If you’ve ever tried working in Ableton Live with a song in 6/8 then odds are high you’ve experienced some frustration! Your song won’t sync to the click, it sounds too fast, and what should be one measure, is actually being counted as two. In the video below, we take a look at why this happens.
How does Live treat the 6/8 time signature, and how to work in 6/8 in Ableton Live. Enjoy!
Arrangement View is a great place to build a set-list if you want really smooth transitions from one song to the next. What if you want to stop after each song? Sure… you could press stop or assign stop to a MIDI controller, but what if you don’t have time to reach over and stop it.
If you have a live set that’s pretty large in Arrangement View it’s worth trying this out. It’s incredibly easy to create a “stop” track in Ableton Live. You can do this by using the IAC driver built into your Mac. It only takes a few steps, and will help save you from not being able to stop your track in time.
You have no idea how the smallest most un-important action will greatly impact someone. I was spending sometime this morning thinking back to the people that have shaped me in my role as a Worship Leader. The people that have shaped me in my path of ministry.
I still to this day hate singing-thankfully in my current role I’m not doing much of it. I can trace that back to a comment a kid made to me on a Disciple Now weekend while in Youth Group. “You remember when you used to sing”…”Man we’d sit back there and laugh the whole time”. I can still feel the pain a bit today.
I can remember buying the Crowder album with the Reason demo and the reason files on it. I spent hours trying to deconstruct and re-construct every element of those tracks. I remember spending hours late at night working on tracks using the Fruity Loops demo on my parents computer. I couldn’t save-so I had to keep the computer on. It was a disaster when the computer wouldn’t turn off and I’d lose my soon to be masterpiece.
I remember when my Stepdad took me to Sam Ash to buy Fruity Loops. I know that without that single event happening I wouldn’t have the interest I do today in programing and electronic music.
I can remember when my friend Jonathan asked me to lead worship for a retreat. This was after the aforementioned individual crushed my confidence as a singer. I can honestly say if it weren’t for him asking and encouraging me to lead for that trip I wouldn’t be a worship leader. I would not be in ministry.
I can remember all the time my friend Bobby spent with me. Pouring into this punk kid from the youth ministry. If it wasn’t for him I would not of attended Liberty University. I probably would of never moved away and challenged myself.
If it wasn’t for my friend David pushing me and putting up with my crap I wouldn’t be where I am today. He literally gave me the space and freedom to fail and gave me permission to start using loops live. Trust me, I failed a lot at it.
If you fail enough at something, you’ll soon become an expert.
I can remember a lot of those moments-both good and bad that have shaped me to become who I am today. My story is probably a lot like your story . My experiences may not be the same as yours but you’ve had people- a lot of people shape who you are. Here’s what our response should be:
1) Take a few moments and thank those people. Write them a letter. Not an email-a letter. Tell them how much they shaped your ministry, your story.
2) Do the same for the people around you. It’s not a matter of it you’re going to shape someone’s story it’s will be for good or bad?
We got a great question from Matt on Twitter yesterday. He said:
“would you consider writing an article about all the sounds that could go off on your MAC, other than loops?”
Great suggestion Matt! Most people don’t know about all the mystery sounds and alerts that their computers can make when they’re using them for loops. You get your setlist put together you’ve practiced transitions the loops sound great in rehearsal and everything is going great. Sunday rolls around and right when you get back up to close the service as the Pastor is praying you hear ”DING”!!! Cranking through the sound system. If you’ve lead worship for a while you’ll do as any good worship does-Blame it on the Sound Guy! (Just Kidding-but really).
The easiest way I’ve found to avoid this problem is to turn off all “sound-effects” on my Mac, including that annoying “popping” when you turn up/down the volume. If you’re using your computer for loops, this is crucial. Here’s how to disable those pops and dings from blasting through your sound system on Sunday!
System Preferences
Navigate to System Preferences either by going to your doc, searching “System Preferences” in Spotlight or using the Apple icon in the upper left hand part of your screen and select “System Preferences”. Once you’re there select the sound settings section. This is going to allow us to turn set our preferences for basic input/output on our computer.
Sound Settings
Under the sound tab select “Sound Effects” This is where we’ll disable all those beeps and blips. It’s important to note that if you need to set the master output for your input this is where you would do it-using the respective input/output tabs.
