I'm a newbie, I was using Reaper as it's brilliant but so many of the tutorials in certain genres were done in Ableton and so I downloaded the trial version last week and wow, it's so cool how it works, the way you can put patterns together and see the song and arrange it like Lego music, I hope that it changes my life in a similar way, I would like just to get one tune on a playlist, anything after that is just a bonus, thanks for you video I'll check out some more and have a great day! ;D
@@nicolasnicolas3889 I think that’s a great goal to have Nicolas. I hope you stick with it and you’re able to make music that you’re proud of and that you look forward to showing other people!
Sometimes when meeting your heroes you walk away disappointed by their character, but this dude has been a hero to me and consistently astounds me by his character. Ethan produced my first record, "Soul Hymns" and he's an absolute wizard & so genuinely kind. I hope all y'all take his course, there's soooo much gold in it that'll improve your creative process forever. ILY ETHAN
YO, MARK! Huge fan here!!! You’ve deeply inspired me to begin producing the music (for Jesus OFC!) I’ve been singing in my head for years! How DOPE to come across the guy that produced music for you!
Your intro is exactly my life and career. Ableton Live made me so confident that I can be a full time musician and media entity that I quit my full time job 12 year ago. It not an overstatement to say that downloading and realising how I can/could/would use the program made me into the artist I never thought I’d be. Just wanted to share as your intro hit me in the feels 👍🏽
I'm just coming up to speed in Ableton (@76 years old), this is by far and away the best instructive video I've seen, every tip is useful for me! Now I'm off to begin sidechaining my hardware synths that are layered with audio clips. Thank you!
spend 3 months with FL studio and i feel that FL studio cant help me when i come to more advanced. Today, i change to Ableton, your channel helps me a lot
Lots of solid tips here! I'd highly recommend utilizing hotkeys, like cmd + A to select all (all of your effects for instance), cmd + F to find (for effects, instruments, etc.)
I’m a big fan of the electronic music group deaths dynamic shroud and that last tip now makes me understand and visualize in my head how they are making a lot of the sounds they make lol
Great tips, two more important topics to add: 1. Do proper gain staging at the beginning and when adding new audio tracks/clips 2. Save clips (.alc file) from session view (similar to saving fx chains), this saves all the clip settings and effects as well as the midi information
Oh nice I didn't know about that second one. I also STILL don't know what gain staging is LOL but I'll have to do some research. I'm over here getting schooled.
@@CompleteProducer Gain staging just means adjusting the input levels on each track to be the same value (e.g. -12 or -6 dB peak) so you establish a common ground before touching the faders. In Ableton, you can use the stock utility plugin for that or you can adjust the gain of audio clips. If you play live synths, you can adjust the synth's volume knob as well. Just make sure all peaks are about the same value. Once all that is done, you start balancing track volumes using the faders. That way, each track has some headroom and fader adjustments become more predictable as their positions actually represent the mix. Ideally, you can then add effects that add gain (e.g. distortion plugins) and create buses, etc. without having to worry about clipping at any stage. All in all, it makes your mix sound as clean (i.e. transparent) as it can be.
Sample offset in the envelope/ automation layer in the clip view. It is badass with beat warp you can literally manipulate the wave in time. Change an audio file like it’s MIDI, also if you name a section a tempo name followed by BPM it will change to that bpm automatically. I dig the video! Been using live since 4
Good tips bro! As an experienced producer, mixing is something every producer should be capable of. If you can't mix, then you are technically not a producer, just someone who arranges sound. To be a producer is to produce a finished product. That means being responsible for creative output, arrangement and mixing. Mastering should also be something producers should learn as it is a vital step to finishing a project. It's not mandatory, but it is beneficial considering the expense of mastering in the long run.
And also, it is important to let producers, especially those in the beginner phase, know that they should be really careful with multi-band compressing as it can turn into a habit to just slap plugins like OTT on everything, expecting it to sound good. OTT is a powerful plugin, but really you should only use it if it's necessary (unless it is your artistic vision of course)
Been using Live since 04. Good stuff here! My best tips- keep a folder of your favorite presets and instruments. Learn your hot keys. Both those things will increase the speed of your work flow dramatically.
Instead of using delay and dialing everything in, you can also use abletons new "align delay", which is purposely made for this effect and save some clicks :)
I’ve always mixed as I go since the very beginning and everybody has told me I’m producing the wrong way so just for the simple fact that you added mix as you go into your Tips got you an immediate subscription from me
Been mixing a particular song for the past month or so and I could never get it quite right! This video just allowed me to finally get past the production block I've been having. Thank you endlessly. I believe this is the best music production video I have ever found. SO MANY JEMS!
I knew a lot of this but it was still great how you presented it! I’m really getting into send and returns instead of using insert effects and my production sounds so much more professional. Returns on my electro drums have given them life.
