I’ll walk through a few examples of how gates can be used this way using various DAWs. Even if your software isn’t featured here don’t worry, these techniques are generic and can be translated to pretty much any gate plug-in.

Step 1 – The Basic Gate

As most of you are probably aware the primary use for a gate is to reduce noise and any unwanted signal that is present in your recordings. For example you may have a vocal take with rumble, computer noise or heavy breathing in between phrases. A gate is the perfect tool for removing these problem areas, often with zero impact on the parts you want to keep.

As a gate is really just an automated level control they use very little to no CPU to run. Most DAWs include one or even two gates as standard and these will often be bundled with a number of pre-sets to get you going.

Propellerheads Record’s built in noise gate

As the process of gating isn’t particularly exciting and is often seen as purely a problem solving exercise, the gate can be somewhat overlooked as a creative effect. Let’s run through a few examples of how we can think out side the box, from a simple alternative use for our gate to something a little more special.

Step 2 – Using Gates as Transient Designers

First up let’s take a look at using our gates in an almost traditional way, but instead of reducing we’ll try using it in a similar way to a transient designer. This basically means that we can actually remove parts of a drum track or loop. This can be really useful for cleaning up our overall sound.

Let’s start by choosing a loop with a fair bit of noise present. Here I have chosen a .rex file for speed but of course this technique can quite easily be applied to a drum group / buss and will work equally well on acoustic drums as it does on electronic sounds.

The untreated loop used

The untreated loop:

Download audio file (2.mp3)

As the loop has been loaded in Cubase 5 I have used the standard, bundled Steinberg Gate plug-in. I have started by initialising the plug-in so that no gating takes place and no signal can be heard, this is a good starting point and is often the best way to go when using dynamics processors in general.

The Cubase Gate

The next step is to bring the gates threshold control down until you can hear the peaks of the loop come through. In this case the first peak to show its head is the top of the kick and snare. Keep pushing the threshold until the majority of these major elements are playing but the other sounds are still gated.

The gates threshold being altered

Although we can filtered out many of the sounds in the loop, to make the remaining sounds a little more realistic we have to alter the release and hold times. When doing this try to mimic the actual release times of the drum sounds themselves. In doing this you may get some ‘bleed’ from the other sounds in the loop but this is to be expected and shouldn’t be too obvious in the mix.

The final gate settings

The gated loop:

Download audio file (2b.mp3)

When comparing the before and after you should hear a dramatic change in the loop and using this technique you can slightly clean up your drum parts or completely transform them depending on the intensity of your settings.

Step 3 – Creating Your Own Gated Reverbs

Most fully featured, modern reverb plug-ins will contain some kind of gated reverb effect and they can work really well on short percussive sounds or drums. Although these presets can work well you can gain much more control over this effect if you can create it using your own processors.

In this example I’ll use a single snare sound. You can hear that in it’s dry form it’s not particularly interesting and is maybe a little too dry. By adding a gated reverb we should be able to make the sound a lot more useable.

The original snare

The untreated snare:

Download audio file (3.mp3)

In this instance I have decided to load the sound up in Live 8 and because of this I am using Live’s bundled gate and reverb plug-ins. Again this technique can be achieved using pretty much any reverb and gate combo.

The first thing I did was to add a pretty standard reverb patch to the snare. The decay is pretty long and although the sound is nice as an effect it would be far to long to use throughout a mix and robs quite a lot of the direct power and snap of the untreated dry version.

Basic Ableton reverb patch

The snare with reverb:

Download audio file (3b.mp3)

So that we can achieve the effect and size of the reverb we need to add a gate to the end of the chain. With a super fast attack dialled in, you should be able to play with the threshold to allow the majority of the sound through. The reverb tail will be cut off and stop the sound from becoming to washed out.

The Ableton gate used

The final gated reverb effect:

Download audio file (3c.mp3)

At this point you’ll want to play with the reverb mix, gate release and gain reduction amount. This will allow you to match the reverb time to the snares release and also ensure there are no unwanted clicks and pops introduced by the gating. You can hear that the result is a lively, stereo snare which will really find its own place in the mix.

Step 4 – Rhythmical Gating and Gated Patterns

One of the most creative ways to use your gate plug-ins is to produce rhythmical patterns with them. As a lot of DAWs now feature native side chaining, you can now feed your gate with just about any signal you like. This allows you to use the gate as a sort of automated tremolo or pattern generator. Some really excellent results can be achieved with a little imagination.

Moving over to Logic 9.02, I have loaded up instrument and percussion loops. I have used the more fully featured of Logic’s two gates here as this will allow us a little more control over the finished sound.

Keyboard loop:

Download audio file (4.mp3)

Percussion loop:

Download audio file (4b.mp3)

Untreated basic mix:

Download audio file (4c.mp3)

The two loops used

The gate is placed on the instrument loop and the percussion loop is set to control the side chain circuit. This will allow us to use the peaks of the percussion pattern to activate the gating effect. Once this configuration is set up start to bring the threshold of the gate down until you hear some gating occur.

The sidechain routing

The mix with gating taking place:

Download audio file (4d.mp3)

Once the gating is taking place try sending the percussion to loop to ‘no output’ or a muted group. You should now hear the instrument loop with only the gated effect. This will allow you to make more exact adjustments to the gates settings. Of course you can always leave the percussion loop out of the mix and just use t as a trigger. if you prefer you can program your own trigger part using midi, this will allow a more personalised pattern to be produced.

The Logic noise gate plug-in

The gated loops in isolation:

Download audio file (4e.mp3)

The main problem here is that most applications use unique file formats that can only be loaded in the specific program you are using. In some cases, such as the Apple loops format, these files can even be dependent on a certain operating system.

If we want to use our locked grooves across the majority of applications we have to opt for a format that most DAWs will load. Although the .REX file format has been around for some time now, it is still arguably the best way of storing our tempo sync-able loops.

Let’s take a look at how they are created, and the ways they can be utilized within different applications.

Step 1 – ReCycle Your Files

When it comes to using .REX files you have a few choices. If you want to take the easy route you can access large collections of ready prepared .REX data using sample libraries. The vast majority of sample collections now have extensive .REX sections containing perfectly edited and ready to load into your favorite DAW or sample player. We’ll look at how in the following sections of this tutorial.

Most sample collections now include large .REX sections.

If you demand a little more control over your samples and want to use your own loops and grooves, then you will need Propellerhead’s ReCycle to make your own .REX files. Although acquiring the application may require a small investment, it is well worth it if you are serious about your grooves and use more than one DAW.

The application itself has a really transparent one-window interface, with an easy learning curve. Once you grasp the concepts, the process of creating your own .REX loops can be mastered in one session.

ReCycle’s clear one window interface.

ReCycle works by adding handles or markers to the start of each transient event. With this in mind, it’s worth experimenting with loops that have clear percussive elements and obvious transients. Drum loops and percussion grooves are the obvious choice here and ReCycle will do an excellent job of adding new markers to these sounds.

The markers are easily added by turning up the sensitivity value using the clearly marked slider. This action will automatically add markers to increasingly more transients as you go. As the space between the markers represents a ’slice’ within the file you don’t want to go overboard.

Initial markers are added by using the sensitivity control.