Now that we’re here we can make the changes to get rid of those pops. Uncheck the boxes that say “Play user interface sound effects” and ”Play feedback when volume is changed”. This will disable all those sound effects from occurring. Just to be safe I also change the “Play sound effects through” output to something other than my main output. In this case if you’re using your built in output then change it to something else, just to be safe. With these few tweaks you should be good to go! No more dings and pops mid service!
BONUS TIPS
Using an Audio Interface will help you avoid most of this problem. If only Ableton is sending audio to your interface then nothing from your computer can go down that line. (If your interface isn’t selected in the audio output tab on the main sound settings in Sys. Prefs). For example I had a friend that decided to take a Photobooth picture while using his computer for keys stuff. We all heard the photo booth countdown through the system speakers as he quickly tried to mute his computer! Using an interface will still allow you to umm.. Take photo booth pictures during service and not hear the countdown :)
If you’re one of those weirdos that likes to keep their volume pop noise on then while on stage always use Shift when turning down the volume. This temporarily disables that effect. Everyone with in-ears will thank you when you go to make those last minute adjustments in volume!
It may be worth setting up an account on your computer called “Stage”. Disable all the extra stuff, alerts, notices, messages etc on that side. Make it just for on-stage use. It’ll make your life a lot easier!
While you’re in System Preferences go ahead and disable hot corners, screen-saver, and anything else that may get in the way.
Most Worship Leader’s Ableton rigs look the same. Most of the time EXACTLY the same. Nothing wrong with that-if you’ve got something that works thats great. As I’ve mentioned before if I see one more Ableton Live rig rundown that contains a MOTU and a Ability Controller-I quit . All joking aside this is a great video showing someone using Ableton as a true Workhorse. It’s a killer Ableton Rig. Check it out and see if there are a few things you can pick up from it.
Is there any thing here you can integrate into your rig/setup?
By now most of us know that Ableton Live allows worship leaders more freedom in their worship sets when using loops, or pre-recorded pieces of audio. But you may not know how powerful Ableton Live is when it comes to making MIDI assignments. Live allows you with a few clicks, and few twists of a knob to make really powerful MIDI assignments. It’s so simple that if you’ve worked with MIDI gear before- trying to program keyboards, assign controllers etc..this may make you sick at how easy it is.
Ableton Live allows you to make both MIDI and Key assignments very easily. This allows you to assign virtually any parameter to a key on your keyboard or a key/knob/fader on your MIDI keyboard, or foot controller. You don’t need a fancy controller to get the ultimate control out of Live, you need any MIDI controller, or even an iphone/iPad using a controller app. (Now that touchOSC supports CoreMIDI, I’ve been a huge fan!) Grab your favorite MIDI controller and let’s get started..
Connecting your Controller to Live
To connect your controller to Live you’ll need to plug it into your computer somehow. Most controllers now can be connected via a USB cable. This typically allows your controller to be bus-powered which allows your controller to get it’s power from your computer. No need for an external power supply. If your controller doesn’t have the option to plug in via USB, here’s a few solutions.
-Use an Audio Interface with MIDI IN. Grab a MIDI cable and plug from the MIDI OUT of your keyboard into the MIDI IN of your Interface. We aren’t concerened with the MIDI In of our keyboard/controller (of the MIDI out of our interface) now because we’re talking about controlling Live.
-Use a MIDI to USB Adapter. M-Audio makes a great adapter (M-Audio Uno). Similarly as plugining into an Audio interface, we would plug the MIDI In of our adapter to the MIDI out on our keyboard. Then we would plug the USB end of our adapter into our computer.
Selecting your Controller in Live
Now that you’ve got your controller plugged into Live, we need to make sure Live can see it.
- Navigate to Live’s Preference Pane. We’ll be working with the MIDI tab for Today.
We’ll be adjusting a few settings in our MIDI Ports section of the MIDI Tab. It is important to note that if you have a farily common controller Live may have preset control surface controls already mapped. You can setup your controller using the “Control Surface” Drop down menu to select your keyboard or controller. Live has created some preset mappings so that you can use your controller straight out of the box. We aren’t too concered with this right now, because we’ll be making a few mappings of our own.
-Find your controller. If you’re directly connected to Ableton via USB), or find your Audio or MIDI interface under the MIDI Ports section.
