Music Tech Focus

Welcome to a very special issue of MusicTech dedicated the incredible music creation software that is Ableton Live. It's particularly appropriate timing to do a complete magazine on Live (or Ableton as an increasing number of producers call it) as it

Welcome to MusicTech's Ableton Live 10 Focus! We're going to kick things off with a refresher course in Ableton Live for newcomers to the software or those returning to the latest version, Live 10. In putting this tutorial together we wondered what t

Hannah Peel is a solo artist and member of The Magnetic North, (featuring Gawain Erland Cooper and Simon Tong, formerly of The Verve and tour musician with Blur and Gorillaz). Her debut solo album Awake But Always Dreaming was a critics’ favourite, a

A mastering engineer for several decades, Mandy has mastered records for artists such as Björk, Aphex Twin and The xx from her Black Saloon Studios Top Tip “I always do a playback of the whole album before I master. For some albums, it’ll be really e

One of the most important producers in the world, Tony Visconti is perhaps best known for his work with David Bowie, including the legendary Low, “Heroes” and Blackstar Top Tip “Follow your instincts and do what’s right for the culture. A record isn’

Making music can cost a fortune, or at least it can if you let the temptation to own the latest ‘thing’, the latest update, the latest computer, or latest app, get in the way. And what temptation. Manufacturers know all about gear lust and how to tap

Now that Ableton Live 10 is finally out, let’s jump in and explore the new and updated devices in this latest version of the software. In the walkthrough, I’ve focused on the Wavetable synth, which is an obvious one to talk about, being such a fully-

Ableton Live 10 has some great new standout features – the Wavetable synthesiser being an obvious example – but it’s also packed with tiny tweaks designed to improve the day-to-day user experience. The Arrangement View benefits from this in particula

Inspiration is a cruel thing. It never strikes when you most need it – when someone is actually paying you to make music, for example, or when you need to come up with some music by a particular deadline. Indeed, the more you need it, the more elusiv

Here’s a selection of highlights from Emre’s glittering catalogue of songwriting, production and playing credits… Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds Who Built The Moon? engineering, programming Lily Allen New album (as yet untitled) songwriting, engi

We all know that a part of the appeal of music production – and one of the reasons this very magazine exists – is the allure of the technology that goes with it. It’s the way that this technology eases your path to music glory, provides the sounds yo

Working on music in the privacy of the bedroom, small studio, or coffee shop is one thing, but taking it to the stage can be a bit of a culture shock. After playing just one gig, your perceptions about gear, music and maybe even your artistic ambitio

‘Prosody’ is a word I use a lot. Its meaning was taught to me roughly 15 years ago by Berklee professor Pat Pattison and in some ways, it’s become the foundation for what I consider to be art – or at least the kind I’m interested in. In the words of

Whether you’re aware of it, or interested in it or not, MIDI is everywhere in Ableton Live – enabling hardware controllers to take over Live’s mixer, instrument and effect parameters, coordinating timing synchronisation with other hardware and softwa

(MULTIDIMENSIONAL POLYPHONIC EXPRESSION) In my never-ending quest to access and explore expressive technology, I want to focus on MPE data. I was first introduced to MPE in late 2015 when I started messing around with a ROLI Seaboard and then, a few

Clip envelopes are Live’s take on automation, particularly in Session View, while in Arrangement they merge into track automation as well, but fundamentally, there’s not much difference. Clip envelopes can be little useful messages that tell a track

Ableton Live’s best buddy Push is now five years old, and we’ve rounded up a few tips to mark the occasion. Some of these go back to the original Push, which was released with Live 9, and some relate to Push 2 and Live 10. Given that Push ‘1’ is at s

We’re not trying to put you off, but if you want to get into the business of making music to picture – be that film, TV, play or video game – you will, one day, end up under severe pressure to have some music or sound designs completed by a certain t

We’ve already covered the most prominent features in Live 10, starting with the new and updated devices (on p36), then the more workflow-based changes and improvements in the Arrangement View (p40). Following those, there’s a surprising amount to tal

The mixing stage is perhaps the most important part of the production process. It sits after the composition stage and before mastering, so it can be the rather terrifying element that ruins both. It could destroy your original ideas or make them imp

Contacts Genelec www.genelec.com | Source Distribution www.sourcedistribution.co.uk 020 8962 5080 £2,169 & £2,729 EACH EXCELLENCE AWARD 10/10 INNOVATION AWARD Key features SAM 8331 • SAM 3-way monitors • Frequency response: 45Hz-37kHz (-6 dB) ± 1.5dB

Contact IK Multimedia | www.ikmultimedia.com, via website €59.99 EACH CHOICE AWARD 9/10 VALUE AWARD £€$ Key features • 17 Instrument collections representing 38 classic synths and string machines • 2,000 presets • 4 classic types of circuit-modelled

Contact Ableton | www.ableton.com €79 TO €599 DOWNLOAD VERSIONS €99 TO €650 BOXED VERSIONS EXCELLENCE AWARD 10/10 Key features • Wavetable synthesiser – sounds good, looks good, especially in full-screen • Revamped Live Pack content and handling dire

Contact iZotope www.izotope.com | Time+Space www.timespace.com 0183755200 £389 EACH £549 FOR BOTH CHOICE AWARD 9/10 Key features • £155 upgrade from previous Advance versions • AAX, RTAS, VST 2, VST 3, AU OZONE 8 • Mastering suite with 11 modules • P

It’s 2018 and Live 10 is here with stacks of new features and devices, plus subtle refinements that make this the best version yet. Live has come a long way since the early days, but despite being easy to pick up, it’s still a deep beast to master. T

DVD48 PC&MAC We've got over 1GB of videos showcasing the latest software and hardware. These cover a range of cutting-edge synths, software instruments and drum plug-ins from Arturia, IK Multimedia, Korg, Sonokinetic, Modartt, Spitfire Audio, Sample