Once the slices you want have been marked, you are ready to move onto the next step. If you feel there are too many slices, or some hits in the loop were missed by the automatic process, they can be edited manually by changing to the draw tool. Each slice can be auditioned for greater accuracy here by right clicking in the appropriate space in the file.

It’s now simply a case of hitting the Preview Mode button, entering the correct number of bars in your loop, and its current BPM will be displayed. You can now change the loop’s speed and audition your sound at different tempos.

Entering the number of bars.

Previewing the loop at different tempos.

As ReCycle doesn’t actually use time stretching to achieve these changes in tempo, very realistic results can be achieved. The slices within a .REX file are actually moved around like interlocking plates. This is fine when moving to a higher tempo as the slices simply overlap and are played faster. When moving to slower speeds gaps can appear in the structure and these can become audible.

ReCycle combats this problem with the use of its ’stretch’ algorithm. This is not a traditional time stretch, but a method that uses a small portion of each slice, reverses it and adds it to the end of each section. This fills the gaps with similar material and produces a very acceptable result in most cases.

The stretch feature.

With this knowledge you should be able to produce and save a pretty tight .REX file. There are other areas and extra processing that can be achieved within ReCycle, and these will be covered in future tutorials.

Step 2 – Using .REX Files with Reason

Once you have some .REX files, you are ready to import them into different applications. Each DAW has its own way of dealing with .REX information, and it pays to become familiar with each one, or at least the one you use on a regular basis.

As Reason is built by Propellerhead (the same company as ReCycle) you would expect the integration of .REX files to be pretty tight. In fact there is actually a dedicated .REX file player called Dr.Rex. This really is an excellent instrument and not allows you to load .REX files, but also gives you the tools to completely transform them if you wish.

The Dr.Rex player.

The Dr.Rex player has a straight forward but powerful synthesis engine, and the real beauty of it is that both of the envelopes clamp down on each slice independently. This can create some really interesting effects. There is also a sync-able LFO which can be routed to various destinations.

The Dr.Rex synthesis engine.

Once you loop is playing back in a way that you are happy with, a MIDI file to trigger the loop in exactly right order can be generated and easily assigned to a track in the Reason sequencer. It is also easy to export the same MIDI information to another sequencer in Reason via Rewire.

Exporting MIDI from Dr.Rex.

Step 3 – Opening .REX Files in Cubase and Logic.

Opening .REX data in other DAWs is a slightly different process, and perhaps not as straight forward. But don’t worry – it’s not rocket-science either.

One thing to note is that to open .REX data in Cubase, Logic and many other DAWs, you will need Propellerhead’s ‘Rex Shared Library‘ installed. This is a free download.

With the shared library in place, both Cubase and Logic should be able to read and audition .REX files like any other audio. The real difference is when you actually import the audio. As .REX files are made up of slices, the DAW will often present you with a few options on how these slices are handled.

Logic for example will first display a dialogue stating that you are using a ReCycle file, and then a drop-down menu will present you with a number of choices. These include importing each slice onto separate tracks and rendering the file into an Apple loop. The latter is probably the most straight-forward, and will produce a consolidated, single file that will still change tempo with that of Logic’s master clock.

Logic Pro 9’s options for importing .REX files.

Another option is to import your .REX files into some sort of sampler or groove player. In Logic you can use the EXS24 sampler, and in Cubase 5 you can try Groove Agent. Working in this way is similar to using the Dr.Rex player in Reason, and gives you a different angle for working with straight audio conversions. MIDI files can be generated to drive these instruments, and the MIDI can be easily rearranged.

Importing .REX files and generating MIDI with Logic’s EXS24 sampler.

It is worth considering Logic 9’s new Flex tool and Audio Quantize features, as this route may be a good alternative to using .REX files. If you are lucky enough to have the new version you can certainly experiment to see which works best for you. I have Logic Pro 9 up and running here and will be covering these new features in my next batch of tutorials.

Step 4 – Ableton Live and .REX files

Ableton Live works perfectly with .REX files and will load them as it would any other audio file. The only real difference is the fact that the .REX files are immediately treated as warped / elastic audio, and will lock perfectly to your existing project’s elements and tempo.

Ableton Live treats .REX files in probably the most transparent and straight forward way, compared to all the other DAWs mentioned here.

Importing .REX files in Ableton is extremely straight forward.

All these features are impressive (and some of them definitely deserve their own tutorials), but one of the most important updates for many users is the introduction of a brand new groove engine, so let’s get stuck in and see how it works.

Step 1 – What is a groove and why use them?

Before we dive into the ins and outs of Live’s new groove engine, let’s take a quick look at what a ‘groove’ actually is.

When a musician performs a piece of music a natural groove is created. Depending on the style of music, mood (or ability!) of the musician and timing of the other performers, the groove will vary infinitely. Of course sometimes we don’t intend to introduce a groove into our music and we may just think what we have played is out of time—but even a phrase played with sloppy timing contains its own individual groove.

A lot of people’s initial way of dealing with any sort of sloppy playing or overly swung parts is to quantize them to a rigid 16th grid so everything falls into place. This can work in some situations but often the result feels artificial and a little robotic.

The answer is to apply grooves to your performance, this way things will feel a little more human and match other parts in your project. Live’s introduction of the groove engine is a welcomed change as previous versions were a touch limited in this area.

There are many ways to apply grooves from presets to creating your own custom patterns. Live 8 even allows you to extract grooves from existing audio or MIDI but we will look at each of these methods as we go.

Step 2 – Ableton’s Groove Library

Live 8 supplies not only the ability to create your own grooves but also a pre-made library of existing grooves. Some of these grooves are musical in nature and some are taken from other software and machines that are famous for their preset grooves and swing timing.

Opening the groove library is really straight forward and just involves hitting the dedicated groove button to the left of Live’s existing browser interface. This action should bring up an area called the ‘groove pool’, which shows you which grooves you currently have loaded and the groove library above it.

You can drag any number of grooves from the library into the groove pool. Don’t worry at this point—they have no effect on your project but they can be edited, previewed and applied in real time once they are in the pool.

The Ableton groove library and groove pool

Step 3 – Previewing and applying grooves from the library

Once loaded in the pool a groove can be dragged onto any audio or midi clip in your project and the effects can be previewed in a totally non-destructive manner. This means that no permanent changes will be made to your parts until you apply them yourself.

To the left of the clip parameter area there is now a small groove area, with a drop down menu and ‘commit’ button. This shows you the current groove associated with your clip and also allows you to presently imprint the effects of the groove onto your MIDI or audio.

At this point I should point out that if you are auditioning a new groove, you will only hear and not see the effects of the groove data on your clip. The MIDI notes or warp markers will not actually move until you commit the groove in question.

This system makes it really easy to switch between various grooves in real time and hear the effect they have on your clips and if you don’t like the result you can easily reverse it.

The new groove section in the clip parameter area.

Step 4 – The Groove Parameters

When a groove is loaded into the groove pool you will notice that there are several parameters after the groove’s name. These are various values you can edit and will really help you shape the amount of groove that is applied to your part.

I’ll blast through each column and give you a quick run down of what each one does.