In order to use your controller to remotely control Live the Remote switch needs to be enabled on that port. For future reference the Track switch allows you to use that controller to record MIDI data (You’ll want that on when recording keyboard/drum parts), and the Sync switch should be selected when you’re syncing Live to another device or another device to Live (i.e effects processor, another computer, etc.)
If you’ve hooked up your controller properly, and you’ve got the correct ports enabled on your computer, you’re good to start assigning!
Making those first few assignments
To make a MIDI assignment in Live, it’s as simple as a few clicks, and twists.
First, we need to enable our MIDI assign mode. We can do this by clicking the MIDI button in the upper right hand corner of our screen or using the cmd+M shortcut. Anything that is lit up purple can be assigned to a MIDI controller.
To assign a function in Live, first click what you want to assign with your mouse. For now let’s assign our click on/off. I’ll click the click on/off button in the upper left hand corner of my screen. I want to assign it to a pad on my keyboard. I’m going to click the pad on my keyboard. You’ll see a number or letter appear on the click on/off button. Hit cmd+M or your MIDI assign button to exit MIDI assign mode and you’re good to go. It’s that simple.
Here’s how to quickly make a few MIDI Assignments that will allow you the ultimate freedom in your Live set.
The Ultimate MIDI Controller
Here’s some useful assignments you should make on your controller:
Tap
Click on/off
Master Stop
Stop clips
scene launch
Scene up
Scene down
scenes select
Individual scenes
master volume
track volume
A few little known tricks:
-Anything in Purple can be assigned. If it’s Purple try assigning it.
-Use the Scene select or scene up/down buttons to scroll your set. You can use Scene Launch to launch the scene you want. Combine this with making assignments directly to your scenes and you’ll have ultimate freedom in your sets.
-You can assign multiple functions to one key/knob/fader on your keyboard. You can control the delay amount, filter frequency and volume all with one fader.The possibilities are endless.
-You can invert controls. I.e. Turning your fader up will decrease volume, turning your fader down will increase volume. This is useful when combining multiple controls.
-You can combine a on/off switch with a fader. This way your sound will be off when the volume is down and as you increase the level, the device turns on.
It’s really up to you what you want your controller to do. The Preset mappings in Ableton Live are great, but creating your own custom controller is incredibly flexible and powerful! Try it out and see what type of assignments you can make!
Just because you can use loops doesn’t mean you should. You don’t need to use loops on every song you’ve got. Do a acoustic set every now and again.
Just because you can play with click doesn’t mean you have to play every song with click. Let some songs breathe and move organically.
The flip side is true as well though:
Just because you don’t have to use a click doesn’t mean that shouldn’t. You can still sound “tight” without a click. But you should try it. It will improve your band. Most modern music today needs a solid-steady tempo.
Just because you don’t have to use loops doesn’t mean you shouldn’t. Sure you don’t have to use loops, tracks or sequences to sound great. Using loops and tracks and sequences can help improve your band so much though. You should try.
Try what you haven’t done recently. Try something out of the norm. Do an acoustic set. Turn off the click. Do an electric set. Turn on the synths. Challenge yourself. Do something new and fresh.
“Sing to Him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy.”
One of the biggest benefits of using a click is the freedom it provides. Sounds a bit ironic doesn’t it? Something that locks everyone in, or defines the tempo everyone MUST play sound quite restricting. Ask anyone who uses a click-and they’ll tell you being able to start a song at the right tempo is one of the biggest benefits of using a click. The ability for your band to have something to lock into that’s constant is incredibly freeing as well. Your drummer can do more- scary I know that they wouldn’t be able to typically do because they’d be busy holding down the tempo. Using a click is a very freeing experience-most of the time. If you’ve found yourself in a rut and feel as if your sets have become rigid because of the click here’s 3 suggestions to “spice” them up.
Start your Song without a Click
Starting your song without a click allows the intro of your song to really breathe. You can add some life into an arrangement and potentially better connect it with your previous song. At times songs need to ebb and flow to be most effective. You can start your song without click and play the intro of your song more “freely”.
For Example- try starting Matt Redman’s 10,000 Reasons without click. Let your piano player be a bit more dramatic, pausing and slowing down to emphasize certain sections. After a bit of letting the tempo fluctuate, bring the click in a few measures before singing to let everyone adjust to the proper tempo.
You could also start your song singing the chorus of your song. This is highly effective if you’re teaching a new song to the congegation. You can start without click which could allow you to freely teach the chorus and stop, continue where necessary. Again, let the song breathe.
