ableton live tips and tricks part 3

7/18/2019 Ableton Live Tips and Tricks Part 3

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Tips

Tricks

Tutorials 3


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Commands for Breakpoint Envelopes Grid Snapping and Drawing

Macintosh Macintosh

Finer Resolution for Dragging Toggle Draw Mode

Enable Dragging Over Breakpoints Narrow Grid

Widen Grid

Key/MIDI Map Mode and the Computer MIDI Keyboard Triplet Grid

Macintosh Snap to Grid

Toggle MIDI Map Mode Fixed/Zoom-Adaptive Grid

Toggle Key Map Mode Bypass Snapping While Dragging

Computer MIDI Keyboard

Zooming, Display and Selections Global Quantization

Macintosh Macintosh

Zoom In Sixteenth-Note Quantization

Zoom Out Eighth-Note Quantization

Drag/Click to Append to a Selection Quarter-Note Quantization

Click to Add Adjacent 1-Bar Quantization

Clips/Tracks/Scenes to Multi-Selection Quantization Off

Click to Add Nonadjacent

Clips/Tracks/Scenes to a

Multi-Selection

Follow (Auto-Scroll)

Pan Left/Right of Selection

Clip View Sample Display Working with Sets and the Program

The shortcuts for zooming and loop/region settings also 17 Macintosh

work in the Sample Display. New Live Set

Macintosh Open Live Set

Quantize Close Live Set

Quantize Settings... Save Live Set

Move Selected Warp Marker Save Live Set As...

Select Warp Marker Quit Live

Scroll Display to Follow Playback Hide Live

Move Clip Region with Start Marker Export Audio/Video

Export MIDI file

Clip View MIDI Editor Working with Plug-Ins and Devices

The shortcuts for zooming, snapping/drawing and loop/region Macintosh

settings also work in the MIDI Editor. Show/Hide Plug-In Windows

Open Second/Multiple Windows with

Macintosh Plug-In Edit Button

Quantize Open Mac Keystroke Plug-In Window

Quantize Settings... with Plug-In Edit Button

Scroll Editor Vertically Group/Ungroup Devices

Scroll Editor Horizontally Activate/Deactivate All Devices in Group Device Activator

Copy Note Drag Click to Append Devices to a SelectedChange Velocity From Note Editor Drag Device

Add/Delete Note in Edit Mode Double-Click Load Selected Device From Browser or Double-Click

Move Insert Mark to Beginning home

Move Insert Mark to End end

Scroll Display to Follow Playback

Move Clip Region with Start Marker

Original manual @ http://www.ableton.com/de/pages/downloads/manuals


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8

9

7Notes Plus

>10The Effect Treatment

>

3 4

5 6

Too Much USB

>

21One Way Or Another

>

VIDEOONTHEDVD

WatchthetutorialmovieontheDVD

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apply Lives MIDI effects to the track;

once again, its just like working with

any software instrument. Check your

synths manual to find out which

messages it will receive. Most manuals

are online now, so if Im wonderingabout a particular piece of hardware,

Ill grab the manual and read the MIDI

info. And after shopping, I keep the

PDF manuals on my computer and

iPad, so theyre always to hand during

sessions. Another benefit of PDF

manuals is that theyre searchable!

The audio comes back into the

same track that the MIDI is leaving,

thanks to some neat routing from

Ableton. This is a great way to organise

your hardware for performance, but if

you want to record the incoming audio,

youll have to set up another audiotrack, and record into that one, either

directly from your audio input 8 , or by

using the In/Out View to route audio

out from your MIDI track into the

recording track. You can also Freeze and Flatten the MIDI track, to permanently

print those synth parts to audio files. This works in the usual way, but it takes

longer because Live has to play through the song in real time to capture the

audio 9 . You can add any of Lives audio effect devices, or third-party plug-ins,

to the track, to expand on the synths original array of effects. An interesting

development with synths that connect through USB is that they usually have

some kind of supporting plug-in or standalone editor that gives you access to

their deeper features and preset management, directly from the computer. Vyzex

have produced a few of these editors for different hardware synths, including the

Dave Smith Instruments Evolver, and M-Audios Venom synth. The Venom editor

is particularly useful, because the control panel on the actual synth is so bare!

Versatile boxesControl issues get interesting in other ways, too. Once your synth is hooked up,

you can play it from another connected keyboard, or even the Live Virtual MIDI

Keyboard the computer keyboard, in other words. You could use the knobs and

faders on a MIDI hardware controller to reach out to your synth. A lot of modern

synths also send MIDI out from their controls, so you can use it as a hardware

control surface for Live; very versatile. A modern synth can be a soundcard, a

controller, even an audio processor, if it lets you run external audio signals

through its onboard effects some of those synths have fantastic filters! Where

this will go in the future, nobody can say, but it looks like things are pretty

healthy for hardware synths, even with all the great software examples. The iPad

is getting called on more as a control surface for them, and perhaps soon well

see wireless connectivity become common. What I really want every synth to

come with is a plug-in editor that runs as an AU or VST inside Live that would

be a real boost to the workflow.

Sounds On DemandThere is deeper integration available. An obvious

one to start with is getting Live to tell the synthto load specific sounds on demand as youlaunch the clip that needs the sound. This isquite easy to do, although youll probably needthe synths manual handy! Make a MIDI clip ifyou dont have one already, and go to the Notesbox. There youll see choosers where you canenter Program, Sub Bank, or Bank changes,which are sent when the clip is launched. Referto your synth manual to find out which messages

you need to send.

The effect treatmentOne last thing Most of what were

talking about goes for hardware effects

units as well. Look under Lives Audio

Effects category in the Browser, and

youll see the External Audio Effect

Device 10. This device routes audio

to and from your hardware, but you

could also send MIDI from a separate

track to load patches or change

parameters on the hardware. You may

or may not be a synth-head, and

truthfully Im not, but everybody shouldhave a couple of nice pieces to expand

on their sounds and create a different

mood and Live will make this as

seamless as possible.

MIDI-to-CVConvertersThere are older, analogue,

synths out there, that

pre-date MIDI (the MIDI

spec was published in

1983). Before that, CV/Gate signals were used for

communication between

hardware. Companies like

Kenton still produce

MIDI-to-CV converters,

meaning you can include

analogue gear in your

digital rig.

Soft SynthsIf you dont own any

hardware synths, none of

this concerns you much,

unless you work with

somebody who does use

them. Software synths are

so advanced now that

hardware models arent

the essentials they used

to be. A soft synth and

a controller might do

the job!

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04 >Play a few notes on your synth, and you

should hear its output coming back through

the track in Live. Draw a MIDI clip in the

track, with some notes, and they shouldtrigger the synth as well, with the audio

coming back in. Its like a hardware plug-in!

You can even use Lives virtual MIDI

keyboard (the computer keyboard) to play

the synth.

03 >Create a new MIDI track in your Live set. Go

to the Browser, and from the Instruments

category, drag the External Instrument Device

onto the track. The MIDI To and Audio From

pop-ups will show the audio and MIDI

connections you just made in Preferences, so

choose them. You dont need to configure the

track inputs because the device does it all .

05 >Now have funapplying Lives MIDIand audio effects to

the synth! This isgood for playback,but to record theincoming audio, youstill need to set upan audio track, justlike recording fromany other source.Once you get aset-up you like, save

it as a preset so youcan recall it quicklyin future projects.

Hook Up Your

Favourite SynthTo LiveGet your synthesizer workingwith Live, receiving MIDI, andsending audio back in

01 >Connect your synth to your computer; how youdo it depends on what connections your synthhas. If its a relatively recent one, it probably

has a USB connection, which makes thingseasy, handling audio and MIDI with one wire.For older hardware, with MIDI ports, youllneed either a MIDI-USB cable, or MIDI cablesinto your audio interface, as well as connectingthe synths stereo outputs to your soundcard.

02 >Once youve connected everything, launch

Live and open Preferences. Under the Audiotab, make sure youve enabled the soundcard

inputs that youve connected your synths

outputs to. Under the MIDI Sync tab, select

your MIDI adaptor or interface ports as MIDI

Output destinations. Turn on Track and

Remote, and Sync, if you want to sync your

synth to Lives project tempo.

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AbletonLivehas quite a few featuresnot found

inother DAWs,and Racks isone of them.At the

most basic level,Racksarecontainers that

enableyoutorack togetherMIDI, instrument

andaudiodevices.A Rack containing internal/

external instruments is calledan Instrument Rack;a Rack

ofstandalone audioprocessing devices isanAudioRack.

However,Racks aremore thananeasyway tobundle

multiple elements into oneeasily saveable andtherefore

recallable package.Racksgive youtheoptionto runtheir

internal signalpaths inparallel or in series,whichoffersa

huge rangeofoptions.In fact, theonly real restriction you

mayencounterwill bemaxing-out eitheryour CPUorRAM,

butthis isnt anything that anycomputer user hasnt had

to factor into theirworkflowbefore.

