I'm a newbie, I was using Reaper as it's brilliant but so many of the tutorials in certain genres were done in Ableton and so I downloaded the trial version last week and wow, it's so cool how it works, the way you can put patterns together and see the song and arrange it like Lego music, I hope that it changes my life in a similar way, I would like just to get one tune on a playlist, anything after that is just a bonus, thanks for you video I'll check out some more and have a great day! ;D
@@nicolasnicolas3889 I think that’s a great goal to have Nicolas. I hope you stick with it and you’re able to make music that you’re proud of and that you look forward to showing other people!
Sometimes when meeting your heroes you walk away disappointed by their character, but this dude has been a hero to me and consistently astounds me by his character. Ethan produced my first record, "Soul Hymns" and he's an absolute wizard & so genuinely kind. I hope all y'all take his course, there's soooo much gold in it that'll improve your creative process forever. ILY ETHAN
YO, MARK! Huge fan here!!! You’ve deeply inspired me to begin producing the music (for Jesus OFC!) I’ve been singing in my head for years! How DOPE to come across the guy that produced music for you!
Your intro is exactly my life and career. Ableton Live made me so confident that I can be a full time musician and media entity that I quit my full time job 12 year ago. It not an overstatement to say that downloading and realising how I can/could/would use the program made me into the artist I never thought I’d be. Just wanted to share as your intro hit me in the feels 👍🏽
I'm just coming up to speed in Ableton (@76 years old), this is by far and away the best instructive video I've seen, every tip is useful for me! Now I'm off to begin sidechaining my hardware synths that are layered with audio clips. Thank you!
spend 3 months with FL studio and i feel that FL studio cant help me when i come to more advanced. Today, i change to Ableton, your channel helps me a lot
Lots of solid tips here! I'd highly recommend utilizing hotkeys, like cmd + A to select all (all of your effects for instance), cmd + F to find (for effects, instruments, etc.)
Good tips bro! As an experienced producer, mixing is something every producer should be capable of. If you can't mix, then you are technically not a producer, just someone who arranges sound. To be a producer is to produce a finished product. That means being responsible for creative output, arrangement and mixing. Mastering should also be something producers should learn as it is a vital step to finishing a project. It's not mandatory, but it is beneficial considering the expense of mastering in the long run.
And also, it is important to let producers, especially those in the beginner phase, know that they should be really careful with multi-band compressing as it can turn into a habit to just slap plugins like OTT on everything, expecting it to sound good. OTT is a powerful plugin, but really you should only use it if it's necessary (unless it is your artistic vision of course)
I’m a big fan of the electronic music group deaths dynamic shroud and that last tip now makes me understand and visualize in my head how they are making a lot of the sounds they make lol
Been using Live since 04. Good stuff here! My best tips- keep a folder of your favorite presets and instruments. Learn your hot keys. Both those things will increase the speed of your work flow dramatically.
Great tips, two more important topics to add: 1. Do proper gain staging at the beginning and when adding new audio tracks/clips 2. Save clips (.alc file) from session view (similar to saving fx chains), this saves all the clip settings and effects as well as the midi information
Oh nice I didn't know about that second one. I also STILL don't know what gain staging is LOL but I'll have to do some research. I'm over here getting schooled.
@@CompleteProducer Gain staging just means adjusting the input levels on each track to be the same value (e.g. -12 or -6 dB peak) so you establish a common ground before touching the faders. In Ableton, you can use the stock utility plugin for that or you can adjust the gain of audio clips. If you play live synths, you can adjust the synth's volume knob as well. Just make sure all peaks are about the same value. Once all that is done, you start balancing track volumes using the faders. That way, each track has some headroom and fader adjustments become more predictable as their positions actually represent the mix. Ideally, you can then add effects that add gain (e.g. distortion plugins) and create buses, etc. without having to worry about clipping at any stage. All in all, it makes your mix sound as clean (i.e. transparent) as it can be.
Sample offset in the envelope/ automation layer in the clip view. It is badass with beat warp you can literally manipulate the wave in time. Change an audio file like it’s MIDI, also if you name a section a tempo name followed by BPM it will change to that bpm automatically. I dig the video! Been using live since 4
I’ve always mixed as I go since the very beginning and everybody has told me I’m producing the wrong way so just for the simple fact that you added mix as you go into your Tips got you an immediate subscription from me
Been mixing a particular song for the past month or so and I could never get it quite right! This video just allowed me to finally get past the production block I've been having. Thank you endlessly. I believe this is the best music production video I have ever found. SO MANY JEMS!
just a quick side chaining tip: in order to get a more pleasant result, try ducking only the main frequencies instead of the full sound of an instrument e.g. if the kick hits its loudest at 60hz you duck 60hz on the bass guitar whenever the kick hits. That way the bass guitar still sounds loud but it opens "space" for the kick :)
This is a fantastic video for anyone of any skill level, but it’s quite literally a perfect video for beginners. You will notice a pretty huge difference in your mixing/production if you implement these tips. Great stuff 👍
I’ve been producing idiom for a little under a year now, and these tips are really gonna change everything for me. Thank you so much for sharing with us. This will go a long way.
