Ultimate Ableton Live

An overview of what will be covered in this class, and how I'll be covering it. This is the first class in a super comprehensive series of classes. At the end of this class I'll give you the goods to get you moving into the second class.

One of the first things that stumps a lot of people about Ableton Live is the two different views. It isn't as weird as you think! Let me help you wrap your head around it - starting here.

First, we will look at Arrangement view. If you have used any other audio program, this view will look a bit familiar.

Session View is where Ableton Live gets unique. You won't find this in any other program. Once you understand how it works, it is incredibly fun to use.

Getting around Ableton Live can be confusing at first. Here we will talk about the main layout, what to look for, and how to find help.

Info View is our first window we will look at. This window holds the secrets to Live - and tells you everything you need to know.

Help View is a little browser built-in to Ableton. It has lessons, sessions (sets), and all kinds of useful stuff. Check it out!

In this lesson we will look at production workflow in Live. This is something that can take a little getting used to, but once you get comfortable with it, you will moving through Live very quickly.

The main sequencer window in Arrangement view is, if you have used another audio program, a familiar timeline-based layout. It has a few things that are different, so in this lesson we will explore how it works in detail.

The Session View is probably the most foreign element in Live to most people. In this lesson we will look at navigating it, and the biggest part of it, the Clip Slot Grid.

Clip View is the big rectangle at the bottom of the screen, and it contains a lot of info. The trick to Clip View is knowing that it can show you different things depending on what you are doing.

A few tips and tricks when it comes to adding content to Ableton Live.

Getting around inside the Preferences window is key to making sure all of your settings are correct. In this lesson I'll show you how to set everything up.

The Browser is how we can quickly navigate all our files without leaving Live. Like most things in Live, once you get comfortable with it, it can really speed up your workflow.

There are a few tricks to the signal flow in Live - that is, the route audio goes once it enters the program.

Finally - Recording! Now that we are all setup, and know how audio is moving through Live, in this lesson we will do a little recording.

"Record to Arrange" is a way of recording Session view into Arrangement view. In this lesson, I'll show you!

In this lesson I'm going to walk through this whole Ableton Live Set that we've been looking at for the last few sessions. I'll explain everything I see, in hopes that you pickup on anything you missed, some vocabulary, and just to reinforce what you've learned so far.

In this lesson we will talk broadly about the basic editing features of Live.

One of the most basic functions in Live is Looping clips. In this lesson we will look at how that works in the timeline (Arrangement View).

Quantizing is a way to "snap" our MIDI notes to a grid, to clean up our sloppy playing (and for other reasons). In this lesson, I'll show you how to do it!

Automation is how to program changes in any parameter over time. Want the volume to go up in a section? Thats automation. Want a filter to start opening after the drop? Thats automation.

Possibly one of the most unique features in Live is the Groove Pool. In this video I'll show you what its for, and how to use it.

In this lesson I'm going to walk through another Ableton Live Set that we've been looking at for the last few sessions. I'll explain everything I see, in hopes that you pickup on anything you missed, some vocabulary, and just to reinforce what you've learned so far.