In this tutorial wellbeusing Live-onlydevices that are

quite economical in termsofCPUrequirements.Its only

when youstart stacking largenumbersof third-party,

resource-hungry instrumentsandeffectsthatyoull

perhaps need tobea bit moreconscious about whatyou

useandwhy. If processing powerdoes becomean issue,

make useof Lives Freeze feature to render thelive

processing as temporaryaudio.When youre ready to

commit to ideas,we encourage youto then Flatten them

into newly renderedaudiofiles.Youcanthen performany

additional editing in theseaudiofileswhile freeing up

computer resources (bothof these functionsareaccessedfrom theEditmenu).

Racks can beusedatany point throughout the

production process,and typical uses includestacking

layers of synthsfor huge,epicsounds,applyinggo-to

parallelprocessing suchascompressionanddistortion,

mid-and-sideprocessing,andbuilding interestingmusical

tools fornew ideasor exploringintricateaudio-processing

chains forsound-design tasks.

Asyoucan see, therearemultipleuses for these tools

andwell now goontoexplain someof themost important

aspects ofRackdesign. Ifatany point you get lostorare

stuck for inspiration,we recommendthat youhavea look

through theLive library forAudio, Instrument andMIDI

Racks.Fromhere its easy toexplore andmodify

Racksaremorethananeasy

waytobundlemultipleelementsintoasaveablepackage

NewSeriesPart5

UsingAudio&InstrumentRacks

Accompanyingprojectfileincluded

ontheDVD

ManypeoplewillrecogniseaRackastheyareusedextensivelyinLives librarycontent,butlearningtobuildyourownisessential forfluidworkflow.LiamOMullaneshowsyouhow.

FOCUSONUSINGEXTERNALHARDWARELivesExternalAudioandInstrumentdevicesenableyouto createdefaultpresetsforyouroutboardprocessorsandsoundsourcesrespectively.A soundbeingtriggeredbyMIDIor passinginandoutofyourcomputerasaudiowill always incura littledelay time.However,youcanoffsetthisfor instrumentsby settingthemtoplaysomethingpercussiveon thebeat,thenenableLivesmetronomeand changetheHardwareLatencyvaluetogetbothplayingin time.Thisis settomillisecondsbydefaultbutyoucanclickthemsbox toswitch ittosampleincrementsfora higherresolutionofdetail.

ThesametechniquecanbeappliedtoExternalAudioEffectsbyplayingapercussiveaudioclipthatmatchesupwiththemetronome,andthemajorityofexternalsourceswill needsomehousework

AbletonLive BecomeaLivePowerUser

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MTStep-by-Step AudioRacks:advancedcontrol

01 Create a Rackbyeitherdragginga preset fromthe LiveBrowserorusingGroupfromthe Editmenuwhenanexistinginstrument

oreffect(s) ishighlighted.Each internal audiochannel calledChains willnow bevisible.Therewill beonlyone bydefault,but moreChainscanbe createdbyclicking inthe emptyspace below and choosingCreateChain orDuplicatea Chain fromthe Editmenu.

02 Therearetworeasons forparallelprocessing,the first being toaudition variousapproachesforprocessingaudio.Thisapproach

letsyou tryoutdifferenttechniques/processors andgenerallyexplorethepossibilities for eachelement inyourmix.UseSoloto movebetweeneach Chain;whenyouvedecidedwhichtreatment togofor,delete theotherChainstoavoidunnecessaryprocessing.

03 Reasontwois forparallel processing,withtypical usesbeingforcompression/saturation.Thisis setupbykeepingthefirst Chain

as-isandaddinga secondChain toprocess inparallel.Chains canalsobeusedto splita signal into itscomponents:byfrequenciesusingmultiple MultibandDynamicsdevices;bymid-and-sidecomponentsusing theUtilitydevices Widthcontrolat 0%and200% respectively.

05 Ifyou movethe ZoneBlocksfor eachChain sotheyarentoverlapping,the ChainSelectRulerabovethem (inorange)can

bemoved fromone soundto the next.WhenusingZonesin this way,effects withtails likereverbordelays willdie out naturally.Toblendbetweenthetwo,drag theZone Blocksacrossthefull range,then dragtheFade Rangeshapesso theyopposeeachotherto create the fade.

04 Chainscan alsobeusedtocreatedifferent sonic statestomovebetween,suchasa lighter verseandheavier chorustreatments.

Createthetwotreatments,usingSolo to focuson each onelike before,thenopen theChainSelector EditorbyclickingontheboxlabelledChain.Lookinglike a samplerskey-rangeeditor, this allowsyou tomove theassignmentofeach Chain toa differentarea horizontally.

06 AllRackshave Macro controls that youcanassignmostparameterswithina Rack to. If youright/[Ctrl]-click (PC/Mac) on

theChainSelectorRuler itcan beassignedtoa Macro andthenassigned toa MIDI controller.Multiple assignmentscanbemadetooneMacro,so explore differentcombinationsofassignments,rangesandthedirections inwhichthey move.

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MTStep-by-Step Decorativesoundsandmelodies

01 Depending onthe vibeofyourtrack,youcanchoosetofill thebackgroundwithmelodic pads,pitchedFX,drones,atmospheres

oramashof the lot.Wevechosentocreatea sinisterpadasa tensionlayer fortheintro byplayingdiscordantnotes,layering sequencedsoundsunderneath theloudersyntheticstrings(formovement)andautomating thepanpositionof thequieterlayers forstereointerest.

02 Foratmospheric soundsyoucantgowrongwith longdosesofreverb,with amostlywetbalanceto achieve adiffused tone.

Anythinggoes forthesoundsource.Weusedpitchedpercussion in themain sectionanda sawsynthfor the intro tocreate ahuge,horn-likesound.We automatedthereverbsFreeze function toextendthetailsandchangedthe roomsize,all ofwhichaddsdetailfor thelistener.

03 Forradio-friendlystyles,melodiesusuallyrequirestraightforwardsynthsounds.Thesearereadily available inmany synthlibraries

andcanbecustomised through layeringandediting.Fordeeperstyles,tryworkingwith lessconventionalsounds.Wevelayeredablendofbells,cowbellsandclavesandaddeda tomunderneathforcontinuouspunch andweightthroughout.

05 Stabsareuseful forannouncingnewsectionsor to insertsporadically tocreatetonalcontrastwhen everythingelse drops

out.Stabsareeasytomakeastheyrequire just a gooddoseoflayering,spreadingofpitchandcreative panningif youwant stereowidth.Again,explore themostunexpectedsoundsinyour library andusemistuned layerstogive denser,moodyandless-musicaltones.

04 Onceyouvecreateda fewbackground sounds,render themdowntoaudio for furtherediting.Thisis a simpleway tocreate

themuch-neededvariationwithina trackandisaneconomicaluseofthesoundsyouve already spent a lotof timeperfecting.Thesecantheneasilygo through furthergenerations ofmanipulationwithouttaxingyour computer toomuch.

06 Asyourmixbuildsup,useafine-tooth-combattitudeto justifyeach andeveryparttoavoidunnecessary clutter.Rememberto

replacesounds ifneededas you develop themix togiveeverythingthespace itneeds tobreathe.We went through variousbass sounds,kicksandsnarestomaintainclarity aswe developed our ideas. If ithelps,save anewprojectversionbeforemakingdrastic changes.

Producingauthenticdrum&bassTutorialMT

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MTStep-by-Step Creatingarrangementdynamics

01 When you want todevelop an idea into a good 16barsor more,abalance between creating an interesting sonic tapestry while

being sensible about your approach needs to be struck. By this wemean notkeeping hundreds of tracksrunning with live effectsandautomation throughout theproject.When youhavethesounds youneed, renderthem down to audio to make your projecteasier to handle.

02 Breaks andpauses areneeded not only during full breakdowns.These aregreat dynamictools formomentarily throwing the flow

in a groove, creatinglifts beforea new section, and addingdurations ofspaceto breakup a busy track.Focus on short sections to figure outhow many elements can be removed for a drop in energy. Mute send FXsuch as reverb and delay through automation to achieve digital silence.

03 A high-passfilter will lift thelow end from singlesounds, groupsor the entire mix before a newsection to make it seem heavier.

Thistechnique can also be applied topartsin full song sections tocreate more space in a mix for busiersections. For example,a leadsynth might have its full frequency content allowed in a breakdown,but is high-pass-filtered on thedrop to accommodate new content.

05 There are many waysto continuean idea after the first maindrop:exploringbass tones over time; melodicprogression;drum

sound switch-ups (switching from one toneto another); stripping backto a more sparse section or a completely differentstyle topushthesongin an unexpected direction.Explore a few options,save them asdifferent projects anddo some trial arrangements to see what works.

