30 Tips for Ableton Live Everyone Should Know, with Live Master Thavius Beck [Tips, Videos]

The Master Set of Ableton Live Tutorials |ZeSoundSuite Dot Com First and foremost I'd like to apologize for the stagnation of posts as of late. There was way too much on my plate and I was simultaneously hit with some personal issues I had to figure out. I had to do some major prioritizing with a very important new job as well as new mixing & mastering clients. Ze Sound Suite is in its infancy so unfortunately it got pushed to the back burner while I got all these other responsibilities under control. I really love teaching and love sound even more, creating this blog is a dream that has manifested itself into reality no matter how small it is. No... I discovered Nick's Tutorials while randomly geeking out and doing some searching for new things to learn. At Nick's Tutorials there is a wealth of video tutorials on Ableton. Sound Design in Ableton Live: Analog: This 3 hour and 40 minute tutorial video aims to answer all of your sound synthesis questions as well as serve as an in depth guide into Ableton's most powerful instrument; Analog.

5 Ways to Fatten Bass Sounds – AbletonOp Bass is a tricky fish. It’s an integral part of a track’s ecosystem — yeah, okay, I’m going to cut the line and stop the metaphor here. I just can’t keep it up. Bass lines are some of the most important and memorable parts of dance music — since drum and bass, and (more recently) dubstep, we’ve been showing off bass as the main element of a track. This is an idea that was virtually nowhere to be found in all previous popular music (and most other types of music). So now that bass has become so important to the music we listen to, we need to give it special attention — everyone could use a little bass education. One of the biggest problems with synthesizing bass sounds is that you naturally lose the fat, heavy, deep tone a bass is supposed to have. This is the most simple way to make a bass sound bassier — push up the low frequencies. Bass before EQ: Bass after EQ: When using EQ to manually adjust frequency levels, you should also drop in a Spectrum. 2. Compare these three bass lines. 3.

Creative Reverb Techniques in Ableton Live - Ableton Live You are probably used to creating your beats, bass and synth sounds, then creating a reverb bus channel, and applying some of that reverb effect to your individual instruments. Sure, this is a nice way to create a room effect that is coherent amongst your instruments and sounds, but what about using some creative techniques with reverb? I am going to show you how to use reverb a little differently to create interesting processing effects with your tracks. I will be using Ableton, but these same principles can be applied in other DAWs as well. Step 1 – Side-chain Reverb An interesting effect is to create that side-chain “pumping effect” with the reverb. Next I have created a MIDI Track (Shift-Command-T), and loaded up the Pad-Bowed-Square preset (Instruments > Instrument Rack > Synth Pad) under the Live Library. Next up I have added the Ableton Compressor. Here is what my synth sounds like: Instead of using the reverb and compressor as insert effects, you can add them to a send. Low Band:

All About Groove in Ableton Live - Ableton Live Groove is a sense of rhythmic feel or swing and is an essential part of modern music. Knowing how to best make use of it can make a huge difference in your music. Read on to find out more. Groove is in the heart Without any groove, music can sound robotic and rigid. In the world of electronic music, groove is equally as important but it requires a little more thought and planning to pull off. Get into the groove Applying a groove in Live is done on a clip basis. The groove hotswap button will open up Live’s groove library. In the Live browser, you’ll be presented with Live’s groove library which contains categorized groove files. Live ships with a generous amount of grooves from different sources,but you can also make your own. Shake your groove thing Once a groove is applied, there are several useful ways of modifying it. The Groove Pool allows detailed tweaking of all grooves used in the current Live project. - Base: This decides the timing resolution at which the groove will be applied.

2 Min. Ableton Tip #3: Routing for Live Looping | | AfroDJMacAfroDJMac When I started using Ableton Live, one of the first things I wanted to learn how to do was live, on the fly looping. The following video shows one way you can accomplish just that. Because Ableton allows you to route any track to any other track, it is pretty easy to set up. In the video example, I have a midi track with an instrument on it (PS that instrument will be available soon!). The instrument is routed to four different audio tracks. To do this, simply select the instrument track in the “audio from” field on all four audio tracks. You are not limited to simply routing just one instrument to four tracks; you could just as easily set up multiple virtual synths and live instruments in the same manner. If you haven’t seen already, I just released a new Premium Ableton Live Pack, created with samples of the Roland Juno 106. 22 instruments in total, each with their own unique set of macro controls, allowing for some wild sound manipulation. Thanks for your support! PS. Related

Pitch Drop by Mormo Electronic music producer Mormo wanted a specific sound. He took matters into his own hands and used Max for Live to make it happen in a day. The "record stop" sound - caused by a vinyl record slowing down after the turntable's motor is stopped - is a classic effect used by DJs and turntabilist. Glitch-hop producer Mormo took matters into his own hands and created the Pitch Drop device. After familiarizing himself with Max for Live, Mormo worked for a single day on his first Max for Live creation. Using Pitch Drop Pitch Drop has only two controls: the Drop Duration knob sets how long it takes for the pitch (and thus speed) to drop to zero after Drop Activate is pressedthe Drop Activate button enables the pitch drop effect.