The first tip is so silly, but so important at the same time. When I started, I also made the mistake of saving all my sessions in the same project folder, and it took me a while to understand how the hierarchy works within Ableton.
This is a fantastic video for anyone of any skill level, but it’s quite literally a perfect video for beginners. You will notice a pretty huge difference in your mixing/production if you implement these tips. Great stuff 👍
Instead of using sends and returns for vocals in Ableton you can create an audio effect rack with a wet and dry chain so you can control the wet signal independently of the dry signal. The only disadvantage of this is the ability to share the same rack to many vocals which you can do if you group all the vocals and place the rack on the group.
that's true! other people have been commenting the same thing and it's something i have yet to dive into but I'm curious about implementing into my workflow. thanks for the suggestion!
@@CompleteProducer Can't you put an audio effect rack on a return track? Also, I've found the other thing to look into tweaking on OTT is the Amount knob. Also also, thanks for making this!
just a quick side chaining tip: in order to get a more pleasant result, try ducking only the main frequencies instead of the full sound of an instrument e.g. if the kick hits its loudest at 60hz you duck 60hz on the bass guitar whenever the kick hits. That way the bass guitar still sounds loud but it opens "space" for the kick :)
I’ve been producing idiom for a little under a year now, and these tips are really gonna change everything for me. Thank you so much for sharing with us. This will go a long way.
I really appreciate artists that have reached a high level in the industry and go back to level 1 to help novice producers, as a novice producer myself, thanks Ethan :)
Great video! I learned a couple things I will definitely implement. (Like I never collect and save haha) I would have liked to see one of the tips talk more about gain staging as that is another thing that will take beginner producers to the next level. After OTT you said you may need to turn the sound down, but I think a proper explanation for why this is important is really in order. ESPECIALLY if this is aimed at newer producers. Knowing if things are sounding better or just louder is the key to the mixes we have all been chasing! Much love everyone and go make some music! Have fun!
I will definitely keep this in mind moving forward. I appreciate the feedback! I’m going to have more in depth videos in the future too, so stay tuned!
I watched this and the intro to Ableton video. You are such a good teacher to explain what and why on everything. So nice when we understand more to customize going in.
Dear Ethan-My name is EasyJay and with my ADHD it is hard to find videos that I will watch full length. But you sir are the one. I thank you for your skills and all the knowledge you share with us all. -EasyJ
Unbelievably helpful video. I'm sort of wowed at how much crazy useful you just gave me with zero filler, no iffy tips or wasting time. Great video, man. Thank you very much.
Whoa I actually feel so proud of myself. All of these steps you've pointed out I already do. This has shown me how my skills have truly matured in the past 3 years, I'm a subscriber now! -BiG Pluck
Tip #4: It can get a bit messy using lots of return tracks for parallel processing like reverb sends. The same parallel processing can be achieved with an Audio Effect rack with one chain as the dry signal and another chain with the effects. Audio effects/instrument racks are underused for how helpful the are.
Racks are like my entire production style lol. I go to "this needs a rack" so fast. Its so nice to be able to do parallel processing on the same track. Some rack tips: Make 2/3 tracks with EQ3s, and seperate the bass and mids or highs in your sample so you can apply different effects to different frequencies, mono the bass, etc. Midi racks that share the same midi effects like an arpeggiator are very fun to play with, also utilize "zones" for randonmess and glitch effects or to create your own multi-instrument keyboard.
@@deedubya1267 who gives a fuck about manners lmfao, what do you expect me to say, "can you give tips that aren't basic common fucking sense... *Please*??" Get real.
These are the tips I use regularly and have helped me the most. As with most tools in the arts, it’s more about who’s using the tools than the tools themselves. I’ll have more advanced videos in the future though if you want to dive deeper so stay tuned.