Base – This simply chooses the resolution that the groove works with. Everything from a 1/4 to 1/32 of a bar can be used here. Most people will be happy using 1/16, and this setting works best with drum patterns. Saying that, every situation is different so experiment with them all.

Quantize – Regardless of which groove you are using this value will apply quantization to your part based on the resolution you are using. So if you are set to 1/16th this will apply quantization to this value. Using this is a great way to tidy up your part before you apply any groove.

Timing – This is the parameter that actually applies the groove specific data and will have a different effect depending on which groove template you have loaded.

Random – This will introduce some random movements to the notes in your sequence, this is really useful for humanizing very static or rigid performances.

Velocity – Turning this value up will introduce alterations to the velocities of your notes and this will be synced with the specific groove. So pushed or pulled notes will either be louder or quieter.

The groove pool parameters.

Step 5 – Extracting grooves and saving them as your own

Extracting and saving your own grooves has been made really simple in Live 8. It’s really just a case of right-clicking on the part in question and choosing ‘extract groove’ from the contextual menu that pops up.

Extracting a groove from an existing part.

Once extracted this new groove will be immediately available in the groove pool and can also be moved to a new folder in the groove library for later use on other projects. This extraction process can be used on audio or MIDI and can be really useful when trying to match the feel of a sample or pre-recorded performance.

Renaming your new groove.

Rewire is often underestimated and in many cases goes unused. Using Rewire correctly can actually expand your sound palette, avoid unnecessary rendering and even add extra processing tools to your DAW. Let’s take a look at how Rewire works, some of its history and a few situations we can use it in.

Step 1 – Understanding Rewire

Rewire is a pretty impressive piece of software engineering, allowing MIDI, audio, transport commands and even instrument patches to be transferred between applications. Using the newest Rewire 2, an impressive 256 audio channels and 4080 midi channels, across 255 independent busses can be utilized. That’s more channels than most of us need and certainly enough to handle even the most demanding projects.

Even though it works with cutting edge software applications, Rewire technology is in no way new and is in its tenth year of existence, having been introduced in 1998. Originally developed in a joint venture by Propellerheads and Steinberg, we first saw Rewire appear in the now discontinued (but classic) Rebirth software synthesizer. Since then the protocol has become an industry standard, with just about every major DAW manufacturer adopting it as their primary inter-application streaming method.

If the concept of ‘Rewiring’ applications still seems a little daunting to you just think of it as a virtual patch bay, with ‘cables’ between your audio apps. The real beauty of the system is the diverse types of data Rewire can carry, so sync, transport, midi and audio are all taken care of.

Even in its complexity Rewire is a really elegant protocol, with most of the routing taking place in a pretty invisible fashion, so all you have to take care of are a few basic control panels.

Rewire was first developed to link Rebirth to Cubase VST

Step 2 – Compatible Applications

Rewire and its relationship with most DAWs has really matured over the years. In most cases its integration and performance is rock solid. This pedigree also shows in the long list of applications that support Rewire out of the box. The bottom line is that if you own a major DAW it is very likely to speak the Rewire language.

The list of applications supported is a little long to list here, but you can check whether or not your software is by visiting this page on the Propellerheads site. The list also gives specific details as to which features are supported in each application.

It’s worth mentioning that the slave/host system that Rewire uses at this point, as applications need to be opened in the correct order if things are going to work properly.

One application acts as the host or master, while the other is slaved to it. This means that the host’s transport controls and BPM settings will apply to the slave, so if you hit play on the host the same will happen in the slave. Also audio is streamed from the slave to the host, so if you are trying to get audio from one application to another you need to decide in advance which is the host and which is the slave.

For an application to be used as a host it must be opened first. Any application opened after that will be treated as a Rewire slave. You are not limited to one application here and can open numerous different programs to act as Rewire slaves, but there can be only one host.

The Rewire panel in Cubase 5 running Reason as a slave

Step 3 – Using Rewire to Add Instruments & Features

The main way Rewire is used is to expand the functionality of a piece of software. Let’s say you are working in Cubase 5, and your track is coming along nicely but you want to quickly audition some loops you have warped in Ableton in real-time.

Of course you could import them one by one and re-analyze them using Cubase’s system but this would take time and could slow up the creative process. Alternatively to harness the power of Ableton’s elastic audio functions and to use our previously treated loops, we could simply use Ableton as a Rewire slave.

Once set up you can easily stream audio from anywhere in Ableton to any number of channels in Cubase 5’s mixer. You now have the features of both pieces of software available in one session.

Ableton is capable of being both Rewire slave and host

Just as you may want to share features between DAWs, you may also want to use sounds or instruments to expand you current applications sonic palette.

Using Reason as a virtual rack of sound modules and synths is the perfect example of this. Reason is generally very light on your computers main CPU, so it can be a really wise move to use Reason’s sound sources if you are looking to maximize your machines potential. Rewiring Reason to Cubase or Logic (for instance) can provide excellent results.

The mixing capabilities of the larger DAWs combined with the extensive instrument list in Reason makes a great combo, and remember any of these instruments can be sent to an individual Rewire channel for further processing.

Reason as a Rewire slave

Step 4 – Rewire as Mixdown Tool

Just as some people may want to tap into an application’s instrument list whilst constructing a project, others may feel that they need extra mixing features when it comes to the mix-down and mastering stages. Rewire can really help in this area and if you’re not already using it for this purpose, it may be just the thing you’ve been looking for.

Let’s say you have completed an entire project in Reason or Ableton Live. You may feel you need extra mixing and automation capabilities, with more advanced routing options. While you may love Live’s environment for creating music, Cubase, Logic, Digital Performer or Pro Tools could give you the edge when it comes to mixing your track.

It’s simply a case of setting up Ableton Live as a Rewire Slave and sending as many independent channels as you need into your Rewire host. Of course, you don’t have to send every single channel in your project separately, you could send them as groups. This can save time and still give the required results.

Once your mix is complete, the separate ’stems’ coming into your Rewire host can be bounced for later use and both applications can be saved as usual for instant recall of your mixing session.

Cubase mixing multiple channels from Reason

The routing on the Reason hardware interface

Step 5 – Using Rewire as Vocal Processor

Another more unusual use for Rewire is as a vocal processor connection. Celemony’s excellent Melodyne software and also Yamaha’s Vocoloid can both be connected to hosts via Rewire.

Melodyne provides near perfect pitch correction and formant manipulation and although it comes in plug-in form, the stand-alone version offers a fuller feature set and a more complete interface. When used with a Rewire host the playback of any pitch corrected signals is perfectly synced with your host’s clock. This means you don’t have to render your work immediately and any adjustments can be made on the fly.

The excellent Melodyne studio can used as a Rewire slave

To turn the recording into a really listenable product it’s a good idea to apply some basic mastering and ensure that it’s in the right format. It’s also important to be able to insert track markers if you intend to burn to CD. Here are a few tips to get you going.

Step 1 – The Original Set Recording

Whether you have recorded your set using a conventional turntables and mixer set up, or you have opted for the digital option, you should have your basic set on a CD, DVD or as a digital file on a hard drive. Of course you may even be using DAT tape or mini disc, it doesn’t really matter, at this point we are only concerned with getting it into a form that is easily edited on your DAW.

