I'm tagging @Aiden Pearce, @Loxare, @Hayato, @Olaf, @Ars Nova since they responded in my other thread and figured it would be fair for them to be notified about this. I'll also tag you, @libregkd, since this is your area of expertise as well. Based on this discussion, I figured I'd now ask how they make tracks loop. Example: One thing I noticed about tracks looping is that when they start over again, they don't include the introduction to the main track, if that's what to best call that, as seen by the example above -- 0:01 - 0:06 doesn't play when it starts over.
As a composer, I know it's a bad idea to include the intro to a song in a loop because it breaks the pace of the song. There are only a handful of songs I can think of that include the intro in the loop. Intros are often slower or faster paced than the rest of the song so you can't just stick it in the middle with no thought like a loop.
So that answers that, but how do people make the tracks actually loop? And by people, I mean the composers or whoever loops the tracks (since they always do it perfectly).
Most likely by using a sound editing program such as Audacity, but something a bit more professional that's my best guess unless they record the same orchestra group playing the same piece of music but looped but I doubt they'd do that for obvious purposes most likely they'll find a key point in the music that'll match up with a point close to the end of the music that'll make into a smooth loop without it sounding like it was hard cut transitioned from one pace to another
Actually, if you go digging through a game's files and find its music(try doing that with a PS1 disc for instance), the song won't loop if you rip it and play it. My guess is within the game's programming are markers where the song would repeat from. Something like, Intro, marker A, marker B, repeat to marker A, and so on. Of course, on official soundtracks there are songs that have an outro that aren't in the game but the reason it's not played ingame is the same reason why the intro is never in the loop.
Is that why the Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex tracks, unlike tracks from, say, Kingdom Hearts, stop completely before looping again, both in-game and in the soundtrack? Because they stop completely, the intro and outro are included when they repeat the loop. Is this the exception you were talking about in regards to using intros and outros in loops in your first post here? Also, where do you think the track you just listened to, for example, would start over if it were a continuous loop like a Kingdom Hearts track? Yeah, Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King's tracks on the soundtrack do that:
Exactly. When games don't have official soundtracks released(happened all the time with older games), fans of said game just rip the audio files out of the game and upload them. It's a shame but sometimes it's the only way you get those songs out on the internet. From about the :20 mark to the 2:15 mark seems about right. Not exactly at those places but if someone were to loop it, I'd guess they'd start around those bits. First time hearing the song of course so...yeah...
Of course that's not necessarily always the case, though. :) I have some USTs that loop fully twice or more just like OSTs, they just weren't done by professionals, but appear to still be just as a good. Also, I think that's the official soundtrack for Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, because, like I said, it's like that in the game, too -- not a continuous loop. I just uploaded that with a basic background because I couldn't find any on YouTube that had two full loops. It starts over sooner after it ends in the game than on the soundtrack I have, but that's really the only difference: Note: Feel free to make fun of me sucking! Please tell me you've played a Crash Bandicoot game...
New question: So most tracks on soundtracks will loop through fully twice and then start fading out when the third loop starts. How and why do you think whoever puts together soundtracks picked up this style? Of course, then there are some like this that loop fully more than twice -- either that or they're just really long tracks, so it seems that way:
