Ableton Forum

How long did it take you guys until you started to produce music that you actually liked/ get a good understanding of how use ableton? Im on 3 weeks right now and just from reading the threads and listening to my sub par productions i realize i have no clue of what I'm doing yet haha.

You've been doing it for 3 whole weeks and you've not stated to make chart-worthy tunes yet? Wow.

I would say 6 months to a year of exclusively using Live and I had complete understanding and it was all like 'second-nature'.
I could troubleshoot anything, work around anything, navigate anything, etc.
But thats coming from a ProTools, and an extensive live sound background.
It really depends on how tech savvy you are, your passion, and your ability to learn.

Sam



Edit: online tutorials really help too, such as the videos available from lynda.com

I've been doing it part time for years, and I'm still bad. Not only am I bad in the sense of limited skills, but even my best stuff sounds ridiculously dated and poorly targeted - like Enya meets the Wiggles.

But....

I think it's a matter of finding your niche. Maybe you were originally turned on by psychedelic 60s music or by U2 or by the latest EDM star, but you find yourself writing new age music or music that would go well with films. If that's the innate potential in you that's ready to flower, then go with it. Jimi Hendrix might be your hero, but chances are you are not going to be the next Jimi Hendrix no matter how hard you push in that direction.

Or it can be a matter of finding a good songwriting partner. Of course, the trouble with that is finding someone that will stick it out with you. I started to write a great song with a guy and he said he'd leave it with me to finish. I basically finished it, and even came up with a great music video idea, but he'd already lost interest. Very common with creative types.

Anyway, that's my 2c.

The production side can be learned in a few months if you apply yourself, it's the songwriting that has always been difficult for me.

I reckon collaboration can make things easier and faster. Is it just me? I suspect there's a lot of ego tripping where people want to do it all themselves. Yet collaboration has got to make it easier and faster.

When you collaborate, you learn from each other. Also, you compensate for each other's weaknesses. Also, when you get stuck, the other person often has a surprising immediate solution, especially if there's magic in the relationship - that x-factor of two people really matching.

But no one wants to put their egos aside and collaborate openly these days.

I was pumped the day I put claps/snares on the 2's n 4's and started tweaking the cutoff filter on a saw wave pattern!!!!

Good enough for me

Then you start dealing with diminishing returns.

yur2die4 wrote:I was pumped the day I put claps/snares on the 2's n 4's and started tweaking the cutoff filter on a saw wave pattern!!!!

Good enough for me

Then you start dealing with diminishing returns.

For me it was loading a field recording of a flock of crows I made, that I loaded on an audio track and then put a BeatRepeat and SimpleDelay on it.

I want that sort of feeling of utter surprise back, that I had in the following 30 minutes playing with the Macros I had assigned....

Not to go all Mike Monday on you,

but the real question you should ask yourself,

How many tracks did my favorite producer "insert name here" finish before he/she had a breakthrough?


You learn more from falling then being a hard-core dedicated learning student with tutorials, imo.

I knew I was great the day Dr Dre called me and asked how I get my drums so tight...

I figure somewhere around 30,000 posts on these forums and I should be there.

newndank wrote:How long did it take you guys until you started to produce music that you actually liked/ get a good understanding of how use ableton?

Oh, I expect about 10.000 hours. To fully "get" Live ( I have no idea how you want to "use Ableton" the company) can probably take some hundred hours of attentive use. I've found there is always more to learn. The basics you can learn pretty fast, but there are quite a few things to get your head around if you want to make great music wit this wonderful tool.

Music and producer skills means completing tracks. Just churn them out. That's always going to be the fastest way to learn all of this.

if you use clips an samples 5 minutes
if you ave poor taste in dance music a day on you tube an a night making dribble.
film music a few days with any synth an a basic drum patterns.
complex driven music.
hang your coat on a peg an except you in for years of brain pain an frustration .
anyone can make flat dull music.
you want it to have shape an color.
you got to put in the time an research an learn
like any good song
its journey
not all journeys go to plan
and people can die on long journeys
look at how many people have DAWS
look at how many make music that sells

10,000 hours of good practice.