@@CompleteProducer OTT is a preset that uses multiband compression and expansion to achieve a constant level across the 3 bands that it divides the frequency spectrum into, helping you to raise the RMS level of a sound close to the maximum it can be. Those grey areas that you “like to click on” are the expansion ratio and threshold settings. You are not making the compressor “not hold on for too long” you are basically turning the expansion off by turning its ratio down to nothing. The expansion RAISES the level of the frequencies of the selected band when they go BELOW its threshold while the compressor LOWERS the level of the frequencies of the selected band when they go ABOVE its threshold. (Expansion is the left side brackets and compression is the right side brackets.) So the goal is to raise when it’s too low and lower when it’s too high, eventually resulting in the level of that band being stuck between two points they can’t move below or above. See that black space in between those “brackets” in the middle section ? That’s the sweet spot where the level of that band should be at to trigger both the expansion and the compression. You can move the threshold of both the expansion and compression, actually you HAVE to move the threshold of the expansion and compression in order for OTT to work how it was intended to work. When you drag the compression “brackets” to the right to “turn the mids and highs up”, you are raising the threshold of the compressor, resulting in less compression letting more of the mids and highs through. The change in gain that makes your mids and highs go up, is the output levels that have been raised (+10,3db for the highs and + 5,7db for the mids) to compensate for the volume you’re suppose to lose DUE to the compression. So what you’re basically doing here buddy, isn’t “chef’s kiss” but you’re kinda ruining the preset. Your main issue is that your level going INTO OTT is way above what it was designed to take. This is just basic gain staging really. You need the lower the level of the sound going into OTT so the mid band actually is BETWEEN the expansion and compression bracket and then adapt the threshold of the the expansion and compression of the two other bands. This is why it sounded “weird” when you put it on in the first place. So yeah, you’re compressing the mids somewhat because of how loud you’re running into it, but really I can promise you and everyone reading this, that the results you’re getting are a coincidence at best, and that you don’t know how to use OTT.
I’ve been using Ableton for a few years now. I knew most of the things in this video but learned it from professionals and not RUclips. So yeah, this video contains valuable information. For a lot of people this will be really helpful, so thank you for sharing.
This is so incredibly useful for people who have just started using Ableton, I already use most of these techniques but you explained them so well I WSH this was something I discovered when I first started. Will definitely be recommending this video to my friends!
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THOSE TIPS! I`ve had been learning more than 10 years how to mix, write music, but this video changed my WHOLE LIFE! Dear Ethan, Thank you So F***G uch for your work and for your Experience! I want MORE videos like this! GREAT PROFESSIONAL JOB!
I just started and i need to be honest I almost gave up on the idea of producing music after watching a few videos that didn’t explain anything and trying to learn by myself but with video like yours it gave hope. I love music and I’m addictive to it, i listen to it all day everyday day and my passion is electronic. I can’t wait to produce my first track. Thank you for your video it’s awesome and I’m following you. 👏👏👏👏
With the send/return for vocals there is another solution. Group the reverb you have on your channel, put the mix on the reverb at 100%, open the chain list and click "add chain", this will create an empty signal chain that is now your dry signal. Now you have a dry and a wet instead of dry/wet
yes this is something i've known about for a while but for some reason I haven't implemented it into my workflow yet. thanks for the reminder though I'll have to try it out! i know it helps a lot of people
@@CompleteProducer Yeah I got the tip from Paul Maddox from Spektre in one of his tutorial. It doesn't stop with reverbs ofc, you can do this with any effect/plugin :)
Really enjoying your channel and hard-earned humility :) Haven't played with ableton in 15 years and getting back in to have fun with it. Thanks for your guidance.
for some reason there's a clarity with how you're explaining all this that made me understand some of this on a more fundamental level, even though I have been already using some of these tips. thank you!
Awesome tips Ethan, thank you! I'm glad I'm not the only one that finds mixing while you're producing intuitive. Half the fun is making the mix sound good as you go.
this video was so good it made me sign into youtube to leave a comment and a like good job broski. taught me so much that i hadnt known browsing the internet for years
Lots of good information. Taking some back to production immediately. I have so many notes on the wall of things to remember to do and now I have more.
You have completely cemented to me that buying ableton was worth it! So many effects and tools that would other wise be skimmed over. Thank you from the bottom of my heart and creative pursuit 🙏🏻
I would call myself a professional user and the mixing tipps I definitely knew (very valuable for those who didnt)BUT still some great Ableton Tipps here that help me. Thx much for these!
I’m in the same situation as all these other commenters. These tips were truly so helpful and enlightening and streamlined my workflow. Been doing the same things while making all sorts of types of music for years and realized I made bad habits that this video essentially solved in 20 minutes. Can’t thank you enough Ethan. You’ve earned yourself a regular viewer brother! 🤙
Thank you. i tried OTT and wow i used to think that the make it better button was only when adding saturation like for example on the Oxford limiter.Thank You
These are great and are indeed life changing for music production. I’d add an 11th one which is avoid plug-in hoarding. I use ableton stock plugins as much as possible. They have really great ones.
@@CompleteProducer It's very useful for example if you have a bass with important mids but you need to sidechain the low end to the kick. That way you don't lose the bass mids when the kick plays (if you're sidechaining on kick). But it can be used for many other things. In short words, when an instrument covers a wide range of frequencies but you need to get rid, in some particular beats, only of certain frequencies and leave the others up. Mid-side instead is simply removing or boosting certain frequencies only in the center or side of the panorama. These 2 are more or less useful depending on the musical genre. In some genres they are a must, in other genres they can be totally ignored.