04 A D&B tracks arrangementis notset in stone,but the basics ofintro, breakdown,drop,countersections,2nd breakdown,drop,

alternate sections andoutro isa guide if youre unsure.If you make theintrorhythmic it will be useful to a DJ for mixing,buta more importantfeatureis a unique sound or melody.This actsas an audible signpostfor an audience to know that your song is currently being mixed-in.

06 The outro serves the same purpose as the introbut in reverse.While its tempting to simply copyand reverse the parts in theintro, tryto use it as another dynamic tool.Thispart of the track will bethe last piece heard as its mixed over someoneelsesintro, so createexcitementby using a different combination of previous parts andre-editingor introducinga new element to sign-off with.

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So far in this series weve looked at the various

different tools for creating music in Ableton

Live, most of which can be used in either Lives

Arrangement or Session Views. This instalment,

however, focuses on tools that are available

only when using Clips in Session View. Arrangement View is

a linear overview showing tracks running vertically in rows,

while time goes from left to right. Session View, on the

other hand, takes a different approach, displaying tracks

vertically like channels on an audio mixer. Slots are placed

vertically down each track, which can be used to

launch MIDI or audio Clips. You can choose to

trigger an entire row of Clips at once referred to

as Scenes or launch them individually. Well first

look at how you can interact with one or more Clips

for experimentation, then explore how to develop

ideas so that Scenes can be expanded into

potential new song sections.

Scenes or individual Clips can be launched

using the mouse, mapped keys on your computer

keyboard, MIDI keys or buttons. Mapping manually

this way is set up using either

Key Map or MIDI Map modes

respectively. When enabled from

the Options menu, you can then assign Scene Launch or

Clip Launch buttons to a fixed mapping. This is a good

approach for quickly trying out new ideas or for triggering

specific assignments within a prepared performance,

though youll usually delete the assignments when they

are no longer needed.

When either Map Mode is enabled, four new assignable

buttons appear below the Scene Launch area on the

right-hand side of Lives display. When mapped, these

allow you to select Scenes using either assigned up and

down controls or a rotary encoder to scroll up and down.

You can then use a special Launch button that simplytriggers the scene currently highlighted.

This approach is open to anyone with a standard

computer keyboard or a MIDI controller, but for a higher

level of interactive control its worth investing in a

dedicated controller. Abletons own Push is the Rolls-Royce

of options as it controls Session View and plenty

more, making composition, sound design and

mixing all feasible with minimal computer

interaction. Other candidates include the Novation

Launchpad or an AKAI APC-type product, which

offer different levels of control but still let you

navigate Session View for Clip/Scene launching.

But irrespective of how you want to interact with

Clips and Scenes, the techniques here will

enhance your ability to jam in Session View. MT

New

SeriesPart 7

Clip experimentationin Session View

On the discn the disc

Accompanyingproject file included

on the DVD

Session View has numerous uses in Live 9 , both practical and creative.Liam OMullaneexplains how you can use and abuse the propertiesof audio and MIDI Clips to make music in a different way...

FOCUS ON EXPERIMENTATIONThe majority of this tutorial focuses on modifying individualClips to create variation. Although some of the techniques willyield a degree of randomness, they are mostly concerned withmaking precise changes through editing. If you want to take adifferent approach to achieve new results or, indeed, yourelooking for a different way to sequence Clips Follow Actionsare worth exploring.

Follow Actions are essentially a rule system that you canapply to any Clip in Session View to dictate how the playbackof one Clip will lead into the playback of another. They can beapplied only to Clips residing on the same track, therefore onlyone Clip can play at any one time. The positioning of the Clipswill determine how they are grouped if theyre placed on thesame track and in consecutive Slots ie, if there are 20 clipsrunning down a track, an empty Slot between the first ten andthe second ten will result in them being grouped into two lotsof ten, and the Follow actions will only ever communicate withthe other Clips in the local group of ten.

The first parameter to understand is the Follow ActionTime, which, like loop length, determines the length of a Clipsplayback until the Follow Action is implemented. Thismeasures in bars, beats and 16ths and will then move to theFollow Action chosen from the A or B dropdown menu below.Underneath the two Follow Action menus is a Probabilitysetting that by default is 1 to 0 meaning that for every use ofAs Follow Action, there will be zero uses of Follow Action B; 1and 1 will make them alternate between each other.

The next setting to explore is the Follow Action itself.There are too many options to go into here, but there are twosimple ways to achieve unique results. The first is to set all butthe last Clip to play the next Clip using the Next Action, then

set the last Clip to play the first. This will create a playbackloop from top to bottom of all Clips in the group. Experimentwith the duration of the Follow Action Time for changes torhythm and time signature. The second approach involves theAny Follow Action, which sets up your Clips for randominteraction. We like to use this on sound layers that sit furtherin the background of a mix for ever-changing layers of detail.

respectively When enabled from

lip experimentationlip experimentation

Ableton Live Become a Live Power User

Forhigher levelsof interactivecontrol its worth investing in a

dedicated controller

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MTStep-by-Step Experimenting with Clips

01 One way to interact with Clips is by changing their Launch modebehaviour. Unsync the Clips Launch quantization from LivesGlobal quantization this gives you more expressive settings, such as16ths, without affecting Lives global setting. Open the Launch box inClip View by clicking on the small L symbol, then select from theQuantization menu.

02There are four Launch modes to choose from. Trigger is thedefault mode, simply launching a Clip. Gate gives momentarylaunching while you hold the Clips Launch button; Toggle flips betweenplayback being on/off with each launch. Repeat creates a stuttereffect during playback while the Launch button is pressed, which thenreverts to normal playback (like Trigger) when released.

03 Experiment with Launch modes to determine which one worksbest. If more than one sounds good, duplicate the Clip and givethem custom modes to move between. The next way to manipulatemultiple instances of a Clip is to explore Start Marker positions. Theseare the small markers above the waveform/MIDI grid in Clip View andthey too can be customised for multiple instances of the same Clip.

05 Start Markers take on a new life here as they can be placedbefore a Loop Braces position or at any point within it, so exploreletting normal playback run into a short loop later on in the Clip. In thisway, short plays of this Clip will sound normal; longer runs into the loopcreate a sound effect.

04 You can immediately rework ideas when three or four duplicatedClips are set up with different Start Marker positions. The nextlevel of manipulation comes from experimenting with loops on certainClips. With the Loop Switch enabled, resize the Loop Brace above thewaveform by dragging its edges or using the numerical values belowthe Loop Switch button.

06 If you want to keep the relative Clip playback position as youmove from one Clip to the next, Legato mode can be used in muchthe same way that a synthesizer will use legato to move from one noteto the most recent one hit, no matter how many are being held. Forinstance, launching a new Clip on the second beat of the bar willresume playback in the next Clip from the same position.

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MTStep-by-Step Developing Scenes into full ideas

01 You can extend the duration of MIDI or audio Clips for developingideas, but they need to be approached in different ways. A MIDIpart can be duplicated using the Dupl. Loop button, then you canmanually edit your new MIDI data to create more interest. Becauseaudio Clips are single audio events that are played back, a differentapproach needs to be taken to create variation within Session View.

02To vary audio over a longer duration than the audio itself you needto create automation loops for variation that can actindependently. By opening the Envelope Box (press the small E symbolin the bottom left of Clip View), you can choose a parameter to editfrom the Device and Controller dropdown menus. Each envelope canbe given its own loop length by changing the Linked button to Unlinked.

03 Regardless of an envelopes duration, rounded loop lengths willallow you to create predictable changes to your Clips. This meansthat the envelopes loop will stay in sync with the musical phrase of theClips audio. Start by creating a gated sequence select Clip from thefirst menu, then Volume Modulation. Use Draw mode (Options menu)to edit the envelope and turn the sound on and off rhythmically.

05 Warp Markers are a useful tool for adjusting the timing within anaudio loop. These are created after double-clicking above thewaveform display in the Clip View window and can then be draggedaround. Automation that is linked to the original audios duration willfollow Warp Marker manipulation. Explore this for interesting ways toedit audio and effects processing at the same time.

04 A modulation envelope uses the current minimum/maximumrange available from a parameters current position. Because ourClip volume is at 0dB, our envelope can control infinity up to full volume,but if the Clip volume is lower, wed be limited to its maximum setting.For other effects automation, Absolute makes more sense as eachedited envelope will control the parameter.

06 For less-synced changes to your ideas over time, think ofenvelopes as looping LFO. Create an envelope with a lessmusically related duration so that it overlaps in different ways everytime the audio loops. For instance, automate the movement of a notchfilter for five beats to create a sense of constant movement in a soundas it plays.

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One of the strengths and weaknesses of todays

all in-the-box, computer-based studios is that

you can do it all by yourself. Composing,

producing, DJing, remixing and even jamming

with yourself are all possible, but in this

workshop, were looking at working with othersand how

Live can be set-up to do just that. Even when collaborating

in the studio, its easy to overlook the various ways you can

both work at the same time, rather than taking it in turns to

hop on and off the computer. In its most basic form, you

can assign two different MIDI controllers to control an

instrument each. This gets better when theres more than

two of you as you can collaboratively jam out ideas

together while one person takes the engineering role and

tweaks the sounds. You are then also geared up to

immediately record any ideas as they arise.

