Looping is a key part to writing music for video games. Most games contain scenes and parts that will vary in length each time that it is played or will change depending on who is playing. This means that the music cannot just stop if someone takes too long, or if they should complete an objective rather quickly. Even though this concept of having loop-able music seems simple, the only way to really understand it is by doing it.

The same goes for learning. It can be very tricky to get a seamless loop in which it sounds like a continuous piece of music. A good background in working with DAWs and audio will help the process. When I made my first loops for, I found it really difficult to make a loop point that was not noticeable for certain instruments; especially the low bass frequencies. After learning more about how to make crossfades in Pro Tools, it took a little experimenting to get the loops not to pop, click, or bounce in volume. Some DAWS have better or different ways to make a clip loop-able.

Loops can be thought of as synchronous or non-synchronous. The first can be thought of as one main loop that can be broken down into multiple layers. The latter can be thought of like changing the station on a radio but without hearing a dissonant transition. Each of these can be created and edited in all the common DAWs. Depending on the type of game, one may be a better option over the other. For either case, it is important to take into consideration how the musical structure of the piece will function. The artist should be aware of cadences, phrases and instrumentation. All of these can affect the transition point and or loop point. Certain envelopes in synths may be open when the loop starts and closed when it sends, this can cause the loop to be heard easily.

To achieve a good loop, there are a few methods in audio editing that work extremely well. Zero Cross Fading is one such technique--this involves cutting the loops at the unity mark on a waveform in order to stop the jump the speaker has to make if two waveforms don't line up close. If you are doing a vertically-layered score, however, this will not always work as each layer needs to be exactly the same length, or else they fall out of sync.

Another point to take into account is the shape of the waveform. If the sound image is starting small and ending big or vice versa, the loop may not work correctly. The waveform must try to match up as close as possible on each end.

This brings us to reverbs and decays. The ending of a loop should not feature anything that will bleed too long that it will stop abruptly at the loop point. Pasting reverb trails from the end of the loop at the beginning are one way to remedy this instance. Again, it all takes practice and trial and error to get the best sounds possible. It also comes down to being musical in your compositions, not just tech savvy with the software.