In this post we’ll take a look at some of the best Ableton Live tutorials you can find online.
Each of these these courses are taught by either professional music producers, experienced sound engineers, certified Ableton Live trainers, or all of the above. Many of whom have worked directly with some of the leading artists in the world. Or have themselves produced chart topping hits internationally.
So, if you’re interested in upping your production game on Ableton Live, while learning from the best, and having fun while you’re at it, let’s check out some of these great Ableton Live online courses!
Let’s take a look 🙂
Some of the other guides for music production:
Choosing an Online Ableton Tutorial
As you know, Ableton Live is one of the most popular DAWs out there. It’s so popular that it’s become the de facto industry standard for electronic and dance music genres around the world.
It’s also one of the very few DAWs that gives you full capability to use as a live music production performance instrument. For that reason, it’s the go-to DAW for producers like Flume, Diplo, Dada Life, Skrillex, Bauuer, Flosstradamus, Deadmou5 and so on.
However, Ableton Live is not entirely a “beginner’s DAW.” Sure, it is easier to get going with Ableton than with, say, Pro Tools. But it’s designed as a professional creative workhorse, with a clean, uncluttered, and even a sleek businesslike interface intended for serious use.
So perhaps, after grabbing a copy of Ableton Live, you find that the full capabilities of the DAW seem a little beyond your understanding. Or, maybe you’re starting from scratch.
Alternatively, you may be seeking for a way to get your creative juices flowing by learning some new skills to take your music making to another level.
Either way, if you’re a beginner, any one of these beginner’s courses will be great for you.
And if you’re intermediate to advanced, you’ll see included in this education guide specialized tutorials for genre specific productions, and other engineering “must-haves” like compression and mastering inside of Ableton.
In these courses you will…
- get inside of the head of a professional music producer, and understand the way they think
- copy a pro’s workflow and develop a better more efficient process for yourself
- gather inspiration for your own unique productions, even if it’s for a totally different genre
- and probably most importantly, get your creative juices flowing again
Who’s this post for?
This post is structure for beginners, intermediate users, and advanced and professional Ableton Live users.
As you go down the list, the tutorials will become more advanced. If you’re just new to music production and electronic music, the first few courses will be of best benefit to you. If you’re a little more advanced, you can choose some of the genre and audio engineering specific courses.
Next, the tutorials were chosen based on the reputation and credibility of the instructors. Each instructor is well known within the business, and many have several other courses which you can find once you look through their catalog.
With that said, let’s look at some of these great Ableton tutorials 🙂
The Best Ableton Live Tutorials Online
Music Theory for Electronic Musicians
Tutor: Thavius Beck — Level: Beginner — Vendor: Noiselab
Update: Read our full review of Noiselab here
If you’re new to music composition, songwriting, and beatmaking, this course will provide you with the foundations you need for creating music in the modern world. Music Theory for Electronic Musicians is not a typical high-school or college music theory class, you’ll learn music theory from the perspective of an electronic musician within Ableton Live, and by a certified Ableton instructor. By the end of the course, you should be able to not only use Ableton Live, but how to intelligently and creatively make real music from scratch.
The course consists of 6 lessons. The first lesson introduces you to the basics of music theory, covering notes and keys on your piano roll and MIDI controller, a demonstration of MIDI clips, an explanation of the frequencies of each note and octave. In the second lesson, you will learn and understand the major and minor scales and how they function. In lesson 3 you will be introduced to something I’m sure that, if you’re a beginner, you will love: chords. You will learn about the basic triads, how to use them, how to invert them, as how to construct a 7th chord.
Lesson 4 takes chords to next level, if you’ve ever been around musicians for a while, you’ll always hear them throwing out numbers as it relates to chords, this is where you learn to reconstruct any music you like, by using the chord numbering system to compose your own chord progressions. Lesson 5 goes over some common chord progressions that you find all over popular music, and finally, in lesson 6 you learn how to draw and record in your chord progressions and melodies in Ableton using MIDI clips, as well as the rules of writing a good melody.
Bottom-line, Music Theory for Electronic Musician is a great starter for those who want to learn Ableton Live, but feel that their lack of music theory is getting in the way. The course is available at Noiselab, and is instructed by Thavius Beck.