I really appreciate artists that have reached a high level in the industry and go back to level 1 to help novice producers, as a novice producer myself, thanks Ethan :)
I’ve been using Ableton for a few years now. I knew most of the things in this video but learned it from professionals and not UA-cam. So yeah, this video contains valuable information. For a lot of people this will be really helpful, so thank you for sharing.
I knew a lot of this but it was still great how you presented it! I’m really getting into send and returns instead of using insert effects and my production sounds so much more professional. Returns on my electro drums have given them life.
Instead of using delay and dialing everything in, you can also use abletons new "align delay", which is purposely made for this effect and save some clicks :)
Instead of using sends and returns for vocals in Ableton you can create an audio effect rack with a wet and dry chain so you can control the wet signal independently of the dry signal. The only disadvantage of this is the ability to share the same rack to many vocals which you can do if you group all the vocals and place the rack on the group.
that's true! other people have been commenting the same thing and it's something i have yet to dive into but I'm curious about implementing into my workflow. thanks for the suggestion!
@@CompleteProducer Can't you put an audio effect rack on a return track? Also, I've found the other thing to look into tweaking on OTT is the Amount knob. Also also, thanks for making this!
I just started and i need to be honest I almost gave up on the idea of producing music after watching a few videos that didn’t explain anything and trying to learn by myself but with video like yours it gave hope. I love music and I’m addictive to it, i listen to it all day everyday day and my passion is electronic. I can’t wait to produce my first track. Thank you for your video it’s awesome and I’m following you. 👏👏👏👏
The first tip is so silly, but so important at the same time. When I started, I also made the mistake of saving all my sessions in the same project folder, and it took me a while to understand how the hierarchy works within Ableton.
Great video! I learned a couple things I will definitely implement. (Like I never collect and save haha) I would have liked to see one of the tips talk more about gain staging as that is another thing that will take beginner producers to the next level. After OTT you said you may need to turn the sound down, but I think a proper explanation for why this is important is really in order. ESPECIALLY if this is aimed at newer producers. Knowing if things are sounding better or just louder is the key to the mixes we have all been chasing! Much love everyone and go make some music! Have fun!
I will definitely keep this in mind moving forward. I appreciate the feedback! I’m going to have more in depth videos in the future too, so stay tuned!
This is so incredibly useful for people who have just started using Ableton, I already use most of these techniques but you explained them so well I WSH this was something I discovered when I first started. Will definitely be recommending this video to my friends!
Unbelievably helpful video. I'm sort of wowed at how much crazy useful you just gave me with zero filler, no iffy tips or wasting time. Great video, man. Thank you very much.
These are great and are indeed life changing for music production. I’d add an 11th one which is avoid plug-in hoarding. I use ableton stock plugins as much as possible. They have really great ones.
I watched this and the intro to Ableton video. You are such a good teacher to explain what and why on everything. So nice when we understand more to customize going in.
Whoa I actually feel so proud of myself. All of these steps you've pointed out I already do. This has shown me how my skills have truly matured in the past 3 years, I'm a subscriber now! -BiG Pluck
You have completely cemented to me that buying ableton was worth it! So many effects and tools that would other wise be skimmed over. Thank you from the bottom of my heart and creative pursuit 🙏🏻
Tip #4: It can get a bit messy using lots of return tracks for parallel processing like reverb sends. The same parallel processing can be achieved with an Audio Effect rack with one chain as the dry signal and another chain with the effects. Audio effects/instrument racks are underused for how helpful the are.
Racks are like my entire production style lol. I go to "this needs a rack" so fast. Its so nice to be able to do parallel processing on the same track. Some rack tips: Make 2/3 tracks with EQ3s, and seperate the bass and mids or highs in your sample so you can apply different effects to different frequencies, mono the bass, etc. Midi racks that share the same midi effects like an arpeggiator are very fun to play with, also utilize "zones" for randonmess and glitch effects or to create your own multi-instrument keyboard.
for some reason there's a clarity with how you're explaining all this that made me understand some of this on a more fundamental level, even though I have been already using some of these tips. thank you!
@@deedubya1267 who gives a fuck about manners lmfao, what do you expect me to say, "can you give tips that aren't basic common fucking sense... *Please*??" Get real.
These are the tips I use regularly and have helped me the most. As with most tools in the arts, it’s more about who’s using the tools than the tools themselves. I’ll have more advanced videos in the future though if you want to dive deeper so stay tuned.
