Electronic Music Production with Ableton Live

Welcome to Module 2 of this course. By now you should be comfortable with building beats and using Impulse and Drum Rack devices. You should be playing around with adding audio effects to your sounds and experimenting with how that changes the vibe, particularly with Reverb & Delay.

This module deals with sound design in all its glory. First of all you’ll learn a detailed approach to sound design with synthesisers, recreating classic acid TB-303 sounds, house pads, trance bass and lead sounds and much more.

Then we’ll look at warping, audio mangling and manipulation, how to work with drum loops and how to sample music to make edits to give you a well-rounded skillset for sound design inside Ableton Live.

Every producer should know some music theory – here we get to grips with piano notes, major and minor chords. We’ll cover:

• Introduction to a piano keyboard

• Major & Minor Keys

• Creating a chord

Next we’ll take a look at how to add MIDI notes in for a musical element. We’re going to take a look at:

• Live’s Synthesizers

• Adding MIDI clips and drawing notes

• Playing with note lengths

In this video we’ll look at using your laptop or desktop keyboard to play in musical notes. We’ll look at:

• the shortcut for going into MIDI Keyboard mode (M)

• playing notes

• shifting octaves

Next we’ll take a look at using a MIDI controller to play in notes – by far the most fun way to play in musical information. We’ll cover:

• choosing a MIDI controller

• Setting up preferences correctly

• Playing in notes!

To get the most out of your MIDI keyboard you’ll want to do some MIDI mapping, to bring parameters in Ableton Live into the real world and give you controls to play with. We’ll cover:

• Making sure preferences are correct

• MIDI mapping

• Advanced mapping techniques (mininums and maximums)

Time to get stuck into synthesizers and start creating sounds from scratch. We’re going to use Ableton Analog to get up and running with sound design using synths, make sure you have it installed. We’re going to look at:

• Oscillators

• Filters

• Envelopes

Learn how to create acid house sounds using Analog. We’ll look at:

• The history of the Roland TB-303

• Examples of what it sounds like

• How to recreate the sound inside Ableton Analog

In this video we’re going to look at how to recreate some of the classic house sounds found in Mr Fingers – Can You Feel It. We’ll look at:

• THAT bass sound

• THAT chord sound

• Adding an acapella for fun!

In this video we’re going to take a look at classic trance sounds and how to remake them inside Ableton Analog.

Without modulation, synthesizers can sound flat and lifeless. In this video we’re going to take a look at how to give movement to your sounds using things like:

• Envelopes

• Low Frequency Oscillators (LFOs)

Create chords and patterns with a single key using MIDI effects! We’ll cover:

• Introduction to MIDI Effects

• Using Chord device to create complex chords easily

Arpeggiators are used to take multiple notes held at once (chords) and turn them into patterns. Let’s take a look at how to use them.

There are various other MIDI effects inside Ableton Live, all of which do something to the notes before they get to an instrument. Adding notes, subtracting them, changing them – this is the turf of MIDI effects.

Let’s look at the others that are available and how you might use them.

Bring audio loops into your project and manipulate them. We’ll cover:

Using audio loops in your music
Core functionality of audio clips
Why to be careful with loops!

In this video we’ll look at how to do simple warping, to make audio loops fit with your project.

In this video we’re going to look at how to warp up a full track so you can use it for DJing, making an edit or simply sampling a section to your in your track. We’ll look at:

• Warping full tracks

• Making an Edit

• Establishing the key of a track

In this video we’ll look at how to bring a vocal (without instrumentation) into your project. We’ll cover warping when there are no beats for your to lock on to.

This video contains an overview of the SImpler device in Ableton Live, allowing you to map samples across your MIDI keyboard so you can play melodies from them.

You should now be able to come up with an idea for a track using a combination of audio and synthesizers. To get some practice, use a beat that you’ve built up and make sure that you can put together a track with:

• at least 2 audio loops, manipulated to make them your own

• at least 2 Simpler instruments

• a bassline created with a synthesiser

• at least 4 different MIDI clips per MIDI track

• further experimentation with audio effects

With the above guidelines you should be fleshing out the idea for your track. Try to unleash your creativity at this point! If you’re stuck for ideas then use tracks that you love for inspiration, try to work out what sounds they’re using in those tracks and work out how to make them.

At this point I would recommend spending some time getting a solid idea together. When you’ve got something nice, bundle it up and send it over to us – you’ll be amazed at how much you can learn by getting feedback from an industry professional.

Once we receive your project file we will be in touch to arrange a time for a 45-minute Zoom call, where you can ask questions, get feedback on your work and suggestions for how you can improve it.

You’ll also receive an update project back with the tweaks done in the call, and a recording of the call to watch again when you like.

Welcome to Module 3, focussing on the all-important arrangement of your track. We’ll also be looking at creating a good workflow that suits your style of music prouduction, so there’s lots to learn in this section.

In this video we’ll take a look at:

• Overview of Arrangement View

• Handy shortcuts

• Interface

In order to arrange your track, you need to understand a little about track structure. In this video we take a listen to some tracks and establish a structure that they use which is simple to follow.

Now that we understand a little about track structure, we can begin to arrange our track! There are various ways to get started with an arrangement, but first we need to understand how clips behave.