The next level of collaboration is to work with someone

else running Live. This can work great in both the studio

and live environments, and its a situation when youll

usually opt for syncing two or more bits or gear together

so they lock together by tempo and, when required,

playback positions. Our Sync Between Two Machines

walkthrough shows you how to sync two computers

running Live. This can be done via 5-pin MIDI cables if you

have the interfaces available, or

you can use an ethernet or

Wi-Fi based network. Well

show you the basics of making

a network function as a MIDI

interface for OSX as well, but

youll need additional software

to perform this task on Windows

and this is beyond the scope of this workshop. Help can be

found however at the following link http://www.tobias-

erichsen.de/software/rtpmidi/rtpmidi-tutorial.html. Just

download the rtpMIDI software which pretty much mirrors

the OSX interface and follow the instructions.

The final option is to use a manually-controlled form of

tempo sync which will really test your rhythm skills. Somepeople will use these manual syncing techniques to beat

match machines, but in most cases its reserved for

working with human performers whose timing can be

much more freeform. On the topic of sync again, the

quality of automatic tempo matching can vary depending

on the gear being used and the way they are hooked up.

Although Wi-Fi is the simplest method, its also

unpredictable and has a less than ideal performance

wed only use this when caught short of other options in

rehearsals or the studio. Working with 5-pin MIDI has

worked fine for us so far and the best results come from

running both computers from an external MIDI clock. But

this is an additional investment, so wed only recommend

going down this route if you are not satisfied with the

results using the techniques discussed. If youre new to

the world of sync, try out Wi-Fi first as it comes at no cost

you can then explore the finer syncs in life! MT

Power

SeriesPart 9

Collaboration inAbleton Live

On the discn the disc

Accompanyingproject file included

on the DVD

So much can be done with one computer these days that you can forgetthat other humans are around to collaborate with.Liam OMullanesharesvarious ways to get social with Live

FOCUS ON MANUAL SYNCAs automatic sync can be less than ideal in certain situations, there may be timeswhen youd just prefer to manually beat match with another Live user just like a DJwould beat-match one record to mix at the same tempo with another. If youre jammingwith other musicians who are playing without a metronome, you may also need tomanually sync to their current tempo to take advantage of Lives tempo syncd effects,or to capture a recorded loop on the fly. The main way manual beat-matching of Live toanother electronic source differs to working with more freeform tempos is that youllhave to micro manage your tempo for the latter, whereas electronic source workwill be more of a set and forget situation.

When matching to another Live user, the simplestoption is to run at the same BPM and after launching thesecond computer to sync with the first, use the forwardsand backwards nudge buttons to perfectly align bothcomputers. These are located to the right of Lives temporeadout and can be mapped to MIDI for easy control in alive situation.

When you want to try and sync with someone elses tempo which isnt known, thefirst option to try is the Tap Temp (TAP) button to roughly set Live to the correct BPM.This alone will be enough to use tempo-based effects if youre using Live as a creativemixing device. If you want to run Live to launch clips in time with the other performersthen youll need to either then take over in terms of tempo by introducing somethingwith a beat for them to follow, or you could capture part of their performance toloop via recording a clip in Session View or using LivesLooper device.

to perform this task on indows

Ableton Live Become a Live Power User

or to capture a recorded loop on the fly. The main way manual beat-matching of Live to

another electronic source differs to working with more freeform tempos is that youll

have to micro manage your tempo for the latter whereas electronic source work

loop via recording a clip in Session View or using Lives

Looper device.

Itgets betterwhen two of youcan jam out ideas with one of youtakingan engineering role

MTTechnique Collaboration in Ableton Live

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MTStep-by-Step Sync between two machines

01 Regardless of how youre connecting up your MIDI data from onecomputer to another, the basic set-up of routing MIDI clock fromthe master computer to the slave is the same for running between twoinstances of Live. Open Preferences on the master computer andselect the MIDI Sync tab. The data will control the slave so enable Syncfrom the Output of the MIDI port connected to the slave.

02 The slave is set up in the opposite way so, under its MIDI Syncpreferences, Enable Sync for the MIDI input to receive the MIDIclock data from the master. The Clock Sync Delay allows you to offsetthe timing of the slave so it can be aligned with the master. Playing themetronomes on both makes it easy to judge when youve got the timingright, using a loop like a breakbeat to make it easier to hear.

03Two different types of MIDI clock can be chosen for the output:Song will give out the tempo along with a current position in theArrangement View. Pattern gives out tempo and beats which meanschanging your playback position on the master wont affect the slave.Use Song mode so you can move around an arrangement on bothcomputers. Use locators from the Create menu for easier launching.

05MIDI information will appear in Live when using a 5-pin cable, butyoull need to set up MIDI when using Wi-Fi or ethernet. Go toApplications/Utilities Audio MIDI Set Up. Select Show MIDI Window.Double-click the Network box for the MIDI Network Set-up windowand click the plus icon under My Sessions. Enable this session in thetop right, then repeat the process on the slave computer.

04 The master computer should have an on-the-beat light flash inthe Sync Out indicator. Then after enabling the EXT button on theslave, its Sync In indicator should flash when pressing play on themaster. Now your two computers should sync. It takes a few secondsto truly lock together, so sync playback first with no clips playing, thenlaunch your first clips in unison for a clean sounding start.

06 When the slave is ready, you can connect to it from the Directorywindow of the master. Youll know when they are connected asthe computer will appear in the Participants window to the right. Thelatency can be adjusted from here as well but its slightly limited asyou have to enter numeric values rather than having the option to clickand drag for easier control like in Live.

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MTStep-by-Step Live jamming and processing

01 If youre in sync with other people either through a manual orautomated sync set-up, you will be able to take advantage ofLives tempo syncd Session View and Devices. The first level abovesimply cueing clips in Session View is to capture someones elsesaudio as one or more clips to play with. To do this, first create a newAudio Track and name it to be relevant to the source it will record.

02 Set up this audio channel to record the correct input from the In/Out settings which you can reveal from the View menu. If youdont want to hear this input signal until youve recorded it into a clip,set Monitor to off. But if youre using Live as a mixer youll need to setthe Monitor to Auto so the live input is always heard until a clip isrecorded and then played which then overrides that input.

03When recording external sounds, capture a sequence and thenmodify it. The other option is to record the sound across a fewclip slots so you can then immediately re-work it to creatively triggerthem. To trigger the slots quickly youll need to set the GlobalQuantization setting to a higher resolution like 1/4 and then hit recordon each clip slot one after the other running downwards.

05If you need to rehearse before everyone hears it, you can useLives Cue function. Set an output on your interface for the cueoutput. Then click the Solo mode button to turn it into Cue mode. Nowpress the headphone icon for the track you want to preview anddisable the tracks Activator button so its muted from the main masteroutput until youre ready to play your work to the world.

04 Another way to re-work a freshly captured piece of audio is to usetime manipulation device effects like Beat Repeat. In the AudioEffects library folder, under Performance and DJ, the Knob 1 SuperLooper is a great device for controlling loop length with a single dial. Thedefault Live library doesnt have a great range of performance tools likethis so its worth searching online for devices other people have made.

06 If you are using Live as a mixer you can be part of a jam byprocessing effects in real time. EQs, compressors etc can be leftto their static settings, but Auto Filters, Auto Panner, Redux and delaysare all great tools to manipulate on someone elses sound. If you wantto capture these for use later, set the Monitor to In so the live input isalways heard while you record in the background.

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Mixing isa process thatcan happen inone or

twostages of themusicproduction process.

The first stage iscreative andcomposition

based,where peoplemaymixas they go.

Here theyll solelyconcentrateonmixingas

thetrackcomes togetherwith possiblya separate

tweaking stageat theend.

Thesecondstage is after thecomposition iscomplete

and sounds are inplace,to thenmixwitha subjective

outlook.Somepeoplewill ignoremajormixdecisions until

thisstage as itgives themthemostmix options as

possiblewhilethey only have theirmixengineering hats on.

Althoughmixinghas creative sounddesignaspects,it also

hasmanypractical tasksandassessments that need tobe

carried out.Withyour creativehaton,youcanfindthis

difficult todo,so ifyou stoptotakecareof thesematters,

it canhave a negative affecton your creativeworkflow.So

there is a good reasontoseparate these twomixing

processes if you can.

To help commit to this separation, its worth rendering

out all of your tracks tonewaudio.Thishelps you decide

when youre truly ready tomix,whilealso removing the

temptation to tamperwith compositional aspectsduring

themixingstage.Rendering outyour audioalso frees up

computer resourceswhichmeansmore processing power

for plug-ins.Finally, if you intend tosendyourworkout to

bemixedbyan engineer, this processwill createfiles that

theycan use.