@@CompleteProducer OTT is a preset that uses multiband compression and expansion to achieve a constant level across the 3 bands that it divides the frequency spectrum into, helping you to raise the RMS level of a sound close to the maximum it can be. Those grey areas that you “like to click on” are the expansion ratio and threshold settings. You are not making the compressor “not hold on for too long” you are basically turning the expansion off by turning its ratio down to nothing. The expansion RAISES the level of the frequencies of the selected band when they go BELOW its threshold while the compressor LOWERS the level of the frequencies of the selected band when they go ABOVE its threshold. (Expansion is the left side brackets and compression is the right side brackets.) So the goal is to raise when it’s too low and lower when it’s too high, eventually resulting in the level of that band being stuck between two points they can’t move below or above. See that black space in between those “brackets” in the middle section ? That’s the sweet spot where the level of that band should be at to trigger both the expansion and the compression. You can move the threshold of both the expansion and compression, actually you HAVE to move the threshold of the expansion and compression in order for OTT to work how it was intended to work. When you drag the compression “brackets” to the right to “turn the mids and highs up”, you are raising the threshold of the compressor, resulting in less compression letting more of the mids and highs through. The change in gain that makes your mids and highs go up, is the output levels that have been raised (+10,3db for the highs and + 5,7db for the mids) to compensate for the volume you’re suppose to lose DUE to the compression. So what you’re basically doing here buddy, isn’t “chef’s kiss” but you’re kinda ruining the preset. Your main issue is that your level going INTO OTT is way above what it was designed to take. This is just basic gain staging really. You need the lower the level of the sound going into OTT so the mid band actually is BETWEEN the expansion and compression bracket and then adapt the threshold of the the expansion and compression of the two other bands. This is why it sounded “weird” when you put it on in the first place. So yeah, you’re compressing the mids somewhat because of how loud you’re running into it, but really I can promise you and everyone reading this, that the results you’re getting are a coincidence at best, and that you don’t know how to use OTT.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THOSE TIPS! I`ve had been learning more than 10 years how to mix, write music, but this video changed my WHOLE LIFE! Dear Ethan, Thank you So F***G uch for your work and for your Experience! I want MORE videos like this! GREAT PROFESSIONAL JOB!
I would call myself a professional user and the mixing tipps I definitely knew (very valuable for those who didnt)BUT still some great Ableton Tipps here that help me. Thx much for these!
Dear Ethan-My name is EasyJay and with my ADHD it is hard to find videos that I will watch full length. But you sir are the one. I thank you for your skills and all the knowledge you share with us all. -EasyJ
I’m in the same situation as all these other commenters. These tips were truly so helpful and enlightening and streamlined my workflow. Been doing the same things while making all sorts of types of music for years and realized I made bad habits that this video essentially solved in 20 minutes. Can’t thank you enough Ethan. You’ve earned yourself a regular viewer brother! 🤙
Usually I don’t subscribe to any channel, but you’re great teacher! And i know what I’m talking about, because i went to Institute of audio research in New York City, we had great teachers, and you’re one of them, some people like you, just have talent to share their experience with other people like us, thanks for your content man🤝
Lots of good information. Taking some back to production immediately. I have so many notes on the wall of things to remember to do and now I have more.
Thank you for this! Very helpful. One little note I want to provide is that the sidechain technique here is actually sidechain compression. You can sidechain almost any effect to any sound/midi source, it's soooooo much more powerful than just sidechain compression. Click the little arrow on an effect and see if it's got a sidechain option!
I use Ableton audio racks as sends and never toch sends even on vocals because if there's more sense let's say 5-6-7 it's hard to tell which one is which in that sense audio effect makes a huge difference not only you know which send or effect you're changing you can have it on the channel or group just like a regular sends and u can also assign macros to each individual controls and name then colour them so u can quickly access the plus added bonus ia you can save the rack to quality recall onto next project whereas you can't do it with sends and Ableton rack let's you save it with third party plugins as well and it recalls all of your settings too When you use it on your next project. You're welcome.
No matter what DAW you use, this is useful information. Proper file management is key. Teach yourself this and your life will be way easier. Get in the habit making folders and using a good file naming system. A catch all folder and a bunch of numbered or randomly named files is literally impossible to figure out after the fact. And this applies to using your computer, not just a DAW. Keeping organized not only makes your workflow more efficient, it helps you better understand and better manage all the data you have on your system. The first thing I do is put a compressor/limiter on the master bus. I actually just have a file named 'default' that's already setup. After I open it, I do a "save as" and give the new project a descriptive name and off I go. But this video is packed with good practices. I've been at this for a few decades and I learned all the stuff he mentions that hard way. For a new person, do everything he says. But always remember, these are known good practices, so they make excellent starting points for novices, but everything magical came from breaking the rules. And yes, the majority of people will totally abuse the OTT. :D
Some great tips here! I was slightly confused by the difference between grouping and saving an effects rack vs grouping and saving the instrument + effects rack... Great time-sizing feature though!
Quite funny in some parts. Like when you EQ reverb with Q3 but there's eqing built into reverb itself. Or you save rack by adding macros when theres save button on bottom when you create groups... Or removing EQ from sidechainig when it's sometimes crucial, especially on synths playing high keys like in your example, because it allows you to leave non clashing frequencies and carve out only clashing.