A few pointers from fellow 10+ ableton user (20years mixing). Nice to see I am not crazy and pretty much use the same tips. A few Complementary notes to these tips :) The limiter on the master doesnt make sense without checking on it at regular intervals for what you are doing. A transparent limiter wont necessary show that your bassdrum has a 6 dB resonance - because it is transparent. Mixing as you go is bad advise for creating new stuff, once you have the ideas down and the general vision then ofcourse - but dont mix stuff when drafting ideas that is a quick way to kill creativity and attaching yourself to things that dont work. Also that delay trick is essentially applying psychoacoustics called the haas effect - read up on that. If you want to be sure that it works and doesn’t make a phase mess, use utility mono button to audit it. And yes haas works in mono to move stuff back in the stereo image too. If you want to retain timing one channel needs to be on 1.00 (the lowest setting).
Thanks for those tips. I find mixing as I go really helpful and inspiring personally because I have a clearer vision of what the song's going to be like. I understand what you're saying about it being a hinderance if you get carried away, but that is not my experience of it. That's part of the fun of making music I suppose; many people can have a totally different techniques and finding the methods that work for you is what's important.
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
I made a part 2!!! Watch it here: ruclips.net/video/ftR1rojyUn8/видео.html
I'm a newbie, I was using Reaper as it's brilliant but so many of the tutorials in certain genres were done in Ableton and so I downloaded the trial version last week and wow, it's so cool how it works, the way you can put patterns together and see the song and arrange it like Lego music, I hope that it changes my life in a similar way, I would like just to get one tune on a playlist, anything after that is just a bonus, thanks for you video I'll check out some more and have a great day! ;D
@@nicolasnicolas3889 I think that’s a great goal to have Nicolas. I hope you stick with it and you’re able to make music that you’re proud of and that you look forward to showing other people!
Hello is it possible to get the audio from a original xbox to come thur this Ableton Live program so I could record the sound from the xbox
Can artist contact you for mix and mastering?
I'm not really doing that work anymore, so I can focus more on videos!@@thelibrary4493
Usually when people post things about “life changing” anything, it’s usually just helpful. This is actually life changing
Wow I'm so happy to hear that! Thankk you
This endorsement compelled a complete listen … starting now
Tip 2!! (How does anyone finish this in one sitting … limit the master and master the mix (summation not a direct quote ) thanks)
@@gbtennant that’s a great way to summarize it!
These are probaply the best tips and tricks out there for people who are working professional or want to. Thank you
Subbed
Sometimes when meeting your heroes you walk away disappointed by their character, but this dude has been a hero to me and consistently astounds me by his character. Ethan produced my first record, "Soul Hymns" and he's an absolute wizard & so genuinely kind. I hope all y'all take his course, there's soooo much gold in it that'll improve your creative process forever. ILY ETHAN
awe Mark i LOVE U TOOO!@!!!
YO, MARK! Huge fan here!!! You’ve deeply inspired me to begin producing the music (for Jesus OFC!) I’ve been singing in my head for years! How DOPE to come across the guy that produced music for you!
Your intro is exactly my life and career. Ableton Live made me so confident that I can be a full time musician and media entity that I quit my full time job 12 year ago. It not an overstatement to say that downloading and realising how I can/could/would use the program made me into the artist I never thought I’d be.
Just wanted to share as your intro hit me in the feels 👍🏽
wow that's incredible!
Damn, this just inspired me
I am new in Ableton after more than 10 years in Logic. Your channel is in my top 3 learning sources! Like your way of explaining things. Thanks!
I'm just coming up to speed in Ableton (@76 years old), this is by far and away the best instructive video I've seen, every tip is useful for me! Now I'm off to begin sidechaining my hardware synths that are layered with audio clips. Thank you!
i hope it didn't take you 76 years to just be coming up to speed 😅 just kidding, of course
This is inspiring!
spend 3 months with FL studio and i feel that FL studio cant help me when i come to more advanced. Today, i change to Ableton, your channel helps me a lot
I don't usually comment but this has SO much value. Thanks man!
Lots of solid tips here! I'd highly recommend utilizing hotkeys, like cmd + A to select all (all of your effects for instance), cmd + F to find (for effects, instruments, etc.)
absolutely!
Finally a clean simple description of that side chain compression....thanks Ethan!
I’m a big fan of the electronic music group deaths dynamic shroud and that last tip now makes me understand and visualize in my head how they are making a lot of the sounds they make lol
Great tips, two more important topics to add:
1. Do proper gain staging at the beginning and when adding new audio tracks/clips
2. Save clips (.alc file) from session view (similar to saving fx chains), this saves all the clip settings and effects as well as the midi information
Oh nice I didn't know about that second one. I also STILL don't know what gain staging is LOL but I'll have to do some research. I'm over here getting schooled.