To export your projects tracksto new individual audio

files,highlight thedurationof thewholesong and then

selectExportAudio/Video from theFile menu.This opens

upa large range ofoptions andwerecommendyou remainat Lives nativebit-depth of 32-bits,and stay at thesame

samplerate youre working at.The samplerate youre

currently using issignifiedbyhavinga small speaker icon

next to it.The onlyother option thatneedsconfiguring for

this task is theRenderedTrackmenu(all other options

should be disabled).Select IndividualTracksfor rendering

andthenselecta new, clean,mix projectfolder toput

them inafter clicking theExportbutton.Youwill nowhave

a new file for everytrack which can be imported intoa new

project.Until next time,happymixingMT

Power

SeriesPart10

Mixingtoolsandtechniques

Onthedisc

Accompanyingprojectfileincluded

onthe VD

Whenitcomestomixing,Liveoffersbothclassicandcontemporarymixingtoolsforavarietyofsonicoptions.LiamOMullanewalksyouthroughhismainchoicesofdevicesandeditingtoolstomakeyourmixesshine

FOCUSONEXPANDING YOUR GO O TOOLS

Thelibrary ofaudio effects in Livesbrowseroffersa goodrangeof funct onalandcreative mixing tools tochoosefrom.EQ Eight andCompressor/Glue Compressorarethemostobviouschoices forfrequencyand dynamicscontrol,but there aremanyother devicesw ichare worth exploring forfrequentmixing tasks.

Alt oughyou canuse a low-and igh-cutEQ tobracket a soundsfrequency rangeusingan EQEight,a Cabinet dev cecanac ievea similar effectwithmuchmore addedcharacter.Thisis partially dueto itsnarrowerfrequencybandwidththatcreatesatelep one ikeeffect.Butthisca bebalanced wit t e orig nal s gnal usingthedry/we control toreturna sense offidelity.The ra geof thebandwidt estric ion,orbrac et, sselecte throughthe spea er setting.Transientsmear ng isat itsmosaffect vewhen you se ect a dyna icmicfromt emicropho elist andexp ore its posit o .

Cabi etad sa elementoynamic controlas partof its

processingas wel ,bu otheroptions ikeSaturatorand Dyna icTube evcescandothisw i eof eri g a di feren character. seacareful balanceo drive andout ut

youcaneit ergoforaully-processe an clippedsoun ,

orbalancet edry/wetamount orabalanceo t eorigina signa tore a nsome ynamics.

Re uxsBitReducto ca beusedtored ce a soun s ynamic range,but itwi l

createadir ,lo-fic aracteristic.T isca beusef l org v ngo eor wosoundsdisti ctto e ofthe rowni the ix.Harmonicscanalsobe intro ucedusi g

Downsample when set o se tsSof mode.Usea verys allamountto ntroduceagl ss so ndingtop-en ford l sou ds.

Wh tevertool end up e ngyourfavo rites,savesome time ndc eateaefa ltprocessingc a nby Rig PC]/ Ctr Mac]+ c i i go atracksname. ere

youcansave de u openngstate orfuture e IDIora di tr c s.A terloa i ginyo rpre erredm x-too s o track,se ec S v AsDe u IDIorA io rarespe t vely. o al newtrac s wi l e reatedwit t ischai of

ev ce pre- oaded.

Ableton Live BecomeaLivePowerUser

Itisagoodideatotryandseparateyourmixingstagefromyourcreativestage

MTTechniqueMixingtoolsandtechniques

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MTStep-by-Step Advancedanduniqueprocessing

01 AnOverdrivedeviceisuseful forthickeningup theharmoniccontentofa sound.First,find theright frequencyareaandwidth

of focususing thedevices bandpassfilter.Then controlthe densityofdistortionusingdriveanditsbrightnessusingtone.Finally,compressthesignalas required using thedynamicamount,then dry/wetcanblend theprocessedsignalto taste.

02 Anotheroptionforthickeningup specific frequenciesis theVinylDistortionDevice.Thetracingmodel graphcanbeusedinmuch

the samewayasthe bandpassfilteron anoverdrivedevice. Its thepinchgraphbelowwherethingsgetinterestingas harmonicsaredistributedacrossthe stereoplane,making itusefulforalsoenhancing itsstereowidth.

03 Wediscussedsettingup midandside processingusingAudioRacks inPart5 ofthisseries.Thissimpleprocessletsyouadd

different processingto themiddle(mono)andsides (stereodifference)for a higher level ofcontrol.To get usedtohow thesesound,aftersetting-up,solo each oneandplaywith their respectivebalancetohearwhichpartof thesoundeachchainrepresents.

05 Anothergoodplace toconsiderprocessingmidandsidesignalsontheir ownisforambienceeffects.Tryusingadifferent reverb

device,orMaxForLive ConvolutionReverboneach signalwith uniquesettings.Thiscreates amuchdeeperandengaging ambiencesoundfield.A shorterdecaytimeonthemiddleandlongeron the sideworkswell foranenhancedsense ofstereospread.

04 Ifyouhavea stereosignal,a goodwaytoenhance howstereoitsoundsis tocompressboththemidandsidesofthesignal

separately.Thisway youcan reducethedynamic rangeofthesidessothestereo aspectofthesignalis moreconsistent involume.Raisingthelevelofthesideswill thenmake thesoundmorestereothanmono.

06 Lives Vocoderdevicecanfunction asanoisebasedexciter.Withthecarrier settonoise,thereverb-likenoiseeffectcanhave itsdecaytime alteredusingtherelease value.After setting thedeviceto40Bandsfor thebestfidelity alongwith amaximumfrequencyrange,explore the depthand formantcontrolsto tune its noise tobestsuitthesourcesoundandEQit totaste drawing intothefilter bank.

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MAGAZINE June2014| 57


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> Step by step3. Programming a drum n bass beat in Ableton Live

Launch Live and press the Tabkey to switch from Session to

Arrangement view. We dont need to use the default setups audiotracks, so select them all and press Backspaceto get rid of them. Enter

174 into the tempo ield at the top left-hand corner of the interface.1

Drag over bar 5 on the MIDI track and press Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+Mto

create a MIDI clip, then Ctrl/Cmd+Lto loop the region. Double-

click the MIDI clip to bring up the MIDI editor.3

In the Tutorial Files/Drum programming essentials/

Programming a DnB beat in Ableton Livefolder youll ind someDnB-ready drum sounds. Select the irst MIDI track and dragKick.wav

into the empty device chain pane at the bottom of the interface to

automatically create a Simpler instrument that we can trigger via MIDI

to play back the sound.

2

Double-click C3 on the irst beat of the bar, and drag the right-hand

side of the note created so that it runs to 1.1.2 this may not be

visible depending on your zoom level, but its half way between the

start of the irst beat and 1.1.3. Create another beat of the same length

starting on 1.3.3. When combined with a snare on beats 2 and 4, this

creates a 2-step pattern.

4

Double-click the title of the second MIDI track to select it, and thistime drag Snare 1.wavonto the channel strip. Add hits on 1.2and

1.4that last until 1.2.3and 1.4.3, as shown. This kind of kick-and-snare

rhythm is the foundation of most DnB beats, but it needs the addition

of a few more elements to make it fuller and faster.

5Press Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+Tto create a new MIDI track. Drag Hat.wavonto it to call up a Simpler instrument, and create a new MIDI part .

Put a short note on the irst beat of the bar that lasts until 1.1.1, then

press Ctrl/Cmd+4to turn of snap to grid.6

12 / COMPUTER MUSIC SPECIAL

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Duplicate the two-bar section out three times to make an eight-bar

sequence. Add a new MIDI track and drag Ride cymbal.wavontoit. Create a new one-bar-long MIDI clip at the start of the second half of

the sequence and trigger the ride cymbal sound on eighth-notes. Turn

the Track Volumedown to-9dB.13

Grouping the tracks enables us to edit them as a single entity.

Zoom in on the bar before the ride begins, then drag over the sixth

eighth-note on the group track and delete it. Highlight the ifth eighth-

note and duplicate it.15

Drag the right-hand side of the clip out so that it lasts until the end

of the sequence. To make the transition between the sectionsmore exciting, lets create a ill. Select the kick and ride tracks (hold

Shift) and press Ctrl/Cmd+Gto group them.14

This creates a fairly subtle variation on the beat that indicates to

the listener that something is about to happen. Another useful tool

for accenting particular parts of a beat is the crash cymbal. Create a

new MIDI track, drag Crash.wavonto it and trigger a single note at the

start of the ride section lasting for an entire bar so that the whole

sound can play. (Audio: DnB beat.wav)

16

> Step by step3. Programming a drum n bass beat in Ableton Live (continued)

In these walkthroughs, weve focused purely

on sequencing drum sounds rather than

processing them. The resulting beats might

be relatively simple, but theyre solid-

sounding and consistent with what you might

expect from their respective genres. An

important element of this is sound selection.