Thank you. i tried OTT and wow i used to think that the make it better button was only when adding saturation like for example on the Oxford limiter.Thank You
Really enjoying your channel and hard-earned humility :) Haven't played with ableton in 15 years and getting back in to have fun with it. Thanks for your guidance.
Regarding send/return and Insert effects….modulation effects go directly on the track/insert. Enhancing effects (I am currently missing the term here cause it’s late) like delay or even usually go on send/return. Very easy. Doesn’t mean to never flip this around and experiment but as a guideline.
Sub crossover in most club systems is around 150hz, it's good to keep that in mind, when you want the bass bins to push air or not. You really don't want anything but the kick and sub, pushing air.
I hate that I've used Live since like 2005 and haven't done about half this stuff. Stupid simple, thanks so much for the tips!!! Especially for new users things like send/returns and I think making a clear difference between mix and master steps is important so folks don't get confused. Super cool. Thanks!
With the send/return for vocals there is another solution. Group the reverb you have on your channel, put the mix on the reverb at 100%, open the chain list and click "add chain", this will create an empty signal chain that is now your dry signal. Now you have a dry and a wet instead of dry/wet
yes this is something i've known about for a while but for some reason I haven't implemented it into my workflow yet. thanks for the reminder though I'll have to try it out! i know it helps a lot of people
@@CompleteProducer Yeah I got the tip from Paul Maddox from Spektre in one of his tutorial. It doesn't stop with reverbs ofc, you can do this with any effect/plugin :)
I use to save “Projects” this way you explain on the tip “Stay Organized” but now on Live 12 seems to work different. It don’t save folders of collected sounds or pcks any more!
I made a part 2!!! Watch it here: ua-cam.com/video/ftR1rojyUn8/v-deo.html
I'm a newbie, I was using Reaper as it's brilliant but so many of the tutorials in certain genres were done in Ableton and so I downloaded the trial version last week and wow, it's so cool how it works, the way you can put patterns together and see the song and arrange it like Lego music, I hope that it changes my life in a similar way, I would like just to get one tune on a playlist, anything after that is just a bonus, thanks for you video I'll check out some more and have a great day! ;D
@@nicolasnicolas3889 I think that’s a great goal to have Nicolas. I hope you stick with it and you’re able to make music that you’re proud of and that you look forward to showing other people!
Hello is it possible to get the audio from a original xbox to come thur this Ableton Live program so I could record the sound from the xbox
Can artist contact you for mix and mastering?
I'm not really doing that work anymore, so I can focus more on videos!@@thelibrary4493
Usually when people post things about “life changing” anything, it’s usually just helpful. This is actually life changing
Wow I'm so happy to hear that! Thankk you
This endorsement compelled a complete listen … starting now
Tip 2!! (How does anyone finish this in one sitting … limit the master and master the mix (summation not a direct quote ) thanks)
@@gbtennant that’s a great way to summarize it!
These are probaply the best tips and tricks out there for people who are working professional or want to. Thank you
Subbed
I am new in Ableton after more than 10 years in Logic. Your channel is in my top 3 learning sources! Like your way of explaining things. Thanks!
Sometimes when meeting your heroes you walk away disappointed by their character, but this dude has been a hero to me and consistently astounds me by his character. Ethan produced my first record, "Soul Hymns" and he's an absolute wizard & so genuinely kind. I hope all y'all take his course, there's soooo much gold in it that'll improve your creative process forever. ILY ETHAN
awe Mark i LOVE U TOOO!@!!!
YO, MARK! Huge fan here!!! You’ve deeply inspired me to begin producing the music (for Jesus OFC!) I’ve been singing in my head for years! How DOPE to come across the guy that produced music for you!
Your intro is exactly my life and career. Ableton Live made me so confident that I can be a full time musician and media entity that I quit my full time job 12 year ago. It not an overstatement to say that downloading and realising how I can/could/would use the program made me into the artist I never thought I’d be.
Just wanted to share as your intro hit me in the feels 👍🏽
wow that's incredible!
Damn, this just inspired me
I'm just coming up to speed in Ableton (@76 years old), this is by far and away the best instructive video I've seen, every tip is useful for me! Now I'm off to begin sidechaining my hardware synths that are layered with audio clips. Thank you!
i hope it didn't take you 76 years to just be coming up to speed 😅 just kidding, of course
This is inspiring!
spend 3 months with FL studio and i feel that FL studio cant help me when i come to more advanced. Today, i change to Ableton, your channel helps me a lot
Lots of solid tips here! I'd highly recommend utilizing hotkeys, like cmd + A to select all (all of your effects for instance), cmd + F to find (for effects, instruments, etc.)
absolutely!
Best Ableton video I’ve seen so far. Explains so many things that I’d heard of but had no idea what they meant. Side chain, warp etc 🎉
Good tips bro! As an experienced producer, mixing is something every producer should be capable of. If you can't mix, then you are technically not a producer, just someone who arranges sound. To be a producer is to produce a finished product. That means being responsible for creative output, arrangement and mixing. Mastering should also be something producers should learn as it is a vital step to finishing a project. It's not mandatory, but it is beneficial considering the expense of mastering in the long run.
