Ableton Forum

Hey People,

I'm using ableton (standard) and Push now for a couple of weeks.
After doing all the built in lessons and watching videos of Groove3.

I'm kinda stuck in what to do or where to go now..
It is so big with so much possibilities.

I'm asking this because i don't know where to start learning now and i can't find the tutorials that i would like (youtube is one big chaos for ableton there are to many videos)
And real lessons or lessons on the internet are really expensive (i will takte some soon but just don't have the budget now)

Do you guys have tips on how to start making tracks ?

- What Instruments do you use?
- What is handy to know?
- What plugins do you use?
etc etc

Just open up a new project, insert some instruments and start playing away, recording as you go.

You'll soon hear something that grabs your attention and then just take it from there.

Or find a tune you really like and drop it into the Arrangement view and "copy" it bar for bar - that way you'll have to learn so much by the time you get to the end, you should be full of ideas and knowledge for your next piece

if you make music first (melodies, harmony, rythm patterns) without paying attention to sounds it will be easier. Then as you finish the musical content you start selecting sounds and applying effects.

The proble many face is that they get stuck choosing a sound and the music composition just doesnt progress much and it becomes boring.

It also depends on the style of music you are making, some styles focus more on the actual sounds and how they evolve over time and interact between each more than the music composition... both are valid and important.

i've never done it myself, but have heard others say that trying to recreate someone else's track is a great way to learn production.

login wrote:if you make music first (melodies, harmony, rythm patterns) without paying attention to sounds it will be easier. Then as you finish the musical content you start selecting sounds and applying effects.

The proble many face is that they get stuck choosing a sound and the music composition just doesnt progress much and it becomes boring.

Guilty.

Thx for the tips so far people!
I will go give it a try!

It's just that the standard sounds/samples sounds so boring and cold.
But yeah maybe it is better to start composing music instead of want to have a hell of a sound.

remcol34 wrote:Hey People,

I'm using ableton (standard) and Push now for a couple of weeks.
After doing all the built in lessons and watching videos of Groove3.

I'm kinda stuck in what to do or where to go now..
It is so big with so much possibilities.

I'm asking this because i don't know where to start learning now and i can't find the tutorials that i would like (youtube is one big chaos for ableton there are to many videos)
And real lessons or lessons on the internet are really expensive (i will takte some soon but just don't have the budget now)

Do you guys have tips on how to start making tracks ?

- What Instruments do you use?
- What is handy to know?
- What plugins do you use?
etc etc

I like the Dubspot tutorials. I get a lot of general Ableton tips there.

Few of them have Push Tutorials though.

A lot of it comes down to genre though. A person doing a techno, trance track would most likely have a different approach than a person doing Rap or R&B even.

Some styles will have more focus on groove while others might have more focus on unique sounds while other have more focus on chord structure.

If you make something which you know has potential, but 'sounds' kind of dry, you'll
Probably put the effort in to fix it up.

Of course, finding that exciting potential is challenging. Especially since, when you get a track started, it is hidden by mediocre instrumentation etc. That is perfectly normal. It will sound exciting but dry first, you can't always expect an idea to be spit out perfectly polished.

Don't forget to have fun and make friends with your daw. Have intimate conversations over candle light. Go out for lunch. Laugh together. Cry together. Introduce it to your parents. Maybe go out for the weekend and take it to a hotel for a couple hours.

You need to become familiar with all it's parts and what it can and can't do. Learn how to exploit it to the fullest and play with all it's different parts and instruments every chance you get.

yur2die4 wrote:If you make something which you know has potential, but 'sounds' kind of dry, you'll
Probably put the effort in to fix it up.

Of course, finding that exciting potential is challenging. Especially since, when you get a track started, it is hidden by mediocre instrumentation etc. That is perfectly normal. It will sound exciting but dry first, you can't always expect an idea to be spit out perfectly polished.

Don't forget to have fun and make friends with your daw. Have intimate conversations over candle light. Go out for lunch. Laugh together. Cry together. Introduce it to your parents. Maybe go out for the weekend and take it to a hotel for a couple hours.

You need to become familiar with all it's parts and what it can and can't do. Learn how to exploit it to the fullest and play with all it's different parts and instruments every chance you get.

But they just look at thier iphone the whole time

1. Learn a normal instrument, piano is best
2. learn basic music theory, circle of fifths, scales
3. Learn to play tons of your fav songs.
4. understand how those songs work
5. come back to ableton and push.
6. fuck around in ableton for at least 10 000 hours
7. now you are ready to write a song.


or the most common way, bypass 1-6, then download a bunch of loops and swoosh noises and make some shitty edm.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Not that I have any suggestions, but that last one is a stinky!

I love edm...............pump it pump it..........now make the kick..........better that rap.............now make it stick...............