We’re back in the recording studio for another live looping improvisation on Episode 18 of ’10 Minutes to Make a Loop’. Oliver correctly feels some familiar vibes as The Wheel of Destiny wants to hear F Minor another time. The Balls of Fate have a nice, steady tempo in mind with 96 beats per minute. Oliver starts the writing session off with a dabble around on the piano, just twinkling through a few notes to get used to the key. Once settled, he switches to a Rhodes sound on the Akai MPK 249. He plays around with a few different keyboard patterns before recording the first layer. A relaxing, gentle Rhodes part - a couple of bass chords with a simple, catchy lead melody comprised of only a few notes. Immediately Oliver switches over to the bass synth, played on the Akai MPK mini, using a new favourite synthesizer sound. It’s a huge, warm bass synth sound with a knob controlling the amount of resonance and a filter opening up to add and remove frequencies. Once the bass is looped, there’s a quick exploration on the drums before Oliver decides he’d like to start with some percussion, then add guitar before returning to drums. He uses a couple of different percussion shakers to lay down a subtle, warm percussive rhythm before grabbing his Fender Stratocaster. Coloured with reverb, tape delay, shimmer delay and a DryBell Vibe Machine, Oliver finger picks a relaxing guitar loop. The loop takes a turn into the epic, atmospheric, sound bath direction - it becomes ambient rock, progressive rock, post-rock, math rock, shoe gaze, style jam session. Warm, hypnotic guitar parts, music to relax to, calming, soothing, relaxing instrumental music to lose yourself to. It’s then time to add those drums after all, playing a rock drum kit Oliver plays a rock drum beat with ride cymbal, kick and snare. Once the drums are tracked, Oliver takes us away on a soaring, drifting, melodic guitar solo before bringing things to a close with a classic Stereo Reverie outro.

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With a storm rumbling outside of the studio, Oliver is excited to get right into making music on Episode 17 of ’10 Minutes to Make a Loop’. The Wheel of Destiny has F Minor in store for us today, and The Balls of Fate can clearly hear the rain pouring, too, as they select a cosy 66 beats per minute for the tempo. After fumbling around getting used to the key on the piano, Oliver is ready to start composing the loop. He cycles through a few synth sounds, quickly determining the tempo is far too slow for an arpeggiator before deciding a mellow, warm pad synthesizer sound would be the ideal way to start things off. A few chord progression loop explorations later and Oliver is ready to record the keys part. The live looping performance is off and running! It’s quickly over to the bass synthesizer to layer a bass line to add some warmth and a slight bit of grit to the low end of the loop. To continue filling out the rhythm section, Oliver adds a simple bass drum kick and snare rim shot pattern. He explores a few hi-hat and cymbal hits to fill in the drum beat before deciding acoustic percussion instruments are the ideal addition to the loop. He uses a couples of percussive shakers and a cabasa which adds a human touch and movement, showing that making a beat with a single microphone can provide a fun challenge with varying volumes between the instruments. Who knew a cabasa was so loud! Oliver explores a few simple Rhodes melodies before deciding that the loop needs some guitar layered on top. An ambient rock/progressive rock/post-rock/math rock/shoegaze type jam emerges once again, a calming, relaxing music moment - music to drift away to, soothing music, calming sounds that hypnotise. Some warm, hypnotic guitar parts are played with a tone coloured with reverb, tape delay and shimmer delay and a touch of distortion. Oliver adds some simple melody layers to the loop before fading things out during a melodic guitar solo outro before bringing us back safely to silence.

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It’s episode 16 and it’s time for night mode! Recording far later than usual, Oliver is ready to break some creative blockers and prove that it’s not all about the view out the studio window. He’s put some coloured lights out for ambiance and is ready to make some music. The Wheel of Destiny stirs up a memory of jams gone by with the selection of C# minor. Was it a friend or foe? Only time will tell, 10 minutes to be specific. The Balls of Fate have seemingly had a long day and ask for a leisurely 86 beats per minute tempo for this live looping creation. Oliver starts things off with a percussion shaker before quickly finding a synth sound. Synthesiser selected, it’s then onto finding the right chord progression loop. He finds a relaxing, calming, soothing chord progression, some gentle, emotional ambient music. Two chords alternating back and forth but containing a lot of complexity, it starts with a contemplative moment, music to relax to, music to study to, music to meditate to - healing music. Once the keyboard layer is recorded, Oliver hops over to the bass synth to add some hypnotising low end. He lands swiftly onto a bass line that really transforms the synth pad, adding depth and a feeling of epic energy. Just to emphasise the grandeur of the moment, he double tracks a second bass synth when the melody lands back onto the root note. He lifts the resonance as the note sustains to add some grit and tension. With only a few minutes left, it’s over to drums to build on the rhythm. Oliver starts with an energetic, full rock kit sound - transforming an ambient moment into an almost post-rock/progressive rock genre. Seemingly heading into soundtrack/film score territory. The drum beat seems to fit, although trying to get a clean loop proves a challenge and eats away at the remaining time. With just a minute left, Oliver pulls out an epic - perhaps out of place, though - flute sound drenched in reverb. He lays down this melody before letting us know he’ll be saving that for later - planning for the future, how responsible! But will it be worth it, it did seem a bit loud? As the timer runs out, Oliver declares his awareness of the time but asks for more time to fix the drums. Since the referees all had the day shift, nobody seems to be there to stop him. The drum loop is still a little chopped harshly, though, so he makes a mental note to redo them after a bit of a jam. It’s time for some epic, atmospheric, soaring guitar drenched in reverb, tape delay and shimmer delay. Almost an ambient rock/progressive rock/math rock/shoegaze type jam emerges. He pulls the flutes back in and do they fit? Nobody is really sure but it’s okay, they’re taken out before the drums are actually fixed! A pounding, almost primal heartbeat like rhythmic tom beat eventually gets looped before a few more hypnotising guitar layers with warm guitar tones; a journey through a soundscape. Melodic guitar looping ideas, relaxing, soaring soothing sounds and notes carry us to the end before Oliver gives his closing thoughts on this jam session.

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