Before we talk about transfer and formats it’s worth taking a little time out to discuss the recording of your set. Of course some of you may be recording your performance in a club environment and this can often be a difficult environment to get things exactly right but if you keep things simple, you should still be able to get a decent result

The main thing here is to try and keep your signal path as clean as possible, and by this I mean as few connections as is possible. Use decent cables where you can and if you have the choice to connect kit digitally (CD players, audio interfaces etc) try and do it, this will again reduce the connections and conversion taking place and keep things as clean as possible.

As with the previous point this really only applies to people recording analogue sources, or at least using real world cabled connections, but it’s worth doing a full sound check if you have time. Check for noise, ground hum, intermittent faults and so on. Make sure everything is earthed correctly and try to ensure turntables are protected from unwanted vibrations.

Of course if you are a 100% digital DJ and create your mixes entirely ‘in the box’ then the previous problems shouldn’t worry you too much but headroom is one issue that affects us all. Making sure there is a decent amount of headroom available on each channel is important but it is also essential that you watch out for clipping on the master output. Distortion and overs can really ruin a tight mix. Remember the level can always be boosted but clips are nearly impossible to remove.

Original ‘mini’ mix in Ableton Live 8

Step 2 – Converting to the Correct Format

Once your set is recorded, or completed in your DAW, it’s time to get it into your computer for some further editing. The way you go about this really depends on how you recorded your set and what media you used. If you recorded to a digital format such as CD or minidisc then you will have to convert the recorded files to WAV or AIF format. Try and keep the highest resolution possible here. Obviously CD will only be at 16bit but some other formats will record at 24 or 32 bit.

If you have recorded your set in a DAW such as Live or Traktor, you will need to bounce/export/render the finished mix into a single file. Again use WAV or AIF as using MP3 or any other compressed format at this stage will result in a loss of quality. Once again try to use the highest resolution you can, 24 bit 44.1khz is preferable here and will certainly be high enough for the purpose of mastering the set.

For the purpose of this tutorial I have prepared a mini 3 track mix to demonstrate the production process. The set was mixed in Ableton Live 8.01 and rendered to a WAV file. Regardless of how you recorded your set you should now have a digital file, with no clipping and the entire mix should be captured.

Exporting the mix in Ableton

Step 3 – Quality Control

Before we start to treat the mix, it’s a good idea to load the raw audio into an audio editor or your DAW to get a clear overview of the entire file. I find that using a standalone editor such as Peak or Wavelab will give you the best results here as they often display the audio in a higher resolution than native DAW-based editors.

You should be able to see if there are any major errors in the file at this point, such as drop outs, spikes or glitches. A view of the entire file also gives you an idea of the mix’s overall dynamic signature and allows you to plan ahead for work that needs to be done.

Initial mix recording in Peak Pro 6

Step 4 – The Mix Dynamics

Before the mix is run through any mastering processors the overall dynamics should be reasonably uniform. As you can see with this mix some of the tracks are quieter than others and there are points within some of the tracks where louder sections are clearly visible. I deliberately exaggerated these effects during my mix so that they would stand out here, but you will find this happens during any mix, especially if it is performed live.

The main culprit for these dips and spikes is the use of EQ and effects. This will be further amplified when two tracks are mixed together. The processing on commercial tracks also differs, and this can also have an effect on the levels of the material you are mixing.

The most common way people deal with this issue is to strap a compressor across the entire mix. Although this can go someway to solving the problem, the levels are often so varied that the amount of compression that needs to be applied to hit the issue is a bit over the top. This in turn can create coloration and nasty pumping and sucking effects.

The best way around this is to manually edit the dynamics in your mix and there are a couple of ways you can do this. The most straightforward method here is to select the problem areas of the audio in a dedicated sample editor and change the gain by a few decibels either way. This method is not particularly delicate but can work surprisingly well. You can also successfully edit spikes and pops using this route.

Editing mix dynamics using manual gain adjustment

In some extreme cases manual editing will just not cut it and you may start to hear the unwanted effects of quick changes in gain. if you need something a little smoother in character then you can try importing the track into your DAW and use some automation to control the levels in real-time. This is obviously a little more time consuming but the results are generally more transparent.

Editing the mix dynamics using automation in Logic 8

Using a combination of these two techniques, you should be able to get your mix to a point where the dynamic signature is pretty uniform. Don’t worry too much if there are still a few minor level changes in certain areas, as these can be smoothed out using some further processing.

Step 5 – Equalization and Further Dynamics Processing.

Now the mix should be ready for some light mastering treatment. The main thing to remember here is that the tracks in your mix have more than likely already been run through mastering processors so less really is more here.

You are only really looking for some light overall processing here and maybe a touch of problem solving if needed. As far as EQ goes you may want to apply a touch of high end to reintroduce some ‘air’ into the mix, especially if it was recorded through analogue equipment. Very low frequencies also can be filtered at this point — this can be especially effective if you need to reduce vinyl hum or any other noise introduced during recording.

Light use of EQ can reintroduce some ‘air’ into your mix

As far as compression goes, some light gain reduction, with very slow attack and release times from a mastering grade processor or plug-in should tame any peaks. If you completed the previous step correctly then you shouldn’t need to apply huge amounts of compression here.

A small amount of buss compression can tame dynamics further

Finally, you can use a mastering limiter to ensure the material is reaching its maximum volume throughout the mix. Find the loudest section of the whole piece and set the limiter to apply around 2db of gain reduction. Any more than this and you may start to get distortion. These tracks have already been brick wall limited, they may suffer from excessive double processing.

Using sensible limiting will ensure you get the highest volume out of the whole mix

Step 6 – Adding CD Tracks or Encoding to MP3

Once you’re happy with the way your mix sounds you can start to think about preparing it to be uploaded or burnt to CD.

If you are planning to use your promo mix online then you will only need to encode your work to MP3. It’s best to use the highest quality encoder you can lay your hands on and if possible choose a slower higher quality algorithm over a fast one. Obviously you should opt for the highest bit rate possible but with something as large as a DJ set you may have to think about file size and download times. 192kbps is often a good compromise here as the quality is acceptable and the file sizes don’t get out of hand.

Encoding the mix to Mp3 in Peak Pro 6

The whole mix after mastering

When burning to CD things can get a little more complex as this will often involve creating track markers. As the file you have at this point is one continuous piece of audio, burning straight to a CD will result in only one track being burnt. This is okay if you intend to listen in one go but most people listening may want to skip to a certain point in your mix, especially if you supply a track listing. The solution is to insert track markers using an audio editor and burn directly from the application.

If I’m honest an entire tutorial could be written on this section alone and I may just do that if there are any requests. It can be achieved using several applications including Wavelab, Peak Pro and Apple’s Waveburner (this comes bundled with Logic Pro). You can see from the screen shots I have opted for Waveburner here but you can use any app you like, depending on your experience and platform.

Inserting CD track markers in Apple’s Waveburner

Individual CD track markers

Once you have inserted your markers you are ready to burn directly to disc. As I mentioned before most editors will take care of this for you and will even apply all the correct dithering settings required to get any 24 bit files down to the 16 bit resolution needed for CD.

