Hip-hop/instrumental workflow?

[vanngogh]

I think the more time we spend making tracks the better we get. We are all learning...I don't think the learning part ever stops....that's part of the reason I love making music...it keeps my mind engaged.

Totally! I've learned some new tricks you guys may appreciate... I can't post them all right now but here's one:

One thing I've been doing lots in my new project is using Live's Utility. It's great for volume automation, so it's easy to go back and edit the volume of the entire track in the project, without moving the volume automations. I also use it to bring sounds around the listener's head with the stereo width, and then bring some sounds into mono during a buildup or something to give it added intensity. REALLY useful!

Will post more on this later.

[Upright]

I think the more time we spend making tracks the better we get. We are all learning...I don't think the learning part ever stops....that's part of the reason I love making music...it keeps my mind engaged.

Totally! I've learned some new tricks you guys may appreciate... I can't post them all right now but here's one:

One thing I've been doing lots in my new project is using Live's Utility. It's great for volume automation, so it's easy to go back and edit the volume of the entire track in the project, without moving the volume automations. I also use it to bring sounds around the listener's head with the stereo width, and then bring some sounds into mono during a buildup or something to give it added intensity. REALLY useful!

Will post more on this later.

Wow...that's something I've very thought to do...I'm still new to Live.

[UCAudio]

I'm trying to use vst instruments to play/record stuff to an audio track... then chop that up and drop it onto drum rack cells to flip that way. Can someone explain an easy way of doing that? I saw some tutorials on youtube where people export their chopped samples first then import them back into live... but I'm sure there's an easier way to do this all within live.

[vanngogh]

I'm trying to use vst instruments to play/record stuff to an audio track... then chop that up and drop it onto drum rack cells to flip that way. Can someone explain an easy way of doing that? I saw some tutorials on youtube where people export their chopped samples first then import them back into live... but I'm sure there's an easier way to do this all within live.

You don't have to route the VST (MIDI) to an audio track. You can just record yourself in the session view, then when you've finished recording, right click the track, and click Freeze. Then you right the frozen track (channel, whatever you wanna call it), and click flatten. Boom! There's your audio.

I do this to many tracks in a project to keep CPU low, as well as what you can do with audio but not MIDI.

Hope that helps.

[gjm]

This guy has a good hip hop work flow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9thbaXOAGM

[UCAudio]

I'm trying to use vst instruments to play/record stuff to an audio track... then chop that up and drop it onto drum rack cells to flip that way. Can someone explain an easy way of doing that? I saw some tutorials on youtube where people export their chopped samples first then import them back into live... but I'm sure there's an easier way to do this all within live.

You don't have to route the VST (MIDI) to an audio track. You can just record yourself in the session view, then when you've finished recording, right click the track, and click Freeze. Then you right the frozen track (channel, whatever you wanna call it), and click flatten. Boom! There's your audio.

I do this to many tracks in a project to keep CPU low, as well as what you can do with audio but not MIDI.

Hope that helps.

Thanks man I appreciate that. Didn't realize you could do that. 2 questions... lets say you record a minute long midi jam in session view and then flatten to audio. Now if I want to grab 3 different 2 second chunks of that audio and put them on drum rack cells to retrigger... do you know how to go about doing that?

Also if I have a few different midi instruments/clip grouped in session view... is there a way to flatten the whole group?

[kevwestbeats]

Depends on the track I am making. For years it was a simple create a drum track and then find a sample I like chop it up and rework it in a way to fit the drums. Over the past year though I have been working with a lot less samples and a lot more synths and romplers and have tried doing this in a similar fashion but totally changing my way of production after doing the same thing for 6-7 years has had its downsides. These days though I pretty much lay down my drums then think about a lead instrument maybe some bass and usually end up going overboard with other elements after that lol

[chaibuka]

Great thread! Hello Ableton hip hop family!


Gosh, where do I start...

I have about 2,000 vinyl records so obviously I love to sample but lately I've been more into classic sounding boom bap drum framework with synth melodies. Typically I'll start with the melody because the melody dictates what type of drum sounds I go with. With the type of melody structure I've been using, I'll start with a simple synth melody (like a 4 bar loop) and build on the melody by adding another melody and finally a lead melody. Even though I'm using synths more, I still like to keep things extra dirty. I'll even go as far as adding in record hiss and vinyl crackle. Once I have a dope melody I do drum work and bass last....I tend to mix as I go.

Here's one of my most recent joints

https://soundcloud.com/upright/labwrk

Nice tracks on Soundcloud. I see you recently started using Push. What controllers were used previous and now with Push how do you feel workflow might change. I'm guessing you might be able to develop melodies better. Would you feel comfortable using Push for your primary sampling tasks.

[SuburbanThug]

+1 on the tracks Upright.

[jlgrimes]

Hey, I'm interested in how you guys approach a beat, whether it's something like Pretty Lights or Gramatik, or a beat made by someone like Sap for others to rap over..

I generally find a sample, chop, tune, etc. , add a simple bassline, create a sound for some background filler (pads), then chop up a couple more samples and make a melody of some sort.

What are your guy's processes?

Listen to good old school songs.

I listen for loops usually. I might listen for a while to see what direction to take it. I'm not a big chopper though. I usually chop for corrective purposes (to remove spoken words or something to make a beat more open). Sometimes I leave the vocals in if it have a good subject matter.

I also try to learn the song key and drum patterns as well to layer things if needed.