Ableton Forum

All down to your own workflow.

i record in, but I use the drag to and from session/arrange for changing clips and dragging them back to session or inserting other things into the arranegment after I've recorded it etc.

I find the Session and the Arrange to each have its purpose. If I'm doing a straight up rock song, and I have the arrangement in my head already, meaning verse/chorus/verse/bridge/chorus, then I usually go straight to Arrange the lay it down.

Session is more of a sketch board. I use it for prog house and dance tracks with looping parts. But even in the previous example, if I want to lay down a bunch of guitar parts quickly, I'll go to Session, create a track and plop down a bunch of guitar or bass loops. When composing, I'll use Session to come up with a bunch of ideas and then I'll process those ideas too by routing one track into another and apply FX. Then I'll port all those ideas into Arrange.

I don't think there's any one "correct" way, but I do think that Session has a lot of advantages that become apparent when you break free of the "linear" mentality of Arrange (and every other DAW out there).

What you say sounds like what i got in mind, neb
I usually have my mind around some ideas (i am not a very organized or structured person, hence my math teacher was completely stunned about some of the ways i solved problems ).

Since i work most with 4/4 and dance oriented (including house in that one today), i suppose its much of the ideas that pop up quickly. I usually have an idea for a short amount of time, and it would be darn cool to do it like that.
And now i know i can! So what am i waiting for Since i allready made the drumloops and basslines for my track, i suppose i'm going to tear it apart and save the clips, then go to session view and sketch the track out.

All down to your own workflow.

Yeah but can't hurt to ask around. I allready got a lot more ideas on my own workflow from reading this!


Linear mentality is something i don't have hehe

Then Live is for you!

I play with real time musicians so I have no need to use the arrangement view. I store all the automation in clips.

eduardoborsuci wrote:I play with real time musicians so I have no need to use the arrangement view. I store all the automation in clips.

I don't hehe

Then Live is for you!

Well i have owned it quite some time but never gave session a chance as i assumed it was for live view. But now i'm much better with live and more confident that its possible to play a track split in clips live and record it for instance..

I switch back and forth several times before a song is complete.

Sometimes I jam in arrangement view, then find the sections I like and Copy them to the session view where I can mix,match and remix them.

After spending some time in session view, I record all that back to session view. With luck, all I have to to is some mixing and fix transitions and such... but sometimes the song has some major boring sections... in which case I repeat the process of finding the sections I like, Copying them to the Session view, and trying again.

Like you, I am more comfortable with the linear arraqngement view, but the power of Session view extends well beyond "live performace value". Its a great compositional tool for quick and easy swapping and 'mixing' of parts!

Allright i will definently give this a go

thefool wrote:Allright i will definently give this a go

Just force yourself to only use the Session for all creation. Don't even go to to the arrange until the last possible moment. That's the only way to really force your mind to break out of the linear paradigm.

nebulae wrote:

thefool wrote:Allright i will definently give this a go

Just force yourself to only use the Session for all creation. Don't even go to to the arrange until the last possible moment. That's the only way to really force your mind to break out of the linear paradigm.

I suppose to go back to session for mixing, when the arrangement is ok, right?

thefool wrote:

nebulae wrote:

thefool wrote:Allright i will definently give this a go

Just force yourself to only use the Session for all creation. Don't even go to to the arrange until the last possible moment. That's the only way to really force your mind to break out of the linear paradigm.

I suppose to go back to session for mixing, when the arrangement is ok, right?

yeah, of course, but that's the mixing stage. I'm talking about the raw creation part...where you're doing nothing but creating parts, loops, midi patterns, drums, etc. Only use those slots. Then when you're totally done and have developed a bunch of great ideas, start recording them into arrange by "performing" them, or trggering scenes. Then polish in the arrange, and go back to session to mix. Or go back to session to add more ideas.

My guess is that once you get past the discomfort of being away from the timelines, you will come up with some strange creativity that you didn't know of before....and don't discount happy accidents

Yeah i know what you meant

Sounds like a nice idea. I like a timeline i mean, but my head don't follow the one on the screen, yet i still don't want to leave the one on the screen

Allright. So i'll keep away from arrangement until i got nearly all clips ready, then i record them during a concentrated live performance, then i add things like dropouts by moving around etc, and then back to session to mix and master.


heh some days i run around with great ideas and shaking, hugging through dinner and makes my parents think i'm on drugs because of my energy, but when i get back up it only lasts short because i run tired in having to arrange instead of just being able to pull out the beats and ideas into smaller parts then to combine. IF this session view could help me to not fall into that trap, i'd buy beer for the whole forum (or spend some money on mastering plugins now i finally have something complete to master)

thanks for lighting me up hehe

well, that's another great "feature" of session - it doesn't put pressure on you to have anything completed to feel accomplished. Some nights, I get maybe 30 mins in front of Live, and I can at least lay down one or two good ideas in that short time, and then I can pick it up later or what not. I have a cue of about 50 song ideas just waiting to be tapped at any moment, all in their little sessions, going back to L4.

nebulae wrote:well, that's another great "feature" of session - it doesn't put pressure on you to have anything completed to feel accomplished. Some nights, I get maybe 30 mins in front of Live, and I can at least lay down one or two good ideas in that short time, and then I can pick it up later or what not. I have a cue of about 50 song ideas just waiting to be tapped at any moment, all in their little sessions, going back to L4.

Nice

Well i like the idea of smashing down ideas when you got the creativity and inspiration flowing, for then to arrange it later (basic arrangement isn't exactly inspirational...)

Gotta play a little around with the session view but i guess its pretty straightforward to use, just takes time to get free of the timeline like you say

keep at it...pain your way thru the blocks