Burning the DJ mix to CD straight from Waveburner

With so many effects to choose from I’ve decided to cover one that has seemed to remain a constant crowd pleaser throughout my live career and that’s the extremely usable ‘Beat repeat’ effect. I’ll walk through how to map its key parameters to a control surface and then show some quick examples of how it can be tweaked with only a few knobs for maximum impact when playing live.

Step 1 – A Good Start

Just so you know how I am running Live for this tutorial, I have used a very basic DJ style template, with two ‘decks’, a few auxiliary FX channels and a few EQs and filters on each channel. For the moment the master channel has a few basic processors on it, including a filter, a phaser and a master EQ. I find this is usually a good place to start when constructing a live set or experimenting with mix effects.

Step 2 – Inserting the Beat Repeat Effect

Now navigate to the Ableton effects area using the browser to the left of Live’s interface and grab a Beat repeat plug-in. This can be dragged into the master area before any of the other effects already in place. Once in place you should see the plug-in with its default settings.

Step 3 – Using a Controller for Live Performance

Most of us who own Ableton and use it for live performance will have some sort of controller with knobs, buttons or faders. In the past I have used countless different devices to tweak my sounds in Live but I keep coming back to my trusty old X-Session USB MIDI controller.

This has been right around the world and back and still works, even though it looks a little beaten up! As you can see from the pics I’ve mildly customized it with stickers to clearly mark what does what, although even this has proven to be difficult to pick out in some clubs. The closer shots show my controls for the beat repeat effects and the markings I have applied to show me useful settings.

If you have a similar controller then the following sections should really help you map, not only the beat repeat parameters to your various controls but pretty much any effect you like.

Step 4 – Activating MIDI Map

Activating a mapping mode and assigning parameters to specific areas of your controller is pretty straight forward, once you have done it a few times you can even perform the task on the fly in a live situation.

Simply hit the MIDI button in the top right hand corner of Live’s interface and it should light up blue, many of the controls around the interface will also become illuminated at this point, indicating the system is ready to start receiving mappings.

You can see in this instance I have mapped the Beat repeats ‘grid’ function to a knob on my controller (the one named ‘RPT’ in my photos). This is a pretty crucial parameter for this particular effect and just this one knob will give you plenty of control over the final sound.

Step 5 – Mapping Parameters to Your Controller

Now simply select the parameter you want to edit and then move the knob or slider you want to use for this value on your controller. You will now see a number appear in the parameters surrounding area, this confirms that a signal has been received and the mapping is complete.

You will notice that as you are using this method, the browser area on the left of Live’s interface will display all of the current mappings stored by the system. This is a pretty useful area as you can manually edit any of your mappings or delete them if needed.

It’s not just continuous controllers that can be mapped, switches and buttons can also be used to control on/off functions of effects, mixer parameters and instruments. Here I have mapped the on/off function of the Beat repeat effect to my controller so I can easily kill the effect when needed.

Step 6 – Loading Some Sounds

To demonstrate the effect in action I have quickly mixed a few house drum loops. They are dragged from the browser and one is placed on ‘deck A’ and the other ‘deck B’. The crossfader is then placed in the center and the loops mixed. This gives us a basic rhythm good enough to demonstrate the effect.

Download audio file (loop1.mp3)

Loop 1

Download audio file (loop2.mp3)

Loop 2

Download audio file (bothloops.mp3)

Both Loops

Step 7 – Tweaking the Beat Repeat

From here on out all the work is done and it should be fun and games. With the Beat repeat effect set up as it is in the screenshots, ensuring that ‘repeat’ and ‘insert’ modes are enabled, you should be able to mangle your beats with ease.

Manipulating the grid function will give you the best results here and as that should now be mapped to your controller you can get hands on. Starting at the lowest value of 1 bar there will be no change here as the loops are only a bar long. Moving the knob counter clockwise you should be able to hear the effect kicking in. And the smaller the division the more intense the effect.

The processor will loop the portion of audio it reaches when you engage it, meaning if you stop on the kick drum this will be looped to the resolution the grid value is set to. This is great for performance as you can grab any part of a loop and quickly repeat it on the fly.

Once you start to get past around 1/16th of a bar you will notice the effects become less and less musical and more robotic, moving towards 128th of a bar will give you very intense effects. It’s for this reason that I’ve turned the level of the beat repeat unit down a few db. You could always use a compressor or limiter to control these peaks if you really felt the need.

I have supplied an audio file that demonstrates a few of the effects that are possible using just the one knob on mapped to the controller. Once you have this set up try doing the same with some other Ableton Live processors.

Download audio file (beatrepeat.mp3)

Warp markers are small flags that Ableton uses to cut audio into small portions, these portions can then be shifted back and forth as the tempo of your project is changed. This basically means that the audio takes on an elastic nature and can be played back at any tempo without suffering from the degradation and anomalies related to traditional time stretching.

There are undoubtedly a few ways to do this but this is the method I have found to be the quickest and most accurate when working with entire tracks. I had to warp around 200 tunes between Detroit airport and the MGM Grand a while back for a load of shows in the US, and this method proved to be the one that got me through the list the quickest. Of course it is advisable to do this well before the gig, rather than on the road but when it came to it the process didn’t let me down.

Although there is no audio during the tutorial the Ableton project is available for download in the Play Pack, including the tune used for warping. Please note the markers maybe slightly different from those shown in the screenshots, as the project was recreated using a high quality mp3 for download purposes, but the technique remains the same.

Step 1

Before you start it’s a good idea to inspect the files you will be working with in Ableton. Open the track in your favorite external audio editor so that you get a good a view of the whole thing. You’re really looking for clipping, areas of excessive noise, phase issues, etc. When you’re working through a large list of tracks you may only get a chance to listen to a small portion of each song, so this is an ideal way of getting a quick ‘second opinion’ on the file’s integrity.

You might also want to trim any silence from the start and end of the tracks. I would often go as far as removing long intros from tunes, as in reality these won’t get used in most DJ sets and you will probably start warping from the first major transient event, which in a lot of electronic music is the first kick drum. Of course if you intend to use the intro as part of your set leave it in there.

If you feel that a track needs a boost in volume, you can always apply some brick-wall limiting here but be careful. If you go overboard you can destroy the tune’s dynamic signature. You may find this technique useful when a song is recorded from vinyl or other analogue medium and perceived volume has been lost in the process.

Step 2

Once you are happy with the condition of the files you wish to use in your set, open Ableton Live and a suitable set to import your audio into. Here I am using a very simple set with two ‘decks’ or tracks and a basic crossfader set up. This configuration allows you to not only audition your music for warping but you can also try a quick mix if needed.

You can use an even simpler set up if you prefer as all you really need is one track to audition the track while you perform the warping technique.

Step 3

Next locate the track you want to process on your drive and import it into the first available slot on the nearest track in your set. You may be able to see that here I have used an AIFF file, this is because the track is one of my own. You may not have access to larger files (as opposed to MP3s) but it is always advisable to use the highest quality files you can. As you will only be playing back around 3 or 4 files at any one time during a DJ set, using larger files shouldn’t impose too much strain on the average computer and the extra quality will be a bonus on any system.