And also, it is important to let producers, especially those in the beginner phase, know that they should be really careful with multi-band compressing as it can turn into a habit to just slap plugins like OTT on everything, expecting it to sound good. OTT is a powerful plugin, but really you should only use it if it's necessary (unless it is your artistic vision of course)
After years of mixing videos - this one provides the best value to anyone
Finally a clean simple description of that side chain compression....thanks Ethan!
I’m a big fan of the electronic music group deaths dynamic shroud and that last tip now makes me understand and visualize in my head how they are making a lot of the sounds they make lol
I don't usually comment but this has SO much value. Thanks man!
Been using Live since 04. Good stuff here! My best tips- keep a folder of your favorite presets and instruments. Learn your hot keys. Both those things will increase the speed of your work flow dramatically.
Great tips, two more important topics to add:
1. Do proper gain staging at the beginning and when adding new audio tracks/clips
2. Save clips (.alc file) from session view (similar to saving fx chains), this saves all the clip settings and effects as well as the midi information
Oh nice I didn't know about that second one. I also STILL don't know what gain staging is LOL but I'll have to do some research. I'm over here getting schooled.
@@CompleteProducer Gain staging just means adjusting the input levels on each track to be the same value (e.g. -12 or -6 dB peak) so you establish a common ground before touching the faders. In Ableton, you can use the stock utility plugin for that or you can adjust the gain of audio clips. If you play live synths, you can adjust the synth's volume knob as well. Just make sure all peaks are about the same value.
Once all that is done, you start balancing track volumes using the faders.
That way, each track has some headroom and fader adjustments become more predictable as their positions actually represent the mix.
Ideally, you can then add effects that add gain (e.g. distortion plugins) and create buses, etc. without having to worry about clipping at any stage. All in all, it makes your mix sound as clean (i.e. transparent) as it can be.
Sample offset in the envelope/ automation layer in the clip view. It is badass with beat warp you can literally manipulate the wave in time. Change an audio file like it’s MIDI, also if you name a section a tempo name followed by BPM it will change to that bpm automatically. I dig the video! Been using live since 4
I’ve always mixed as I go since the very beginning and everybody has told me I’m producing the wrong way so just for the simple fact that you added mix as you go into your Tips got you an immediate subscription from me
Been mixing a particular song for the past month or so and I could never get it quite right! This video just allowed me to finally get past the production block I've been having. Thank you endlessly. I believe this is the best music production video I have ever found. SO MANY JEMS!
wow thank you so much! and congrats!
just a quick side chaining tip: in order to get a more pleasant result, try ducking only the main frequencies instead of the full sound of an instrument e.g. if the kick hits its loudest at 60hz you duck 60hz on the bass guitar whenever the kick hits. That way the bass guitar still sounds loud but it opens "space" for the kick :)
Awesome refresher on some things I forgot over the years. Love watching videos like these to pull me out of some writers block. Thanks for the tips!
Woo! I love to hear that
OTT tip is worth watching the video! never could understand what the fuss was about with it. NOW I get it.
By far one of the best Ableton Tutorials, really you have given me so much knowledge, ready to start applying all this tomorrow ! Thanks again
way to go Dean, application is a must!
I want to scream about not knowing about instrument racks earlier. This is a HUGE time saver.
This is a fantastic video for anyone of any skill level, but it’s quite literally a perfect video for beginners. You will notice a pretty huge difference in your mixing/production if you implement these tips. Great stuff 👍
Thank you! peepeepoopoo hahah
I can wait to put these tips in effect! Always looking to improve my mix.
I’ve been producing idiom for a little under a year now, and these tips are really gonna change everything for me. Thank you so much for sharing with us. This will go a long way.
wow i love to head that, keep it up!
I really appreciate artists that have reached a high level in the industry and go back to level 1 to help novice producers, as a novice producer myself, thanks Ethan :)
I never ever activate notifications from any channel, and this is the first one.
God bless you, such wonderful content.
That is very generous of you to share all this, Ethan! So many thanks!
Glad you enjoyed it!
I’ve been using Ableton for a few years now. I knew most of the things in this video but learned it from professionals and not UA-cam. So yeah, this video contains valuable information. For a lot of people this will be really helpful, so thank you for sharing.
I knew a lot of this but it was still great how you presented it! I’m really getting into send and returns instead of using insert effects and my production sounds so much more professional. Returns on my electro drums have given them life.
that's great to hear!
Perfect timing. This saves me 2hrs driving to buds house😊
Instead of using delay and dialing everything in, you can also use abletons new "align delay", which is purposely made for this effect and save some clicks :)
I'm not new to Ableton but there's still so much gold here. I knew some but this is great!
Instead of using sends and returns for vocals in Ableton you can create an audio effect rack with a wet and dry chain so you can control the wet signal independently of the dry signal. The only disadvantage of this is the ability to share the same rack to many vocals which you can do if you group all the vocals and place the rack on the group.
that's true! other people have been commenting the same thing and it's something i have yet to dive into but I'm curious about implementing into my workflow. thanks for the suggestion!