See course details @ Noiselab.io
About the instructor: Thavius Beck is a renowned New York based electronic musician, producer, and rapper, who gained a lot of prominence in the Los Angeles scene. He has collaborated with many of big names in electronic music production in the last decade, including Nine Inch Nails’ remix of “Survivalism,” and Saul Williams’ The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust! He continues to remains active, and is an Ableton certified instructor offering his courses on his Ableton tutorials website. (see wikipedia article)
Making A Track from Start To Finish in Ableton Live
Tutor: Francois and Alex — Level: Beginner — Vendor: Production Music Live
Production Music Live (PML) is an online music instruction platform that focuses solely on Ableton electronic music production. They’re staffed by a dedicated team of music professionals, and the site offers a large variety of Ableton lessons lessons from future bass to mastering tracks.
When you take look at each lesson, you’ll see that they provide a series of detailed steps, covering specific aspects of the music production process in Ableton Live. From writing chords and melodies to designing custom sounds, harmonizing and arrangement to mixing and mastering, most every stage of production is covered in meticulous detail.
The individual courses themselves cover a broad range of music styles and processes. Along with more general lessons that can be used in any style of music, there are also genre-specific courses focusing on deep house, future bass, melodic techno, and even pop forms. There are even courses on sound design focusing on specific software synthesizers.
A good example of the depth and range of course material offered on PML is the beginner’s course, “Making A Track from Start To Finish in Ableton Live”. A detailed guide on creating completed tracks on Ableton Live from scratch, the course covers everything from crafting original drums and music sounds to adding effects, fleshing out arrangements, and mixing and mastering.
The course uses only the instrument and effects plug-ins that already come with Ableton Live. So this guide and a copy of Ableton Live are really all you need in order to produce professional-sounding tracks.
The Ableton Live course is provided over more than 25 studio sessions with PML’s own Francois Rengère. More than four hours of online video sessions are provided as well, making it easy for even totally inexperienced producers to follow along.
Bottom-line, Production Music Live is one of the most comprehensive and in-depth online music production platforms available. The depth and range of material and subject coverage is impressive, and there is something for everyone regardless of experience level.
In fact, one of the best things about PML is that it doesn’t assume any level of experience on the part of the student. Even if you know absolutely nothing about the basics of music production, you could quickly get up to speed with any one of the many Beginners’ Courses offered.
That being said, even intermediate and advanced producers will find value in some of the lessons, particularly when it comes to the harmonization and mixing and mastering classes.
See course details @ Productionmusiclive.com
Demonstration
About the instructors – Francois Rengère is a professional music producer, sound designer, and sound engineer based in Germany. Known for the superb future bass instructional course “Producing a Future Bass Track”, he brings his classical music training and extensive professional music experience to the fore in producing most of the online courses on PML.
Another member of the PML team, Tom Wagner is a producer, mix engineer, and sound designer who is Francois’ most frequent studio collaborator. Extremely passionate about melody, harmony, and chord progressions, Tom is an avowed sonic perfectionist. He is also a certified gear nut who has been known to spend hours comparing the relative merits of dozens of reverb plug-ins.
Rounding out the PML team is Alex, who along with Francois comprises half of the dance electronic music duo, Monoklon. A man of many talents, Alex plays most every instrument imaginable, and is a pretty formidable singer and songwriter as well. He also serves as the PR representative of PML when Tom and Francois are otherwise occupied in the studio.
Ultimate Ableton Live 9 COMPLETE: Parts 1, 2, & 3
Tutor: Jason Allen — Level: Beginner & Intermediate — Vendor: Udemy
If you’re looking for the most comprehensive course on Ableton Live, that will take you all the way from beginner to expert and beyond, take at look a this course. Ultimate Ableton Live 9 COMPLETE: Parts 1, 2, & 3 gives you 92 lectures in total that spans 8½ hours worth of highly rated video content, from a certified Ableton trainer and university professor. The course is one of the most popular Ableton tutorials on Udemy that I could find.
