I'm just wondering if people here use just Ableton as their main program to produce music? I'm confused!
I've been using Ableton for about 2 months and am really enjoying it so far but i'm a bit worried that i should be learning something else as well, ie Reason? I'm very new to the concept of producing and i have loads still to learn so some of the technical jargon goes over my head a bit but i'm learning!
Anyway would i be missing out if i stuck with for the time being just Ableton and if so what are the disadvantages in doing so?
The rough type of sound id like to produce is along the lines of marc houle / Audion
ok just understand this. it doesn't matter what you use it matters how creatively you can use the tools at your disposal. so since you are in the beginning stages of production try different things, different software, different hardware etc. to see what works best for you. yes i do use ableton live but it is not for everyone. i hope this helped.
oh yeah and reason is a just fine choice for novices and pros alike.
I mainly use Ableton as an arrangement tool and sequencer. I hardly ever use it to create audio like with vsts' I make all my audio with hardware software and found sounds.... It is a great tool but I say learn everything you can get your hands on and really dive into each peice don't skim the surface of a program or piece of gear really twist and tweak it to get that original sound out of it. imo
Anonym how do you go about using and creating your found sounds? Can you use a mini disc and a mic to record and then use software like sound forge to manipulate?
james hill wrote:Hey dudes thanks for the good advice!!
Anonym how do you go about using and creating your found sounds? Can you use a mini disc and a mic to record and then use software like sound forge to manipulate?
i REALLY dont like Ableton for recording or creation of sounds, but it has great, great sequencing capabilities and live use of course. But personally i tend to use either FL Studio as my VST host rewired into Cubase, or sometimes just Cubase on its own as my host and sequencer, sometimes i just use FL studio on it's own, sometimes il force myself just to use Battery and Reaktor inside a host and see what happens....
point being, its not the host you use it's the tool's within and the idea's you have in your head, the picture you want to paint etc etc.... first up id say, dont think to yourself "i want to sound like Audion"... this could end up stifling your creativity more than encouraging it
my top tips would be get yourself some serious EQ's and effects, try the URS EQ's and compressors (expensive though, very!), WAVE's plugs (same) and could also try the Nomad Blue Tube's series (i love and swear by these!), also get some high end synths and VST's, and some really quality samples too (try for single hit's, as everyone use's the same loops hehe) and just get down to learning them inside out
Ableton's great but i dont think it encourage's serious overall production value's in the sense of getting to grips with EQ, learning how compression works etc etc, but it does provide a great platform to use this knowledge once learnt
