Ableton Live Tips & Production Techniques

In our latest video, we are going to look at using XLN audio’s amazing drum machine XO. With XO, we will be looking at loading our own samples, editing samples, routing and most importantly generating our own techno beats.

We will also look at setting up XO so you can quickly load it into any session and have a beat going in minutes which is perfect for people with little time on their hands.

What we aim to do in the blog post is outline 5 Ableton Tips, that are either overlooked or just so hidden we would never find them without someone lighten the way for us. These Ableton tips are not just for the beginner producer but also the advance producers among us. There are tips to help make your bass sounds beefier, new chord techniques and a few gems to help speed up your workflow. First up, let’s take a look at follow actions.

FM synthesis can seem a very mysterious beast and via a series of tutorials we are going to help demystify this for you, so you can take full control over your FM synths and make all the sounds you desire. 

In this how-to tutorial, we are going to look at creating a four-note chord only using operator from Ableton. The huge advantage of using this technique over programming your chord in a midi clip or via a chord midi effect is that you get full control over each note. Meaning you can have say, a different waveform, envelope and volume (just to name a few) per note. 

So, if you would like to learn more about FM synthesis keep reading

With the invention of the modern daw which is an all-encompassing workstation with a whole of host of controls, instruments and audio effects (plus so much more) it has never been easier to start making music. Almost all the effects have the parameter controls you could ever wish for. But sadly some do not (like redux), but for the Ableton user this is never a worry, we can simply make them ourself. 

How do we do this I hear you ask, well in this how-to tutorial we are going to be showing you how to make a Dry/Wet control for redux. This is hugely important in the sound design, production and even the mixing stage. It allows you to be able to dial in the exact amount of your chosen effect.

To the bedroom producer having release-ready tracks may seem an unattainable goal but by making some small changes to your current workflow and set up, you can with time start pumping out banging tunes that can start pushing your career in the right direction. 

In this post, we will be covering 5 ways to help improve your techno productions by focusing on some key mixing techniques specifically designed for techno and dark genres.

Before we start let’s make sure our tracks are ready for mixing, check out this blog post and use it as a checklist before you start to think about mixing. Ok without further ado, let’s get started by visualizing the mix.

With the release of Dystopian Signals, we at Mind Flux thought it would beneficial to follow the release up with some informational video. This video is designed to help you use the pack to create some Dark Techno ideas. Cause as we all know that creating that initial spark can be the hardest part of producing music.

Mind Flux is proud to present the Moog Big Bass Freebie, a meticulously designed collection of bass sounds created to elevate your techno, drum & bass, dubstep, and other gritty genre productions. This pack captures the powerful, deep, and gritty essence of Moog synthesizers, offering a rich palette of sounds that inspire creativity and innovation. Perfect for producers looking to add powerful low-end basslines to their tracks, this freebie provides the tools needed to craft professional-quality music.

With Techno its all about experimentation and within Techno over, the last 3 decades producers have continually pushed the boundaries of the musical norms. One clear example of this is making bass lines from soaking your kick in reverb a practise which in all music engineering books is frowned upon. 

But let's be honest the grey-haired folk who wrote these books have probably never been to a club in their lifes and therefore have never embraced the gut rumbling power this technique can provide.

We at Mind Flux have created an audio effects rack for Ableton that has adapted this power. The rack has a selection of tools that allow you to easily create techno rumbling kick drums that will leave your studio walls shaking. Simply load a kick of your choice and let it roll. 

Click here to watch the video: http://bit.ly/2kw4cMm

One of the hardest things to mix in music for most producers and artists is kick and bass, this is mainly due to the fact that these two elements require a lot of the same space in the frequency spectrum and if you get the bass and kick wrong it can take all the energy out of the track. Which can be rather demoralising

Well, don't threat, In this how-to, we will look to help with these issues and show some key steps on how to get your kick and bass sitting perfectly together. And once this is done, it can make the rest of your mixing job way more enjoyable.

What you will learn in this techno music production tutorial is:

Tuning
EQ
Compression
Dynamic EQ
NYC Compression
Bass Programming
Sidechain Compression

If you would like to check out more of our music production tutorials go to our youtube channels here: http://bit.ly/2RXbSDz

Today what we are going to be looking at is creating a 808 style hi hat, after you have followed this tutorial you will have all the custom 808 style open and closed hi hats you desire. Lets get started.

Thou wavetable has a category section called noise with some great wavetables they don't have the traditional noise sound we need to make, thou there is a trick to turn these into a hi hat.

In this tutorial, we are going to look at how to beef up our drum loops and samples using Ableton’s stock audio effects.

For Mind Flux’s newest blog series we have decided to open it up to the floor and ask our followers and friends what they would like to learn. And one request really stood out.

This request was to show how you could go about recreating Pat Thomas & Ebo Taylor - Ene Nyame Nam 'A' Mensuro (Henrick Schwartz Blend Mix).