Inside the Ultimate Ableton Live 9 COMPLETE course you will learn how to produce your own music by creating your own tracks, synths, beats, or any kind of music you like. You’d be working completely within Ableton Live using its native plugins to start and complete full professional tracks. For instance, you’ll create your own drum beats by using and editing your own drum samples. You even get to kickstart your productions with the free full session of tracks using professional templates provided by the Jason Allen.
Some of the techniques you’ll learn are: Recording Hardware Needs, Recording Hardware Setup, Microphone Types and Options, Audio Interface Needs, MIDI Setup, Looping, Key Mapping, Time Signatures Changes, Adding harmony, Working with vocal samples, Recording/Writing Drum grooves, Side-Chaining… just to name a few.
The course is essentially the online tutorial version of a full university course in music production. Jason Allen is a university professor, who’s decided to take his knowledge and share it with users online seeking a more affordable way to learn music production with Ableton Live.
Bottom-line, Ultimate Ableton Live 9 COMPLETE: Parts 1, 2, & 3 is the Ableton Live course package for you if you’re serious about moving from beginner to expert mode. There is also parts 4, 5, 6 if you want to take your knowledge to the next level. Check it out!
See course details @ Udemy.com
About the instructor: Dr Jason Allen is an Ableton Certified Trainer, who holds a PhD in Music Composition and a Masters in Electronic Sounds. He’s worked extensively on film, radio, video games, and industrial sound, as well as theater and concert hall music. In 2014 he was the semi-finalist for the Grammy Music Educator Award, and his album, Aniscorcia, reached the CMJ Top200 Charts and radio broadcasts, nationwide. He is currently the adjunct professor of composition at the University of St. Thomas, as well as CEO of Slam Academy in Minneapolis
Learn Electronic Music Production in Ableton Live
Tutor: Henrique Caiano — Level: Beginner— Vendor: Udemy
If you’re a beginner wanting to learn how to make electronic music from scratch, check out Become a Pro Music Producer from Scratch by Henrique Caiano on Udemy. In this course, you’ll be guided step-by-step through the process of making a “floor shattering track.” Going through this course should give you all the tools needed to create your own electronic music dance track that could potentially equal any of the great EDM tracks on the top 100. In addition to that, you will be able to communicate with Henrique indefinitely to ask questions, tips, and get feedback on your music.
The course is primarily aimed at complete beginners who are new to music production. But advanced users can take advantage of the course as well. Especially so if you’re unfamiliar with electronic music production skills and techniques. By the end of the course, you will have sound knowledge in how to produce a track, mix and master it, and develop the right workflow to produce efficiently.
In the course, you get about 4½ hours worth of course content, with 31 video lectures. The course is structured in a layered format. You’ll start with making the drums, bass, percussions tracks, then adding ambiance and textures. Once you’ve created and processed your basic loop, you’ll learn how to turn your tracks into a proper song arrangement.
You will then learn the best mixing and mastering techniques to make a polished electronic music track, worthy for radio play. Included in the course material is the final track, the project file for the final track, Ableton Mastering file, drum samples, compressor guidelines, and a music mixdown guide for future use.
Bottom-line, this is a great inexpensive course for absolute beginners who want to jump right into the process of making and producing a popular track. You’ll benefit a lot from taking this course, it has consistent high ratings with lots of positive reviews.
See course details @ Udemy.com
About the instructor: Henrique Caiano is a prolific DJ and music producer from Portugal who specializes in electronic music production. He is know in the techno/tech house scene as Remotion, and has shared the stage with the biggest electronic musicians and producers right now, such as Adam Beyer, Monika Kruse, Sasha Carassi, and others. Many of his work have repeatedly gone into the Top 100 of Beatport. He also has his own podcast show called Sync Forward, where he showcases various artists from around the world to help promote their music. He now has his own record label, continues to produce music, and teaches future producers how to make great music on Udemy.
Ableton Live DJ’s Guide
Tutor: Adam Goodlet — Level: Beginner— Vendor: ProducerTech
If you’re planning on taking advantage Live’s DJ capability, then a look at Ableton Live DJ’s GUide by Adam Goodlet. As you may know, Ableton Live is not only a music production software, it is also a immensely powerful and intuitive live performance software for DJs. The appeal that led to Ableton’s massive success with Live is due to the seamless workflow that DJs and live electronic music performers can take advantage of.