For each tutorial weve speciied that you use

a particular set of sounds, and its easy to

hear how diferently things can turn out just

load the EXS24 or HALion Sonic SE with a

diferent kit after youve programmed the

beat. Sometimes the results will be

interesting (for example, the Goa Remix kit

makes a surprisingly cool substitute for the

EXS 808 one), but more often than not they

will be less than satisfying.

Trying to make a particular style of beat

without the right sounds is often frustrating,

and it takes time to learn what kinds of

sounds work in any particular context. It can

be tempting for new producers to always pick

the biggest, baddest-sounding sample or kit,

and then make it sound even more extreme

by heavily processing

it in ill-advised ways. If

you ind yourself

falling into this trap,

practice your beat

programming with

the pre-programmed

kits from sample

packs or your DAWs

included library. These will ofer a sonic

consistency that makes it easier to

concentrate on learning how to use each

sound and the tricks that you can achieve

with variations in velocity and timing.

Once youve got to grips with creating

beats using preset kits, you can take things to

the next level by selecting each sound

individually and processing it. Get your hands

on high-quality versions of tracks that you

consider to have decent beats preferably

ones where the beat plays on its own during

the intro or outro and load them into your

DAW, where you can loop the relevant

sections and study them more easily.

Pick and mix

Practice your beat programming

with the pre-programmed kits

from sample packs


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Percussion is a prime candidate for the extreme application of

efects. Take our conga part, for example. Its pretty groovy as it is,

but adding an Auto Filter set to a 2-beat LFO cycle gives it even morerhythmic motion. A compressor is called for next in the chain, though,

as the movement of the ilter introduces some serious volume

variation. (Audio: Conga ilter)1

Lives Beat Repeat is a glitch plug-in to be reckoned with, and its

worth trying on all manner of material (non-Live users could

substitute Smartelectronix Supatrigga or Livecut). Were not sure what

wed use our processed triangle part for, but wed imagine the

adventurous electronica producer could get some mileage out of it.

(Audio: Triangle Beat Repeat)

3

Slowing our agogo bells down to 70bpmand treating them to

some ping-pong delay creates an ethereal, monastic-sounding

pattern. Lives timestretch algorithm introduces a weird sucking efectto the dry signal, while the delays ill the stereo ield. Transient-style

algorithms are best for percussion, but i ts always worth trying others,

of course. (Audio: Agogos delay)2

We reverse our cabasa part, and its more-or-less symmetrical

attack/decay envelope means it still sounds quite cabasa-ish when

played backwards (but with percussion that has a tail, such as congas,

the diference can be dramatic try it!). We then go modulation mental,

inserting chorus and tempo-synced langer plug-ins. Much more

interesting. (Audio: Cabasa modulated)

4

> Step by step3. Creative percussion processing

To inish, we treat the timbales with Softdownsampling (good for

introducing extra treble frequencies), modulated frequency

shifting (unlike pitchshifting, this shifts low frequencies more than

high ones, so it s also great for retuning percussion) and a Filter Delay,

which transforms our rather thin solo timbale part into an enthusiastic

trio. (Audio: Timbales bonkers)

5

AUTOMATION SITUATION

When automating efects plugins on

percussion tracks, its essential that any

movements are kept in line with the rhythm

being played, unless youre after

deliberately of-kilter timings. Equally, setting

LFOs and delay times to sync with your

DAWs project tempo is usually the way to

go. However, none of the above necessarily

applies to single-hit spot percussion.

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The hi-hat is a bit too loud, so turn it down to -10dB. Next, unmute

the ride channel. This is clearly way, way too loud, so turn it downto -24dB. Add an EQ Eight, and use a 12dBlow-cut ilter set to 2.9kHz

to tame its lows. This lets the rides mid character through, but stops it

from clogging up the mix so much.7

This spreads the ride across the stereo panorama, but the default

settings are far too extreme for our purposes. Turn the Feedback

down to 0.55, then set the Amountto 45%and Dry/Wetto 60%. This

stops the Flanger efect from being so obvious, but still provides the

stereo feel were after. (Audio: Stereo ride)

9

We can see from the ride channels level meter that the part is in

mono. Earlier, we put our fundamental sounds the kick and snare irmly in the middle of the mix. Less solid sounds like rides can be

moved to the side signal to give the sounds in the middle more room

to breathe. Add Lives Flanger efect to the ride channel.8

The beat is starting to take shape, but it still lacks character. A good

way to give a DnB beat a more organic sound is to add a breakbeat.

Theres one among our tracks, but lets see how far we can take our

one-shot sounds before we resort to using it. Lets add some snare to

the reverb turn the Send A level on the snare track up to -10dB.

10

> Step by step1. Mixing a full-on DnB beat in Ableton Live (continued)

The addition of reverb makes the snare and indeed the wholebeat start to sound a lot more natural and polished. Lives default

reverb send settings arent perfect for this sound, so bring up the

Reverb efect on the Send A channel and set the Decay Timeto 2.25s.11

This gets the reverb closer to the sound were after, but the tail istoo long. Add a Gate after the Reverb and set its Thresholdto

-45dB. Because this parameter is volume-dependent, adjusting the

send level will change how it responds. Therefore, the most practical

way to control the level of the reverb now is to use a Utility e fect.

12


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Add a Utility after the Gate and set its Gainto -5dB, then use an EQ

Eight to low-cut the signal at 2.5kHz. Now, lets simulate anoverhead mic to get a more cohesive, organic sound for the whole kit .

Add all of the tracks apart from Angry Break to a group. Delete the

default Simple Delay efect on the Send B track, and add Overdrive,

Reverb and EQ Eight efects.

13

Unsolo the send. Now weve got a decent sound out of our one-

shots, lets try adding the break to the mix. Angry Break is very

loud, so turn it down to -20dBbefore unmuting it. The break has lots of

rumbling lows, so use EQ Eight to low-cut it at 220Hz. We can get a

cleaner sound if we sidechain the break with the kick and snare.

15

Set the Overdrive Driveto 87%, the Reverb Decay Timeto 410ms

and the Dry/Wetto 100%, and use the EQ Eight to low-cut at1.5kHz. Turn the drum groups Send B level up to -18dB. Solo the Send

B return channel to take a listen to what this adds it s just a smeared,

dirty reverb with no lows, but it helps the drums sound more authentic.

(Audio: Overhead simulation)

14

Add a Compressor to the Angry Break channel, and set its

sidechain input to the k ick channel. Turn the Thresholddown to

-19.5dBand set the Releasetime to 12ms. Duplicate the efect and set

the new instances Source to the snare track. Set the Thresholdto -1dB

and the Ratioto inf:1. (Audio: DnB beat)

16

In this walkthrough, weve used the

technique of placing the kick and snare dead

centre in the mix by reducing their stereo

width, and having the ride sit out on the

edges of the stereo panorama by running it

through a langer. We call this kind of trickery

mid/side processing, and understanding it is

pretty much essential for getting

contemporary-sounding drum mixes.

How does mid/side work? Usually, we think

about a stereo signal in terms of left and right

channels. We can encode both channels into

a mid signal (the information thats present in

both the left and right channels, and thus

what you hear at the centre of the mix) and a

sides signal (the diference between the left

and right channels, and what you hear at the

very edges of the stereo panorama). In

mathematical terms, we can express this as

Mid=Left+Right, and Side=Left-Right, but a

more practical way to get your head round it

is to download Voxengos excellent freeware

mid/side encoder MSED (www.voxengo.

com). Create an audio track in your DAW, put

a piece of music that you think has a good

mixdown on it, add MSED as an insert efect,

and try muting the sides signal. The sound

will go into mono. Then unmute the sides

signal and mute the mid signal youll hear

that the mono signal disappears, leaving just

the sides.

The advantage of dividing drum sounds

between the mid and sides signals is that it

gives us more headroom to work with. When

we use langing to make the ride stereo, it

reduces its presence in the mid signal,

making our kick and snare both sound

clearer and thus allowing us to turn them up.

By studying the mid/side proiles of great-

sounding mixes with MSED (or other width

control efects such as Lives Utility), you can

get clues as to how to use the mid/side

technique in your own tracks which should

help you to produce bigger and better-

sounding drum tracks and mixdowns.

Making the most of mid/side technique

Voxengo MSED is a fantastic freeware plugin for

exploring the mid/side technique

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F

or electronic musicians, piano keys, pads, and buttons work

perfectly well for triggering notes and turning things on and off,

and we have knobs to let us incrementally change values like

reverb or delay levels 1. But thats not always enough

sometimes we want controls that expand the interface, to give us

different types of expression and articulation, responding to

movements we make with hands, arms, or our entire body if necessary.