Step 4

Once imported you can double click on the clip and the waveform will appear in the lower area of Live’s interface. You will notice at this point that Ableton has already calculated its own warp markers and that warp mode is switched on. You can turn this auto warping for longer files on and off in Ableton’s preferences.

You will also notice that the warping mode that’s used by default is 1/16th and ‘Beats’. This is perfect for most electronic material, that is predominantly drum based but you might want to try experimenting with other modes here if you are using tracks that are more instrumental in nature.

Unless you are very lucky the markers that Ableton initially places are usually not in the correct place and will need altering. If you want to get a good overview of your track here and need inspect or edit specific parts, then you can turn off warp mode and you should see a clear representation of your track. It should look almost identical to the file you loaded at the start.

Step 5

The first and most important step to achieving a good warp is finding the first transient in the track you want to use. In this case (and in most cases) it is the initial kick drum and it was residing just after a small intro.

Once this transient is located, move the first warp marker (labelled ‘1’) so that it is dead on the start of the sound. Zoom right in here if you need to and make sure you spend enough time getting this part right.

Step 6

Now when you zoom out and view the entire track you should be able to see that even this small adjustment has brought things into line. Obviously the warping process isn’t finished yet but even this small amount of work will have brought you much closer to a track that is easily synced in your sets.

You may be lucky with some productions and find that this is all you need to do and if this is the case on moving through the next steps you’ll find you don’t have to perform any more alterations. This is always great when it happens but more often than not, there is more work to be done.

Step 7

Now zoom into a region right at the end of the track where the drum track is still playing. It is likely that you will see warp markers that are slightly off. Grab any one of these markers and move it to the start of the transient, preferably onto the same sound or beat that you used at the start of the process.

Now on zooming back into an area at the start of your track you should see that these markers are still in the right place. If this is the case it’s likely that your tune has a very uniform timing and a tight clock was used in its creation and most importantly no cut and paste edits were made in post production. Your tune should now be ready to go and you can move on to the next one, comfortable in the knowledge you will be able to mix this one into your set in a live situation.

Of course not every tune will play ball and fall into place this easily. If you find that the warp markers are still out all over the track then take a deep breath, count to ten and move on to the next step.

Step 8

Looking at the whole waveform you can see that at this point we have only used one ‘locked’ warp marker at the very start of the track. This is represented by the marker being highlighted yellow or green. If markers are falling out of place in different places throughout the tune, it’s likely there is a discrepancy in the timing caused by some of the issues mentioned in the previous step.

The only way we can rectify this is by taking a more dynamic approach to placing warp markers. Start by zooming in on an area where you know the markers are off and create a locked marker by double clicking on it, until it is highlighted. Now place this new marker in the correct position.

Repeat this process, placing these markers at key areas of the track. Splitting the track into sections of more or less the same size in your mind and placing markers at these points should help get things working. You will find that as you progress things will fall into line and that on zooming into new areas the markers are closer and closer to their correct position.

The amount of times you have to repeat this process will depend entirely on the timing of the track. From experience some tracks using heavy shuffle, strange timings or that have recorded from vinyl or manually edited may need some time spending on them before they behave.

Step 9

Once you’re happy you can save the overview and markers for that specific track by hitting the save button in the parameter area, just left of the warp mode box. It is good to be aware of the fact that this data is stored in an accompanying .asd file that will live next to the original. Now when Ableton loads this file into any project this data will come with it, allowing you to import the track into your set live with all the markers preserved.

That said, there’s a great wealth of absolutely amazing free electronica out there. I’d recommend any fan of electronic music to take a listen to the brilliant Bleepshow podcast for many fantastic examples. It’s a highly creative area, and one which needs a constant supply of fresh talent, so it’s a good time to get started!

In this tutorial, we’ll be taking a look at some of the tweaks and techniques which can help you to create your own experimental electronica. Obviously, the point of the genre is essentially to explore the systems you have at your disposal, and hopefully you’ll be able to extract the principles behind these examples as well as following them literally.

Note: this tutorial contains embedded audio that will not display in a feed reader. Click back to the site to read the tutorial with audio or download the Play Pack at the end of the tut.

Cut-up Chords

When you’re creating a big electronica pad sound, it makes a lot of sense to render the track as audio for further manipualtion. In Ableton Live, you can do this quickly with the Freeze and Flatten commands. This will allow you to start chopping up the raw audio, just as you might edit a drum loop.

Here, I’ve chopped a few pieces out to create a rhythmic gating effect. You could use a plugin like Livecut or Glitch to do this, but both tend to produce quite recognizable results; do it by hand first until you know situations where you need things to be automated.

Live’s Filter Delay plugin is brilliant on pads; if you don’t have Live, you could consider something like Waves Supertap. If you’re serious about electronica, however, nothing beats the hands-on nature of Live. Automating the filter cutoff on each part of the delay can produce some interesting phasey effects.

Phasers tend to be overused on pad sounds. Try automating a frequency sweep like this over a transition to soften it, rather than smothering the entire sound in watery, slimey phaser tone!

Download audio file (chordwithcuts.mp3)

Chord with Cuts

Glitchy Percussion

Complex percussive elements are a hallmark of the genre, but they can be a little daunting initially. I like to start by building up a basic kick and snare groove, then layering lots of smaller sounds over the top.

Don’t just leave your vanilla kick drum sample in there; try adding some delay to spice things up. The filter curve on this PingPong delay ensures that there’s no clashing low frequencies and turns the kick into an almost tom-like additional percussion sound.

The Auto Filter here is automated to just occasionally take the top edge in and out of the kick, making it a little more organic-sounding.

Here, I’ve augmented the basic drum pattern with a loop played with brushes on a drum kit. It’s always a good idea to mix individual samples with loops. It sounds ridiculous but the noises in between the hits are often what make a good drum pattern: small snippets of reverb and variations in tone.

After chopping it up and reversing certain hits, I’ve added a slight high pass filter sweep across the pattern to lend it some dynamism.

Download audio file (percussion.mp3)

Percussion

Other Percussion

It can be a good idea to layer a clap sound and a snare together. In this example I’ve used a heavily bit-reduced clap sound to add crunchiness.

Download audio file (snareclap.mp3)

Snare and Clap

Here’s a great incidental percussion sound made from a short snare sample. The pinging, clanging delay is created simply by setting a short delay time, then automating it so that it increases and decreases producing quite random echos depending on when the sample is triggered.

Download audio file (click.mp3)

Click

Automation

Automation really is key when dealing with abstract electronic sounds. Too little and they’ll sound plastic and boring, too much and they’ll become unlistenable.

On this lead sound, for example, I’ve sent a square wave LFO to the filter cutoff, then gradually increased and descreased the LFO frequency to create an undulating effect.

Download audio file (lead.mp3)

Lead

This can be quite difficult to get right, as too much change to the filter can make the sound bitty and cause it to lose tonality.

Try experimenting with different levels of automation and effects on your sounds, leaving some sounds purer than others.

Usually, these will be the ones you want to stand out, but you can still use a heavily-automated sound and create great tones. Check out Marcus Schossow’s Swedish Beatballs for an example of how unbelievably over-the-top automation can still produce a great lead.

Here’s a sample of the unfinished track these tips were taken from. I’ll be back soon with more! If there’s anything going on in the track you’d particularly like to know about, drop me a line in the comments thread.