The course is divided into two sections. In the first section, the course’s instructor will demonstrate to you how to set up Live to function with your standard hardware DJ mixers. He’ll then show you how to build the pioneer-style channel strip, add looping, delay, distortion, and reverb effects, and customize the crossfader, laying out the mixer for maximum control of your set.
In the second section, you’ll be taught how to use samples, and breaking down a track into stems for optimal manipulation of a song. This will massively increase the creative potential in your DJing. You’ll also be shown the best plugins to use, as well as MIDI controllers, to make full use of the Ableton Live in your DJ sets.
The course is primarily aimed at beginners and even advanced Ableton Live users who’ve never actually delved into the Live performance capabilities of the DAW. It’s a pretty massive course, consisting of 18 modules, with 100 MB of bonus FX samples for you to download for free, and a complete DJ template and channel FX rack you can use for shaping and glitching your tracks.
Bottom-line, this is one of the best Ableton Live DJ course I can find right now (not that many), and it’s great if you ever needed to take advantage of Ableton Live for DJing. You get training from one of the best electronic musicians in the business, and add another skill to your arsenal that you can use professionally.
See course details @ Loopmasters.com
Demonstration
About the instructor: Adam Goodlet is a music producer and DJ who’s released under the aliases OverSoul, Re:Creation, Peak, Arcturian Soul, Ephexis, and others. He has over 15 years worth of profession experience in the business, and runs Re:Creation Studio, a state of the art music production and mastering studio.
Ableton Live – Tech House Tutorial 2017
Tutor: Studio Slave — Level: Beginner to Intermediate — Vendor: Udemy
Ableton Live – Tech House Tutorial 2017 is an awesome tech house Ableton Live tutorial. As of this writing, it is currently the most popular tech house tutorial on Udemy. In this course you’ll learn how to produce a modern, bass driven tech house track, with over 9 hours worth of content consisting of 59 videos lectures and tutorials. This course is primarily directed toward beginners and intermediate users, with some basic knowledge of how to use Ableton Live. With this course, you’ll be guided from a blank Ableton session, to a final mastered track as fast as you can get through the material.
The course is taught in a layered fashion, making it easy for you to follow along to create your own track. It first starts out with an analysis and overview of what exactly tech house is, with some useful reference. Then you dive right in with creating your own drum track, with kick, snare, hats, claps, and getting the right grooves with percussions. Next, you’re taught how to add the proper parallel compression to your kick, reverbs, and bussing your percs. Then bass synthesis, processing, and automation is added. You’ll then learn how to find the right vocals, how to warp them, and process them. After that you’ll learn how to construct effect drops and raves using synthesizers.
Once you’ve layered your track, there is a 4 part series on how to create the perfect tech house arrangement, after which you add more effects and tweaks to your track. Finally, you’re taken through a detailed and in depth step by step guide on balancing, EQing, compressing, mixing, and mastering your track. And if that wasn’t enough, you’ll learn how to get your new track signed by a label!
Bottom-line, this course provides an excellent guide in constructing a tech house track. It’s ideal that you already know the basics of getting around Ableton Live, but this course is more suited for beginners, as well as producers who’re looking to add more skills and inspiration to their beatmaking arsenal. Check it out!
See course details @ Udemy.com
About the instructor: Studio Slave is an electronic music production website for Ableton Live. They produce in-depth tutorials on every aspect of Ableton Live.
Music Production in Ableton Live 10Â – The Complete Course!
Tutor: Tomas George — Level: Intermediate — Vendor: Udemy
As you may have known, Ableton came out with the latest version of their DAW, Live 10, in 2018. The majority of users would still be using Live 9, but if you happen to have a copy of Live 10, there’s an Ableton Live course suited specifically for learning how to use Ableton Live 10: Music Production in Ableton Live 10 – The Complete Course! It’s one of the only complete courses on the new version of Ableton Live 10 available right now, so if you got the new DAW, you should definitely check it out!