If you’re going to take this approach it’s best to bring the click in a measure (or two) before the band comes in, or a measure before the song needs to be at a steady tempo. During that measure any musicians playing or vocalists singing should slowly speed up/slow down to match the tempo. Any tempo adjustments should be done subtly. If your band members struggle to make the non-click to click transition smooth, then try sneaking the click in every few measures to give them an idea of the goal tempo. Start for a few beats then stop it. They’ll get an idea and can adjust to match it every few beats. Do this in plenty of time for them to take their time getting up to tempo.
Adjust the Tempo of Adjacent songs
If you’re doing two songs back to back that are close in tempo, why not change the tempo of one of them to match the other? Making this small change probably won’t be noticeable in the song, but the transition will be so much smoother! This is especially effective when transitioning between two songs in the same key. This will allow you to combine two songs to create a better experience or to enhance a section of a song.
Take the chorus of one song and make it the bridge of another. Combine songs with similar themes by adjusting the tempo/key to fit both. If the message fits- a small tempo adjustment can be made and you can change a old/veteran song into something new and fresh.
Add a Vocal Count
Changing the tempo of your next song to match the current song isn’t the only way to create a smooth transition. If you add a vocal count-in to your click track, i.e. someone verbally counting 1,2,3,4, to the beginning of your track you can shorten the transition time between each track.
You can end your first song by holding out a chord and while the last chord is ringing out start the click for the next song. The Vocal Count will allow the click to “cut-through” and allow everyone to be on the same page. There will be no question as to where “1″ is when you start the next song.You can start the click for the next song while doing a “trashcan” ending for the first song. If you’ve got a vocal cue you can hear that click, especially where 1 is and the tighten up your time between each song. This allows you to make the transition between two songs that aren’t in the same key a lot smoother.
These are only 3 simple ideas on how to have more freedom when playing with a click, but implementing even one of these will have a huge impact on your Worship sets. Things will flow better, and feel more natural when you are using a click.
What have you done to make the experience of playing to a click more freeing?
If you’re looking for a great way to add more flexibility into your loops and tracks, then you should consider keeping your audio in “stem” form. Stems are rendered (exported) audio files of the individual tracks in your loop or track. Instead of a final rendered, mixed down stereo file (.wav or .aiff in Ableton) stems are each individual audio track separate from each other.
Stems allow you to create a mix more appropriate for your venue, or band setup. For example, when you get into your venue for Sunday and playback your tracks you may realize that the kick needs to be turned up and the pads need to come down. Or for instance if your piano player plays pads on a track that already has pads you’ll be able to mute the pad part. There’s a very handy feature in the Export Audio/Video tab of Ableton live that allows you to export your song in stem form. In this video we show you how to access it and how to drop those files back into Live in Session and Arrangement View.
Let’s all be honest, good or bad it’s becoming easier and easier to run your entire church service off one computer. Again let’s not attempt to argue whether good or bad, but it’s simply becoming more of a possibility. I would hate to see a service void of volunteers and purely ran by a computer, but this can be good news for smaller churches.
If anything…advancements in technology are making it easier to run services smoothly. (Cue the song: “I love Technology”) All that being said… for the past few months at church we’ve been experimenting with Environmental Projection. It’s been a big success and added a great visual element to our Services that helps to further engage people in worship. One thing we set out to do is to sync video playback up with Ableton Live.
Myself and my good friend Rich Belgie, our Lighting guy and tech guru at church, worked together to come up with a solution. It was easier then we first imagined but we want people to think we’re smarter then we really are, so imagine it’s difficult. We’re using Pro Video Player from Renewed Vision and Ableton Live. I’m triggering all the videos on Rich’s laptop wirelessly from my laptop running Ableton live. There’s no MIDI timecode or timecode involved. We can go anywhere at anytime in any song and our videos will follow.
It’s pretty easy to do. In fact we created a video for our Worship Ministries’ website that I wanted to share here as well. Check it out below. If you have any questions about how we did it leave a comment below. Are you doing something similar to do this, or ever tried it? If so let us know how you do it or how it went!
Blog
How to work in 6/8 in Ableton Live
Posted by Will on Apr 30, 2012 in Ableton Live Tips & Tricks | 0 comments
If you’ve ever tried working in Ableton Live with a song in 6/8 then odds are high you’ve experienced some frustration! Your song won’t sync to the click, it sounds too fast, and what should be one measure, is actually being counted as two. In the video below, we take a look at why this happens.