The free TAL reverb plugin has separate dry and wet sliders. Super easy to use
@@CompleteProducer Can't you put an audio effect rack on a return track?
Also, I've found the other thing to look into tweaking on OTT is the Amount knob.
Also also, thanks for making this!
Do this all the time if I want to pre-mix before I hit my master sends, especially with room reverb and subtle widening effects.
As a beginner, this was SUPER helpful to help me understand why I haven’t been enjoying my songs as much as I enjoyed writing them. Thanks!!
happy to hear that you got something out of the video! keep it up!
Excellent. I'm coming on thirty years of audio and this is lovely. Well done mate
wow that's a long time! and thank you!
I just started and i need to be honest I almost gave up on the idea of producing music after watching a few videos that didn’t explain anything and trying to learn by myself but with video like yours it gave hope. I love music and I’m addictive to it, i listen to it all day everyday day and my passion is electronic. I can’t wait to produce my first track. Thank you for your video it’s awesome and I’m following you. 👏👏👏👏
woohoo!! you got this!
The first tip is so silly, but so important at the same time. When I started, I also made the mistake of saving all my sessions in the same project folder, and it took me a while to understand how the hierarchy works within Ableton.
Same, lol! I had a folder on my desktop with like 200 sessions in it.
Really great tips. I find sidechaining to be especially useful!
Great video! I learned a couple things I will definitely implement. (Like I never collect and save haha) I would have liked to see one of the tips talk more about gain staging as that is another thing that will take beginner producers to the next level. After OTT you said you may need to turn the sound down, but I think a proper explanation for why this is important is really in order. ESPECIALLY if this is aimed at newer producers. Knowing if things are sounding better or just louder is the key to the mixes we have all been chasing! Much love everyone and go make some music! Have fun!
I will definitely keep this in mind moving forward. I appreciate the feedback! I’m going to have more in depth videos in the future too, so stay tuned!
Great video and looking forward to more in the future 👍 thanks
This is so incredibly useful for people who have just started using Ableton, I already use most of these techniques but you explained them so well I WSH this was something I discovered when I first started. Will definitely be recommending this video to my friends!
Unbelievably helpful video. I'm sort of wowed at how much crazy useful you just gave me with zero filler, no iffy tips or wasting time. Great video, man. Thank you very much.
this is really encouraging to read, thanks so much!
These are great and are indeed life changing for music production. I’d add an 11th one which is avoid plug-in hoarding. I use ableton stock plugins as much as possible. They have really great ones.
This video is exactly what I needed 🙌🏽🙏🏽 these tips are so good!
Woah kold what are you doing here???
happy to help! (:
facts 🔥
I watched this and the intro to Ableton video. You are such a good teacher to explain what and why on everything. So nice when we understand more to customize going in.
Whoa I actually feel so proud of myself. All of these steps you've pointed out I already do. This has shown me how my skills have truly matured in the past 3 years,
I'm a subscriber now!
-BiG Pluck
Wow sounds like you’re on the right track! Keep it up!
The OTT tip is game changing. Thank you for this Ethan! Just this made me subscribe! 👏
Thank you for all of these amazing tips! This is the video everyone needs when getting started with Ableton 🙌🏼❤️
Thanks so much !
You have completely cemented to me that buying ableton was worth it!
So many effects and tools that would other wise be skimmed over.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart and creative pursuit 🙏🏻
Tip #4:
It can get a bit messy using lots of return tracks for parallel processing like reverb sends.
The same parallel processing can be achieved with an Audio Effect rack with one chain as the dry signal and another chain with the effects.
Audio effects/instrument racks are underused for how helpful the are.
Yeah that’s a great tip!
Racks are like my entire production style lol. I go to "this needs a rack" so fast. Its so nice to be able to do parallel processing on the same track.
Some rack tips:
Make 2/3 tracks with EQ3s, and seperate the bass and mids or highs in your sample so you can apply different effects to different frequencies, mono the bass, etc.
Midi racks that share the same midi effects like an arpeggiator are very fun to play with, also utilize "zones" for randonmess and glitch effects or to create your own multi-instrument keyboard.
Great Vid!!! From a Engineer Vet... you showed me some things that I have never noticed. Like the OTT WOW!!! THANKS ETHAN
for some reason there's a clarity with how you're explaining all this that made me understand some of this on a more fundamental level, even though I have been already using some of these tips. thank you!
wow that's a wonderful compliment, thank you!
These are beginner tips, after 10 years I'd expect something more niche it nuanced but whatever
Manners. Ya ever heard of it?
@@deedubya1267 who gives a fuck about manners lmfao, what do you expect me to say, "can you give tips that aren't basic common fucking sense... *Please*??" Get real.