Inside the course is a complete guide to Live 10, with 80 lectures, and over 8ÂĽ worth of video content for you to learn your new DAW. The course, instructed by UK producer and entrepreneur Tomas George, promises that you will learn how to setup and navigate your new DAW, how to use its synths, samplers, and racks, and build your own tracks from nothing. You will learn everything you need to know when it comes to creating, recording and editing MIDI, as well as setup, record and edit your own audio. You will understand the basics of audio and MIDI effects, and learn how to utilize them in your own music. On top of that, you will get tips on how to avoid common mistakes and pitfalls that many Ableton Live user tend to make.
The course is essentially for early to late intermediate music producers who already have some basic understanding of Live 9, and want to improve their skills, and get to know Live 10’s new features from one Live’s official beta testers. Also, if you have some experience in music performance, or DJing, this course will teach you how to use Ableton Live has a live performance and DJ software. It’s also a great course for you if you happen to be a songwriter who wants to producer your own music.
Bottom-line, if you’ve been thinking of deepening your knowledge of Live 10, this is the course to take. It’s a fairly comprehensive course, that covers the basics to advanced levels of Ableton Live, so this will be great for you if you don’t want a “beginner’s guide.” Others who’ve taken have found it satisfying. Check it out!
See course details @ Udemy.com
About the instructor: Tomas George is a UK based music producer, sound engineer, composer and entrepreneur. He has a Masters in Music Production and BA in Music Composition. He also teaches courses on Logic Pro X, and has as many as 46,715 students taking his courses on Udemy.
Complete Guide to Compression
Tutor: Rob Jones — Level: Intermediate — Vendor: ProducerTech
In Complete Guide to Compression, you get a specialized tutorial that really deepens and perfects your knowledge of the compressor. Your knowledge of music production is incomplete if you don’t know how to properly use a compressor. It’s not just a mixing and mastering trick, you can even use it like an instrument itself, and create those throbbing sounds in much of the electronic music genres you hear. So it’s pretty much essential. Rob Jones from ProducerTech teaches you all you need to know about compression within Ableton Live.
Complete Guide to Compression begins by providing you with the basic understanding of compression. You learn about the various parameters and controls found on every compressor you can find, with demonstrations of how they work when applied to audio, with positive outcomes and negative outcomes that will tune your ear to identifying a properly compressed tracks. You’ll learn how to use the compressor both as a precision tool to get the most out of your mix, as well as a creative device to squeeze the most creativity out of your productions.
The course is divided into 9 modules, each covering a specific topic about compression to give you the most thorough understanding you need. The first module covers the basics of compression. A good introduction for beginners at compression, and a nice reminder for those who’ve been using it for some time. Module 2 covers the effect compression has on frequencies and levels. In module 3 Rob Jones performs an advanced and detailed analysis of a compressor’s attack and release parameters on your audio, using graphical displays.
Module 4 introduces you to what is perhaps the most exciting aspect of compression in music production: the Side chain. Then module 5 takes it a bit further with sidechain EQ techniques that will make a huge difference in the control of your tracks. Take it a step further in module 6 with multi-band compression and mix buss compression. You will then learn the proper way to compress the kick drum in module 7, and in final 2 modules, you will learn how to properly apply compression to vocals to get the best results.
Bottom-line, if you’ve been thinking of deepening your knowledge of Live 10, this is the course to take. It’s a fairly comprehensive course, that covers the basics to advanced levels of Ableton Live music production. Others who’ve taken have found it satisfying. So check it out!
See course details @ Loopmasters.com
Demonstration
About the instructor: Rob Jones is a London and Berlin based music producer, DJ, entrepreneur, and certified Ableton Trainer. As a freelance music producer, he’s released fusion groove-based dance music for several labels under the name Anarchy Rice. As an entrepreneur he creates authoritative training material for his electronic music training website, ProducerTech.
Techno and Tech House Production in Live
Tutor: Paul Maddox — Level: Intermediate to Advanced — Vendor: ProducerTech
If you want to learn the advanced secrets of making a tech house or techno track, check out Techno & Tech House Production by Paul Maddox. This course promises to take you from a blank Ableton Live session all the way to creating a full produced final mix and master ready to hit the radio, iTunes, or Spotify, if you want. You’ll learn the techniques and skills that it takes to make your own banging tracks, and you’ll get that knowledge from one of the most respected authorities on techno and house music in the past decade.