How does Live treat the 6/8 time signature, and how to work in 6/8 in Ableton Live. Enjoy!
How to Create a Stop Track for Ableton Live using Apple’s IAC Driver
Posted by Will on Apr 27, 2012 in Ableton Live Tips & Tricks | 0 comments
Arrangement View is a great place to build a set-list if you want really smooth transitions from one song to the next. What if you want to stop after each song? Sure… you could press stop or assign stop to a MIDI controller, but what if you don’t have time to reach over and stop it.
If you have a live set that’s pretty large in Arrangement View it’s worth trying this out. It’s incredibly easy to create a “stop” track in Ableton Live. You can do this by using the IAC driver built into your Mac. It only takes a few steps, and will help save you from not being able to stop your track in time.
How can you use this in your Live set?
You have no idea…
Posted by Will on Apr 25, 2012 in Transitioning your Band to Using Loops | 0 comments
You have no idea how the smallest most un-important action will greatly impact someone. I was spending sometime this morning thinking back to the people that have shaped me in my role as a Worship Leader. The people that have shaped me in my path of ministry.
I still to this day hate singing-thankfully in my current role I’m not doing much of it. I can trace that back to a comment a kid made to me on a Disciple Now weekend while in Youth Group. “You remember when you used to sing”…”Man we’d sit back there and laugh the whole time”. I can still feel the pain a bit today.
I can remember buying the Crowder album with the Reason demo and the reason files on it. I spent hours trying to deconstruct and re-construct every element of those tracks. I remember spending hours late at night working on tracks using the Fruity Loops demo on my parents computer. I couldn’t save-so I had to keep the computer on. It was a disaster when the computer wouldn’t turn off and I’d lose my soon to be masterpiece.
I remember when my Stepdad took me to Sam Ash to buy Fruity Loops. I know that without that single event happening I wouldn’t have the interest I do today in programing and electronic music.
I can remember when my friend Jonathan asked me to lead worship for a retreat. This was after the aforementioned individual crushed my confidence as a singer. I can honestly say if it weren’t for him asking and encouraging me to lead for that trip I wouldn’t be a worship leader. I would not be in ministry.
I can remember all the time my friend Bobby spent with me. Pouring into this punk kid from the youth ministry. If it wasn’t for him I would not of attended Liberty University. I probably would of never moved away and challenged myself.
If it wasn’t for my friend David pushing me and putting up with my crap I wouldn’t be where I am today. He literally gave me the space and freedom to fail and gave me permission to start using loops live. Trust me, I failed a lot at it.
If you fail enough at something, you’ll soon become an expert.
I can remember a lot of those moments-both good and bad that have shaped me to become who I am today. My story is probably a lot like your story . My experiences may not be the same as yours but you’ve had people- a lot of people shape who you are. Here’s what our response should be:
1) Take a few moments and thank those people. Write them a letter. Not an email-a letter. Tell them how much they shaped your ministry, your story.
2) Do the same for the people around you. It’s not a matter of it you’re going to shape someone’s story it’s will be for good or bad?
How are you going to shape someone’s story today?
How to disable those pesky Sound Effects on your Mac and a few more on stage tips
Posted by Will on Apr 23, 2012 in Gear | 1 comment
We got a great question from Matt on Twitter yesterday. He said:
“would you consider writing an article about all the sounds that could go off on your MAC, other than loops?”
Great suggestion Matt! Most people don’t know about all the mystery sounds and alerts that their computers can make when they’re using them for loops. You get your setlist put together you’ve practiced transitions the loops sound great in rehearsal and everything is going great. Sunday rolls around and right when you get back up to close the service as the Pastor is praying you hear ”DING”!!! Cranking through the sound system. If you’ve lead worship for a while you’ll do as any good worship does-Blame it on the Sound Guy! (Just Kidding-but really).
The easiest way I’ve found to avoid this problem is to turn off all “sound-effects” on my Mac, including that annoying “popping” when you turn up/down the volume. If you’re using your computer for loops, this is crucial. Here’s how to disable those pops and dings from blasting through your sound system on Sunday!