@@CompleteProducer Gain staging just means adjusting the input levels on each track to be the same value (e.g. -12 or -6 dB peak) so you establish a common ground before touching the faders. In Ableton, you can use the stock utility plugin for that or you can adjust the gain of audio clips. If you play live synths, you can adjust the synth's volume knob as well. Just make sure all peaks are about the same value.
Once all that is done, you start balancing track volumes using the faders.
That way, each track has some headroom and fader adjustments become more predictable as their positions actually represent the mix.
Ideally, you can then add effects that add gain (e.g. distortion plugins) and create buses, etc. without having to worry about clipping at any stage. All in all, it makes your mix sound as clean (i.e. transparent) as it can be.
Sample offset in the envelope/ automation layer in the clip view. It is badass with beat warp you can literally manipulate the wave in time. Change an audio file like it’s MIDI, also if you name a section a tempo name followed by BPM it will change to that bpm automatically. I dig the video! Been using live since 4
Good tips bro! As an experienced producer, mixing is something every producer should be capable of. If you can't mix, then you are technically not a producer, just someone who arranges sound. To be a producer is to produce a finished product. That means being responsible for creative output, arrangement and mixing. Mastering should also be something producers should learn as it is a vital step to finishing a project. It's not mandatory, but it is beneficial considering the expense of mastering in the long run.
And also, it is important to let producers, especially those in the beginner phase, know that they should be really careful with multi-band compressing as it can turn into a habit to just slap plugins like OTT on everything, expecting it to sound good. OTT is a powerful plugin, but really you should only use it if it's necessary (unless it is your artistic vision of course)
Been using Live since 04. Good stuff here! My best tips- keep a folder of your favorite presets and instruments. Learn your hot keys. Both those things will increase the speed of your work flow dramatically.
Best Ableton video I’ve seen so far. Explains so many things that I’d heard of but had no idea what they meant. Side chain, warp etc 🎉
Awesome refresher on some things I forgot over the years. Love watching videos like these to pull me out of some writers block. Thanks for the tips!
Woo! I love to hear that
Really great tips. I find sidechaining to be especially useful!
By far one of the best Ableton Tutorials, really you have given me so much knowledge, ready to start applying all this tomorrow ! Thanks again
way to go Dean, application is a must!
After years of mixing videos - this one provides the best value to anyone
That is very generous of you to share all this, Ethan! So many thanks!
Glad you enjoyed it!
I want to scream about not knowing about instrument racks earlier. This is a HUGE time saver.
Instead of using delay and dialing everything in, you can also use abletons new "align delay", which is purposely made for this effect and save some clicks :)
I’ve always mixed as I go since the very beginning and everybody has told me I’m producing the wrong way so just for the simple fact that you added mix as you go into your Tips got you an immediate subscription from me
Been mixing a particular song for the past month or so and I could never get it quite right! This video just allowed me to finally get past the production block I've been having. Thank you endlessly. I believe this is the best music production video I have ever found. SO MANY JEMS!
wow thank you so much! and congrats!
Man if I would have learned to collect all and save in the beginning I wouldn’t have lost a lot of my music. 😂 Great Video!
I knew a lot of this but it was still great how you presented it! I’m really getting into send and returns instead of using insert effects and my production sounds so much more professional. Returns on my electro drums have given them life.
that's great to hear!
OTT tip is worth watching the video! never could understand what the fuss was about with it. NOW I get it.
The first tip is so silly, but so important at the same time. When I started, I also made the mistake of saving all my sessions in the same project folder, and it took me a while to understand how the hierarchy works within Ableton.
Same, lol! I had a folder on my desktop with like 200 sessions in it.
Perfect timing. This saves me 2hrs driving to buds house😊
This is a fantastic video for anyone of any skill level, but it’s quite literally a perfect video for beginners. You will notice a pretty huge difference in your mixing/production if you implement these tips. Great stuff 👍
Thank you! peepeepoopoo hahah
I can wait to put these tips in effect! Always looking to improve my mix.
Wow. Actually useful tips, perfectly presented. So rare (Uncle Ben would be proud :D). Thank you! Subscribed.
Instead of using sends and returns for vocals in Ableton you can create an audio effect rack with a wet and dry chain so you can control the wet signal independently of the dry signal. The only disadvantage of this is the ability to share the same rack to many vocals which you can do if you group all the vocals and place the rack on the group.
that's true! other people have been commenting the same thing and it's something i have yet to dive into but I'm curious about implementing into my workflow. thanks for the suggestion!
The free TAL reverb plugin has separate dry and wet sliders. Super easy to use
@@CompleteProducer Can't you put an audio effect rack on a return track?
Also, I've found the other thing to look into tweaking on OTT is the Amount knob.
Also also, thanks for making this!
