isn't and agonizing over the subjective "purity" of its origin is kind of besides the point.
Just out of curiousity, Rocky, does the article seem too "promotional" in nature?
that wasn't the intention!
I certainly want to grow LoopingWorship.com, but we're not selling a single thing on the site--other than by including Amazon affiliate links to products or books that we find helpful.
Sorry to make it seem like a shameless plug
No worries Nate. I do it all the time.
As worship pastor of a church without an orchestra or a brass section, I began creating my own loops a few years ago. Being on a limited budget, I have been using Garageband to create the loops and just burning them to CD and having them sent out on an aux monitor. I tried playing and cuing straight from my Mac, but as this is not designated to remain on stage, I found the constant removal and insertion of the audio jack began to cause it to short out. I plan on getting a smaller computer just to keep in the drum booth. I use loops for auxiliary perc, brass and strings.
One thing that is unforgiving is that your musicians need to have the song learned extremely well as there is no room for error in regards to the arrangement - and you will have a brass stab playing in the quiet break down! Yikes!
I have been blessed to work with drummers who are willing to learn to play with loops. It is a challenge at first, but after awhile the loop is just adopted as another member of the band!
I'll just say that as a musician I can't stand loops at all. The only loops that I think you should use are electronic beats.... and only if you don't have a percussionist/drummer creative enough to create them live. I think it removes the integrity of the band. It makes the set somewhat fake. This is the same reason I'm against live pitch correction... its just not real. I think it also removes the freedom to just flow with the music or let the Holy Spirit redirect your set. From both a church worship and non church music point of view... i'm am almost 100% against loops.
I can really appreciate and understand the need for authenticity and musical integrity in leading worship. If this is not paramount, we may need to re-think our goals. That being said, I fully support (and have used) the use of loops as supplemental elements to a set. No string section or synth player? I use loops as opposed throwing a song out or "emptying it out" by removing the strings (also other orchestral instrumentation) if they add to the flow and feel of the song. We currently do not have a percussionist so I not only use electronic beats (Stylus RMX is GREAT for this) but also for latin perc. In short (I know, too late - haha), I feel loops have their place in worship if used correctly as a supplement but need to be used skillfully or they can easily become a distraction. We should always keep our minds open to the possibilities that technology offers....years ago it could have been said we should not amplify or add effects to guitars as it would compromise the integrity of the natural acoustic sound of the guitar.
Be Blessed!
Be Blessed!
if you need to and can use loops well... go ahead... but ya... personally i don't like them.
Hmm, good points. Two extremes here:
1. Plainsong (Gregorian chant, plainchant, etc.) is the purest form of human-created music. Not necessarily the style, but the medium and method of musical creation. Other notable styles include Koomei (Tuvan and southern-Mongolian throat-singing) and African tribe-chant.
2. Karaoke.
Using loops and backing tracks may arguably fall much closer to one end of the spectrum than the other, but loops can (and in my opinion should) still be seen as an instrument, not a playback of pre-recorded material. While "playing" the instrument may only involve pressing a button or two at set times during a song, shouldn't the creator, implementer, and user of these loops still be credited with artistic talent?
I had a composition professor once who wrote a "Trio for Three Laptop Computers." Each computer didn't use loops, but instead "played" a theramin-like sound that changed in pitch and velocity according to the computer's built-in motion sensor. Music or playback?
Also, there's the benefit of being able to play PERFECTLY in time when using loops or a met on the platform.
Nick