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Producing Minimal Techno with Ableton Live
Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 3:17 pm
by Doctor Doctor
We at Point Blank Music have recently launched an online course for producing Minimal Techno with Ableton.
You can learn how to produce Minimal and Tech House tracks to release quality. Using Ableton Live you will create your own authentic drum sounds, synth patches, textures and effects under the guidance of a pro music producer.
Essential tips, tricks and techniques to give your tracks that professional sound. Upload your music each week for expert analysis and feedback on your work. Requires Microtonic for the synth based Drum Programming Lessons.
The course features include: Over 50 video tutorials on Ableton Live, Extensive course notes, Over 20 Ableton projects to download, Exclusive samples & audio resources, Personalised video feedback on your music, Weekly webchat with a pro producer and a Student forum - post your questions & discussion topics.
This is the only course of its kind to feature 1-2-1 personalised feedback from a professional producer on your productions as you progress through the course. You will recieve a video of your pro producer tutor going through your track and guiding on what and how areas may be improved.
You can check out the full course details here:
http://www.pointblankonline.net/minimal ... bleton.php
Many thanks for reading and please comment freely as we strive to answer all questions and take all comments/feedback on board.
Re: Producing Minimal Techno with Ableton Live
Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 11:05 am
by Doctor Doctor
Just for a quick update...
I thought I'd also post this video which shows a bit of a taster for what you can expect from the tutor feedback from the Producing Minimal Tech in Ableton Course (
http://www.pointblankonline.net/minimal ... bleton.php)
So have a look at the video here:
http://www.youtube.com/pointblankonline ... B5psVSDFww
And please comment freely, all comments are welcome and we'll try to answer any questions.
Thanks!
Re: Producing Minimal Techno with Ableton Live
Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 3:16 pm
by fisto
come on people, stop this ableton minimal techno shit. I really can't stand it anymore. Seems like the people are all brainwashed by this f***ing crap music, so they can't hear anything else anymore cause they don't understand a beat when it's not straight and when it has real tones in it not only some BS effects.
Don't you hear that every tune sounds the same? Its just about the kick and a tune like that I can do in 3hours, so where is the piont?
I hope that someone will kill techno soon, cause this is making idiots out of the people and it's already everywhere. In every cafe, at every party, in the telly, the radio.
Arrrrgghhh

Re: Producing Minimal Techno with Ableton Live
Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 3:19 pm
by SubFunk
fisto wrote:come on people, stop this ableton minimal techno shit. I really can't stand it anymore. Seems like the people are all brainwashed by this f***ing crap music, so they can't hear anything else anymore cause they don't understand a beat when it's not straight and when it has real tones in it not only some BS effects.
Don't you hear that every tune sounds the same? Its just about the kick and a tune like that I can do in 3hours, so where is the piont?
I hope that someone will kill techno soon, cause this is making idiots out of the people and it's already everywhere. In every cafe, at every party, in the telly, the radio.
Arrrrgghhh

