Recording - LiveKeyboardist

01Dec 2018 by Brett Pontecorvo

Creating Curved Automation In Ableton Live

1UsingAbleton, Blog, Live Playback, Program Features, Recording

Curved automation lines are a great way to add a more human-like feel to your automation envelopes. It can also help to create feelings of great anticipation by not only gradually changing a parameter but also gradually changing the speed of change. What is Automation? In the context of DAW software, automation is when a particular parameter is changed over the course of the song timeline. Automation is actually one of the reasons that I ended up switching to Ableton for my live performance use. I was able to create a bank of effects using automation that lined up with my timeline. This included things like filter movement, patch changing, reverb and delay amounts, distortion and panning. Ableton also allows you to unlink automation from notes or audio in a given…

27Nov 2018 by Brett Pontecorvo

Transpose Audio, Preserve Tempo

1Sound Design, 1UsingAbleton, Blog, Live Playback, Program Features, Recording

Manipulating audio in Ableton is absolutely the best. It makes changing speed, pitch, warping and slicing totally painless. Today our focus is going to on how to transpose audio in Ableton while preserving the speed. This, like most audio manipulating functions in Ableton, es exceptionally simple. The resulting audio also maintains very high quality. In most cases, it's difficult to tell the audio has been transposed to begin with. Unless of course, you want to make it sound totally processed, Ableton does that well too. But that's for another time. https://youtu.be/HBvc_qapmdg Transposing Audio Clips Once audio is brought into Ableton, It is ready to be transposed. All of the transposition controls can be found in the sample editor dialogue box in the clip view at the bottom of your screen. There…

17Nov 2018 by Brett Pontecorvo

Preset spotlight: Light Keys

1Sound Design, Blog, Presets and Sounds, Recording

I have found in my talking with people about Ableton that there are a lot of people who hate on Ableton's preset sounds, and even on their built-in synths and instruments. It's my personal opinion that the somewhat lack-luster looks of many of its synths contribute to some users gripes with their sounds. I will concede that there are other DAW's that have some shinier out of the box sounds, but I can offer an immediate explanation for this. Ableton is modular in nature. Sounds and effects are meant to be layered, stacked, and used in combination to create awesome things. So for where certain routing abilities are in lack or effects missing within the synth itself, there are innumerable possibilities for sound and effect layering that quickly make up for…

10Nov 2018 by Brett Pontecorvo

Warping Audio In Ableton

1Sound Design, 1UsingAbleton, Blog, Live Playback, Recording

Warping audio is the process of lining up imported music or samples with Ableton's grid. I most commonly use this when I am trying to learn a solo by ear. Being able to speed something up and slow it down along with a click is a very helpful tool for me. How It's Done With Warp mode enabled, Ableton looks at audio and tried to use the transients to guess where beats may line up. You are then able to go in and using transient markers, or by dragging the suggested markers, you are able to line up the audio with Ableton's grid. It is important to note that double-clicking a transient will create a marker. So if you are 100% sure that a particular part of the wave belongs…

03Nov 2018 by Brett Pontecorvo

Loop, Punch In, and Punch Out: What You Need To Know

1UsingAbleton, Blog, Program Features, Recording

Looping is an essential feature of any DAW. When you are mixing, you may want to hear a section repeated. When you are trying to create and layer ideas, you may want to hear a section repeated. One of the nice things about working in arrangement view is how closely tied the looping and the punch in and punch out functions are. Enough chatter, let's get on to the looping https://youtu.be/I0u2tEq2oi0 How to Loop In Arrangement View The area in the timeline that will loop is defined by the looping brackets at the top of the screen, in conjunction with whether or not the looper is activated. To quickly move the loop brackets, select an area of the timeline using your mouse and press Command-L You will notice the brackets…

30Oct 2018 by Brett Pontecorvo

How to Quantize Midi In Ableton

1UsingAbleton, Blog, Program Features, Recording

Being able to quantize my recorded midi has saved me from many a kerfuffle. The uses for quantization, however, go way beyond manipulating poorly entered data to line up perfectly with a grid. Quantization can be used to pull a heavily swung passage of recorded midi to a place of slightly less swing. It can be used to apply swing altogether. And by manipulating how much your inputted midi is quantized, you can bring a drum passage closer to grid perfect time, without losing the human performance of what you originally played in. I like to think of the quantize function as more of a time massager than a time corrector. If used tastefully it can pull an almost perfectly recorded passage into alignment with the rest of a track. The…

27Oct 2018 by Brett Pontecorvo

Quickly Copy Envelopes In Ableton Live

1UsingAbleton, Blog, Program Features, Recording

In music, patterns repeat themselves. You may notice that your favorite song has several nearly identical sections. Or perhaps you've heard the phrase, " Don't bore us, take us to the chorus". Since patterns in music repeat so regularly, even as far back as the sonata form, it only follows that you may desire to have near exact duplicates of your envelope shapes throughout the timeline of your song. Thankfully, Ableton makes this exceptionally easy. Note View/Envelope View Ableton keeps notes and automation separate, which means copying and pasting notes and automation must be done separately as well. The one exception to this rule is when you copy and paste a clip in its entirety. If the clip stays on one track, then the automation will be copied along…

23Oct 2018 by Brett Pontecorvo

How To Overdub in Arrangement View

1UsingAbleton, Blog, Program Features, Recording

Overdubbing is not just a tool for correction, but a tool for addition. When used in conjunction with the looping feature of Ableton Live, you are able to build parts step by step, allowing you to get into the airwaves, what started in the brain waves. For those of you that work predominantly in session view, you can check out my blog on overdubbing in session view here. For those the rest of you, let's talk about arrangement view, and how to overdub. https://youtu.be/YjC5_UD8G0U Arrangement View Features Arrangement view is 100% linear. It functions the way most other DAW's function. When I first started using Ableton, I refused to use it at all because it seemed to be less authentically Ableton than session view. Now, however, I tend to use it…

20Oct 2018 by Brett Pontecorvo

Using Automation In Session View

1UsingAbleton, Blog, Midi, Program Features, Recording

Using Automation in session view is a great way to add life to your currently playing clips. Also, making use of the ability to link and unlink notes and envelopes, you can create interesting and non-standard patterns that don't necessarily sound like a loop. Also, using the IAC bus, automation can act as a way to "store" your timeline based effects. No matter what the reason, mastering session view automation is going to bring your ideas to life. It can take something that sounds okay, and make it sound awesome. What Can Be Automated? Almost anything can be automated in Ableton Live. As a rule of thumb, if you are able to map a parameter to a midi controller, you are able to automate that parameter. There is only one limitation, and…

16Oct 2018 by Brett Pontecorvo

Overdubbing In Session View

1UsingAbleton, Blog, Program Features, Recording

Overdubbing is a wonderful tool for editing or building new ideas into previously recorded ideas. Ableton lends itself especially well to this in session view because of its design. Clips in session view are designed to be looped (okay, maybe not entirely, but looping is well integrated). Ideas can start as simple as a four on the floor kick drum. Overdubbing allows us to record additional drum parts to that original kick loop while the clip is playing back. It's an awesome feature to be comfortable with. What can be overdubbed? Midi notes, Midi Automation, and Audio Automation can be overdubbed in session view. Unfortunately, Audio can't be overdubbed. You can always combat this by creating an additional audio channel strip if you wish to overdub. Overdubbing Midi Notes As…

Category: Recording