Lets get physicalIt makes perfect sense if you look at more established instruments, they

usually have something that adds a little flourish to the basic sound. A piano

has pedals, a guitars strings give you a whole catalogue of bends and slides

(never mind the fact that it might also have a tremolo arm), Hammond organs

have their drawbars, Wurlitzer electric pianos have tremolo controls, and

of course synths and keyboard controllers have their pitch and modulation

wheels. Thats enough examples, you get the idea just turning things on

and off isnt enough.

We can use other tactics and change settings inside our software

instruments, such as velocity sensitivity, portamento 2 and aftertouch, but we

still want more physical ways of affecting what we play and how it sounds. With

hardware synthesizers there have been many attempts to provide different ways

of interaction, as the needs of electronically-based musicians departed further

from the traditional demands of players: joysticks (like on the Sequential

Circuits Prophet VS even the rack-mount version has the joystick, which

might be annoying), ribbon controllers (as I used to enjoy on the lovely old

Yamaha SU700 hardware sampler 3 and by the way, you can buy standalone

ribbon controllers such as the Doepfer R2M if you really want to add one to

your set-up), theremin type devices like the Alesis AirSynth, and the Roland

D-Beam deployed on the classic MC-505 groovebox, as well as on their AX-7

and AX-09 keytar style synths. All of these were, or are, cool in different ways,

and they still work! Here Im focused on these other types of input device, and

how we can get some of that action for our MIDI control set-ups.

Take controlWhat were the first similar interfaces for computers, designed to work with

software instead of hardware, to give us some of that gesture control?

Collectively, we turned on to game controllers quite early; the great thing about

them is that there are so many of them

around. Theyre cheap and available, and

there are lots of brave people who have

already done the dirty work of getting them

to function with Mac OS X or Windows. The

Guitar Hero and Rock Band guitars anddrum kits work very well with Live, but to

me the Nintendo Wii Remote Control 4,

the Wiimote, is the archetypal game input

device that works brilliantly for music

production and performance, in a way that

most other controllers dont. It has several

buttons, the d-pad on the top, and the

all-important x-y-x orientation, each of

which can be assigned to a separate MIDI

CC message. If you add the Nunchuk

accessory, which plugs into the bottom of

the Wiimote, and takes its power from it,

then youve got more buttons, a little

joystick, and another set of x-y-x orientationcontrols too much information!

The Wiimote is a great controller for

synths, for example if you use it as a basic

type of theremin controller for Operator 5,

using the buttons to turn the Filter and LFO

on and off, and using the left/right rotation

for volume, and up/down tilts for pitch. An

obvious use for the Nunchuk is for effect

control, while the main unit is dealing with

the instrument; the Nunchuk has worked

very well for me with effect devices like

Auto Filter and Beat Repeat 6. The

Wiimote is incredibly sensitive, and watch

out, because it can be a bit of a handful if

you assign too many parameters to the

orientation; it keeps sending all the time,

even when you put it down, so its essential

to plan for an off button in your set-up!

More recently, the game control scene

is still healthy, with Kinect from Microsoft

taking broad-gesture control a little bit more mainstream, although its not as

usable in every day situations as the more console-like hand-held devices.

There are also controllers that arent game controllers, but have been designed

to evoke that old-school vibe while being functionally more suited for live

performance and for MIDI set-ups the MIDI Fighter from DJ Tech Tools

(www.midifighter.com) is probably the best example of this.

UseYourComputers TrackpadYour trackpad is a control surface that lets youswipe and click and (in many cases certainlywith the MacBook) recognises hand gesturesaccording to direction and number of fingers.The simplest way to use it with Live is to apply itto the XY area that appears in most of Livesaudio effect devices. Click and hold it down atthe left corner with your left hand so it staysclicked, and swipe around with your right hand.

Beam me upMoving to the other extreme in terms of cost and complexity, we have the

Sound Beam. This is a system of hardware focused on a brain that connects to

a computer via USB, then uses a set of up to four sensors, usually arranged in a

Ableton LiveGestureBasedControlHardware controllers that you can wiggle, swipe,stroke and squeeze and some you dont have totouch at all.Martin Delaneygets shakin as heexplores some of the ways to get gesture control

TheExpert

MartinDelaney,

Performer,Producer

Artist and

instructor,

Martin, aka

mindlobster,

has produced Live

training material and

was one of the UKs

first certified Ableton

Live trainers.

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Controller Apps

>

Take Control

>

Lets Get Physical

>

VIDEOONTHEDVD

WatchthetutorialmovieontheDVD

4

2

1

9

5

7

3

6

8

Beam Me Up

>

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circle, to detect body movements. Up

to four foot switches can be added. A

full set-up will cost you around

4,000 but it is a very unique way of

working, equally popular with dance

groups, performance artists, andorganisations for people with physical

disabilities (www.soundbeam.co.uk).

This is gesture control on a big scale;

youll be waving your arms about

more than your fingers!

A joystick-style device I havent

had the chance to try yet is the 3D

Space Navigator (www.3dconnexion.

com) 7. This expands on the basic

joystick concept, bringing with it

user-assignable buttons and on one

model a screen as well. Its expensive

though, and I would guess it takes

some work to get functioning withmusic software. It doesnt advertise

any compatibility at the outset youd have to use something like OSCulator to

get it talking (www.osculator.net).

Theres Always Lemur iOSLiines Lemur is incredibly usable as a controllerfor Live, not to mention any other MIDI/OSC-friendly applications and hardware. Lemur on aniPad should be a candidate for your desert-islandcontroller, if you have to choose only one. Itdoesnt offer the same physicality or gamecontroller-like vibe you can get from some of theother gadgets were talking about here, but it hasenough interface objects to keep you swipingthat screen all day long.

Controller appsiOS apps like Lemur 8 give you bouncing balls and all kinds of other

swipeable interfaces, and apps like MIDI Designer let you assign MIDI CCs to

your iOS devices accelerometer, so you really can gesture with your iPhone as

part of your performance. IK Multimedias iRing gadget currently only works

with iOS devices, and doesnt talk to DAWs running on a Mac or PC, but

hopefully the time will come 9!

The most everyman gesture controller that works with music applications

without hacking is Leap Motion (www.leapmotion.com). This is a cheap device

that you can buy on almost any high street. Its availability is probably related to

its flexibility instead of being limited to a few basic functions, or tied to

certain apps, Leap Motion has its own online store, Airspace, where you

purchase apps to add the desired functionality. Have a look at our walkthrough

for the basic steps in setting up Leap Motion.

Push itAbletons Push includes a control strip, and I was happy to see this, being a

fan of those Yamaha hardware samplers I mentioned earlier. As things stand,

however, the control strip options are limited when Push is in drum rack

mode, the strip merely navigates up and down through the available pads in the

rack, and when its in note mode, the strip acts as a pitch bend, or more

specifically, like a pitch wheel, returning to the original pitch at the centre of

the strip when you release it. If you want to assign it to anything else, you can

enter User Mode, and then the strip sends a MIDI CC, which you can assign to

anything using Lives MIDI Map Mode. When you exit User Mode, the strip

doesnt retain your mapping you have to return to User Mode to use your

assignment, which is not ideal.

You can get a more useful expansion of Pushs control strip

if you use a software instrument that lets you assign incoming

pitch information to another parameter Operator will do this!

If you have Push around, and Operator installed, try it (if you

havent got either of those, you can still fake it with a regular

MIDI keyboards pitch wheel, and any instrument plug-in that

does the pitch remapping). Open Live and load Operator (we

also have an Operator track already configured for Push in our

example Live set). Click on Operators Global Shell, at the

bottom right of the display, where it shows controls for Time,

Tone, and Volume. The central display now updates to show

Operators global settings, including Pitch Bend. To the right of

that is a Pitch value setting, which defaults to +5 st

(semitones); set that to 0. This tells Operator to ignore the

pitch bend information, so when you swipe the control strip,

Operators pitch is unaffected. Now, next to the Pitch Bend

setting, click and youll see a list of every parameter inOperator that pitch bend can be reassigned to. For our example

set choose F Freq (filter frequency), and set the pitch bend

amount next to it to 100%. Note that you can also set this to a

minus value, which would invert the way the strip works.

TheNintendoWiiRemoteControlI think of the Wiimote as

a classic MIDI controller,

game device or not. Its

powerful, portable, and

cheap. Its easy to set up,

as well pair it via

Bluetooth and then use

a helper application

such as OSCulator to

configure the controls.

Unquestionably one

of the best synth

controllers around.

TheSkoogThe unique Skoog is

primarily a musical toy/

interface for users with

disabilities that might

otherwise stop them from

enjoying an instrument.

Based around a bunch of

pressure sensors with an

accelerometer, contained

within an almost

bombproof rubber casing,

it connects through USB

and uses an intermediate

application to send MIDI.