‘Techno and Tech House Production in Live’ consists of 6 modules, where you’ll be composing your tracks layer by layer. The first module starts by showing you how to create low frequency drum bass parts for your track. You’ll learn how to dial in and tune your sub frequencies just right to start off your production in the right direction. Next, you’ll learn how to properly add high frequency drums, such as percs, hats, claps, and so on, and how to get to perfect groove, with the right amount of side chaining.
Next, the fun part, you learn how to choose the right synth sounds and layering your vocal tracks and loops. Chord stabs, vocal loops and chops, pads, and a catchy hook, will be programmed for you to follow along. After that, you will go through two modules of arrangement, the first one creates the foundation for your arrangement, and adds automation. The next module is where you add effects parts to your arrangement to build the energy, and add atmosphere, using conventional and more diverse techniques. Finally, you will then learn how to mix down the track, and master it for a commercially ready single.
Bottom-line, ‘Techno and Tech House Production in Live’ is an awesome course. It is geared toward intermediate to more advanced Ableton users. If you’re looking for something to get your creative juices flowing, or looking to enhance your workflow, you should check out this course.
See course details @ Loopmasters.com
Demonstration
About the instructor: Paul Maddox is a world renowned and respect dance and club producer and DJ, who got is claim to fame at 16 when he was dubbed “one of the clubland’s hottest properties.” He works with producers such as O.G.R, Azure, Abandon, Barely Legal, and Olive Grooves. He’s taken his knowledge to the internet where he shares his prodigious skills, real world knowledge, and experience to users on how to create hit and banging tracks.
How to produce a Modern Deep Garage House track in Ableton
Tutor: Rob Webster — Level: Advanced — Vendor: Udemy
How to Producer a Modern Deep Garage House Track in Ableton may be a mouthful, but if you’re curious about how to properly construct, compose, mix, and master that kind of sound in Ableton Live, take a look at this course by Rob Webster. This course will teach you all that you need to know to produce a banging deep house hit, from writing and recording your own drum patterns, to layering your sounds to get the perfect original track. On top of that, you will receive free sample packs and two third party plugins that you will need to take the course.
This course was created to be simple and easy to follow. It’s a fairly quick course, lasting over 2 hours with 14 lectures. It starts out basic by showing you how to import drum sounds and create drum patterns from them to start the foundation of your track. Then you go into making a bassline, chord pads, and producing arpeggios, after which you add vocals. You will then be guided in creating proper sub bass synths and recording strings. Once you’ve got your production layered up, you’re guided through a four part series in making a good song arrangement. After you’ve rendered your MIDI to audio, you’re taken through 3 video guides for a step by step process in mixing, balancing, and mastering your final track.
The course is primarily aimed at advanced Ableton Live users, so there won’t be a lot of in depth explanation on basic Ableton functionalities, hence why the course only lasts under 3 hours. However, this makes this course great for you if you already know your way around Ableton, have been producing for a while, and don’t want to sit through content that’s not applicable to your skill level.
Bottom-line, take this course if you want to learn how to create one of the hottest genres right now. This is a great inexpensive way to get your creative juices flowing, and start you getting making some awesome new beats. Check it out!
See course details @ Udemy.com
About the instructor: Rob Webster is a professional record producer, record label owner, and DJ. His style ranges from disco and techno to chill out music. He has an extensive catalog, with productions that have been on the UK top 10 and number 1 positions. He’s recorded and produced under the names Robjamweb, Area Social, The Boy Wunda, Filthy Filtered Disco Freek, Rob Webster, Dakota Soul, Sugar-Funk, and Calm Drama. He continues to produce and collaborate with major acts around the world, and shares his knowledge and experience online for others to learn.
Mastering in the Box with Ableton Live
Tutor: Nicholas D’Ombrain — Level: Advanced — Vendor: ProducerTech
If you ever wanted to tackle your own mastering jobs, take a look at Mastering in the Box with Ableton Live by Nicholas D’Ombrain, the CEO of online mastering service Zeitgeist Mastering. There is no doubt that mastering is becoming more and more an essential skill to the music producer. But it’s one of those skills that is very specialized, requiring accurate knowledge and experience to get it right. If you plan on releasing your own music, especially, you run the risk of getting it rejected if it’s not properly mastered. Personally, I tried it, long ago, until I quit the guesswork and got a professional in on the job. Alternatively, you could always learn to do it yourself by taking a course on the subject.
