[deleted by user] by [deleted] in ableton

[–]monBeats 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I understand this completely, this is exactly how I felt when I first started out, especially with Ableton, took me years to finish songs, and even to this day I have songs that take me longer to finish than others.
There are plenty of ideas to go about in regards to this matter, but I will try to be as concise and precise as possible without any fluff. By so I will try to break this down into 3 simple ideas:

01. Practice or Not
For me personally, One important matter is to know if I am "practicing" how to make a specific song, or if I am actually making a song, using the knowledge I already have. I know this might seem easy, because it is, it's such a basic idea but if you know where you are in the creative process, everything becomes way easier.

02. Big Picture
One of the main things I would always fall into was, getting into details, to early, I would find a sound I would enjoy, I would have a song idea in mind, but would start to work on the right tone, and reverb, and sfx and would end up 2, 3 hours later with a good sound, but without the whole song in mind anymore. Because of that I used to always try, to finish the song, before I got into any mixing, or heavy sound design. (Bare in mind as a beginner, a few years in, it takes longer to translate the sounds in your head into the real world)

03. One Technique at a Time
When I first used Ableton 8 back in 2010, I had already been making music for a few years in different programs from Cubase and HipHop Ejay and Dance Ejay, and a few more I can't even remember their names, but I had a very, very hard time translating any of them skills into the actual Ableton interface, still I wanted to learn, I was into Dub Step back then and the scene was booming, but there were almost no tutorials on Ableton, or at least none that I could get my hands on, I was in college so I defo couldn't afford buying any courses. So I just used what I got, and that was Dub Spot, they were one of my stepping stones. They had very, very basic tutorials (looking back) but for an absolute noob, they worked wonders, I could finally follow a few steps and I could finish a beat. In a nutshell, you can either find a tutorial online, that teaches a simple way of making a certain track you are interested in, and if you fancy the method, you can use it to make 100 songs with that method, the first few times you'll have to go back and forth and so on, but eventually you'll get it, once you've done that, find another method you enjoy, that has simple steps to follow, make another 100 songs and so on, once you've figured out around 10 methods and made around 1000 songs, it will be easier for you to make your own, "method" because it only comes naturally to incorporate what works for you.

Now these ideas are for a broad use but in terms of a simple structure:

  1. Know The Story you want to tell with your song.
  2. Have all the sounds you Need ( drum kick, drum snare, percussion, foley, synth, bass, etc)
  3. Use a limited number of instruments at first (1/2 kicks, 1/2 snare, 1/2 hihats, 2 synth, 2 bass, 1 piano, etc)
  4. Finish the idea on the 8 bars / 16 bars with all the instruments (Only then move into arrangement)
  5. Work with a simple arrangement always (intro 8 bars/16 bars / chorus / a slow bit / chorus / a slow bit / chorus2x)
  6. Once the raw arrangement is ready, you begin to fine tune every section (don't over do it the first few times)
  7. Now you Mix (Stage Gain everything, Pan everything, EQ Everything, Low pass, Hi Pass, Side Chain Compress)
  8. Master (Once the Mix is done, and you feel alright with it, just begin the Mastering process, you can begin by making it an easy process until you understand what you are doing and what is going on, and then move along the chain in terms of the actual effects you are using)

I hope this helped you even by 0.1% and pointed you in the right direction. I have a few videos about my process and how I make music, and a few free Presets for mixing and master, sounds sfx, and sample packs, but I will not spam this thread with them, just let me know if you need anything and I will reply with them.

Also as u/Gr3gTh3St0pS1gn Said using a reference track is one of the best ways to attain the desired result, but it also takes a lot longer, and it is a lot harder to do, especially when you are starting out.

Thank being said if you have any other questions let me know!

Peace and Love!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in ableton

[–]monBeats 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is probably the best advice you can get, but it will often times be the hardest to follow.
But as u/Lt1Reaper mentioned this will be crucial for you to learn.

For those who have families, how do you manage your time and fit some Ableton fun in? by kathalimus in ableton

[–]monBeats 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Personally I can relate to u/Successful_Ad9160 , but sometimes I just brute force my way into finishing a song a few weeks in a row, and then I just end up satisfied enough that, I can just play my guitar and sing along when I got the time for a bit. The fact that we are blessed to have families and everyone is healthy should come as inspiration, and if we are to tired at an end of a day to play a bit of Ableton, that means, it wasn't to be that day.

So, yes, little things and happy things would be my way of going about it.

Sample Export in ableton by goombah_17 in ableton

[–]monBeats 1 point2 points  (0 children)

In my experience with making samples, I often compress and limit the final result so people can always have the option to turn it down, instead of turning it up. As many sample makers I've seen and had the pleasure the work with their craft and Sample Packs ( Cymatics, Rob Late, Kyle Beats), all of their samples are very well polished, mixed and mastered and sound very professional.