Do this all the time if I want to pre-mix before I hit my master sends, especially with room reverb and subtle widening effects.
just a quick side chaining tip: in order to get a more pleasant result, try ducking only the main frequencies instead of the full sound of an instrument e.g. if the kick hits its loudest at 60hz you duck 60hz on the bass guitar whenever the kick hits. That way the bass guitar still sounds loud but it opens "space" for the kick :)
Excellent. I'm coming on thirty years of audio and this is lovely. Well done mate
wow that's a long time! and thank you!
I’ve been producing idiom for a little under a year now, and these tips are really gonna change everything for me. Thank you so much for sharing with us. This will go a long way.
wow i love to head that, keep it up!
I really appreciate artists that have reached a high level in the industry and go back to level 1 to help novice producers, as a novice producer myself, thanks Ethan :)
The OTT tip is game changing. Thank you for this Ethan! Just this made me subscribe! 👏
Great video! I learned a couple things I will definitely implement. (Like I never collect and save haha) I would have liked to see one of the tips talk more about gain staging as that is another thing that will take beginner producers to the next level. After OTT you said you may need to turn the sound down, but I think a proper explanation for why this is important is really in order. ESPECIALLY if this is aimed at newer producers. Knowing if things are sounding better or just louder is the key to the mixes we have all been chasing! Much love everyone and go make some music! Have fun!
I will definitely keep this in mind moving forward. I appreciate the feedback! I’m going to have more in depth videos in the future too, so stay tuned!
Great video and looking forward to more in the future 👍 thanks
I watched this and the intro to Ableton video. You are such a good teacher to explain what and why on everything. So nice when we understand more to customize going in.
This video is exactly what I needed 🙌🏽🙏🏽 these tips are so good!
Woah kold what are you doing here???
happy to help! (:
facts 🔥
I never ever activate notifications from any channel, and this is the first one.
God bless you, such wonderful content.
Thank you for all of these amazing tips! This is the video everyone needs when getting started with Ableton 🙌🏼❤️
Thanks so much !
Dear Ethan-My name is EasyJay and with my ADHD it is hard to find videos that I will watch full length. But you sir are the one. I thank you for your skills and all the knowledge you share with us all. -EasyJ
thanks EasyJay!
Unbelievably helpful video. I'm sort of wowed at how much crazy useful you just gave me with zero filler, no iffy tips or wasting time. Great video, man. Thank you very much.
this is really encouraging to read, thanks so much!
Subscribed..Love the laid back attitude and the approach is great for me. Switching from Cubase 12 to Live 11..
Whoa I actually feel so proud of myself. All of these steps you've pointed out I already do. This has shown me how my skills have truly matured in the past 3 years,
I'm a subscriber now!
-BiG Pluck
Wow sounds like you’re on the right track! Keep it up!
Really enjoyed this! Thank you for putting all the work into making this awesome video :)
Tip #4:
It can get a bit messy using lots of return tracks for parallel processing like reverb sends.
The same parallel processing can be achieved with an Audio Effect rack with one chain as the dry signal and another chain with the effects.
Audio effects/instrument racks are underused for how helpful the are.
Yeah that’s a great tip!
Racks are like my entire production style lol. I go to "this needs a rack" so fast. Its so nice to be able to do parallel processing on the same track.
Some rack tips:
Make 2/3 tracks with EQ3s, and seperate the bass and mids or highs in your sample so you can apply different effects to different frequencies, mono the bass, etc.
Midi racks that share the same midi effects like an arpeggiator are very fun to play with, also utilize "zones" for randonmess and glitch effects or to create your own multi-instrument keyboard.
Great Vid!!! From a Engineer Vet... you showed me some things that I have never noticed. Like the OTT WOW!!! THANKS ETHAN
As a beginner, this was SUPER helpful to help me understand why I haven’t been enjoying my songs as much as I enjoyed writing them. Thanks!!
happy to hear that you got something out of the video! keep it up!
These are beginner tips, after 10 years I'd expect something more niche it nuanced but whatever
Manners. Ya ever heard of it?
@@deedubya1267 who gives a fuck about manners lmfao, what do you expect me to say, "can you give tips that aren't basic common fucking sense... *Please*??" Get real.
@@superlynx98 lmao u alright there buddy? theres better uses of your time and energy i promise :) go make some music bub
These are the tips I use regularly and have helped me the most. As with most tools in the arts, it’s more about who’s using the tools than the tools themselves. I’ll have more advanced videos in the future though if you want to dive deeper so stay tuned.
best OTT explanation I've ever seen haha, goin to part 2 rn
Yeah you don't know how to use OTT...
🤡
@@CompleteProducer OTT is a preset that uses multiband compression and expansion to achieve a constant level
across the 3 bands that it divides the frequency spectrum into, helping you to raise the RMS level
of a sound close to the maximum it can be.
