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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Application submitted British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN: 978-0-240-81228-1 For information on all Focal Press publications visit our website at www.elsevierdirect.com Typeset by: diacriTech, India Printed in the United States of America 09 10 11 12 13 5 4 3 2 1 Acknowledgments I would like to thank Amy Baer for all her help, support, and encouragement, Jim Anderson, Joe Trupiano/Sample Logic LLC, Jeremy Serkin, Andres Levin, and Mom. Special thanks to Huston Singletary and Justin Hegburg for their contributions. I would like to thank Catherine Steers both for making this book a possibility and for seeing it through with me till the end. xiii About the Author Keith Robinson is a composer, sound designer, and audio engineer living in New York City. He is also part of the adjunct faculty at The Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music, New York University, where he specializes in the Fundamen- tals of Audio Workstations (Pro Tools, Digital Audio, MIDI) and Producing Music with Software & MIDI (Live, Logic, Reason). Keith’s music has been used in numerous commercials and television shows and he has composed additional music and sound design for multiple feature films. Currently Keith serves as Vice President and co-developer of the sample library company Sample Logic LLC (www.samplelogic.com) and music production company Sample Logic Studios (www.samplelogicstudios.com). His sample company’s award winning prod- ucts A.I.R., The Elements EXP, Synergy, WaterHarp, and Morphestra are heavily used throughout music for Film, TV, and gaming world. xi In this chapter 1.1 Introduction 3 1.3 Immersing yourself in Live 4 1.2 Approaching Live in three 1.4 How to use this book! 7 intuitive ways 4 1.5 Taking advantage of Hot Tips 8 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 humanmind and the demand for delivering music through a computer. In less than a decade, Ableton has delivered a soft- ware 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. 3 Ableton Live 8 and Suite 8: Create, Produce, Perform 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, syn- ergizing 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 impro- visations, 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 mul- titasking 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 Live’s own “nonlinear” musical environment. This means that not only can it be read front-to-back in a traditional fashion, it can also, and should, be read and used as a “nonlinear” 4 Ableton Live 8: Create, Produce, Perform resource for unleashing new and efficient skills for music creation, production, and performance. Simply put, read it in any order you desire. To deliver the content in this way while staying true to Live, we have integrated the key elements of the Live software into the book itself. This includes the same creative features found in Live, transformed into a textbook format. We have explicitly adopted and literally implemented the terminology, labels, and features of the program, treating the book as if it were part of Live’s graphical user interface (GUI) – in other words, as Ableton Live 8. The concept is to have the book look and feel like the software. Think of it as a new way of using a computer program and guidebook in tandem. Unlike a manual, this book will foster new and creative ways to use Live. 1.3.1 How the book has been constructed This book does not use the “traditional” structural labeling system, rather it incorporates Live’s nomenclature and terminologies to draw a parallel to Live itself. Our goal is that while reading, you will be learning the program without realizing it – thinking in “Live” language. The following legend identifies the terms, labels, and images that are used throughout the book to parallel Live – with some liberties of course. ■ Scenes: chapters ■ File Browser 1: table of contents ■ File Browser 2: index ■ Clips: topic titles ■ Info Boxes: sidebar definitions, concepts, topic highlights (Note that these resemble Live’s Info View located at the bottom left corner of the main Live user interface.) Figure 1.1 Info Box containing Launch Boxes. 5 Ableton Live 8 and Suite 8: Create, Produce, Perform ■ Hot Tips: a cool and quick tip or trick. Hot Tips appear in two different formats (Note that neither of these physically exist in Live, but they resemble its Info View): – Hot Tip icon – Hot Tip box Figure 1.2 Hot Tip box. ■ Launch Boxes: “launch points” for linking Scene/Clip topics and concepts to other related Scene or Clip in the book. They can be found throughout the book embedded in the text and in Info Boxes. ■ Scene Launch Boxes are yellow with a gray launch button . ■ Clip Launch Boxes are green, blue, or red . We have also included screenshots from Live 8 and Suite 8. Be on the lookout for graphics and pictures that will help solidify concepts. “A picture is worth a thousand words.” 1.3.2 General Scene layout Each Scene (chapter) is constructed around the following general outline: Concepts and technology ■ Features ■ Functions ■ Techniques ■ Tutorials/examples Create concepts ■ Composing/arranging 6 Ableton Live 8: Create, Produce, Perform ■ Songwriting ■ Sound design Produce concepts ■ Producing ■ Mixing ■ Remixing Perform concepts ■ Real-time “on the fly” ■ Onstage performance ■ Improvisation Information/Hot Tips ■ Hot Tips ■ Definitions Launch points ■ Contextual Clip Launch Boxes ■ Interconnected topics, techniques, features, tips, and tricks 1.4 How to use this book! We have designed this book to be read in any order you choose, not necessarily from cover to cover. Customize your own path “on the fly” as you read. We recommend reading through the first three Scenes. This will take you through the basic essentials. At that point, you will be ready to take off on your own journey through the rest of the book. Feel free to approach your reading as an efficient interlinked adventure, tying together the concepts you need to enhance your workflow and unlock Live 8’s or Suite 8’s power. If you’re new to Live, then you might choose to read straight through or attack the areas that address your immediate needs. Here is how we suggest using the book: ■ Locate information and concepts that interest you, then let the book take you on a journey through its related topics. ■ For those of you looking for basic principles, the “nuts and bolts,” you can read straight through cover to cover. It’s all here! 7