Insights and Inspiration: Seven Favorites from 2018
Over the past twelve months on the Ableton blog, we tried to provide you with a diverse range of perspectives, inspirations, sounds and strategies to enrich your music-making experience – here are a few of our favorite articles, artist features, tutorials, and movies of 2018.
Sidechain Compression: Concept, History and Use
Even if you don’t think you know it, you’ve heard it – from pop to hip-hop to sound design to heavy techno, sidechaining is an essential tool for modern production. Learn how it works, where it came from and how to use it in our two part feature on this important but often misunderstood technique.
Start with Sidechain Compression Part 1
Katie Gately: Sampling Her World
Back in January we profiled LA sound designer and producer Katie Gately. Watch the pair of videos to see how she transforms samples of the world around her into highly useful and uniquely expressive musical materials. Plus, there’s a free Instrument Rack based on field recordings Katie made in and around her house.
Watch the movies and get the free device
Creative Extensions: Add more punch, color and texture to your tracks
Creative Extensions is a free Pack for Live 10 Suite that stretches sound creation and transformation possibilities in Live to new boundaries. This collection includes new ways to pitch shift and sequence melodies and delays, creative and characterful studio processing, a device that creates reverb-like spaces, and two revamped Max for Live synths.
Check out the video and download Creative Extensions
Adam Neely’s New Horizons in Music: Polyrhythms
In this video of his presentation at Ableton’s music makers summit Loop, Adam Neely explores the topic of polyrhythms from a number of angles. Touching on synesthesia, Isaac Newton, the Harmony of the Spheres, Vincent van Gogh and a whole lot more, Adam discovers that literally everything is rhythm.
Watch New Horizons in Music: Polyrhythms
DJ Step1: Scratch, Sample and Push
One of our favorite Push performances of 2018 was the one-take video DJ Step1 put together – an impressive showcase of real-time sampling, beatmaking and melody composition all laced with her signature cuts and scratches. Be sure to check out the accompanying video where she explains the set up and techniques used.
See DJ Step1’s Push performance and walkthrough videos
Free Sounds from the Polish Radio Experimental Studio
This collection of weird and wonderful vintage sci-fi sounds, loops and effects from the legendary Polish Radio Experimental Studio is a great way to learn more about one of Europe’s very first institutions dedicated to experimental and electronic music.
Read the article and download the free sounds
Space Exploration: Four creative approaches to using reverb
Most of us use reverb intuitively rather than with any kind of strategy. Nothing wrong with that of course, but it can also be quite illuminating to see someone else’s individual way of using a familiar tool. We picked some of our favorite video tutorials, each of which takes a different creative approach to using reverb.