Ableton Forum

classic ableton pitfalls

we spend a lot of time talking about what TO do with ableton, but i think that there are a lot of classic pitfalls worth addressing as well...

such as:

-please don't drastically timestretch whole songs, especially not on 'beats' mode because it sounds choppy on the tones. if you are going to dj you should stick to 're-pitch' mode or non-stretched audio to preserve sound quality.

-please don't look like you're checking your email. nobody wants to watch some one stare at a computer screen the whole time. it is all too easy to alienate people when using a laptop live. get your hands dirty, get into it... it's generally better to see some one having fun, rocking out, pushing themselves and maybe making a mistake or two than it is to hear a 'perfect' performance done by an emotionless robot.

-please don't try to play your first set out 'live' because it easily sounds cheap. nobody wants to listen to you select a bunch of samples and loop them, it might be fun for you, but it's deadly dull to listen to.

-please don't go bananas on the beatrepeater all the time. sure it's a cool effect, but it won't make up for bad music, and the crowd gets really bored with it if you use it too much.

-please don't think that just using ableton makes a performance solid. unless you can really rock it out you should stick to djing. i often hear ableton users dissing vinyl djs. if you're going to ditch vinyl, make sure it's a step forwards.

-please don't ignore feedback from 'amateurs' because chances are 90% of your audience don't care about ableton - or producing for that matter - and just want to make sure that they have a good time.



hee hee.... ok i'm done.

anyone got anything to add?

am i a cunt for posting this?

I think you are on point.

I would add Supatrigga to the Beat Repeat suggestion (or any other effect for that matter). It is really easy to go bananas on any effect in Live, but like Spidey's Uncle said: "With great power comes great responsibility."

...

Dang there goes my whole schtick. well not all of them. I use pong delay on everything as well. Oh and EQ filter sweeps. Everyone loves those!

Try to do a recording of what you did live / are going to do.
Listen to that set over and over, you will quickly hear possible
overuse of effects and such.

Just playing you set i ableton don't work. Listen on you stereo,
Ipot, in the car. Take a step down, and ask youself my .sig

never accidentally select a huge section of clips in the entire arrangement view when your just trying to move a single clip

as soon as you try and drag it all your shit locks up

once you do this about 5000 times you will be ready to pour gasoline over your computer and set fire to it

.

supster wrote:never accidentally select a huge section of clips in the entire arrangement view when your just trying to move a single clip

as soon as you try and drag it all your shit locks up

once you do this about 5000 times you will be ready to pour gasoline over your computer and set fire to it

.

I used maple syrup. It didn't burn so good but dousing my monitor in slow motion felt so good! And it was still faster than live recovering so I could hit ctrl+z

supster wrote:never accidentally select a huge section of clips in the entire arrangement view when your just trying to move a single clip

as soon as you try and drag it all your shit locks up

once you do this about 5000 times you will be ready to pour gasoline over your computer and set fire to it

.

aaaarghhhh

my main trigger on coursing and yelling and asking god why...
funny what kind of akward things you come up with in the heat of the moment; and how you have this conversation with ableton/computer

The Phat Conductor wrote:-please don't ignore feedback from 'amateurs' because chances are 90% of your audience don't care about ableton - or producing for that matter - and just want to make sure that they have a good time.

A great point, well presented.

The Phat Conductor wrote:anyone got anything to add?

am i a cunt for posting this?

What works for you may not work for others.

IMO, these are techniques or experiences, not pitfalls.

Don't *just* loop. Add one shots, drops, and different kinds of sweeps. Sometimes all together!

Yeah, I have to agree with the BeatRepeater notion. Do NOT over do it! It's like some turntablists that go all out in the club but don't care to keep the tempo and/or vibe of the moment. You never want have the dance floor (particularly the ladies standing there watching you and wondering, 'What tha f**k is he doing? I use the effects to simply accent the groove of the set rather than try to impress anybody with what Ableton does.

-don't let any of your channels clip or ride hard in the red. if you need more volume, turn it up in the house. or try using a limiter on your master out(s)

-don't play too many tracks at once just because you can. EQ them or at least be conscious of what you're adding together. i heard someone not too long ago playing a ton of tracks that weren't EQd well and it was just plain mushy and thrashy.

-please don't download a bunch of 128k MP3s from soulseek and DJ with them. if you find music you like, try searching around digital download sites (bleep.com, beatport.com, addictech.com for example) or rip a CD from a friend. or even *gasp* go out and buy it from your local record store! and if you must play MP3s you've downloaded try and find a 320k version

I think the biggest pitfall I've seen with Live is people using it as its own end.

If you're going to use live to DJ, don't do what you could do with decks if you practiced more. And don't overdo what you can do with Live.

Despite not having a single tranwreck, my worst set ever (including when I just started with vinyl) was exclusively using ableton...it was so damn boring to spin and listen to. Avoid that.

I see Live's biggest advantage to DJing being when you use it as a multitrack player in addition to decks (with a midi clock device). Go listen to some multitrack scratching and see what you flat out can't do just using decks...then do that in live. Even if it's samples/looping/etc. and not scratching, that's better than trying to compose something on the fly, because that rarely works out.

IMO, Sasha and Richie Hawtin remind me a lot of Organ or Choral performances. They can be the most moving things ever when done correctly, but a bad Organist or Chorus will make you wish you'd listened to louder music in your youth.

reminds me of The Elements of Style, but for Live. That doesn't make you a c-nt. It makes you 'gramatically correct'.