Time and again I hear new producers say, "I don't have time to work on music" or "I can't figure out this arrangement for this song I'm working on." and inevitably songs never get finished. When the producer without time to work on music has time, they often find themselves starting a new project, or opening up a project they've been working on and getting immediately stuck … [Read more...] about Three Strategies to Finish Music Faster
Ableton Workflow
A Little Known Ableton Live MIDI Feature
Have you ever been jamming out on your MIDI device inside of Ableton Live and nailed a really good riff but forgot to hit record? Maybe you were just playing around but actually wanted to capture the performance you just improvised. This little known MIDI feature within Ableton Live has got you covered. Capture MIDI Ableton Live is always capturing MIDI data on armed or … [Read more...] about A Little Known Ableton Live MIDI Feature
Using Main Return Tracks with Drum Rack Sends
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 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