Mixing with Ableton Live Tutorial

By kapsil v1.0 10/26/06

This tutorial is designed to give users a basic introduction to mixing jungle

using Ableton Live. I made this using version 6 but the same principles
apply in version 5 and for the most part in 4. I am going to show you a
simple three tune mix using tunes with different types of intros. We start by
opening Live and pressing TAB to switch to the arrangement view and
setting our BPM to 172.

Notice that I have created an audio track for each tune and expanded the
track view in order to better see the wave form.

Next, we drag our first tune from the browser into Audio Track 1

The first thing we do is go down to the sample properties window, change

the warp mode to complex and select hi quality sample playback

Live does a pretty good job sometimes of guessing the BPM of tunes and
can give you a decent idea of the tunes actual BPM, but for our purposes
its much easier to clear all the warp markers by clicking the warp button off
then on again. Notice how when you turn warp back on it sets the segment
BPM to the master BPM.
The most important part of accurately stretching the tunes in order to mix
them is to have the first warp marker correct down to the sample level. So
we drag the first warp marker as far to the left as we can and zoom in as far
as possible to place the first warp marker exactly at the beginning of the
track

Now we zoom out and decide on which warp marker to edit next

Since the beat starts at the 17th bar this would be a good place to set the next
warp marker, so we go zoom in and listen to where the first kick drum
comes in

Live requires the markers to be very accurate in order to produce great

sounding mixes so we must once again zoom all the way in to the sample
level and place the marker on the zero crossing at the start of the kick drum

For each tune, the wave forms will look different so there is no set formula
to determining where you should place the warp marker, but after practicing
for a little youll begin to recognize good places to place the warp markers
quickly. Also, notice how the more warp markers we place correctly, the
closer the segment BPM gets to the original BPM of the tune.
After zooming out again, I see that another good marker to change would be
65, as its the first bar of the drop and easily distinguishable.

When we zoom in, its obvious that even though our first two were correct,
this one is a little off.

Move the warp marker back to where the kick drum hits and zoom in as far
as possible again to set it exactly right.

Now, we go to a few other beats and fix the warp markers until, when
zoomed in on, warp markers that have not been changed are correct. It is a
good idea to change at least couple in the beginning, a couple in the middle
of a tune, and a couple at the end. Notice how the more markers you
change, the less you have change subsequent ones, this is a sign that youre
getting it right. Also, the segment BPM will usually begin to approach a
whole number (in this case 170.00) the closer you get to accurately
stretching the track.
This is what our track looks like after setting the warp markers

Now would be a good time to save your mix ;)

I like to add an EQ Three plug-in (built into Live) to each channel to

simulate a DJ mixer (Ill go into more depth about it later on, but its a good
practice to add one to each channel as you go, you can automate them later)
Simply select EQ Three from the Audio Effects menu and drag and drop on
onto each of your channels

Next, we drag and drop our next tune about where we want it to start mixing
in (in this case right after the second drop). Be sure to solo that channel
while youre working on it.

Dont forget to change the warp mode to complex, enable high quality
sample playback again, and clear the warp markers

Notice Live has miscalculated the first beat so we zoom in and change it

Now, go through the tune like you did for the first one and change warp
markers until theyre correct. Dont worry if it takes a while, with a bit of
practice you will be able to correctly warp a tune in less than 2 minutes.
Practice. Practice. Practice!
Our warp markers in place, we are now ready to see if we have correctly
warped our first two tunes, or if it sounds like Optics latest mix :-x
Drag your second tune to where you want to start mixing it in, I chose to
start right after the 2nd breakdown. Remember to zoom in when arranging
your tunes so that they start on beat and in phrase.

Now is the moment of truth, unselect solo from the second tune and press
play, if youve done everything correctly they should be perfectly
beatmatched.

I see that the first tune keeps going after the second tune breaks down and I
want it to stop, so we automate the mixer to control the speaker of the first
tune.

Right click on the tune and select draw mode to easily draw in your
automation. Notice that in addition to just being able to automate your
mixer, the EQ Three plug-in you put on the channel is just as easily
automated.

The Speaker On automation is either on or off, but other controls such as

volume and EQ Gain can be any value between 0 and 127 (so you have a lot
of control)
Our first tune now drops out when the second tune drops.

But I also want it to sound like a real DJ mix so I automate the volume

EQ

Dont forget you can automate all 3 channels of your EQ plug-in. Another
trick I like to use is to use the speaker on and off automation in order to drop
out a tune for a quarter or eight of a bar to create Bukem-like cuts.

The automation and effects are where Live begins to be able to do things
that are just not possible with vinyl or CDJs so have fun and dont rush over
this very important part of digital mixing.

Finally, Im going to show you the easy way to mix in a track with a long,
ambient intro. This can also be used if youre having trouble accurately
finding the first beat of tune.
First we load up our track, place an EQ on the channel, change the warp
mode to complex and enable high quality sample playback.

Notice how there are no beats until the 33rd bar of the tune. It would be
stupid to try and warp ambient sounds when you dont have to, so we set the
first warp marker to where the beat comes in

Once again, go through the tune and set your warp markers as before. After
doing a couple successfully you should have a pretty good idea of what
youre doing.

After your warp makers are set up, move the tune in the arrangement to
where you want the beat to come in. You can set it so the ambient sounds
mix in with the tune before during the intro and the beats drop at the same
time. First Ill do this then show another possibility.

Next, zoom out and place your mouse cursor at the very left part of the title
of the track. The cursor should change to a [ symbol. Drag that to the left
until the entire intro of the track is showing

If your tunes are warped correctly, you will hear that the beat less intro of
the tune plays before and during the second breakdown of the previous one
and then the beats come in at the same time. OMGYAYZ!!!1

You can also set it so that the beat less intro of the tune comes in when the
previous tune. First, change the start of the clip back to 1.1.1 (if you dont
do this then the tracks will not line up correctly).

You can also drag the start of the tune to 1.1.1 but I find its easier and more
accurate to just change the clip start position.
Since we know there are 32 bars in our tune before the beat comes in, we
drag the tune 32 bars from the beginning of the drop.

We then drag the loop start all the way to the left and it should line up
perfect with the second drop

Dont forget to automate your volume, speaker on and off, and EQ for each
tune to make your mix more human (or less if you so desire)
We zoom out to see our little 3 tune mix

To render, select all clips by pressing CTRL+A or selecting Select All from
the edit menu. Then select File -> Render to Disk
Make sure your options are correct and then hit OK to render your mix to
wav or mp3

Of course, there is a lot more that you can do with Live than Ive shown you
in this tutorial. But by now you should have a pretty good idea of how to
warp your tracks, add effects, and automate effects and the mixer. The most
important thing to getting good is practice, just like DJing on turntables.
And once you get good, mixing in Abletons a ton of fun.
And dont be a bitch and make mixes out of tunes you download from
SoulSeek or BitTorrent. Therere so many great unsigned tunes for free and
professional ones for only $1 each on beatport.com or bleep.com. Dont
make a producer throw you down the stairs, buy your tunes.