Using Return tracks can be a great way to add cohesion and help glue sounds together in the mix. Instead of having individual reverbs and saturators on channels, using one instance to process all of your tracks can also help save on CPU utilization. What happens though if you want to use sends and returns on an instance of Ableton's default instrument, Drum Rack? Ableton's … [Read more...] about Using Main Return Tracks with Drum Rack Sends
Ableton Workflow
Ableton Tips for Owning Your Loop Samples
With the rise of Splice, and more and more sample companies opting for releasing loop heavy packs, producers often find themselves in one of two predicaments: Either you think using loops is cheating and a waste of time. (Hello). Or you use loops but find that just dragging in the basic loop doesn't always add the pizazz to your track that you're looking for. We'll go over a … [Read more...] about Ableton Tips for Owning Your Loop Samples
Ableton 11 Groove Pool Tips and Workflow
If you're reading this, then chances are you're into music that fits a traditional fixed grid system, typically with 4x4 or broken beats, funky bass riffs, and other rhythmic fills. Typically in a 4/4 time signature, one bar of music is broken into four beats, and each of those four beats is broken down into 16th notes. If you were to lay down a note to be played on each 16th … [Read more...] about Ableton 11 Groove Pool Tips and Workflow
3 Tips for Streamlining Your Ableton Workflow
Finishing tracks, especially when you have a full time job and relationship you're also balancing while trying to reach your goals as a producer can be a daunting task sometimes. How often do you click through endless kick drum or snare samples? How much time do you spend writing snare rolls and build ups with synths? Below I describe three techniques that have helped me go … [Read more...] about 3 Tips for Streamlining Your Ableton Workflow
Free One Macro Ableton Effect Rack (Filter + Delay)
When DJing, sometimes I want to ride both the dub delay and the filter at the same time but on my Pioneer XDJ-RX2 that's a bit tricky. To add this effect into my music productions I created a one macro Ableton effect with a highpass filter and delay with settings mapped to Macro 1. You can download it for free here. … [Read more...] about Free One Macro Ableton Effect Rack (Filter + Delay)