System Preferences
Navigate to System Preferences either by going to your doc, searching “System Preferences” in Spotlight or using the Apple icon in the upper left hand part of your screen and select “System Preferences”. Once you’re there select the sound settings section. This is going to allow us to turn set our preferences for basic input/output on our computer.
Sound Settings
Under the sound tab select “Sound Effects” This is where we’ll disable all those beeps and blips. It’s important to note that if you need to set the master output for your input this is where you would do it-using the respective input/output tabs.
Now that we’re here we can make the changes to get rid of those pops. Uncheck the boxes that say “Play user interface sound effects” and ”Play feedback when volume is changed”. This will disable all those sound effects from occurring. Just to be safe I also change the “Play sound effects through” output to something other than my main output. In this case if you’re using your built in output then change it to something else, just to be safe. With these few tweaks you should be good to go! No more dings and pops mid service!
BONUS TIPS
Killer Ableton Live Rig
Posted by Will on Apr 20, 2012 in Gear | 0 comments
Most Worship Leader’s Ableton rigs look the same. Most of the time EXACTLY the same. Nothing wrong with that-if you’ve got something that works thats great. As I’ve mentioned before if I see one more Ableton Live rig rundown that contains a MOTU and a Ability Controller-I quit
. All joking aside this is a great video showing someone using Ableton as a true Workhorse. It’s a killer Ableton Rig. Check it out and see if there are a few things you can pick up from it.
Is there any thing here you can integrate into your rig/setup?
Making MIDI Assignments in Ableton Live
Posted by Will on Apr 18, 2012 in Ableton Live Tips & Tricks | 0 comments
By now most of us know that Ableton Live allows worship leaders more freedom in their worship sets when using loops, or pre-recorded pieces of audio. But you may not know how powerful Ableton Live is when it comes to making MIDI assignments. Live allows you with a few clicks, and few twists of a knob to make really powerful MIDI assignments. It’s so simple that if you’ve worked with MIDI gear before- trying to program keyboards, assign controllers etc..this may make you sick at how easy it is.
Ableton Live allows you to make both MIDI and Key assignments very easily. This allows you to assign virtually any parameter to a key on your keyboard or a key/knob/fader on your MIDI keyboard, or foot controller. You don’t need a fancy controller to get the ultimate control out of Live, you need any MIDI controller, or even an iphone/iPad using a controller app. (Now that touchOSC supports CoreMIDI, I’ve been a huge fan!) Grab your favorite MIDI controller and let’s get started..
Connecting your Controller to Live
To connect your controller to Live you’ll need to plug it into your computer somehow. Most controllers now can be connected via a USB cable. This typically allows your controller to be bus-powered which allows your controller to get it’s power from your computer. No need for an external power supply. If your controller doesn’t have the option to plug in via USB, here’s a few solutions.
-Use an Audio Interface with MIDI IN. Grab a MIDI cable and plug from the MIDI OUT of your keyboard into the MIDI IN of your Interface. We aren’t concerened with the MIDI In of our keyboard/controller (of the MIDI out of our interface) now because we’re talking about controlling Live.
-Use a MIDI to USB Adapter. M-Audio makes a great adapter (M-Audio Uno). Similarly as plugining into an Audio interface, we would plug the MIDI In of our adapter to the MIDI out on our keyboard. Then we would plug the USB end of our adapter into our computer.
Selecting your Controller in Live
Now that you’ve got your controller plugged into Live, we need to make sure Live can see it.
- Navigate to Live’s Preference Pane. We’ll be working with the MIDI tab for Today.
We’ll be adjusting a few settings in our MIDI Ports section of the MIDI Tab. It is important to note that if you have a farily common controller Live may have preset control surface controls already mapped. You can setup your controller using the “Control Surface” Drop down menu to select your keyboard or controller. Live has created some preset mappings so that you can use your controller straight out of the box. We aren’t too concered with this right now, because we’ll be making a few mappings of our own.
-Find your controller. If you’re directly connected to Ableton via USB), or find your Audio or MIDI interface under the MIDI Ports section.
In order to use your controller to remotely control Live the Remote switch needs to be enabled on that port. For future reference the Track switch allows you to use that controller to record MIDI data (You’ll want that on when recording keyboard/drum parts), and the Sync switch should be selected when you’re syncing Live to another device or another device to Live (i.e effects processor, another computer, etc.)
If you’ve hooked up your controller properly, and you’ve got the correct ports enabled on your computer, you’re good to start assigning!