agreed, fully agreed. it sooo... goes on my nerves as well.
Re: Producing Minimal Techno with Ableton Live
Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 2:22 pm
by Doctor Doctor
ShelLuser wrote:I'm curious: what was the motivation to choose Sonic Charge MicroTonic for the percussion over Live's native instruments (Collision, Sampler, Operator, etc.) ?
I'm also confused about the lesson details with regards to this plugin. I mean; its mentioned there that "Using Ableton Live you will create your own authentic drum sounds", in the first week one item is "Programming drums in Ableton Live". Wouldn't it be more fair to state: "Programming drums in MicroTonic" or does the course also actually cover Live's native percussion support ?
That's a very good question, and i've actually just spoken with Danny Lewis who is the course developer. After having a brief discussion with Danny I feel that I may be able to go some way to explaining an answer to your questions:
During the initial development stages of the course we initially we didn’t want to confuse the less experienced students by introducing a complex rack system incorporating Operator / Analog. MicroTonic was found to be a good, inexpensive tool for creating unique synthesized drum sounds that lends itself very well to minimal / tech styles of music production.
However, the courses are constantly being reviewed an updated and we have subsequently added some new content for Collision. I agree it's far more elegant if we offer a course that doesn't rely on third party plugins because the Ableton suite offers all you need to make minimal and plenty more besides! It’s likely that future versions of the course will not feature Microtonic and will be entirely native to Ableton.
It is due to these such discussions on forums that we are able to take all comments on board and able to constantly improve and develop our services. I hope this has gone some way to answer your questions, and if anyone has any further questions or comments please feel free to ask.
In response to the other posts, it was not my intention to create a discussion regarding which genres are not as good or worthy as others. If someone has a really strong dislike for Minimal/Techno as some seem to have then yes I would say that perhaps this course would not be suitable for you.
As an alternative you may wish to check out our full course brochure here:
http://www.pointblankonline.net/courses/
Many thanks for reading.
Re: Producing Minimal Techno with Ableton Live
Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 5:24 pm
by milfhuntr
fisto wrote:come on people, stop this ableton minimal techno shit. I really can't stand it anymore. Seems like the people are all brainwashed by this f***ing crap music, so they can't hear anything else anymore cause they don't understand a beat when it's not straight and when it has real tones in it not only some BS effects.
Don't you hear that every tune sounds the same? Its just about the kick and a tune like that I can do in 3hours, so where is the piont?
I hope that someone will kill techno soon, cause this is making idiots out of the people and it's already everywhere. In every cafe, at every party, in the telly, the radio.
Arrrrgghhh

It takes you 3 hours. I can do it in 10 minutes.
Re: Producing Minimal Techno with Ableton Live
Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 5:40 pm
by dum
4/4 should be BANNED!
Re: Producing Minimal Techno with Ableton Live
Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 5:49 pm
by davepermen
dum wrote:4/4 should be BANNED!
MUSIC SHOULD BE BANNED!!
Re: Producing Minimal Techno with Ableton Live
Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 5:59 pm
by Cowlash
davepermen wrote:dum wrote:4/4 should be BANNED!
MUSIC SHOULD BE BANNED!!
the BAND should be BANNED!!
Re: Producing Minimal Techno with Ableton Live
Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 6:08 pm
by dum
Doctor Doctor I feel like biscuits!
What, you mean those square ones?
Yes!
The ones you put butter on?
Yes!
Oh, You're Crackers!
Re: Producing Minimal Techno with Ableton Live
Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 6:15 pm
by LoopStationZebra
Re: Producing Minimal Techno with Ableton Live
Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 6:23 pm
by Fieldy
i don`t know what`s the problem. everyone listens to different music. i mean when someone writes about a eurodance or hardtechno tutorial i won`t say...stop the shit you music is crap. stop 4/4 ? ok....it`s the moment to stop producing electronic music for most dancefloors.
i produce techno ,minimal techno and ambient tunes. but let the people hear what they want and don`t be annoyed that that isn`t the sound you like! we can be happy that we have loads of genres and can listen to so many different kinds of sounds! no one forces you to listen to that stuff!
Re: Producing Minimal Techno with Ableton Live
Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 7:55 pm
by 3phase
is this thread some kind of spam? and wouldnt only retards buy such advices from nobodys?
and third... are´nt there not enough minimal tracks on the market that sound exactly alike?
Re: Producing Minimal Techno with Ableton Live
Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 8:34 pm
by nebulae
I think videos and tutorials are all good things. But in this case, I have to say, respectfully, that it's difficult for me to recommend something that costs over 300 quid based on the demo video. I mean wow, that's a lot of money. In comparison, if you look at Forge's tutorials or Ask Video, it's literally a fraction of the price, and you get to learn Live's features supremely well enough to go create your own minimal techno. And hell, why stop there...go make polka bollywood trance.
Again, I think tutorials by nature are good things. In this case, the cost seems really high, and I'm wondering about the quality of it based on just that video snippet. If I might make a suggestion, snow a snippet of how to make and tweak the perfect kick drum, and you have a much better chance at the niche market you are trying to attract.
Re: Producing Minimal Techno with Ableton Live
Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 8:55 pm
by IP
+_4_nebulae