Those grey areas that you “like to click on” are the expansion ratio and threshold settings. You are not making the compressor “not hold on for too long” you are basically turning the expansion off by turning its ratio down to nothing. The expansion RAISES the level of the frequencies of the selected band when they go BELOW its threshold while the compressor LOWERS the level of the frequencies of the selected band when they go ABOVE its threshold. (Expansion is the left side brackets and compression is the right side brackets.)
So the goal is to raise when it’s too low and lower when it’s too high, eventually resulting in the level of that band being stuck between two points they can’t move below or above. See that black space in between those “brackets” in the middle section ? That’s the sweet spot where the level of that band should be at to trigger both the expansion and the compression. You can move the threshold of both the expansion and compression, actually you HAVE to move the threshold of the expansion and compression in order for OTT to work how it was intended to work.
When you drag the compression “brackets” to the right to “turn the mids and highs up”, you are raising the threshold of the compressor, resulting in less compression letting more of the mids and highs through. The change in gain that makes your mids and highs go up, is the output levels that have been raised (+10,3db for the highs and + 5,7db for the mids) to compensate for the volume you’re suppose to lose DUE to the compression. So what you’re basically doing here buddy, isn’t “chef’s kiss” but you’re kinda ruining the preset.
Your main issue is that your level going INTO OTT is way above what it was designed to take. This is just basic gain staging really. You need the lower the level of the sound going into OTT so the mid band actually is BETWEEN the expansion and compression bracket and then adapt the threshold of the the expansion and compression of the two other bands. This is why it sounded “weird” when you put it on in the first place.
So yeah, you’re compressing the mids somewhat because of how loud you’re running into it, but really I can promise you and everyone reading this, that the results you’re getting are a coincidence at best, and that you don’t know how to use OTT.
@@aerov2484 Sounds like you should be the one making tutorials in that case 🤣
@@CompleteProducer Sure. Let's make a Zoom call on your channel and I'll explain what OTT actually does :-)
@@aerov2484 eeeesh
I’ve been using Ableton for a few years now. I knew most of the things in this video but learned it from professionals and not RUclips. So yeah, this video contains valuable information. For a lot of people this will be really helpful, so thank you for sharing.
These are great tips. Thanks for the reminders and the instructions
one of the best videos i've watched this month, good job Ethan!
wow happy to hear that (:
This is so incredibly useful for people who have just started using Ableton, I already use most of these techniques but you explained them so well I WSH this was something I discovered when I first started. Will definitely be recommending this video to my friends!
I'm not new to Ableton but there's still so much gold here. I knew some but this is great!
Thanks!!! Just switching from
ProTools to Ableton. Whew. This really helps. Dance music🎶🎶🎶🎶💚💚💚💚💚💚
Rock on!
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THOSE TIPS! I`ve had been learning more than 10 years how to mix, write music, but this video changed my WHOLE LIFE! Dear Ethan, Thank you So F***G uch for your work and for your Experience! I want MORE videos like this! GREAT PROFESSIONAL JOB!
This is just brilliant! Thanks Ethan..
I just started and i need to be honest I almost gave up on the idea of producing music after watching a few videos that didn’t explain anything and trying to learn by myself but with video like yours it gave hope. I love music and I’m addictive to it, i listen to it all day everyday day and my passion is electronic. I can’t wait to produce my first track. Thank you for your video it’s awesome and I’m following you. 👏👏👏👏
woohoo!! you got this!
That's why I love music production... these tips are relevant in any DAW.
Exactly!
With the send/return for vocals there is another solution. Group the reverb you have on your channel, put the mix on the reverb at 100%, open the chain list and click "add chain", this will create an empty signal chain that is now your dry signal. Now you have a dry and a wet instead of dry/wet
yes this is something i've known about for a while but for some reason I haven't implemented it into my workflow yet. thanks for the reminder though I'll have to try it out! i know it helps a lot of people
@@CompleteProducer Yeah I got the tip from Paul Maddox from Spektre in one of his tutorial. It doesn't stop with reverbs ofc, you can do this with any effect/plugin :)
That’s how I’ve normally done it and this video made me wonder if there’s any difference, but it’s technically the same thing right?
Really enjoying your channel and hard-earned humility :) Haven't played with ableton in 15 years and getting back in to have fun with it. Thanks for your guidance.
for some reason there's a clarity with how you're explaining all this that made me understand some of this on a more fundamental level, even though I have been already using some of these tips. thank you!
wow that's a wonderful compliment, thank you!
Best Ableton tutorial I’ve watched so far, thank you Ethan and merry Christmas ❤
thank you! merry Christmas!
Awesome tips Ethan, thank you!