Making those first few assignments
To make a MIDI assignment in Live, it’s as simple as a few clicks, and twists.
First, we need to enable our MIDI assign mode. We can do this by clicking the MIDI button in the upper right hand corner of our screen or using the cmd+M shortcut. Anything that is lit up purple can be assigned to a MIDI controller.
To assign a function in Live, first click what you want to assign with your mouse. For now let’s assign our click on/off. I’ll click the click on/off button in the upper left hand corner of my screen. I want to assign it to a pad on my keyboard. I’m going to click the pad on my keyboard. You’ll see a number or letter appear on the click on/off button. Hit cmd+M or your MIDI assign button to exit MIDI assign mode and you’re good to go. It’s that simple.
Here’s how to quickly make a few MIDI Assignments that will allow you the ultimate freedom in your Live set.
The Ultimate MIDI Controller
Here’s some useful assignments you should make on your controller:
Tap
Click on/off
Master Stop
Stop clips
scene launch
Scene up
Scene down
scenes select
Individual scenes
master volume
track volume
A few little known tricks:
-Anything in Purple can be assigned. If it’s Purple try assigning it.
-Use the Scene select or scene up/down buttons to scroll your set. You can use Scene Launch to launch the scene you want. Combine this with making assignments directly to your scenes and you’ll have ultimate freedom in your sets.
-You can assign multiple functions to one key/knob/fader on your keyboard. You can control the delay amount, filter frequency and volume all with one fader.The possibilities are endless.
-You can invert controls. I.e. Turning your fader up will decrease volume, turning your fader down will increase volume. This is useful when combining multiple controls.
-You can combine a on/off switch with a fader. This way your sound will be off when the volume is down and as you increase the level, the device turns on.
It’s really up to you what you want your controller to do. The Preset mappings in Ableton Live are great, but creating your own custom controller is incredibly flexible and powerful! Try it out and see what type of assignments you can make!
Just because you can doesn’t mean you should!
Posted by Will on Apr 16, 2012 in Transitioning your Band to Using Loops | 0 comments
Just because you can use loops doesn’t mean you should. You don’t need to use loops on every song you’ve got. Do a acoustic set every now and again.
Just because you can play with click doesn’t mean you have to play every song with click. Let some songs breathe and move organically.
The flip side is true as well though:
Just because you don’t have to use a click doesn’t mean that shouldn’t. You can still sound “tight” without a click. But you should try it. It will improve your band. Most modern music today needs a solid-steady tempo.
Just because you don’t have to use loops doesn’t mean you shouldn’t. Sure you don’t have to use loops, tracks or sequences to sound great. Using loops and tracks and sequences can help improve your band so much though. You should try.
Try what you haven’t done recently. Try something out of the norm. Do an acoustic set. Turn off the click. Do an electric set. Turn on the synths. Challenge yourself. Do something new and fresh.
“Sing to Him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy.”
How to have more freedom when playing with a Click
Posted by Will on Apr 13, 2012 in click tricks | 0 comments
One of the biggest benefits of using a click is the freedom it provides. Sounds a bit ironic doesn’t it? Something that locks everyone in, or defines the tempo everyone MUST play sound quite restricting. Ask anyone who uses a click-and they’ll tell you being able to start a song at the right tempo is one of the biggest benefits of using a click. The ability for your band to have something to lock into that’s constant is incredibly freeing as well. Your drummer can do more- scary I know
that they wouldn’t be able to typically do because they’d be busy holding down the tempo. Using a click is a very freeing experience-most of the time. If you’ve found yourself in a rut and feel as if your sets have become rigid because of the click here’s 3 suggestions to “spice” them up.
Start your Song without a Click
Starting your song without a click allows the intro of your song to really breathe. You can add some life into an arrangement and potentially better connect it with your previous song. At times songs need to ebb and flow to be most effective. You can start your song without click and play the intro of your song more “freely”.
For Example- try starting Matt Redman’s 10,000 Reasons without click. Let your piano player be a bit more dramatic, pausing and slowing down to emphasize certain sections. After a bit of letting the tempo fluctuate, bring the click in a few measures before singing to let everyone adjust to the proper tempo.
You could also start your song singing the chorus of your song. This is highly effective if you’re teaching a new song to the congegation. You can start without click which could allow you to freely teach the chorus and stop, continue where necessary. Again, let the song breathe.