‘Additive Arrangement’ is the process of building an arrangement piece by piece. You start at the beginning of the track, and build it in sections, choosing how in-depth you want to go.

We’re going to take a look at a nice method for doing this in this video.

Subtractive Arrangement is the process of starting with a full length track of 6-7 minutes with everything playing the whole time and then trimming it back to make the arrangement.

This is a clever technique that works for some producers – just choose what suits you best!

Automation is the process of making parameters in your project move and change over time. In this video we’ll look at how to use the automation lanes in arrangement view.

To get a more human feel to your music it can be a good idea to record some automation by hand. You can do this with the mouse, keyboard or knobs on a MIDI controller.

Of course a MIDI controller is generally best but the mouse can work nicely too!

In this video we’ll take a look at recording your full arrangement, complete with automation, as a live performance! In recent years this has become my favourite way of producing music quickly, as if you do the recording well your arrangement is almost finished by the time you start editing it..

Save your project as something new and try a live arrangement instead of additive / subtrctive arrangement – it’s fun and a great workflow when you get the hang of it.

There are loads of tips and tricks when it comes to automation. In this video we explore some of them and how to use them in your workflow.

Adding FX in multiple audio tracks can give your track tension during the builds and impact during the drops. It’s a very simple way to make your track sound more pro.

Sends & Returns are how effects such as reverb and delay were used in studios in days gone by, when they were hardware units rather than software and you only owned one or two that needed shared between multiple elements in your project.

In this video we look at how powerful they can be for your productions and ways of using them.

Buildups & Breakdowns are vital parts of electronic music, particularly dancefloor-focussed tracks. They provide tension and release tension to evoke an emotional reaction from the crowd.

In this video we look at how to implement them easily in your music.

Practice

Now that we’ve explored the possibilities with the arrangement of your track, you should take some time to really try to implement them into your music and get a strong idea going that keeps your attention over a number of minutes.

You should be aiming to:

• choose one strong idea and arrange it into a track

• aim for at least 4 minutes

• around 1 – 2 minutes of ‘DJ friendly’ intro is ideal

• then around 4 minutes of the ‘meat’ of your track

• then around 1-2 minutes of ‘DJ friendly’ outro

• group elements and process them together

• add automation manually and by recording it

This could also be a good time for some video feedback, to give you an indication of what’s working in your track, but more importantly what could be changed and how you could improve it.

Welcome to the dark art of the Mixdown. You should now have an idea for a track fleshed out into an arrangement and be getting a good idea of what your track is going to sound like when it’s done.

Don’t worry if it’s not sounding quite like your favourite producer – there are many reasons for this, amongst which:

• producers you love have probably been doing this for years, if not decades. It takes time to refine your skills and develop a sound, just enjoy the process of learning and improving all the time

• they might have some high-end equipment which helps them hear better (i.e. very good studio monitors – this makes a difference) or to improve the sound (fancy plugins or hardware)

• most importantly though – their music will be expertly mixed and mastered

This is the process of tweaking the levels, EQ, effects, panning and more on your tracks to get the most out of ever element, and it is what this module is dedicated to.

Here we look at Ableton Live’s EQ devices EQ Three and EQ Eight.

In this video we take a look at how to create a ‘Self Reference’ – a render of your track that you can use as a comparison to make sure that you’re going in the right direction with your mixdown.

Now it’s time to EQ every element of your track. In this video we go through the process in detail to show how it’s done quickly and easy. We’ll learn how to:

• Spot problem frequencies and remove them

• Bring out the best of your sounds

• Get a clarity and depth of sound in your productions

This video focuses on setting the levels of each element in your track and panning them to make good use of the stereo field.

Compressors – the most misused, abused and misunderstood devices in music production! Well, not any more…

Learn how the deeper features of compressors are used.

The Glue Compressor is a remodelled version of a classic compressor which is great for groups of drums to ‘glue’ them together.

Learn how it is used here.

A sidechain compressor is a vital effect and tool in music production – learn how to use them.

Makeup gain, and why not to use it.

Learn some tips and tricks for using reference tracks to help you get a more accurate mixdown while you’re still learning.

In this video learn how to render out a premaster ready for you to send to a mastering engineer or perform a quick master on yourself.

Here we take a look at creating a new project to perform a quick master of your track so you can send it to friends, labels or DJs to play.

Congratulations – you’ve made it to the end of the course! By this point you should have created a track, arranged it and mixed it down into something which you are happy with. Remember, music production is a long journey and your first track isn’t going to be your best one ever, so don’t be dis-heartened if you’re not thinking of getting this track signed.

You have to enjoy the process of learning, and you’ve made a giant step forward by getting to this point.

Now is a good time for some feedback from an industry professional, to give you an indication of what’s working in your track, but more importantly what could be changed and how you could improve it.

When you’ve got something nice, bundle it up and send it over to us – you’ll be amazed at how much you can learn by getting feedback from an industry professional.

Once we receive your project file we will be in touch to arrange a time for a 45-minute Zoom call, where you can ask questions, get feedback on your work and suggestions for how you can improve it.

You’ll also receive an update project back with the tweaks done in the call, and a recording of the call to watch again when you like.

Thank you so much for choosing to learn with us, I hope you enjoyed the course. Keep in touch and I look forward to hearing what you come up with in the near future…

Thanks,

Simon Stokes

subSine | Academy of Electronic Music