Ableton Live 8 and Suite 8

Create, Produce, Perform

Keith Robinson, Huston Singletary

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• eBook ISBN: 9781136121494
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Acoustical Engineering
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Learn how to create, produce and perform a whole new way; prepare to unlock the power of Live. This book and DVD combination shows, if you get it right, exactly what Ableton Live can deliver. Engineered to follow Lives non linear music environment the book looks and feels like the program, its unique format utilizes the terms and creative features of Live- tabs, keys, pointers, and labels to learn the littlest things that make the biggest difference. Packed with professional testimonials, concepts, definitions, hundred of tips and tricks and hidden features the book covers the software's nuts and bolts and creative technique to create, produce, perform and make music on the fly. The accompanying DVD contains ?Live sets? and web pointer information to sync and download as well as interviews, further hints and tips and video

In this chapter

1.1	Introduction
1.2	Approaching Live in three intuitive ways
1.3	Immersing yourself in Live
1.4	How to use this book!
1.5	Taking advantage of Hot Tips

SCENE 1

Ableton Live 8: Create, Produce, Perform

1.1 Introduction

Never has there been a more versatile, useful, or intuitive music production software that so closely emulates the human mind and the demand for delivering music through a computer. In less than a decade, Ableton has delivered a software package that meets the needs of the composer, producer, songwriter, DJ, and beyond. With an imaginative design and a forward thinking mission, Live 8 and Suite 8 drive music production into the twenty-first century. With such a progressive approach to its development, some of you may feel a bit disoriented or even intimidated at first sight of Live's unconventional design, especially those coming from a traditional digital audio workstation (DAW) background. If you are new to DAWs, DJ-style programs, or software music production in general, then you'll soon be right at home with the “parallel concept” of Live's Session and Arrangement Views. For the rest of us, we have to rethink our approach to composing, arranging, and producing music, but it will be a worthwhile adjustment. That is why this book has been written; to help reinvent the music production software user and to unleash the new user. For the current Ableton Live user – yes you – there is plenty here to unlock! After all, there is still a little “new user” inside all of us. So, it is the goal of this book to build and cultivate a strong understanding of Live 8’s concepts and to provide material that will engage all sequencer and workstation users alike. With that goal in mind, at the end of each reading, you should feel that your current skills and knowledge base have been elevated to the next level.

Now it is time to learn how to create, produce, and perform with Live 8 and Suite 8. All you have to do is decide what your needs are because it's all here.

1.2 Approaching Live in three intuitive ways

Live naturally presents itself as a multipurpose tool for the composer, producer, and performer. For this reason, we have taken on the task to provide an accessible way for both new and intermediate Live users to obtain critical information that will act as a constant guide and reference for all things relating to Ableton Live 8 and Suite 8. We present to you a balance between creative techniques, tips and tricks, and the vital “nuts and bolts” of Live by concentrating on its three main facets: create, produce, perform.

With this approach, we educate, inspire, and propel you to new heights, synergizing creativity, production, and performance. In this manner, we hope you will use this book as a tool to uncover specific features and gain conceptual and practical knowledge that you can then integrate and apply in real-world situations. Rediscover yourself in the way that fits you best, whether through creation, production, or performance.

Now take a look to see where you fit within the following three content areas we've defined in our categorical approach to Live. Each area attempts to identify your unique needs and maximize your time spent with Live 8 and Suite 8. Use them as a guide to tailor-make your experience while reading the book.

Create: composers, songwriters, sound designers

Produce: producers, mixers, remixers

Perform: studio and onstage performers, real-time performances and improvisations, interactive music installations, choreographies

1.3 Immersing yourself in Live

The heart and soul of this book is about communicating the idea of making “music on the fly.” This means an uninterrupted workflow that allows for multitasking the most complex ideas in real time. Therefore, this book is all about immersing yourself into the world of Live. We want you to think like Ableton and have the freedom to customize your learning experience. This is the ideology supporting every scene (chapter). The content of the text should be used as a launching pad for navigating to and from related concepts, skills, and unique features of Live 8 and Suite 8. That being said, you'll find that the book has been engineered in the same way that Ableton has conceived ...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• About the Author
• Acknowledgments
• Scene 1 Ableton Live 8: Create, Produce, Perform
• Scene 2 Overview: Live 8, Suite 8
• Scene 3 The Quick Way to Start Making Music!
• Scene 4 Global Record: Capturing Arrangements on the Fly
• Scene 5 Arrangement View Concepts
• Scene 6 Session View Concepts
• Scene 7 Clips
• Scene 8 Groove
• Scene 9 Recording
• Scene 10 Working with Scenes
• Scene 11 Grouping Tracks
• Scene 12 Controlling Your Universe
• Scene 13 Warping Your Mind!
• Scene 14 Loops, Slicing, and More Looping
• Scene 15 Instruments and Effects
• Scene 16 Device Racks
• Scene 17 Suite 8
• Scene 18 Video with Live 8
• Index