Hey guys, here is another c/p from another article that I read that would be great to anyone, especially to any Ableton nu bees out there. Have a gander…
There seems to be alot of questions regarding whether you should use the session window or the Arrange in Ableton. The thing i must make absolute certain the you understand is that you simply cannot complete a song in the session window. as incredible as it is a building song ideas and creating an intuitive workfow, you will always need the arrangement window to complete a track. The only reason I would suggest sticking to the session window is if you are strictly using Ableton to DJ otherwise the arrangment window is key to finishing a track.
My Approach in a nutshell
When I am writing a new tune or doing a remix, I pretty much always start in the session window. This is where I explore ideas and create alot of loops and potential parts using both midi and audio.
Once I have enough parts to work with (drums, bass, melody, pads etc) I start jamming out these ideas and figure out which clips work best together. Each time I find a good combination, I’ll create a new scene (TIP: while playing a group of clips that you like, click on Control/Shift/I or Apple/Shift/I it’ll automatically create a ne scene out of those clips).
As I am creating scenes, I’ll try to keep in mind the structure of a song and take note on whether the part is an intro, peak part, outro or somewhere inbetween. The best practice for me is to create the peak of the song first, that way you know that where the song is leading to is worth the effort. Once you have the peak of the song, you just simply strip the parts down for the intro and outro and then work out a couple breakdowns.
I don’t really bother with crashes, buildups, fx and swooshes at this point in the session window. I’m basically trying to get the meat of the song together all in the session view.
Once i’m pretty happy with my basic layout and scenes I jam with the song firing off one scene, then another and so forth while recording the whole jam session into the Arrangement window (To do this, you simply hit the record button at the top of the screen and then fire of your first clip or scene). Keep jamming the song for several minutes until you think you’ve got a pretty basic structure.
Arrangement window:
After this point I flip over to the Arrange window and see what I’ve got. I can cut copy, paste, automate, edit and fine tune all my parts in the arrange window. I also add all my crashes, swooshes, fx, builds and breakdowns in this window. It’s much easier to simply copy and paste those parts where they are neccesary once a basic structure has been layed out.
With very few excetions, I stay in the Arrange window until the song is complete. I may go back to the session view to create a “one off” loop, but I always Immediately copy and paste the new part into the arrangement window and keep working from there.
When your song is comple you want to make sure to put the loop bar across your whole song making sure to leave room at the end for the echo and revegrb to properly trail off. Then you jsut render it to a wav or aif file and you’ve got a song!
Conclusion:
If you want to create and finish a song, you must get the hang of the arrangement window. Ableton gives you incredible tools for both inspiring ideas and completing them a full releasable songs. Ableton doesn’t force you to choose between using the session of arrange windows, but it does force you to complete your song in the arrange window. As you get the hang of it, you’ll realize how much sense this all makes.
Yeah that’s pretty much how I do it too!
I don’t really ever jam in session view but have heard the merits of it before. I find the arrangement view much more suited to my style of tune production.
i benefit heavily from being able to see the tune in the order I want it
[quote]bouffont (6/19/2009)[hr]I don’t really ever jam in session view but have heard the merits of it before. I find the arrangement view much more suited to my style of tune production.
i benefit heavily from being able to see the tune in the order I want it[/quote]
This is pretty similar to me, although if im working with any loops or samples i will check them out first in session view to see if they sound good before making any adjustments (if needed).
[quote]bouffont (6/19/2009)[hr]I don’t really ever jam in session view but have heard the merits of it before. I find the arrangement view much more suited to my style of tune production.
i benefit heavily from being able to see the tune in the order I want it[/quote]
I just got the Akai APC40 yesterday and if you ever decide to splurge and get one, you will probably change your ways. I think im gonna use it with Ableton like an instrument. It is absolutely phenomenal and will change the way i make music.
Funny you should mention that, they’ve just gone on sale over here and was considering one. They look rather fun eh?
The are every bit as fun as they look!
You’re all ledgends and I hate you - I don’t even have a damn job or even own a bed (well and airbed) and you’re putting bad thoughts of spending a thousand bucks on a plastic toy into my head. I’m weak and cannot restist these kind of things. I need someone to tell me that the unit is crap and when they turned it on it was racist towards the english or something, so I wont be tempted. 
Hahah love the autoswear app added to the site, I didn’t call you all legends in my post but I like that alternative better than the genitalia based insult that I did write