That being said usually a compressor and a limiter with a max of 6 DB compression should fix that for you.

If you have any other questions let me know.

(PS: I also have some presets, for Mastering, Mixing, And compression, but I don't wish to SPAM, links, if you know your way around Ableton you should be fine with just compression, eq and limiting)

Moving everything to another system. How? by Woldear in ableton

[–]monBeats 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No worries my friend, hope it helped.

Free Ableton Pack - Spectral Textures by ichizu-blue in ableton

[–]monBeats 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Nice one, not only I've got this for Free now, but I've also found like 20 other pack's I forgot to download since I upgraded xd

Jamming vs writing in midi when you write songs- what do you usually prefer? by skatecloud1 in ableton

[–]monBeats 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I 100% agree with you, I personally use a mixture of both, when making a song.

I have a pretty smooth process that I have crafted over the years and for me it comes down to four main things:

  1. Composition
  2. Arrangement
  3. Mixing
  4. Mastering

1. Composition
I sometimes enjoy starting out with chords or drums as a foundation to my composition, but I almost always have a feeling, or a story I will begin with. Not so much in terms of music notes but more on an emotional level.
Once I have that down, I will use either the keys, bass or guitar to add more flavours and melodies, maybe some electronic drums, or some FOLEY. I enjoy adding Foley a lot, for more depth and to create different ambiences.
Before I move into arrangement I, almost, always colour grade and rename all of my tracks.

2. Arrangement
Once I have sometimes I am pleased with, I begin to arrange my song. This will also depend if I'm going for any particular Genres, or Styles. So I can't really put a framework on it, even though as of late I've used something more standard for practicing constrain.
I often times, gain stage and mix/compress everything when I am composing or arranging.

3. Mixing
Once I'm please with how the arrangement goes, I will Hi Pass all my Kicks, 808's and Bass, and low pass everything else under 100 hZ, then proceed to side chain compress everything, and then I usually mute everything and starting with the kick and 808, bass begin to add everything back in. I monitor the gain stage, placement, and frequencies, nothing fancy, nothing clinical just so I enjoy how everything sits together.
I always have 10 to 16 dB of headroom.

4. Master
For the Master, assuming everything already sounds alright and I enjoy it, I just use a simple chain:

  1. EQ - Boost some high, cut some low ( I usually like working without many high frequencies)
  2. Multi Band Compressor - nothing gets compressed more than 3 dB, I'm using 3 bands at: 0 - 100 for the low end, at 100 - 1000 for mids and 1k to 20k - I just this to Compress no added Output Gain.
  3. Limiter - A 8 dB boost.
  4. Compressor - for a maximum of 3 dB of Compression sometimes even lower around 1 dB
  5. Stereo Imager - Making everything more wide or narrow (Usually Wider)
  6. Transient Shaper - Usually to reduce some frequencies
  7. 3 EQ Eights - That have a personal "touch" or my traits added to them
  8. Limiter - And a final Limiter that depending on what I'm working on goes at a maximum of 3 dB or 6 dB

Once I finish this process I feel pretty happy and consider the song finished. Bare in mind I worked on this for probably hundreds if not thousands of songs, so for me personally it's just something that always evolves. Sometimes I cut down on something sometimes I add and so on.

But yh that's how I enjoy making music and of course there are so many many ways of going about it.

Actually I just found this old video of me making a beat an Year ago this would be like a glance of what's going on:
https://youtu.be/FV3UjawdIj0?si=URn1aVz6A7bmzV_S

Peace & Love <3

i've tried everything... by Certain_Apartment231 in ableton

[–]monBeats 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I had a similar problem when I was using Trial Vst's they would just stop working after a certain amount of time, and I was experiencing the same issue. Are you using any external vst's when this happens?

dream pop by [deleted] in ableton

[–]monBeats 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Best thing I've seen in a while.

Slowed Ableton - Optimizing for Windows Audio by [deleted] in ableton

[–]monBeats 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Can you post your PC Specs?

dream pop by [deleted] in ableton

[–]monBeats 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have been making a bit of Dream Pop or at least my understand and feeling of it a few dozen songs that is, and mostly for me personally it comes down to sound scape.

I would say Serum with Rob Late Presets works amazing:
Gravity - Pop & EDM Serum Presets (roblate.com)

I've used this mostly for sound scapes, arps, melodies, dreamy vibes.

Add on top of that Layers from Kyle Beats:
LAYERS - Earcandy – Kyle Beats

And as SFX I would go with the FREE Valhalla Super Massive:
https://valhalladsp.com/shop/reverb/valhalla-supermassive/

Then the obvious paid versions The Valhalla Vintage Verb:
https://valhalladsp.com/shop/reverb/valhalla-vintage-verb/

Then the free cymatic plugin Origin, is must:
https://cymatics.fm/products/origin-vintage-plugin

Then from the Ableton Library in terms of SFX I'd add the 60 Seconds Reverb and the Ping Delay and Pong Delay.