I'm glad I'm not the only one that finds mixing while you're producing intuitive. Half the fun is making the mix sound good as you go.
this video was so good it made me sign into youtube to leave a comment and a like good job broski. taught me so much that i hadnt known browsing the internet for years
After finding your channel, ive been more motivated than ever with music!
Best tip video I've seen! Love the energy too. Great work!
Thanks for the help 🤝
Damn dude! This is amazing. I just started out with producing and this is a tutorial I will definitely come back to on every step. Thank you so much!
Lots of good information. Taking some back to production immediately. I have so many notes on the wall of things to remember to do and now I have more.
The Best Turturiol for Abelton what i have ever seen, you helped me a lot to sound like a pro! THANKS!!!
You have completely cemented to me that buying ableton was worth it!
So many effects and tools that would other wise be skimmed over.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart and creative pursuit 🙏🏻
Okay FOREAL, Mahalo. These tips were so helpful. Took my production to another level!
I would call myself a professional user and the mixing tipps I definitely knew (very valuable for those who didnt)BUT still some great Ableton Tipps here that help me. Thx much for these!
Great to hear!
Actually more usefull than 90% evry other ableton tutorial i have watched so far
Thanks
wow thanks so much!
@@CompleteProducer dude my songs took like 100% exp points thanks to your video
Man oh man. My friend just gave me Ableton and I kinda felt overwhelming so far but now I feel excited a f***. Great video.
You can do it!
Flip that was totally epic!
I learnt so much stuff,
Thank you sooooo much!Legend …
I’m in the same situation as all these other commenters. These tips were truly so helpful and enlightening and streamlined my workflow. Been doing the same things while making all sorts of types of music for years and realized I made bad habits that this video essentially solved in 20 minutes. Can’t thank you enough Ethan. You’ve earned yourself a regular viewer brother! 🤙
Wow I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you!
This is the best generalized ableton tutorial I’ve ever watched. Thank you.
wow thank you!
Tip 4 alone cleared up my mixes so much. Earned a sub!
Thank you. i tried OTT and wow i used to think that the make it better button was only when adding saturation like for example on the Oxford limiter.Thank You
This is absolutely incredible!! Thank you for sharing!!
Wow, thanks for these tips.
it is huge! gonna review it again and again to improve my workflow
These are great and are indeed life changing for music production. I’d add an 11th one which is avoid plug-in hoarding. I use ableton stock plugins as much as possible. They have really great ones.
These tips are so helpful! Thank you so much!
Man! The Fabfilter clipping trick is amazing!
Great tips! For me multi-band sidenchaining has been a game changer as well as mid-side EQ.
that's too complex for my tiny brain hahah
@@CompleteProducer It's very useful for example if you have a bass with important mids but you need to sidechain the low end to the kick. That way you don't lose the bass mids when the kick plays (if you're sidechaining on kick). But it can be used for many other things. In short words, when an instrument covers a wide range of frequencies but you need to get rid, in some particular beats, only of certain frequencies and leave the others up.
Mid-side instead is simply removing or boosting certain frequencies only in the center or side of the panorama. These 2 are more or less useful depending on the musical genre. In some genres they are a must, in other genres they can be totally ignored.
This is basic stuff, but basics are important. Is good to know the useful but often overlooked stuff
This is beyond good. Like, unbelievably good.
thanks so much!
A few pointers from fellow 10+ ableton user (20years mixing). Nice to see I am not crazy and pretty much use the same tips. A few Complementary notes to these tips :) The limiter on the master doesnt make sense without checking on it at regular intervals for what you are doing. A transparent limiter wont necessary show that your bassdrum has a 6 dB resonance - because it is transparent. Mixing as you go is bad advise for creating new stuff, once you have the ideas down and the general vision then ofcourse - but dont mix stuff when drafting ideas that is a quick way to kill creativity and attaching yourself to things that dont work. Also that delay trick is essentially applying psychoacoustics called the haas effect - read up on that. If you want to be sure that it works and doesn’t make a phase mess, use utility mono button to audit it. And yes haas works in mono to move stuff back in the stereo image too. If you want to retain timing one channel needs to be on 1.00 (the lowest setting).
Thanks for those tips. I find mixing as I go really helpful and inspiring personally because I have a clearer vision of what the song's going to be like. I understand what you're saying about it being a hinderance if you get carried away, but that is not my experience of it. That's part of the fun of making music I suppose; many people can have a totally different techniques and finding the methods that work for you is what's important.
It’s good to be able to modulate between writing and mixing in the same session.
Starting over trying to learn ableton. So glad I stumbled onto this!!
THIS will make me move from fl to Ableton
Awesome man 👏
Thanks a lot!
thanks so much this was super helpful and very well made. Appreciate you!
Thanks! I'm lucky to have stumbled up on it! Very helpful, eager to try it out on my music!