Ableton live needs to handle multiple recording takes

[chapelier fou]

It never really bothered me until yet, since i was usually recording one instrument at a time (usually me), so it was relatively easy to manage multiple takes.
But i just came back from a week of recordings with friends, using 9 mics (One X/Y and 7 individual mics). It's been a nightmare.
I know there are workarounds but none of them is satisfying. Ableton Live is clearly, for now, a real bad recording solution.
Next time i'll do a bounce of my liveset and record instruments on top of it with another software, just to do the 'comping' thing.
I really hope something will come out so we can use Live to record stuff in a classical way.

[mmorgan]

I love working in Live but just about the only thing I can use it for functionally is sound design. The majority of my recording time needs to be in more conventional DAWs. This used to bother me. These days I'm okay with it...I just see it as different tools for different goals.

It is hard for me to see how Ableton could provide a linear recording solution as robust as, say, Cubase...and I'm not sure that it would be a productive use of programming talent. I think it might be better if Ableton made Session view even more powerful than it already is.

Just my opinion though.

[paulmaddox]

Would be great if they implemented this in the next version.

In the mean time, I find Reaper does a great job of this for little cost (useful if it's not something you're doing all the time)

[chapelier fou]

So for those who use, say Reaper for recording in a traditional way, how do you combine the two softwares ? What is your workflow ? Bounce in ableton and re-open in the other DAW ? Then the question of Return channels drives me crazy...there is no solution to this.
I'm asking because there's no way i'd give up Live for the production.

[RSJ]

+1 for comping mode. It is the feature I would like to have, the most in Ableton, Please.
Would love to have it both in session and arrangement view.
Here it is done in Reason
https://youtube.com/watch?v=e2XcH1dX9AE

[chapelier fou]

+1 for comping mode. It is the feature I would like to have, the most in Ableton, Please.
Would love to have it both in session and arrangement view.
Here it is done in Reason
https://youtube.com/watch?v=e2XcH1dX9AE

Thanks, that's something like that i am thinking of. I wonder : how does it work (in Reason, on any other DAW) when you work with a recording of several tracks (recorded together, live), but you want to keep the band feel, and thus comping all tracks to the same takes ? I mean, in my case, it's 4 acoustic instruments played at the same time, and a 'take' consists of 4 instruments, with 9 mics, so across 9 tracks.

[H20nly]

+1 for comping mode. It is the feature I would like to have, the most in Ableton, Please.
Would love to have it both in session and arrangement view.
Here it is done in Reason
https://youtube.com/watch?v=e2XcH1dX9AE

that would be AWESOME. i love the way that works.

i have this issue in Live when i record vocals. my only workaround for it is to keep recording. i limit my self to 5 or 6 fixed length takes. when i'm done recording, i create a track for each of takes and then stretch out the recording and slice the takes off and place them in the tracks. this method is fine for 1, 2, 4, or even 8 bar loops... but after that it begins to become very tedious. i'm typically doing rap vocals that can run at least 16 bars but very often 24 or 32. so if you multiply that times 5 takes you can begin to see just how far you have to stretch and scroll to get to the last take found somewhere in the 150th bar range.

i cannot imagine how frustrating this would be to do with 4 instruments that are all playing the entire song.

[chapelier fou]

i cannot imagine how frustrating this would be to do with 4 instruments that are all playing the entire song.

Well, enough to make me consider learning (and buying) a new DAW !

[H20nly]

i have Cubase and Logic to help me... if you're looking specifically for a program to do this, then Logic might be good choice since DAW-wise it's fairly cheap and you will also gain all the other elements that come with it... and there are many, so it's a lot of bang for the buck.*

*note: i realize that Reaper is cheaper, but my (somewhat dated) understanding of it is that the setup is pretty tedious.

[chapelier fou]

i have Cubase and Logic to help me... if you're looking specifically for a program to do this, then Logic might be good choice since DAW-wise it's fairly cheap and you will also gain all the other elements that come with it... and there are many, so it's a lot of bang for the buck.*

*note: i realize that Reaper is cheaper, but my (somewhat dated) understanding of it is that the setup is pretty tedious.

Yeah, Logic and Reaper are my two main options.

[RSJ]

I tested it in Reason, to see if it is working with multiple tracks at the same time and it did.
If you have your instruments/mics going to separate inputs and you arm the tracks in looping mode, then Reason record multiple takes on every separate track at the same time when recording. Just as in the video above you can then edit the tracks and find the best bits of the different takes to make the track just as you like it.

[chapelier fou]

Many thanks for checking. I understand that it records multiple takes. But when it comes to editing (comping), can you easily select only the same takes ? (takes that have been recorded at the same time).
In case you're wondering why : i'm referring to recording acoustic instruments, with a X/Y mics couple + single mics per instruments. Each microphone records a bit the others. So if i want to be trustful to the original play, i need to select the same take for each instrument.