If you’re going to take this approach it’s best to bring the click in a measure (or two) before the band comes in, or a measure before the song needs to be at a steady tempo. During that measure any musicians playing or vocalists singing should slowly speed up/slow down to match the tempo. Any tempo adjustments should be done subtly. If your band members struggle to make the non-click to click transition smooth, then try sneaking the click in every few measures to give them an idea of the goal tempo. Start for a few beats then stop it. They’ll get an idea and can adjust to match it every few beats. Do this in plenty of time for them to take their time getting up to tempo.
Adjust the Tempo of Adjacent songs
If you’re doing two songs back to back that are close in tempo, why not change the tempo of one of them to match the other? Making this small change probably won’t be noticeable in the song, but the transition will be so much smoother! This is especially effective when transitioning between two songs in the same key. This will allow you to combine two songs to create a better experience or to enhance a section of a song.
Take the chorus of one song and make it the bridge of another. Combine songs with similar themes by adjusting the tempo/key to fit both. If the message fits- a small tempo adjustment can be made and you can change a old/veteran song into something new and fresh.
Add a Vocal Count
Changing the tempo of your next song to match the current song isn’t the only way to create a smooth transition. If you add a vocal count-in to your click track, i.e. someone verbally counting 1,2,3,4, to the beginning of your track you can shorten the transition time between each track.
You can end your first song by holding out a chord and while the last chord is ringing out start the click for the next song. The Vocal Count will allow the click to “cut-through” and allow everyone to be on the same page. There will be no question as to where “1″ is when you start the next song.You can start the click for the next song while doing a “trashcan” ending for the first song. If you’ve got a vocal cue you can hear that click, especially where 1 is and the tighten up your time between each song. This allows you to make the transition between two songs that aren’t in the same key a lot smoother.
These are only 3 simple ideas on how to have more freedom when playing with a click, but implementing even one of these will have a huge impact on your Worship sets. Things will flow better, and feel more natural when you are using a click.
What have you done to make the experience of playing to a click more freeing?
Exporting Stems out of Ableton Live
Posted by Will on Apr 11, 2012 in Ableton Live Tips & Tricks | 0 comments
If you’re looking for a great way to add more flexibility into your loops and tracks, then you should consider keeping your audio in “stem” form. Stems are rendered (exported) audio files of the individual tracks in your loop or track. Instead of a final rendered, mixed down stereo file (.wav or .aiff in Ableton) stems are each individual audio track separate from each other.
Stems allow you to create a mix more appropriate for your venue, or band setup. For example, when you get into your venue for Sunday and playback your tracks you may realize that the kick needs to be turned up and the pads need to come down. Or for instance if your piano player plays pads on a track that already has pads you’ll be able to mute the pad part. There’s a very handy feature in the Export Audio/Video tab of Ableton live that allows you to export your song in stem form. In this video we show you how to access it and how to drop those files back into Live in Session and Arrangement View.
How to Sync Videos from Pro Video Player with Ableton Live
Posted by Will on Mar 14, 2012 in Gear | 3 comments
Let’s all be honest, good or bad it’s becoming easier and easier to run your entire church service off one computer. Again let’s not attempt to argue whether good or bad, but it’s simply becoming more of a possibility. I would hate to see a service void of volunteers and purely ran by a computer, but this can be good news for smaller churches.
If anything…advancements in technology are making it easier to run services smoothly. (Cue the song: “I love Technology”) All that being said… for the past few months at church we’ve been experimenting with Environmental Projection. It’s been a big success and added a great visual element to our Services that helps to further engage people in worship. One thing we set out to do is to sync video playback up with Ableton Live.
Myself and my good friend Rich Belgie, our Lighting guy and tech guru at church, worked together to come up with a solution. It was easier then we first imagined but we want people to think we’re smarter then we really are, so imagine it’s difficult. We’re using Pro Video Player from Renewed Vision and Ableton Live. I’m triggering all the videos on Rich’s laptop wirelessly from my laptop running Ableton live. There’s no MIDI timecode or timecode involved. We can go anywhere at anytime in any song and our videos will follow.
It’s pretty easy to do. In fact we created a video for our Worship Ministries’ website that I wanted to share here as well. Check it out below. If you have any questions about how we did it leave a comment below. Are you doing something similar to do this, or ever tried it? If so let us know how you do it or how it went!