Best books to learn Ableton Live 9

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
Papalazarou
Posts: 27
Joined: Fri Nov 06, 2009 9:01 am

Best books to learn Ableton Live 9

Post by Papalazarou » Sat Dec 05, 2015 9:40 am

Hi all,

I'd like to find out what the community think are the best books available for learning Ableton Live 9.5? I have been recommended Jake Perrine's books but wanted to see if that is generally thought of as the best guide please?

Thanks,
Jamie.

[jur]
Site Admin
Posts: 6705
Joined: Mon Jun 01, 2015 3:04 pm
Location: Ableton

Re: Best books to learn Ableton Live 9

Post by [jur] » Sat Dec 05, 2015 12:10 pm

There's some great integrated lessons in Live's Help menu. I'm pretty sure you won't need any book after this.
Ableton Forum Moderator

login
Posts: 1881
Joined: Sat Jul 16, 2011 12:41 am

Re: Best books to learn Ableton Live 9

Post by login » Sat Dec 05, 2015 5:28 pm

The best book for learning Live is the User Manual.

If you are making electronic dance music I would recommend the "Secrets of Music Production" book, quite good all in one guide to basic concepts.

For mixing check out "mixing AUdio" by Roey Izhaki.

ash1
Posts: 195
Joined: Mon Oct 09, 2006 9:11 am

Re: Best books to learn Ableton Live 9

Post by ash1 » Sat Dec 05, 2015 6:02 pm

im a member of this awesome site https://www.facebook.com/techprotorial better than any book
Last edited by ash1 on Sun Dec 06, 2015 10:56 am, edited 1 time in total.

-art-
Posts: 373
Joined: Mon Sep 04, 2006 3:29 am
Contact:

Re: Best books to learn Ableton Live 9

Post by -art- » Sun Dec 06, 2015 3:48 am

yeah buy the book version of the manual, its in the shop

jestermgee
Posts: 4500
Joined: Mon Apr 26, 2010 6:38 am

Re: Best books to learn Ableton Live 9

Post by jestermgee » Sun Dec 06, 2015 11:33 pm

login wrote:The best book for learning Live is the User Manual.
^

Being someone who actually likes to read technical manuals I tend to re-read the manual on long flights when I couldn't be bothered with anything else. Always something in there to pick up on.

bra10
Posts: 17
Joined: Mon May 14, 2007 10:17 am

Re: Best books to learn Ableton Live 9

Post by bra10 » Mon Dec 07, 2015 2:29 pm

I liked the Computer Music magazine LIVE special, which is available via appstore, extremely useful although I would rank myself as an medium experienced user.

beats me
Posts: 23319
Joined: Fri Mar 30, 2007 6:39 pm

Re: Best books to learn Ableton Live 9

Post by beats me » Mon Dec 07, 2015 5:14 pm

I wish there was some kind of service that would offer something like a comprehension test and based on your answers will only show you features and processes you aren’t already aware of.

H20nly
Posts: 16113
Joined: Sat Oct 27, 2007 9:15 pm
Location: The Wild West

Re: Best books to learn Ableton Live 9

Post by H20nly » Mon Dec 07, 2015 9:39 pm

beats me wrote:I wish there was some kind of service that would offer something like a comprehension test and based on your answers will only show you features and processes you aren’t already aware of.
a "did you know?" feature for those who probably don't :idea:

this is actually a cool idea. it sounds like it would take years to create for multiple DAWs, but cool none-the-less.

beats me
Posts: 23319
Joined: Fri Mar 30, 2007 6:39 pm

Re: Best books to learn Ableton Live 9

Post by beats me » Mon Dec 07, 2015 10:44 pm

H20nly wrote:
beats me wrote:I wish there was some kind of service that would offer something like a comprehension test and based on your answers will only show you features and processes you aren’t already aware of.
a "did you know?" feature for those who probably don't :idea:

this is actually a cool idea. it sounds like it would take years to create for multiple DAWs, but cool none-the-less.

As somebody who hasn’t really used Live in a couple years and just upgraded from Live 8 Suite without M4L to 9 Suite I’d really like to know what I can do now that I can’t do in Logic or 8 without having to go through the entire manual or tutorials that will show me a lot of what I already know. At the same time, something more in depth than just “What’s new”.

login
Posts: 1881
Joined: Sat Jul 16, 2011 12:41 am

Re: Best books to learn Ableton Live 9

Post by login » Tue Dec 08, 2015 12:34 am

beats me wrote:
H20nly wrote:
beats me wrote:I wish there was some kind of service that would offer something like a comprehension test and based on your answers will only show you features and processes you aren’t already aware of.
a "did you know?" feature for those who probably don't :idea:

this is actually a cool idea. it sounds like it would take years to create for multiple DAWs, but cool none-the-less.

As somebody who hasn’t really used Live in a couple years and just upgraded from Live 8 Suite without M4L to 9 Suite I’d really like to know what I can do now that I can’t do in Logic or 8 without having to go through the entire manual or tutorials that will show me a lot of what I already know. At the same time, something more in depth than just “What’s new”.
The "what's new" section of the manual has links to the whole section of said feature.

beats me
Posts: 23319
Joined: Fri Mar 30, 2007 6:39 pm

Re: Best books to learn Ableton Live 9

Post by beats me » Wed Dec 09, 2015 3:49 pm

login wrote:
The "what's new" section of the manual has links to the whole section of said feature.
But new from what? Live 8 to Live 9? Live 9 to Live 9.5? Or somewhere between those?

Forget the name, but there is a brilliant book for Logic that I also believe is used for certification. It’s not just pages upon pages of features. It comes with files and has you work through the process with lessons. IMO you learn better through practice with a direct start to finish goal.

And not just a goal set by you. There are probably a ton of useful features you will probably miss out on if you aren't looking for them and just skimming through to what you think applies to what you are doing at the time.

login
Posts: 1881
Joined: Sat Jul 16, 2011 12:41 am

Re: Best books to learn Ableton Live 9

Post by login » Wed Dec 09, 2015 4:37 pm

beats me wrote:
But new from what? Live 8 to Live 9? Live 9 to Live 9.5? Or somewhere between those?
All of them, the new for 9,5 are the last ones.

And yeah sometimes is better to learn with a goal nevertheless I think reading the User Mnaul from start to finish is a good idea.

H20nly
Posts: 16113
Joined: Sat Oct 27, 2007 9:15 pm
Location: The Wild West

Re: Best books to learn Ableton Live 9

Post by H20nly » Wed Dec 09, 2015 5:37 pm

^ yeah but his original idea you chimed in at the tail end of was for a test that would let you know what you were not competent with in the DAW... so instead of reading a bunch of "Looks What's New" tripe that you can get from any magazine (online or print) that is essentially an advertisement and/or hype... you actually get to hone in on skill sets you could use help with to take advantage of said new feature(s) of the DAW/VST.

essentially, "Look what's new... AND... let us teach you how you use it"

beats me
Posts: 23319
Joined: Fri Mar 30, 2007 6:39 pm

Re: Best books to learn Ableton Live 9

Post by beats me » Wed Dec 09, 2015 5:42 pm

Reading the manual may work for some people, but I know there are a ton of things that just go over my head if I’m just reading about it and not applying it on the spot or I’ll just glaze over reading about it. Doesn’t mean those things won’t be useful at some point though.

ADSR has a couple “make this track” courses that uses tools I have, usually Logic, Maschine, and Massive. I’d probably miss a lot of features and processes just reading about them individually or seeing them in a specific feature/process video, but using all those in the process of creating a specific song I learn a lot on how I can apply those to my own productions.

Post Reply