newbie question: looping one audio track while recording another

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
Post Reply
Bruce E
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Nov 26, 2022 2:25 am

newbie question: looping one audio track while recording another

Post by Bruce E » Sat Nov 26, 2022 2:34 am

I'm just starting out with Live, and I'm having trouble figuring out how to do something that seems kind of simple. I'd like to record a short audio backing track and then to use it as a looped clip while I record another part over it. Here is the work flow I'm picturing:

1. Create a one-measure MIDI drum clip essentially as a click track.
2. Record a backing audio track while the drum clip is looping - maybe a 12-bar section, for example.
3. Loop both the 12-bar backing track and drums while recording a new audio track over an indefinite number of measures.

I think the idea is fairly clear - I want to loop one chorus of a rhythm part while I record a solo part over an indefinite number of choruses.

Do I need to save the 12-bar backing part to a sample file and then reimport it as a clip, or can I just accomplish the same thing in the UI?

Thanks in advance for your help.
Old-school semi-pro part time musician trying to learn to use Live. I don't like it to be obvious that any part of a recording is ever repeated exactly.

pottering
Posts: 1800
Joined: Sat Dec 06, 2014 4:41 am

Re: newbie question: looping one audio track while recording another

Post by pottering » Sat Nov 26, 2022 6:36 am

1. Put a MIDI Drum Clip in one Session View slot in a MIDI Track and trigger it (click its little triangle play button).

2. Arm a Audio Track in Session View, click the round circle button in a empty slot to record in it, click the red play triangle to stop recording and start playing the recording, Live loops recorded Clips by default.

3. Arm a second Audio Track, record whatever arbitrary length in that track in either Arrangement View or Session View (unlike other software, Live has TWO record buttons, one for Session, another for Arrangement, if you enable both there is a 3rd behavior).

https://www.ableton.com/en/manual/recording-new-clips/
♥♥♥

Bruce E
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Nov 26, 2022 2:25 am

Re: newbie question: looping one audio track while recording another

Post by Bruce E » Sat Nov 26, 2022 9:35 pm

Thanks, @pottering - I kind of thought that was what I was doing, but I must be missing something.

In your step 2, you say that Live loops recorded clips by default - I didn't find that. After recording Track 2 (assuming Track 1 is for the MIDI drum clip), if I then start to record Track 3, Track 2 plays once and then is silent.

I can make it loop by clicking the loop button at the top of the Arrangement view panel, but then the entire arrangement loops for the length of Track 2, so I can't record anything longer than that on Track 3.

I tried clicking the loop button on the Clip panel for Track 2 - which is what I thought should do what I wanted - but it still stops after one pass unless I have the loop button pressed in the arrangement view.

Any idea what I'm missing or doing wrong?

Thanks.
Old-school semi-pro part time musician trying to learn to use Live. I don't like it to be obvious that any part of a recording is ever repeated exactly.

pottering
Posts: 1800
Joined: Sat Dec 06, 2014 4:41 am

Re: newbie question: looping one audio track while recording another

Post by pottering » Sat Nov 26, 2022 11:45 pm

Sounds to me you did not actually use Session View.

I linked to the manual there too, that's not a forum signature.
♥♥♥

Bruce E
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Nov 26, 2022 2:25 am

Re: newbie question: looping one audio track while recording another

Post by Bruce E » Sun Nov 27, 2022 3:24 am

Thanks again - you were right on both counts. I was recording in the arrangement view, not the session view, and also I had missed the link to the manual section in your reply. Once I reread that I was able to get it to do what I'd been trying, even though I'm still not understanding exactly what's happening.

I'll have to play around a little more to understand session recording vs. arrangement recording, but at least I've got a start on it.

Thanks again.
Old-school semi-pro part time musician trying to learn to use Live. I don't like it to be obvious that any part of a recording is ever repeated exactly.

pottering
Posts: 1800
Joined: Sat Dec 06, 2014 4:41 am

Re: newbie question: looping one audio track while recording another

Post by pottering » Sun Nov 27, 2022 4:06 am

Thanks for confirming my suspicion about the last sentence of many of my posts looking like a forum signature. (Gonna add a sig later).
♥♥♥

Post Reply