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HowToControl

Live UsingLeapMotionIts not air guitar, its more airfinger. Use Leap Motion and acouple of apps to control Live

02 >Configure Geco in MIDI Preferences, for

Track and Remote inputs. We have anexample Live set ready if you have a Leap

Motion open it now. Track 1 Beats contains

audio clips, Track 2 Simpler contains an

instrument preset. Track 3, Push, is an

Operator preset for use with Pushs control

strip; ignore that for now.

04 >Use the left hand for Track 1 and the right

hand for Track 2. Assign CCs from 1

upwards, to these gestures: 1) left hand

present fingers spread; 2) left hand present

fingers closed; 3) left hand roll; 4) right hand

closed up/down; 5) right hand closed roll.

The gestures have solo switches, so you can

send CCs individually.

03 >In Geco, moving representations of your

hands appear as you move them over the

Leap Motion. The bottom of the screen

displays hand icons, and settings for each

recognised gesture. Reading across from the

column at the left, youll see that you can

assign MIDI channels, CCs, and other more

advanced settings to each individual gesture.

01 >Youll need a Leap Motion, and youll alsoneed to buy the Geco MIDI application, whichcosts 7.99 (there are others available,including Aeromidi, which costs 23.99 each specialises in different functions, soyou might want to get both). Connect the LeapMotion via USB, launch Geco from inside theAirspace application and launch Live.

05Assign the CCs like this: 1) scene launch;2) track 1 filter on/off; 3) track 1 filterresonance and frequency (map it twice);4) Simpler pitch; 5) Simpler volume. Try itwith Live your left hand launches scenes andcontrols Track 1s filter, and your right willcontrol Simplers volume and pitch!

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12 mastering tips

60 / COMPUTER MUSIC / January 2015

> make music now / modern mastering

DOES IT CANCEL OUT?

Use sum diference testing (also known as a

null test) to hear if a plugin is passive. Get to

know which plugins add gain boosts or

frequency changes in their default state.

John Paul Braddock discusses: Many plugins

will actually apply a tonal or level change

even before any settings are dialled in. Ive

noticed that, after analysing several types ofplugins, youll load up a plugin with no

processing, but the actual output might be

louder. Perhaps those plugin manufacturers

know what we now know that louder

sounds better or maybe thats just a side

efect of the plugins design. The important

thing is that you analyse the tools youre

using, and dont make assumptions. Be

critically aware of your own tools.

REFERENCE WITH EQUALITY

Remember to compare your inal processed

master with the unprocessed session mix at

equal level to see if youve actually achieved

the outcome you intended. If not, dont be

afraid to start again from scratch.

HANDSOFF MIXING

Weve gotta say it again Dont expect mixproblems to be solved at the mastering stage!

EQ clashes, dynamic issues and other errors

are all best addressed from within the mix

project. If youre applying drastic amounts of

processing, revisit your mix or if youre

mastering for someone else, explain the

issues and see if they can remix.

KEEP IT FRESH

Dont over-listen to a track! John Paul Braddock

explains: What I dont want to do is to listen

all the way through the track for six minutes,

because as soon as Ive done that, Ive got

used to how it sounds, rather than being

objective. Its crucial that we dont spend too

much time listening to the music. This mightsound counter-intuitive, but were not mixing

it any more. Were not trying to listen to the

detail; were trying to get an overview to

sample the overall tone of the song.

CONSIDER IT

Once youre ready to master a track, dont

just dive in and start processing. The aim is to

gently improve, not mix. Take a more

considered approach. Briely compare the

mix to a reference track at equal level, plan

exactly what correction or enhancement the

mix needs, try it out, re-level, then evaluate.

ON THE KNOBS

Type in parameter values and use stepped

plugins (with ixed 0.5dB1dB notched

controls) where possible. Its easy to just

crank up a knob, but typing in values makes

you think about what youre entering. Stick to

0.5/1dB steps at a time, as half a dB will make

a signiicant diference when mastering.

MAKE IT UP

For transparency, try to use as few EQ or

excitement stages as possible. So, if a track

has too much bass and not enough treble, try

using a single broad shelf to cut bass, then

re-level by increasing the EQs makeup gain.

This will shift the tracks weight towards the

treble more naturally than two EQ bands.

STAGED LIMITING

Several gentle stages of limiting or

compression can help take the load of one

single plugin. For example, three limiters

with a gain reduction of 1dB might sound

more natural than a single 3dB limiting stage.

It depends on the plugins used, so give it a try,

and listen objectively.

MID/SIDE DIYA plugin with an unlinked left/right mode can

also be used to process in mid/side. Simply

load Voxengos free MSED on the channel and

set it to Encode. Now load your plugin after

MSED and unlink the left and right channels.

Place a second MSED last in the chain, and set

it to Decode. The left side of your plugin now

processes the mid (mono) part of your signal,

and the right afects the side (stereo).

MORE THAN AVERAGE

Regular downwards, full-band compression

can clamp down on peaks and transient

detail, ruining dynamics if not applied

carefully. If your track needs extra averageweight, consider blending it in through the

use of parallel compression you can bring

up the average level of your track while

keeping the detail intact.

COMPRESS GENTLY

A touch of downwards compression can pull

(or gel) the overall mix together, but keep

attack times slow so you gently clamp down

on the mixs sustain and not the transients. A

low ratio and around 12dB of gain reduction

should be all thats necessary.

LIMIT LAST

Many think of limiting and loudness as the

main staples of mastering, but this attitude

often leads to amateur results, lattened

mixes and distortion. Final peak limiting

should only be tackled when a tracks overall

tonal, dynamic and stereo balance are in

order. So leave limiting till last!Evaluate your mastering success by comparing your processed master with the unprocessed

version remember to set both tracks to equal loudness for a fair comparison

Try distributing a plugins workload over several stages for a potentially more transparent efect

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72

Technique |MIDI Effects

As MIDI is a collection of commands

sent between devices, we can easily

manipulate this data with dedicated

software tools before it reaches its

destination (usually a synth or sampler). Just

as a traditional audio effect plug-in takes an

audio signal and alters it in some way, a

MIDI effect receives MIDI information,

processes it in real time, then outputs the

result and, as with audio effects, it can be

tweaked, re-ordered and bypassed at will.

Musical assistantsMIDI data is synonymous with electronic

music performance, and we use a MIDI

keyboard to input musical notes into a

computer, so its no wonder that many MIDI

effect processors act as musical assistants.

A plug-in can instantly take in large amountsof MIDI notes, then funnel that data into

specific musical scales, effectively

preventing the entry of wrong notes. Chord

processors, triggered by only a single input

The invention of synth manufacturer

Dave Smith in the early 80s, MIDI

(Musical Instrument Digital

Interface) is the industry standard

data type sent back and forth between

various electronic musical instruments,

enabling devices to communicate trigger

messages and control signals relating to

musical notation, timing, level and more. Its

a standard protocol that youve almost

certainly used already whether its to

connect and control outboard gear, or totrigger software instruments with your MIDI

keyboard or DAWs piano roll and is still a

hugely important (and often misunderstood)

form of musical communication.

From speedy timing solutions to creativecompositional devices, MIDI processingtools are the overlooked weapons in yourplug-in arsenal. Learn how to correct,enhance and expand your performances

with our guide to MIDI effects


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MIDI Effects|Technique

1A variety of percussion and noise samples have been loaded into a

drum sampler. Weve programmed the samples MIDI notes on top of

each other this chord plays back all of the samples at the same time.

Touches of delay add character and rhythm.

3Changing the arpeggiators Rate parameter will speed up or slow down

the sequence, cycling through more or less of the percussion hits to

create different rhythmic patterns. Slower speeds mean less samples are

triggered; a rate of 1/16th gives us a rolling Techno-esque groove.

5By retriggering the sequence from the start (via the Retrigger section),

odd repetitions and interesting patterns can be discovered. Faster

settings create short loops for build-ups and rolls; 3/16ths and 3/8th

settings offer more interesting broken sequences.

2An arpeggiator divides up the individual notes of incoming chords into

a monophonic sequence. Live 9s Arpeggiator device is added before

the Drum Rack in the chain its listening to our stack of incoming MIDI

notes and triggering each sample in turn.

4The arpeggiators Offset value shifts the start note of the sequence,

changing the playback order of the percussion hits; in this context, this

can be used to choose the first sample in the pattern. Its now easy to try

out various rhythms and percussion combinations at the current speed.

6The various arpeggiator styles define note order, changing the feel of

the pattern. Gate shortens or lengthens each note lower values give a

stuttering feel. Get creative with quick pattern variation and improvisation

by sequencing percussion patterns on a single arpeggiator interface.

Generating Percussion PatternsWe all recognise 80s-style arpeggiated synth riffs, but modern MIDI devices cantake the concept much further. Lets take an unusual route to sequenced beats

Arpeggiators divide

up a chords notes

into a single stream

of ordered notes.

Once fixed within a

synthesizer, we can

ableton live tips and tricks part 3

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