Ep. 271 - Whats looping? with Vasuda Sharma

David M. Torn, an American guitarist, composer, and producer once said, “The original source of any loop is whatever your sound is, at the moment of input.” Well to unpack this and know more about looping, we have Vasuda Sharma with us on Audiogyan.

Vasuda is a Singer, Songwriter, Producer, and Performer. In fact, being a performer, I have seen her live, playing multiple instruments and live looping at Blue Frog a long time ago. She is trained in Indian classical music. After composing many songs, she later decided to study music more rigorously. Vasuda studied Contemporary Writing and Production at Berklee. More about her in the show notes. We’ll try and understand some basics of looping in the context of music.

Questions

1. What is looping? (More abstract and philosophical)
2. What is looping in the context of music? Is it close to tiling? Is it only to set the rhythm and to create a base texture or something more?
3. Any short history about it? When and how did it start? How did you get into it?
4. How do you arrive at a final song? What comes first while you create a track, the base cycle of looping or the tune or the lyrics, or anything else? I suspect these happen simultaneously due to their nature, but if we can break it to understand? 🙂
5. What’s the trip/kicks-in looping? On one side doesn’t it feel restrictive since you working in the same taal / tempo? No? Can you give an example of how looping can be explorative?
6. What are the different approaches for looping as an art form? Any difference between live looping and recording? Is anything that is more challenging than others?
7. What is the long-term future of looping in this digital world? Any artists to follow?

Reference Reading

• https://www.vasudasharma.in/
• https://open.spotify.com/artist/2ED6kjY3EyIRkxM2HAbrCL
• https://music.apple.com/in/artist/vasuda-sharma/403246645
• https://twitter.com/vasudasharma
• https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHvU7UkPj1jHpHbuletJzVg
• https://www.youtube.com/user/vasudasharma
• https://soundcloud.com/vasuda
• https://www.instagram.com/vasudasharma/
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/vasuda-sharma-86262034/
• https://mixtapelive.in/artists/vasuda-sharma/