mastering settings for different songs for live performance

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kebabman
Posts: 152
Joined: Mon Apr 02, 2007 6:29 am

mastering settings for different songs for live performance

Post by kebabman » Wed Jul 21, 2021 7:56 am

Hi there

I've been working on my live set of 10 electronic compositions which I am going to be performing live. I have these 10 compositions in session view going down the page from top left to bottom right so I can perform each song by launching appropriate scenes.

On the master bus I need some mastering - either Ableton's own or the Ozone 9 plugin.

My songs are in different styles, some are more dubby, others vocal house, some ambient....

As I don't think one size fits all, is it possible to change the mastering presets on the master channel as I progress from one song to another?

Would a way be to have 2 or 3 instances on the master with different settings on each and have each turn on and off using automation?

Thanks in advance.
If I'm not there I'll cut my hair...

schlam
Posts: 141
Joined: Mon Dec 14, 2020 11:51 am

Re: mastering settings for different songs for live performance

Post by schlam » Wed Jul 21, 2021 4:57 pm

Hello.
One of the several ways to achieve that :
- select all the devices in your master track.
- right click one of the header's device and choose "group"
- now this mastering setup is a chain of a rack
- create another chains for each song with the changes you need in each
- open the chain view of the rack
- select all the chains and select "distribute"
- you just have now to create a dummy clip at the beggining of each song and create in it an automation of the master rack 's chain selector

When you will load each song the chain of the master track will change accordingly.

Hope it helps

Cheers

kebabman
Posts: 152
Joined: Mon Apr 02, 2007 6:29 am

Re: mastering settings for different songs for live performance

Post by kebabman » Wed Jul 21, 2021 7:46 pm

Thank you very much for this - really appreciated!

I haven't tried it yet in Live but it sounds like it'll work!

Only thing I'm not sure is the "distribute." Is this because I've made a mastering group for each song and this groups are all laid out next to each other in the master effects view at the bottom of the session. Is saying "distribute" telling the dummy clips to be ready to receive a particular clip?

I'm probably just going to be using the Ozone 9 mastering plugin so I don't need any grouped chains as such - all handled in Ozone.

Regarding CPU load, is this not an issue as you are only use one mastering chain / plugin at any one time?

Many thanks 8) :lol:
If I'm not there I'll cut my hair...

schlam
Posts: 141
Joined: Mon Dec 14, 2020 11:51 am

Re: mastering settings for different songs for live performance

Post by schlam » Thu Jul 22, 2021 10:28 am

Even if you only use Ozone, you still need a chain per song with an Ozone on each with your setting per song.


Yes Live doesn't switch off devices that are in unused chains, so it may use more CPU.

To avoid that you can download a free device here :
https://maxforlive.com/library/device/6 ... pass-chain
This device does the trick, it switchs off all devices that are not in the active chain.

With this it's not anymore the Chain selector of your Master Rack that you have to automate in your dummy clips but the NumBox of this device...(quite sure of that..give it a try.. =)

The only change with this device is that you don't have to distribute the chains.
for chain one choose a range [0 0]
for chain 2 : [1 1]
for chain 3 : [2 2]
etc...

cheers


julien

schlam
Posts: 141
Joined: Mon Dec 14, 2020 11:51 am

Re: mastering settings for different songs for live performance

Post by schlam » Thu Jul 22, 2021 10:31 am

I don"t use Ozone and I don"t know how the preset system is working..
maybe it's possible to only use one instance of Ozone and only use a dummy clip per song to automate the preset change..
If you can click "configure" in your vst device and choose your preset selector it should work.

It may be possible too to send to ozone Program Change per song..

kebabman
Posts: 152
Joined: Mon Apr 02, 2007 6:29 am

Re: mastering settings for different songs for live performance

Post by kebabman » Wed Jul 28, 2021 5:20 pm

Hi there

So sorry for the delay getting back to you - been away at a festival :)

Although I've got max for live, I've never used it as it looks a bit scary! I certainly like the sound of your suggestion about using dummy clips to select different presets on the Ozone.

if this doesn't work, I'll go down the MFL route.

Many thanks for your help with this - I'll let you know how I get on :)
If I'm not there I'll cut my hair...

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