Ableton Live Flagship

Welcome to Level 1! During this level, we will be familiarizing ourselves with the fundamental components of the Live interface, and getting a chance to do some of our first handling of Audio and MIDI content.

Navigation, Clip Basics, and Signal Flow

The Audio and MIDI Tab, The Record/Warp/Launch Tab, Basic Key Commands

Automation – the control of parameters over time.

Level 1 Final Projects! Submit to get feedback.

Welcome to Level 2! During this level, we will be exploring the various ways in which we record audio and MIDI clips, as well as how to program note and automation content into those clips to build a more interesting sketch.

For this level we’ll be looking deeply at all of the ways we can create content in Live. We will be starting on the Clip Slot Grid and recording our audio and MIDI ideas, and then we’ll be modifying and tweaking those recordings to suit our musical ideas.

Welcome to Level 2!

Now let’s fix up some of those recordings using Live’s Audio Warping engine.

Let’s now spend some time checking out some various techniques that employ recording, overdubbing, and jamming out our ideas into Live.

Level 2 Final Projects! Submit to get feedback.

Welcome to Level 3!

Alright here we go for Level 3 – Arranging and Editing!

Let’s get started with an Introduction to the Arrangement.

Let’s discuss the nuts and bolts of saving your work properly in Level 3 Class 2 – File Management.

Let’s now explore ways in which we can refine our arrangements and add some flare with effects!

Arrange and edit a 2-3 minute long tune on the Arrangement View that began on the Session View and fits a recognizable music format (ie: house or dubstep or country).

Welcome to Level 4! For this level we will be learning how to refine and polish up our sounds with effects processing.

For Level 4, let’s begin to understand our effects processing toolkit in Live and how those devices relate to the primary dimensions of sound.

Welcome to Level 4! This is a series that covers the basics of each of our audio effects in Live, broken down into dimension categories; Frequency, Amplitude, and Duration (Time). Enjoy!

Now that we have covered the fundamental dimensions of signal processing, let’s look a bit further into another important element of any sound: Timbre.

Now let’s combine all of our previous lessons from Level 4 and integrate them into some advanced production workflows; Sidechaining, bussing, resampling, and glueing it all together with custom Effect Rack designs.

Using inserted effects and return tracks, enhance the strength of your sketch.

Welcome to Level 5! For this level we will be investigating the core concepts of synthesis and sampling, beginning with subtractive synthesis within the Analog instrument, and then moving through FM synthesis within Operator and then the various Physically Modelled A.A.S. instruments.

For this level, we will be investigating the synthesizers and samplers in Ableton Live, in the interest of understanding how to tweak and customize our own sounds, as well as create our own original sounds from the ground up!

Let’s investigate the elements of sound creation, starting with Subtractive and FM Synthesis via the Ableton Analog and Operator.

Now for Class 2 – we have the opportunity to investigate sampling within the 3 sampler devices in Live; The Impulse, the Simpler, and the Sampler.

Now let’s layer, combine, and customize our instruments into custom effects processing devices called Racks. The Ableton Live Effect Rack, Instrument Rack, and Drum Racks are at the heart of incredible sounding music and sound design.

Enhance or Replace the sounds in one of your current sketches using any of the synthesis languages covered here.

Welcome to Level 6! For this section of the program, we are going to focus on connecting and controlling external instruments and controller devices.

For Level 6, let’s take a close look at how Live handles sequence data (MIDI) both inside and outside of the machine. We’ll start by looking at Live’s internal MIDI effects devices, and then examine how Live can both send and receive control information to/from external instruments and controllers.

We’ll start with a few review videos to cover routing and recording MIDI in and out of Live, and then we’ll explore Live’s built in MIDI effects processors.

For Class 2, let’s review a bit of MIDI configuration content and then dive into Push and APC workflows.

Now we finish off Level 6 with some special videos from James Patrick’s Lab Session Archive – Focusing on Workflows that employ Live’s Control Surface capabilities!

Either create a new sketch, or use the Level 3 final, to enhance the “live feel” and “playability” of the tune.

Welcome to Level 7 – Mixing and Mastering! This level is broken up into 2 classes of Mixing down your sketches, and 1 final class of Mastering that mixed song.

Let’s get our favorite sketches from previous levels all polished up and ready to be shared, with a solid mix down and master channel processing workflow.

Welcome to Level 7! For this first class, we will start by breaking down the fundamental concepts of mixing audio, and then begin to work with Frequencies (EQ) and Dynamics/Amplitudes (Compression) to put our sounds together like puzzle pieces.

Let’s now put those sounds into the mix by adjusting their volume levels, dynamics levels, and position in the stereo field.

Now we’re going to be covering the mastering process.

Submit a mixed down song that is completely assembled and demonstrates the best of your proficiency with music production.

We finally arrive at Level 8! For this level we will be exploring the various ways you can use Ableton Live in the context of a Live Performance.

Here we go to finish off the Ableton Program at Slam Academy – Level 8 – Live Performance!

Welcome to Level 8! Let’s start configuring our session in a way that will allow us to DJ with Live! Lots of effects Racks and processing techniques here!

Now let’s take this live performance idea a step further, beyond DJing pre-recorded content, let’s integrate our own original creations and improvisations!

For the very final class of the Ableton Program at Slam Academy, let’s look further into ways we can customize Live to become a member in our band!

Design a Live Set that can support both Audio and MIDI content ideas for jamming, along with devices and racks that allow you to play the computer like a musical instrument.