Need help getting into the sessionview workflow

[moodles]

Just chiming in to agree with some of the posts above.

If you already have the song mapped out in your head, there probably isn't much of a reason to use Session View.

I use Session View mainly to come up with individual parts and then try to work up an arrangement and then record what I have into Arrangement View. I do this because I have no idea what the song is going to be until I start jamming out on some parts or start creating clips.

I also plan to use Session View for live performance. Tom Cosm has some great tutorials about this including a video that shows some ways to take your song from Arrangement view and put it in a format suitable for live performance.

[otnooishphoo]

If you want to just play the session then set the markers in the arrangement to an empty space with the loop button on, this will allow you to play in session view again without playing arrangement at the same time.......

Perfect, thanks. Actually i have RTFM alot, so i know all about the other stuff you mentioned i was just interested in tips like the one you mentioned above, to get a better and quicker workflow.

if you are doing electronic music just think of the session window as a big
pattern sequencer that can play back more then one pattern at a time (tracks)

[Ajbbklyn]

I find that session view is helpful even in cases where you have a full arrangement mapped out in your head. If you have (for instance) a recurring guitar lick you can create a clip and refine the sound until it's "in the ballpark". This obviates the need to physically play the riff throughout the song. If your arrangement includes distinctive patterns for verse and chorus you can create corresponding scenes for each, triggering in sequence as necessary and recording the output to arrangement view. It can save a lot of time.

Here's an example of a song I did that was first blocked out in Session view and then recorded to Arrangement View: Baby Boomer Bell Curve.
(Apologies to those who've heard this one before)

There are many different ways to work. Live's Session View is but one tool in the toolbox, albeit a unique and valuable one.

[jamesp]

I set up a Session Template similar to the "Songwriter Rhythm Section.als in Live's template folder. My own template has tracks 1-4 for Audio and 5-10 in MIDI w/ all of my routing, instruments, MIDI controller and qwerty k/b assignments, Sends (verb and comp,) Mastering plugs and track f/x pre-assigned, set and saved in the template.

Track order goes Vox, Vox2, Guitar, Guitar2, (then MIDI) Bass, Drums, Piano, Hammond and Synth. I'll record the scratch track in Arrangement View using Tracks 1&3 and then start adding instruments and elements by scene. IOW, loop bracket the Scratch track verse (say) and jam basslines in Session 'til I have one I like. Then I'll do the chorus and etc. repeating this process thru the sections and instruments.

Inevitably the arrangement gets changed and the first track gets scratched. Then I'll go global and record the whole mess into Arrangement View. Next I'll can get down to tracking final versions of the Vox, guitar and any solos. The final stage is the mix down. There's more to it of course, but it's completely stoneaged compared to what many here are doing w/ Live.

[yearlongyeti]

I set up a Session Template similar to the "Songwriter Rhythm Section.als in Live's template folder. My own template has tracks 1-4 for Audio and 5-10 in MIDI w/ all of my routing, instruments, MIDI controller and qwerty k/b assignments, Sends (verb and comp,) Mastering plugs and track f/x pre-assigned, set and saved in the template.

Track order goes Vox, Vox2, Guitar, Guitar2, (then MIDI) Bass, Drums, Piano, Hammond and Synth. I'll record the scratch track in Arrangement View using Tracks 1&3 and then start adding instruments and elements by scene. IOW, loop bracket the Scratch track verse (say) and jam basslines in Session 'til I have one I like. Then I'll do the chorus and etc. repeating this process thru the sections and instruments.

Inevitably the arrangement gets changed and the first track gets scratched. Then I'll go global and record the whole mess into Arrangement View. Next I'll can get down to tracking final versions of the Vox, guitar and any solos. The final stage is the mix down. There's more to it of course, but it's completely stoneaged compared to what many here are doing w/ Live.

Yip pretty similar to me. I lay down a vox and guitar track the whole way through then I chop it all up into 1st half of verse, 2nd half of verse, intro chorus, chorus, middle 8 and possible guitar hooks etc. I try to cut really specific. transfer it then to session view. This allows me to build more instruments on top, play around with the structure by dropping the guitar hook in the middle of the verse. It also really helps with finding your way around the song quickly in a kind of cue sort of way. I then put down the song into arrange and do the vox and ´álive´ parts properly. Hope this helps. This has been a great thread.