So, I’m back into plugging away at a remix today. Didn’t have long to work, so I just pulled my computer out of my gig bag and setup in my studio as quickly as possible, taking no time to reconnect MIDI controllers, except for an Oxygen 8 that stays on my desk at all times. […]
OK FINE, DON’T USE THE MOUSE
In theory, the easiest way to remote control the parameters of an instrument or effect device is to set up a MIDI controller as a Control Surface and take advantage of Instant Mapping. (see Get MIDI Set Up Right for more on setting up control surfaces). In particular, I’m referring to controllers that have a […]
RACK VS. DEVICE PRESETS
It turns out that saving and loading presets is a slightly more interesting topic than you might imagine. Today I’m going to pick up where I left off yesterday with some basics – we’ll get into a more customized approach later in the week. When I’m talking about saving a Rack as a preset (like […]
ORGANIZE YOUR PRESETS, pt. 1
The only issue with saving presets as described in yesterday’s tip is that Live decides for you where the preset shows up in the browser, and if you’re like me you might want a bit more control over how things are organized. First off, be aware that right-clicking on a device allows you to use […]
ORGANIZE YOUR PRESETS, pt. 2
My personal approach to preset organization is to keep all of my presets in a folder outside the Live library. In my Mac’s “Music” folder, I keep a folder called Presets: When I want to save a preset into this folder, I skip using the Save switch entirely and use drag-and-drop instead. Just grab the […]
THE NAME GAME, pt. 1
Hey folks! Today’s tip is from guest tipster Chris Buono. Chris Buono has been an Ableton zealot since Live 4 and has worked with the likes of Moldover, Elijah B Torn, Karsh Kale and many others. Recently Chris and Elijah B Torn along with Jon Francis Lucow formed the improv trio, trillions, et al. Chris’ […]
PRINT STEMS
For the love of god people, please let’s print some stems, OK? For any of you new to this newfangled studio lingo, printing stems means taking a multi-track session and rendering an individual audio file for each track or submixes of tracks (i.e. Drums, Vocals, Guitars, etc.). Uses for stems are myriad: remixing, mixing in […]
PRINT STEMS, OLDSKOOL
As I mentioned in the last tip, there are some cases where printing stems the automatic way doesn’t cut it and you’ve got to take a more manual approach. Cases include: You didn’t group or submix tracks in the set You did group or submix, but you need a stem to include more than one […]
STEMS: WHY BOTHER?
So why bother printing stems? There are a bunch of reasons to be familiar with the simple techniques described in the last couple of tips. Some of them may not apply to you, one of them applies to everyone. Mixing and Remixing. If you ever have to mix your stuff in a different sequencer, you’ll […]
WHAT ABOUT MIDI?
So, i thought I was done talking about exporting stems, but someone emailed in a question that’s worth addressing: What about MIDI? Generally speaking, when we’re talking about creating stems or archiving a project, we’re talking about creating audio files. After all, part of the reason we do this is to avoid having to have […]