The unique thing about this course is that you will be taught how to master your own music using ONLY the plugins that come in Live, no third party plugins necessary. Yes, it is possible. In the course you will be provided with a Live Template Set with a giant Mastering Rack which is constructed in the course for you to open the session and import your own track to get going right away. Additionally, you get the written Pro Tips Guide, a Mastering Flow Diagram, and 8 Custom Mastering Weapons (Live Racks), that include an Aphex-style Exciter, a Bass Maximiser, and other Stereo Enhancement Effects.
The course is divided into 14 modules that span 8 hours, taking you step-by-step from the principles of mastering, through to the end where you will be building and applying a 3-band exciter & mid-side compressor. A couple other additions to the tutorial are “Loudness Trick – Alternative to Limiting” and “Vinyl Mastering Considerations (Mastering a Track for Vinyl).”
Bottom-line, this is simply a must have course to take, in my opinion, if you’re a Live user. It’s primarily aimed at intermediate to advanced users. There’s no denying that learning how to master using the native plugins in your DAW will go a long way in helping you to utilize the other more attractive 3rd party plugins on the market. Check it out!
See course details @ Loopmasters.com
Demonstration
About the instructor: Nicholas D’Ombrain is the owner of Zeitgeist Mastering, an online music mastering service. He has close to 20 years worth of experience mastering for big names in the industry, such as Alex Smoke, Sascha Braemer, Eric Volta, D- Unity, and Orbital.
Producing A Future Bass Track From Start To Finish Ableton
Tutor: Francois Rengère — Level: Advanced — Vendor: Udemy
Like Dubstep, you can hear future bass influences in practically every major electronic music production made in the last decade. So learning how to make future bass is pretty much essential, in my opinion. And one of the best and most popular courses I could find on the subject right now is Producing a Future Bass Track by Francois Rengère, a German based professional music producer, sound designer, and sound engineer.
In the course, you will learn how to make a future bass track inspired by artists such as Flume, San Holo, Cashmere Cat, and Odesza. You will learn how to use Native Instruments Massive synthesizer to create your own sound designs from scratch, and layering your sounds to produce those thick, rich harmonies that make future bass so cool.
The course takes about 5ÂĽ hours to complete, consisting of 29 lecture videos that will take you from start to finish. You will learn how to generate your own musical ideas, write powerful future bass chords with advanced MIDI writing techniques, design fat and powerful drum sounds, and write unique yet catchy melodies. You will learn how to make the perfect vocal chops and glides, create chord slides, pitch effects, and LFO shapes and techniques.
Additionally, construct crazy fills and breaks for massive drops, and adding future bass style arpeggios and melodies, as well as resampling techniques. After that, you’ll be guided through the process of making your song arrangement, by taking your 8 bar loop and making a full song out of it. Once that is done, you will then learn how to mix and master a future bass track, and even get some bonus Serum sound designs if you want.
Bottom-line, this is simply a must have course. You get to be behind the scenes of the making of a future bass track, getting into the minds of those who created and shaped this genre. There’s tons of fun material covered in this course, making it one of the most exciting courses in this list. It’s primarily aimed at intermediate to advanced Ableton Live users, so if that’s you, check it out!
See course details @ Udemy.com
About the instructor: Francois Rengère is a prolific German music producer, sound designer and engineer, who’s released tracks for Universal Music, Parquet Recordings, Portrait Digital Recordings, and others. He also runs a music production training website and teaches other courses on various aspects of music production.
Final Thoughts
Ableton Live is a great DAW, but it can be more rewarding once you obtain absolute mastery of it as an instrument or compositional tool. And if you’ve taken one of these courses, you’ll find that this path to Ableton mastery is not only rewarding, but even a very pleasurable experience, as vistas of creative potential will open up to you.
That said, simple taking a course is not enough, though, you have to actually spend time perfecting your craft. Remember, practice makes perfect. Perhaps one day you will be the one teaching your own tutorial online, or even in a university classroom 🙂