Download audio file (CSYWIPClip.mp3)

Experimental Electronica

The most basic principle of DJing is to have a set of tunes playing continuously — no jumps, no cuts, no funny transitions, just as if all the pieces in the playlist were one. A long tune of an hour or more.

Thumbnail image courtesy of Dade.

There are many sets of tools to help you achieve this, the most common being turntables and a selection of vinyl records. Others DJ with CDs instead, while some resort to laptops and DJing software and a few even use iPods.

No matter what set of tools and techniques you choose, DJing will always require the smooth transitioning and syncing of musical pieces.

An Ableton Live DJ can do many things:

• Beat-match music almost effortlessly
• Add your own loops to the mix
• Apply internal and external effects to your sounds
• Add MIDI tracks for soft-synths or external instruments
• Change the BPM on the go
• Resample what you are playing
• Record your performance

What you definitely need:

• A copy of Ableton Live
• A laptop (PC or MAC)

What you might optionally want:

• An audio interface
• An effects processor (a Korg KAOSS Pad for example)

I don’t like plugging my laptop’s headphone output to the main mixer. I prefer to use either a USB or FireWire audio interface. You can get by without an audio interface, but there are definitely some advantages to using one:

Sturdier outputs: Your audio interface is bound to have better outputs than your laptop’s flimsy stereo mini-jack or headphone output. RCA plugs, for example, require triple the strength to unplug than mini-jack plugs, and they normally do not make any noise if they are accidentally touched.

If you have multiple I/Os you can plug your other instruments and FX units in: This is quite handy if you want to use that extra drum machine or that external FX unit, or even plug your microphone in and incorporate it all into your mix in Ableton Live.

You can pre-listen to your samples in your headphones: this is perhaps the most important advantage of all. Let’s say you have a sample collection from which you’d like to use some samples and you don’t want anyone else pre-listening to the samples while the mix is playing. Not to worry. Ableton Live will route the audio from these samples exclusively to your headphones.

If you decide not to use an audio interface you will not be able to pre-listen to your samples. All audio will be routed to your laptop’s line out (which is usually your headphone output). In this case it’s better to select your samples beforehand and program your playlist.

Getting Started

Download this tutorial’s Play Pack. It contains two songs and an Ableton Live project to practice what you’ve learned. The Ableton Live file is only for reference at the end of the tutorial so there is no need to open it as soon as you unzip it. Unzip the “LiveDJtutorial.zip” file on your desktop and open Ableton Live. You should now have an empty session.

A “tunes” folder should be in the zip file. Copy it to your desktop, and navigate to it from Ableton Live’s File Browser. You will find 2 minimal house tracks: Minimal1.mp3 and Minimal2.mp3.

See that blue headphones icon? It means that when you click on any song or sample in the browser list Ableton Live will play it a preview.

The Status Bar (at the bottom) will display a “previewing” message informing you of the properties of the audio file and its duration. In this case it’s a 4:06 minute 44.1 kHz 16 Bit Stereo file.

There are 2 main views in Ableton Live. One is the Arrangement View, which is pretty much like the arrangement section in Logic Pro or Cubase, as it has rows representing MIDI and audio tracks as well as a grid representing time in measures (top) and minutes (bottom).

The Arrangement View is ideal when you want to see a clear representation of your music within a time reference. Also it’s perfect for editing automated parameters such as track volume and pan with accuracy.

The other side of the coin is the the Session View which I find more suitable for working with loop-based mixes. It also gives us direct access to track parameters as each column represents a MIDI or audio track, a representation of a rack mixer.

For this tutorial we will use the Arrangement View.

Step 1 – Set the Project’s Tempo

Since we are working with 2 minimal house tracks, a good tempo would be 126 to 128 beats per minute. To set the BPM click on the tempo section of Ableton Live (upper left) and input “126.”

Step 2 – Import the Tracks

Press Tab or select the Arrangement View. Drag the file Minimal1.mp3 from the File Browser to the center of the Arrangement View. Do the same with the Minimal2.mp3 file. Ableton Live will automatically create a track for each audio file you import.

Step 3 – Open the Clip View

The files you’ve imported are now represented by a colored horizontal line. We call this a clip. Double click on the Minimal1.mp3 clip to open the Clip View (at the bottom). When you imported the track Ableton Live analyzed the file to determine its BPM. This is part of the “Auto Warp” function which will help sync your song to the project’s tempo.

Live did its best to guess the BPM in Minimal1.mp3—it says it’s 120.01 but it’s actually 120.00 BPM.

To correct it input “120” in the Seg. BPM field.

Step 4 – Set the Initial Downbeat of the Track

Next to the clip view we have the Sample Display section. This is where we can see a graphical representation of our audio clip. Ableton Live did a great job in guessing what the tempo of our audio clip is but it got the downbeat wrong.

To properly beat-match our track we need to set the correct starting point. Our audio file has a silence at the beginning. This is not the downbeat—this is where our file starts, but not where any actual sound starts. We need to tell Ableton Live where we would like to really start our clip.

To accurately do so, we must zoom into the first bar of our file, go to the Sample Display section, click-hold and drag down and you will see the zoom in action.

Notice the yellow rectangle with the 1 in it. That’s an Auto Warp marker, and it marks the downbeat or starting point our audio clip. You can drag it until it meets the beginning of the sound transient.

If the BPM setting on the clip is correct you will see how the grid aligns with the transients along the audio clip. This is an indication that our clip is beat-matched.

Repeat the previous steps with the Minimal2.mp3 clip. Notice that this audio file does not start with a kick but a silent note!

This is a feature in many house or techno tracks—don’t worry, just move the Warp Marker so that the second beat (1.2) aligns with the largest transient (the snare drum sound). Minimal2.mp3 has a tempo of 130 BPM.

Our clips should be beat-matched now. Things are a lot easier when you know the tempo of each track you import, but what happens when Ableton Live does not detect their tempo accurately? Simple: double click the beat numbers to create more Warp Markers and manually pin them down to the correct transient.

Step 5 – Position the Clips

Drag the Minimal2 clip to bar 97 where Minimal1 is about to finish. If you hit play at bar 97 you will hear that the two tracks sit well together, mostly because there aren’t many sounds that would clutter our mix. Many dance music tracks start with a long prelude with hi-hats—this has the function of giving DJs a cue or a guide to sync the incoming track with the one currently played.

The transition between tracks is achieved by gradually reducing the volume of the outgoing clip while increasing the volume of the incoming clip. We call this a crossfade. Most DJ mixers have a horizontal fader to mix the output of two turntables. We call this the crossfader. Ableton Live has one as well, but we will not use it in this tutorial as we will program our crossfade into the mix.

6. Draw a Crossfade Between the Tracks

To automate parameters in the track display we need to “unfold” the tracks. The unfold button is an encircled triangle. Once the track is unfolded it will reveal an area with drop-down menus—these are called the Device and Control choosers.

The device we want to edit is the Mixer and the control is the Track Volume.

As you can see there is now a graphic representation of the audio files and a horizontal red line. This line is the envelope of the control you choose, be it Track Volume, Track Panning, or X-Fading.

