Ableton Live 11 Explained

Ableton Live pro Thomas Cochran presents in-depth Ableton Live 11 video tutorials! If you are new to Ableton Live 11 and want to learn the program from the ground up the right way, this course is for you. Thomas starts at the beginning with the important basics and takes you all the way through to exporting your very first song. Two Ableton Live projects that Thomas creates in the videos are also included so you can follow along on your system. These videos are designed for those who are new to Ableton Live 11.

Getting Started

• System Setup & Preferences (09:43) - Thomas introduces the course and shows how to properly configure audio inputs, outputs, and MIDI controllers so you can hear and playback audio from the software.

• Creating New Projects & Sets (08:30) - This video covers how to crate a new project and start a song, including the different options available. Thomas also talks about templates and how they can be helpful when making a new song.

• Session & Arrangement View (07:27) - Thomas explains what makes Ableton different from other software and shows you how Live has multiple different workflows available for making your songs.

• The Browser (15:20) - Learn how to use the browser, its basic functions, and how it is helpful when making songs. This video also teaches you more advanced features of the Browser and how they can make the songwriting process faster and more creative.

• Basic Components & Key Commands (09:29) - Discover the basic sections of the software, playback features, and commonly used key commands in Ableton Live.

Parts of the Software

• The Views (04:58) - Thomas now shows you the multiple windows inside of Ableton, how to open and close them, and when to use each section when working on a project.

• Basic Signal Flow, Routing & Monitoring (08:41) - Learn the basic input and output routing as well as how audio flows though the software.

• Tracks (05:55) - This video defines all the different track types available in Live and discusses what each is used for.

• Intro to Clips (07:44) - Thomas now breaks down the clip based workflow in Ableton Live step by step, and how it's used as the building blocks for songs.

• The Mixer (09:37) - Thomas give you an overview of the mixer and its basic functions, as well as how to use it to balance your songs.

The Basics

• Recording Audio (06:41) - Learn how audio is recorded into Ableton Live, and the differences of recording audio in the Arrangement View and Session View.

• Editing Audio Clips (09:36) - Explore the basics of Audio Clip editing and how the editing process can be used for creative audio manipulation.

• Virtual Instruments (08:13) - Thomas now introduces the virtual instruments that come inside of Ableton and also shows off some helpful presets to get ideas started quickly.

• Using Effects (07:21) - Get an introduction to Live's effects plus helpful presets that can be used to easily make exciting sounds for your songs.

• Recording MIDI (09:53) - Learn the basics of recording MIDI Clips in Arrangement View and Session View.

• Editing MIDI Clips (12:25) - See the basics of editing MIDI Clips and how recorded sequences can be edited to create new versions of recordings.

• MIDI Scales (02:51) - In this video, Thomas shows you the MIDI scales feature that was added in the Live 11, which creates a helpful overlay that allows you program the right notes in any key for a given sequence.

• Rack Macros (03:56) - Learn how Rack Macros can quickly and easily create new sounds for your songs.

Editing Features

• Intro to Automation (13:24) - Learn the basics of automation in the Arrangement View and how automation is used to bring life and movement into your songs.

• Editing Clip Automation (07:14) - This video is similar to the previous video but now shows you how to create automation at the Clip level, which is helpful when creating repeated sequences or making a song in the Session View.

• Intro to Grooves (11:27) - Thomas shows you how the Grooves in Ableton Live can be used to make MIDI patterns more dynamic and lively. The Grooves feature can also be used to creatively manipulate audio to re-edit musical recordings. See how!

• Warping (12:38) - Learn the basics of how the audio warping feature can be used to edit audio recordings and loops in Live for endless new sonic results.

• Freezing & Resampling (05:04) - See how Freezing and Resampling can be used to make larger, more CPU intensive sessions more optimized, plus how this can be used creatively to make new sounds for your songs.

• Keyboard MIDI Controller & MIDI Map Mode (10:27) - Thomas now shows you how various parts of the software can be mapped to either an external control surface or a computer keyboard, as well as how the computer's keys can be used as a MIDI controller.

• Editing & Moving Parts to and from Session View (07:40) - Learn how to move Clips to and from Session and Arrangement View, plus more advanced workflows for recording performances into the Arrangement View.

• Exporting Your Song & Managing Sets (05:49) - Wrapping it up, Thomas teaches you how to take a finished song and export the project for all the world to hear. This video also shows how to make sure you have properly collected all of the audio files and samples from your set into the project folder, for archiving and sharing sessions.