10 Of The Best Ableton Live Tutorial Videos May 12, 2010 by Ryan We can all use more information when it comes to making music with Ableton Live, it’s why you’re here! Although this site does its best to bring you quality Ableton Live tutorials, I think it’s about time we’ve compiled a list of our 10 favorite Ableton Live tutorial videos from around the web. Enjoy! 1. The holy grail of Ableton Live video tutorials. Tom has yet to make the other parts to this series (it’s said there will be 10, making this whole series over 10 hours!). 2. 20 Ableton Live Tips & Tricks In 8 Minutes Quick and to the point. 3. A great tutorial featuring some interesting and creative ways on using Ableton Live’s Sampler. 4. Nick of Nick’s Tutorials takes us through the process of designing sound for film (in this case, clips from the “Clash Of The Titans” trailer). 5. An insightful approach to DJing with Ableton Live. 6. A great video tutorial showcasing the power of programming drums in Ableton Live. 7. 8. 9. 10. Have any videos you’ve made?

MIDI Chain Racks in Ableton Live - Ableton Live Sure Ableton is great for tempo syncing and warping audio files, but where it shines is with the manipulation of MIDI data. Ableton comes with a selection of MIDI tools which, when combined with Ableton’s Rack feature, makes it an unstoppable force with editing your MIDI data. I’m going to show you how you can create very useful and interesting devices with Ableton MIDI effects and Racks to implement into your song creation and live performances. I will be using the Chord MIDI effect combined with the macros in the Racks; through this I will be able to change the MIDI note and chord whilst the clip is playing. Step 1 – Setting up The MIDI Chords First I have inserted a Simpler on my MIDI track. I want to set up a MIDI Rack that allows me to change the notes of a single note, and in the Rack I want to be able to change my single note to a selection of chords. First I have drawn in a C note that is half a bar long. On the MIDI track I have inserted a Chord MIDI device. 0st +12st +12st +7st

Ableton Production Tutorials - The Best Ableton Live Video Tutorials MIDI Effect Tutorial: How To Use Ableton’s Scale Ableton’s powerful “Scale” plug in gets explained in this tutorial. Harness the power of “Scale” and program your own exotic tones! Ableton’s Scale is a powerful MIDI effect that allows you to constrain every note on your keyboard to a specified scale. In this tutorial we’ll take a look at how Scale works and map out some of our own scales. The Basics Of Scale A full octave of notes runs 12 keys (both white and black) on a keyboard. Here is what one octave looks like on a keyboard: In this octave there is the potential for a scale. Below is an example of a C Major Scale: If a song is in the key of C Major, you could play any of those notes, and it would make “musical sense” within the song. Any of the black keys (sharp/flat notes) would not fit within a C Major scale. With Scale, you can make it so that the black keys (sharps/flats) are forced to play the same notes as the white keys. Ableton’s Scale In Action Your copy of Scale should now look like this: Play some notes on your keyboard.

10 ways to triple your productivity & make more music 12 ways to triple your productivity & make more music Whether you are gearing up for a new year & reflecting on the accomplishments of last year or your catching yourself in the middle of the calendar year with less productivity than you would like, I want to share some techniques that should really help to step up your game. In all honesty, I’m naturally a pretty lazy guy. These tips below are discoveries I have made to battle my own laziness, fatigue & creative anxiety. 1. Take a break first. 2. Face it, it’s all bullshit & if you keep at it, you’re life is going to waste away. If you really want to get WAY more done, cut your social network checking to 2-3 times a day and only after you’ve put in some real creative work. 3. 4. 5. Once the timer goes off, it’s time to commit to making music (or writing this blog) & set the timer once again. Sometimes I’ll break songwriting down to different tasks. *Edit & effect each loop for my own purpuses *Construct a 32 bar intro *Create an Outro 7.

8 Easy Steps To Better EQ Twice a month we revisit some of our reader favorite posts from throughout the history of Audiotuts+. This tutorial was first published in December 2008. Knowing how to use an equalizer is a fundamental skill for anyone working with audio, yet it is one of the most abused. Finding the right frequency to adjust is, of course, the most important thing. What you need is a parametric EQ, or at least an EQ that allows you to control the target frequency. Then, play the sound and slowly sweep the frequency back and forth until you find the point where the tone you are looking to focus on is loudest. In the audio samples below we have a fiddle track. Example 1 - Fiddle without EQ Example 2 - Fiddle with EQ Before you hit record think about where this instrument is going to sit in the mix, and what it needs to accomplish. These two situations require very different tone, and so therefore should be recorded differently. Don't waste your time and energy. EQ should be the last resort.