@@superlynx98 lmao u alright there buddy? theres better uses of your time and energy i promise :) go make some music bub
These are the tips I use regularly and have helped me the most. As with most tools in the arts, it’s more about who’s using the tools than the tools themselves. I’ll have more advanced videos in the future though if you want to dive deeper so stay tuned.
Man oh man. My friend just gave me Ableton and I kinda felt overwhelming so far but now I feel excited a f***. Great video.
You can do it!
Yeah you don't know how to use OTT...
🤡
@@CompleteProducer OTT is a preset that uses multiband compression and expansion to achieve a constant level
across the 3 bands that it divides the frequency spectrum into, helping you to raise the RMS level
of a sound close to the maximum it can be.
Those grey areas that you “like to click on” are the expansion ratio and threshold settings. You are not making the compressor “not hold on for too long” you are basically turning the expansion off by turning its ratio down to nothing. The expansion RAISES the level of the frequencies of the selected band when they go BELOW its threshold while the compressor LOWERS the level of the frequencies of the selected band when they go ABOVE its threshold. (Expansion is the left side brackets and compression is the right side brackets.)
So the goal is to raise when it’s too low and lower when it’s too high, eventually resulting in the level of that band being stuck between two points they can’t move below or above. See that black space in between those “brackets” in the middle section ? That’s the sweet spot where the level of that band should be at to trigger both the expansion and the compression. You can move the threshold of both the expansion and compression, actually you HAVE to move the threshold of the expansion and compression in order for OTT to work how it was intended to work.
When you drag the compression “brackets” to the right to “turn the mids and highs up”, you are raising the threshold of the compressor, resulting in less compression letting more of the mids and highs through. The change in gain that makes your mids and highs go up, is the output levels that have been raised (+10,3db for the highs and + 5,7db for the mids) to compensate for the volume you’re suppose to lose DUE to the compression. So what you’re basically doing here buddy, isn’t “chef’s kiss” but you’re kinda ruining the preset.
Your main issue is that your level going INTO OTT is way above what it was designed to take. This is just basic gain staging really. You need the lower the level of the sound going into OTT so the mid band actually is BETWEEN the expansion and compression bracket and then adapt the threshold of the the expansion and compression of the two other bands. This is why it sounded “weird” when you put it on in the first place.
So yeah, you’re compressing the mids somewhat because of how loud you’re running into it, but really I can promise you and everyone reading this, that the results you’re getting are a coincidence at best, and that you don’t know how to use OTT.
@@aerov2484 Sounds like you should be the one making tutorials in that case 🤣
@@CompleteProducer Sure. Let's make a Zoom call on your channel and I'll explain what OTT actually does :-)
@@aerov2484 eeeesh
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THOSE TIPS! I`ve had been learning more than 10 years how to mix, write music, but this video changed my WHOLE LIFE! Dear Ethan, Thank you So F***G uch for your work and for your Experience! I want MORE videos like this! GREAT PROFESSIONAL JOB!
best OTT explanation I've ever seen haha, goin to part 2 rn
I would call myself a professional user and the mixing tipps I definitely knew (very valuable for those who didnt)BUT still some great Ableton Tipps here that help me. Thx much for these!
Great to hear!
Dear Ethan-My name is EasyJay and with my ADHD it is hard to find videos that I will watch full length. But you sir are the one. I thank you for your skills and all the knowledge you share with us all. -EasyJ
thanks EasyJay!
This is just brilliant! Thanks Ethan..
That's why I love music production... these tips are relevant in any DAW.
Exactly!
Awesome man 👏
Thanks a lot!
Thanks!!! Just switching from
ProTools to Ableton. Whew. This really helps. Dance music🎶🎶🎶🎶💚💚💚💚💚💚
Rock on!
I’m in the same situation as all these other commenters. These tips were truly so helpful and enlightening and streamlined my workflow. Been doing the same things while making all sorts of types of music for years and realized I made bad habits that this video essentially solved in 20 minutes. Can’t thank you enough Ethan. You’ve earned yourself a regular viewer brother! 🤙
Wow I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you!
Wow. Actually useful tips, perfectly presented. So rare (Uncle Ben would be proud :D). Thank you! Subscribed.
The Best Turturiol for Abelton what i have ever seen, you helped me a lot to sound like a pro! THANKS!!!
simple and powerful
Usually I don’t subscribe to any channel, but you’re great teacher! And i know what I’m talking about, because i went to Institute of audio research in New York City, we had great teachers, and you’re one of them, some people like you, just have talent to share their experience with other people like us, thanks for your content man🤝
it is huge! gonna review it again and again to improve my workflow
THIS will make me move from fl to Ableton
Lots of good information. Taking some back to production immediately. I have so many notes on the wall of things to remember to do and now I have more.
Okay FOREAL, Mahalo. These tips were so helpful. Took my production to another level!
Thanks for the help 🤝
Thank you for this! Very helpful. One little note I want to provide is that the sidechain technique here is actually sidechain compression. You can sidechain almost any effect to any sound/midi source, it's soooooo much more powerful than just sidechain compression. Click the little arrow on an effect and see if it's got a sidechain option!
