Sampling, Sound Design & Synthesis in Ableton Live

• This is an intermediate course so all learners must have a good understanding of the latest version of Ableton Live. Taking our Ableton Live Production Course first is more than sufficient.

• Live’s Instruments and effects allow for any synthesis method or effect to be integrated in an easy workflow, along with automation. When doing sound design we learn not only how we can create sounds from scratch, but also how to control them in an evolving way with automation as part of our composition. This knowledge also enables us to tweak any library preset to our own specific needs when writing music and it will help us get a more exciting and personalized sound. The techniques learned here can also be applied to plug-in and hardware synths. A track with the right sound design is a track halfway mixed.

• Learn the ins and outs of Subtractive Synthesis using all the basic building blocks needed to make those warm, fuzzy or resonant sounds we know from many classic recordings. From crispy, funky baselines over acidy dance grooves, shiny leads, dreamy pads to talking synths. Everything can be created using Live’s Analog.

• FM Synthesis has been part of the bedrock of electronic music since the days of early Synthwave. While originally often used to mimic the sounds of conventional acoustic or electric instruments, i.e an electric bass, a sparkling e-piano, bells, harps or marimbas, It was later embraced for woofer shaking deep house basses until it was discovered by Dubstep and Grime producers for those grinding gritty and aggressive timbres. FM techniques are also an essential building block in modern Subtractive or Wavetable Synths.

• This latest edition to the Ableton palette is a true gem and combines many different synthesis methods and tools in one place. Unlike the previous two synths, it provides an extensive collection of different oscillator wavetables that are made up of sonically related timbres. This makes them ideal for complex, gradually evolving sounds to cover just about any musical genre. From grimey, synth wavy to more organic sounds. This synth uses subtractive and FM, but also wave folding and warping techniques to modify the wavetable source sound. The modulation possibilities with LFOs and Envelopes are deep, and Wavetable is a breeze to program, thanks to its great graphic interface.

• One of the later additions to the synthesis stable, due to its reliance on more advanced digital technology. It’s, ironically also the one that comes closest to exploring natural sound and real world acoustics. We can use this to recreate resonant behavior of conventional instruments and physical objects to create quasi acoustic timbres or even new sound of non-existing instruments. This is a totally different approach to create sound from scratch and is immensely rich and riveting in its possibilities. During this segment we will dive into Corpus, Tension, and Electric.

• While Synthesizers allow us to create sounds from ground up and therefore offer more flexibility, every type of instrumentation can be done with sample based sound design. Samples of conventional instruments or of any other acoustic event can be played from a keyboard or pad controller. However these instruments give us also far reaching synth-like possibilities to modify and process the sampled sources into something totally unrecognizable… or otherworldly with the help of granular synthesis.

• We focus on the more transformative effects that help enhance the sound design, or even take it to another level. The standard mixing effects will be covered in the mixing classes. Spacial Echo, Spectral Time, Grain Delay, Drive and Color Redux, Saturator, (Pedal), Corpus, Reverb and Resonance Hybrid Reverb, Resonator, Spectral Resonator, Modulation Frequency Shifter, Chorus, Phaser, Flanger M4L. Some of the Max for Live devices help us expand Ableton’s functionality in essential ways, by creating movement and evolving sound changes that were otherwise not possible.