To draw our crossfade we need to create breakpoints in our envelope, and for that we need to double click it. We can delete them by double clicking.

Once our breakpoints have been created, we can drag them and give the envelope any shape. Just like our clips, every envelope is interpreted by Ableton Live left to right, so to decrease the volume on Minimal1 we must set the highest breakpoint to the left and the lowest to the right. To increase the volume in Minimal2 we must do the opposite.

Adjust the crossfade to your liking and you are done!

Try adding more tracks and some effects (perhaps a filter or a delay) and try to automate their parameters using the envelopes. Good luck!

Note: this tutorial contains embedded audio that will not display in a feed reader. Click back to the site to read the tutorial with audio or download the Play Pack at the end of the tut.

Wind chimes are an excellent starting point for generative music because they’re played by the infinite variations of the wind. As a result, the tones played by a wind chime are ever-changing while sticking to certain rules and probabilities (that not every chime can be hit at once, etc.) Rather than trying to program a natural-sounding ‘random’ sequence we can use Ableton Live to do this for us.

Though we’re using Wind chimes for this tutorial you could use the same technique with almost any instrument.

You can listen to the sounds we will be using below. You’ll find .WAV versions of these sounds in the Play Pack for this tutorial, available after the conclusion.

Csharp.mp3

Dsharp.mp3

Fsharp.mp3

Gsharp.mp3

Asharp.mp3

Step 1

Wind chimes consist of a number of tubular bells each cut to a length that produces a specific pitch. Generally the pitch of chimes sticks to a pentatonic scale so that the chimes remain harmonic with the others when played simultaneously. When creating our electronic wind chimes we are going to replicate each chime through a separate channel containing a sample played back in Ableton’s Simpler.

Create a new MIDI Channel, load a copy of Simpler and load the sample C# from the included samples. Rename this track ‘Chime C#’.

Step 2

We want the whole sample to play every time we trigger a note, so change the envelope settings on our instance of Simpler. Set the attack to zero and the decay, sustain, and release controls to maximum.

Step 3

Now we are ready to duplicate this channel four times so that we can load our other samples. Hit Ctrl + D (Apple + D) four times and load the other samples in each instance of Simpler. Rename each channel after the sample it contains.

Step 4

We need to make a MIDI note to trigger our chimes. Create a new one bar MIDI pattern in the first box in our Session view. Once you have done that, add a MIDI note at C3 on beat one. C3 will play the sample back at the original pitch and because our samples are already tuned this is exactly what we need.

Step 5

If you are the adventurous type and have already pressed play you will realize nothing exciting is happening. We need to add more clips, each with different variations and then use follow actions to link them all together in a random way. Follow actions are only possible in Session view and define what will happen to a sequence of clips once a clip has reached its end. This will become more transparent a little later down the line when you see them in action.

Let’s duplicate our clip 6 times so that each one sits directly under the one above. This is important as Ableton can only apply follow actions to clips that sit either directly above or below each other in what is called a group. For the sake of organization rename each new clip (A, B, C, etc.)

Step 6

Let’s add that much needed variation I was talking about. The wind doesn’t tend to stick to quantization so let’s replicate that. Turn and turn it off for each clip by right clicking within the MIDI grid.

For each of our clips (A, B, C, etc.) move the MIDI note to a random position within the bar except for clip ‘G’. Instead of moving the position of the note within clip ‘G’ simply delete it so that when clip G is played nothing happens. Rename this clip so that it reads ‘G Silence’. This is to add a little bit of space, and for another reason that will be revealed soon!

Step 7

Now it’s time to add those mysterious follow actions I keep talking about. To set the follow actions for our group, select all of our clips at once, and then click on the little ‘L’ at the bottom right of our page to open our launch properties. Click on Legato. Legato ensures that the position within the bar is kept relative regardless of which clip is playing or when it has been triggered.

Step 8

We also need to tell Live how often a follow action should occur but it’s easy enough. Directly under the word ‘Follow Action’ in our clip launch box click on the number ‘1′ and drag it down to zero. You should see a ‘1′ appear in the last box on the right. This tells Live we want a follow action to occur every 16th beat.

Step 9

We have defined when a follow action will occur, but we need to specify what exactly will happen. Under the box we use to choose the interval of our follow action you will find another little box. When you click the box, a drop down menu appears. Select ‘Any’. This tells Ableton Live to play any other clip in our group once the current clip has finished playing. I hope you are still with me. If not, everything is going to make sense when you click play. So go on—what are you waiting for!

Step 10

When you click play you should see Live automatically triggering clips in a random fashion. This will carry on until you press stop or until your neighbours pull your power cord.

It’s sounding very, very mechanical at this point so we need to add some more variations to our clips. We are going to do this using two methods: by simply adjusting the velocity levels of our MIDI notes and also changing the start position of our sample. Let’s tackle the velocities first. Click on each clip and change the velocity of the note to a random position. Some should play quiet, some should be loud—it’s all about variation.

Step 11

One of the most effective methods to add variations to sounds is to adjust the sample start position. Double-click on your channel so that Simpler is now visible. Click on the Start knob and then click on clip ‘A’ to bring our MIDI information into focus. Then we click on the little ‘E’ to open the Envelope dialog. By first clicking on the ‘Start’ knob Ableton Live automatically brings this parameter into focus so we dont have to search through the menus to find our control. Neat, huh?

Let’s go through all our clips and adjust the start position of each note in a similar fashion to what we did with our velocities. Don’t move the start position too far, however, or we risk the note not sounding at all.

Starting our sequence by pressing play on one of our clips now produces a much more dynamic, expressive and realistic sound from our chimes.

Step 12

We have the basic sound down but let’s take things a little bit further. I need you to imagine a wind chime in action. Once the beater initially strikes the chime it’s very unlikely that the chime will only produce a sound once. It would be more realistic if we can emulate the beater knocking against our chimes repeatedly. Luckily, this sound can be replicated through the use of a filtered delay.

Load an instance of Ableton’s Filter Delay in send channel A and select the preset Repetitor II. Once you have done this you will need to send some signal to the delay so turn our channels send knob up about ¾ of the way. You should also do this for the other four channels.

Step 13

If you have learned anything about me over the course of this tutorial you will have realized that I absolutely love variation. For the final time let’s make it so that each clip sends a varying amount of signal to our delay line. All you have to do is click on the send level for our channel, then edit the send amount for each clip exactly the same way we did for our sample start position.

Step 14

Our chimes our nearly ready but we still need to duplicate the clips from our Chime C# channel to the other chime channels. For the attentive amongst you, you may remember there was an extra reason for creating our silent clip. Well, the suspense is now over. If we played all our channels at the same time we would have the issue that all the chimes are triggered simultaneously. To beat this we simply need to swap clip ‘G’ with clip ‘A’ in each of the channels.

A storm has been brewing and the moment we have been waiting for has arrived. Press play in the Master Scene channel to trigger all of the clips at once and marvel at the beauty of our very own realistic wind chime.

Let’s hear our completed wind chimes!

completed_chimes.mp3

Conclusion

The principles of generative music allow us to explore some very creative possibilities within our music composition. Spend some time exploring how you can integrate follow actions into your own music. Don’t forget to experiment with different sounds, too.