Ableton Live Training

... from initial concept and ideas - through soundesign - mixing - and even mastering using our professional engineers. Along the way we will teach you specific techniques - many of them exclusive to Ableton live - and leave you with the knowledge and techniques to do it on your own.

The EDM Production course outline below is a guide : a tool to organize the approach. We modify it to fit your needs. Focus is on electronic music styles - but the most of the techniques are universal.

Because Ableton Live is such a flexible tool, we also teach DJ techniques and provide MIDI controller consulation techniques if your interest lies in those areas as well.

We recommend at least 12 weeks (three months) of instruction of at least once per week.

Please use our Contact page to discuss your situation and goals with us

Your Music  - and where you want to go

• What kind of music do you want to create? (ie: what you hear in your head)

Your Gear, Your Studio – setting it straight

• Choosing the right studio gear for that kind of music
• Get all of your hardware and software working right
• Get it configured to maximize your workflow
• Get your listening environment “good enough”
• Get your studio environment comfortable

Focus – the key to making progress

• Lack of focus will destroy you!
• .. and so will too much
• Why knowing a few things really well, is so much better than knowing almost nothing about 100 things

Organization – the key to unleashing your creativity

• Sample Library: how a great structure makes you more creative, and a bad one holds you back
• VST/AU Library:  Synth / Drums / Samplers / FX / and  MX ... and why this is equally crucial to get it right
• Project Library: setting priorities with your directory structure

Two Approaches – the two philosophies of getting results

• Using What You Find And Making It Work VS Creating What You Hear In Your Head
• How they are different and what that means for your music and workflow

I SOUND DESIGN- building your blocks

• the Musical Elements:  what they are
• Element Codes and Colors

II MIXING – sculpting sound space

• EQ basics
• Visualizing ‘sound space’ as a three dimensional cube
• Getting and refining 'The Mix' as you go along

III ARRANGING – telling a story, left to right

• How your Elements are like characters in a movie
• You are making one track … not every track at once
• Units of Measure 101

IV MASTERING – polishing it up

• What ‘mastering’ electronic music really means
• Why its not nearly as scary as some people think it is,  but more scary than you might like

• What makes Live so cool
• What is the Session View, and why is it so awesome
• Arrange View / Session view synergy
• MIDI Clip and Audio Clip 101
• Keyboard Shortcuts:  memorizing them is worth the work!
• Understanding Warp Markers:  make the grid fit your sound

• How setting your Session View backwards will make your mix better
• Setting up a killer template
• Tracks and Elements … and getting them in order from the start
• Naming Schemes things right, and keeping them that way easy
• the ‘RECORD Channel’ technique

Inserts and Sends – whats the difference

• How sound in your project is like a water flow (routing)

Filters – are everywhere

• Types of filters and why they keep popping up everywhere you look

EQ- principles

• Using EQ as a carving tool

Compression and Limiting

• Really understanding compression vs faking it
• If you still don’t understand it:  some great ways to fake it

Samples

• Transforming and sculpting them:  some cool techniques

Synths

• More about how focusing pays off in a big way
• Making complex synths easy: how they are all “the same but different”
• Oscillator types
• Filters (again)
• Envelopes and an easy way to “get” how they work
• How to make a preset do what you want

Drum Modules

• Getting a killer drum sound
• Loop Creation made easy
• Loop Destruction made easy
• Loop variations

Effects

• Mix (MX) effects VS Color (FX) effects
• Delays – cool groove techniques
• Gates – chopping stuff up
• Distortion (different kinds) – why Saturation rocks
• Reverb – making things sound big
• Maximizers – when they work,  and when they will wreck your mix
• 3D Effects – panning and making things huge

• Why working in Session View and forgetting Arrange for ‘as long as it takes’ is a really good idea
• Gathering sound:  the Shotgun Approach
• How working in the Session View is like fishing
• Clip Envelopes are your friend
• The Session Pyramid Technique
• Getting your groove, weeding stuff out, and knowing when you “got it”
• Bouncing VS Realtime:  the constant battle

• the Arrange View as an audio editor and why it rules
• Units of Measure 201
• Loop Construction / Deconstruction
• Using both Views to together to build your track
• Special techniques for refining your track before you arrange it

• How they work and how they unlock unique creative results
• Mapping sound design tricks – lots of them

• Arrange View as a different mindset
• Four Feelings - how to build emotion into your tracks
• Musical structures and how they suck people in (or not)
• Builds and Drops
• Painting out your foundation
• Editing made easy
• Using Markers well
• Using Envelopes well
• Using Envelopes to mix

• Remixing and mashing: a time honored tradition
• Respecting copyright
  
• the Rock Solid Warping Technique 101
  
• Breaking down your tracks
  
• Using the Pyramid Technique to work your concept
  
• Adding new elements and making them 'fit'
  
• Arranging your remix and editing techniques
  
• Special remixing mix considerations

• Units of measure revisited
• Digging in on the details vs Getting the Longview
• “Listening from all angles”
• Listening in different environments and how it will open your ears
• Rendering techniques

• Volume Maximization and Limiting
• Basic Mastering Techniques to make it sound “good enough”
• When to get somebody else to help and why its worth it to pay them