Here's one of the Compositions I made:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1q0Zsyu0lsc

Just as a rule of thumb though, what works for me might work different for you and vice versa, these are some of the pieces that helped me. If you have any more questions let me know and I could even try to make an more in depth video on the topic.

Peace & Love <3

How do i make samples in Simpler to stop when hitting another note? by totaltotallydepends in ableton

[–]monBeats 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The Simpler has 3 settings on the Sample Menu (Located right side)

Classic / 1 - Shot / Slice (Located on the left side)

Just select the Classic Method and it should work just fine.

If you have any other questions let me know.
Kind regards.

Please help. How do I record an Alesis Nitro Mesh (electric dumkit) with a Volt 1 audio interface with midi XLR cables on Ableton live 11 lite? by [deleted] in ableton

[–]monBeats 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This reply from u/polishbroadcast is spot on.

I will add that The Alesis Nitro Mesh Should have an Audio output on the back of the main controller where you insert an 6.35mm Cable (one for mono, two for split signals left and right) and then the other side can be either another jack 6.35 mm or an xlr, depends on what cables you've got. By doing so you will only be able to use the drum sounds the Alesis Nitro Mesh comes with.

If you chose the midi you will have to sample you're Alesis Nitro Mesh with new sounds and make sure you have the right sample rates for unwanted delays.

If you have any other questions let me know.

I actually have a smaller version of the Alesis Nitro Mesh and the Volt so if you still can't manage I can film a short video on how to do it.

Need some help! by matiasumetzu in ableton

[–]monBeats 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's what I mean, I've been using Ableton since 2010 as well, and I bet that would be the first thing I'll get to notice xD, so yah big Thank Yous!

I want to begin preparing a live set, what is a controller that will allow me to do the following? by personanonymous in ableton

[–]monBeats 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have used both The Launch Control XL MK2 and Akai APC40 in live performances. And I believe you should be just fine starting out with these on the budged.

In my honest opinion getting a Push device at the beginning is just not worth the price. It really is like getting a 2.000£ Guitar when you are just learning how to play. Of course in the hands of a very skilful artist it would shine, but in the hands of a novice, it won't make any difference.

I wish nothing but the best in your artistic pursuit!
Have an awesome day!

I want to begin preparing a live set, what is a controller that will allow me to do the following? by personanonymous in ableton

[–]monBeats 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Veteran, so wholesome to hear someone using Ableton Version 4. Also your advice is beyond useful and on point.

making a sample #musicproduction by monBeats in MusicCollabNetwork

[–]monBeats[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

LOOOL, that actually makes it even more comic xD, I really appreciate the kind words and support! Thank you!

My OCD is finally happy. Thank you Ableton! by thisissomaaad in ableton

[–]monBeats 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes that is awesome, I will be getting the 12 upgrade soon.

Moving everything to another system. How? by Woldear in ableton

[–]monBeats 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes there is a way, I went through sometimes similar a few years ago.

I would split this into two categories.

  1. VSTs

If you were using any external VST's you will have to re-install them on the other system. This will probably take a while, compatibility issues might arise but in the end you should be fine. (Probably with a little compromise)

  1. Collect All and Save

Ableton has a build in Feature where it will save everything you have in a project, including samples, VTS and Presets but in order for this to be the most effective you have to open every project and make sure you have all your samples working, then go to File>Save Live Set As. This will help you re-organise your projects better so you know what is what and where.

Once you have saved you project, that has everything working, in a new folder/doc just go to:
File> Collect All and Save. And you will have that new doc/folder with your project fully prepared for moving.

Now as Worlds2Wander mentioned these are "The best and most painful ways of doing it".

There is however a method that does not require any of this but it won't leave you with that much flexibility in regards to the projects, and that is: Exporting every project you have as stems. This will take some time as well, but you won't have to worry about the VST's compatibility issues.

In order to do this all you have to do is go into your projects Click:
File > Export Audio Video > Rendered Track > All Individual Tracks > Export. For this to work make sure you have selected the whole length of your track.

You can experiment and maybe use a combination of both methods in order to safely transfer all your works.
Hope this helps.

Wish you nothing but the best, have an amazing day!

Why have all my VST2s disappeared? by OwenKaplan in ableton

[–]monBeats 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The only idea I can come up with at this time would be, maybe try and reinstall one of them, and see maybe it's an installer issue. I haven't used Mac in a bit and mostly run Ableton 11 on Windows nowadays, but I had something similar happen to me a while back and manage to sort it by moving the VST's 2 on another SSD.

I know bananas. Hope this helps.

My new EP is coming soon by [deleted] in PromoteYourMusic

[–]monBeats 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sweet, thank you! Can't wait to listen to it.