Oh wow I didn’t know that, thanks for the tip!
What's the difference? It's both compression
After finding your channel, ive been more motivated than ever with music!
Just bought Live a month ago and this was so helpful!
This is basic stuff, but basics are important. Is good to know the useful but often overlooked stuff
This is the best generalized ableton tutorial I’ve ever watched. Thank you.
wow thank you!
Actually more usefull than 90% evry other ableton tutorial i have watched so far
Thanks
wow thanks so much!
@@CompleteProducer dude my songs took like 100% exp points thanks to your video
I use Ableton audio racks as sends and never toch sends even on vocals because if there's more sense let's say 5-6-7 it's hard to tell which one is which in that sense audio effect makes a huge difference not only you know which send or effect you're changing you can have it on the channel or group just like a regular sends and u can also assign macros to each individual controls and name then colour them so u can quickly access the plus added bonus ia you can save the rack to quality recall onto next project whereas you can't do it with sends and Ableton rack let's you save it with third party plugins as well and it recalls all of your settings too When you use it on your next project. You're welcome.
This is beyond good. Like, unbelievably good.
thanks so much!
No matter what DAW you use, this is useful information. Proper file management is key. Teach yourself this and your life will be way easier. Get in the habit making folders and using a good file naming system. A catch all folder and a bunch of numbered or randomly named files is literally impossible to figure out after the fact. And this applies to using your computer, not just a DAW.
Keeping organized not only makes your workflow more efficient, it helps you better understand and better manage all the data you have on your system.
The first thing I do is put a compressor/limiter on the master bus. I actually just have a file named 'default' that's already setup. After I open it, I do a "save as" and give the new project a descriptive name and off I go.
But this video is packed with good practices. I've been at this for a few decades and I learned all the stuff he mentions that hard way. For a new person, do everything he says. But always remember, these are known good practices, so they make excellent starting points for novices, but everything magical came from breaking the rules.
And yes, the majority of people will totally abuse the OTT. :D
thank you!!
Some great tips here! I was slightly confused by the difference between grouping and saving an effects rack vs grouping and saving the instrument + effects rack... Great time-sizing feature though!
Best tutorial on Ableton
Quite funny in some parts. Like when you EQ reverb with Q3 but there's eqing built into reverb itself. Or you save rack by adding macros when theres save button on bottom when you create groups... Or removing EQ from sidechainig when it's sometimes crucial, especially on synths playing high keys like in your example, because it allows you to leave non clashing frequencies and carve out only clashing.
Hands down the best Ableton teacher on the web❤
Thank you! I’ve been using Ableton for 3 years and didn’t know all those warping tricks 😅 I appreciate your video!
Very catchy song and voice as well
Thank you. i tried OTT and wow i used to think that the make it better button was only when adding saturation like for example on the Oxford limiter.Thank You
Really enjoying your channel and hard-earned humility :) Haven't played with ableton in 15 years and getting back in to have fun with it. Thanks for your guidance.
Tip 4 alone cleared up my mixes so much. Earned a sub!
Regarding send/return and Insert effects….modulation effects go directly on the track/insert. Enhancing effects (I am currently missing the term here cause it’s late) like delay or even usually go on send/return. Very easy. Doesn’t mean to never flip this around and experiment but as a guideline.
You should consider eqing before the verbs and delays on your sends instead of after. Try it!
far out this was absolutely grouse, you taught me more in 20 minutes then my electronic music producer lecturer has in 3 months!
wow that's incredible!
Sub crossover in most club systems is around 150hz, it's good to keep that in mind, when you want the bass bins to push air or not. You really don't want anything but the kick and sub, pushing air.
Also, keep in mind all that sub bass should be MONO
I hate that I've used Live since like 2005 and haven't done about half this stuff. Stupid simple, thanks so much for the tips!!! Especially for new users things like send/returns and I think making a clear difference between mix and master steps is important so folks don't get confused. Super cool. Thanks!
Subscribed..Love the laid back attitude and the approach is great for me. Switching from Cubase 12 to Live 11..
With the send/return for vocals there is another solution. Group the reverb you have on your channel, put the mix on the reverb at 100%, open the chain list and click "add chain", this will create an empty signal chain that is now your dry signal. Now you have a dry and a wet instead of dry/wet
yes this is something i've known about for a while but for some reason I haven't implemented it into my workflow yet. thanks for the reminder though I'll have to try it out! i know it helps a lot of people
@@CompleteProducer Yeah I got the tip from Paul Maddox from Spektre in one of his tutorial. It doesn't stop with reverbs ofc, you can do this with any effect/plugin :)
That’s how I’ve normally done it and this video made me wonder if there’s any difference, but it’s technically the same thing right?
Wow, thanks for these tips.
I use to save “Projects” this way you explain on the tip “Stay Organized” but now on Live 12 seems to work different. It don’t save folders of collected sounds or pcks any more!
Starting over trying to learn ableton. So glad I stumbled onto this!!