I know from experience that the first few times you open up Ableton that it can be very daunting and confusing. Whether it’s the hundreds of buttons and knobs or even just changing the settings so that you start to hear sound, the first couple of sessions starting out on Ableton Live will test your patience. Throughout this blog post I’m going to share 4 tips for beginner level producers that I wish I had known when starting out with music production in Ableton.
5 Tips for new Producers
Tip #1 – Don’t Compare Yourself to Other Producers
One big challenge that I faced while starting to produce my own music was comparing the music that I was making to music that people that inspired me had made. This can be a big challenge for a new producer starting out. It can be easy to find yourself in a position where you attempt to make a certain genre of music and after hours of toying with a piece, it still isn’t “as cool” as the song that inspired you to make that song in the first place, and that’s okay. Music is something that should lift you up, not bring you down because you’re being critical of yourself comparing it to other productions. Listening to other people’s music and drawing inspiration from certain techniques they use is a very important part of the musical process but making your own songs and progressing your sound is just as important. This leads us into our next tip of using Reference Tracks.
Tip #2 – Reference Tracks
Something that I would recommend to any producer, whether you’re a newbie just starting out, or a professional working in the industry, is to use Reference Tracks. A Reference Track is a song from a different that you listen to while creating your own piece. Whether it’s comparing your arrangement to that song, or how to incorporate different instruments in your song by listening to how another producer did it in your reference track, this can be very tactic on many different levels. One way I easily use Reference Tracks is by dragging the .mp3 file straight into Ableton, like in the image below.
Tip #3 – One Minute Game
Tunnel Vision is defined as “one's tendency to focus on a single goal or point of view.” This is a very common term in the music production world because of its negative effects on production. It’s very easy to overthink creative choices, especially in music production, because we find ourselves getting stuck on one idea or method of making music. Something that I do when I find myself having tunnel vision on a song is to play the One Minute Game. The One Minute Game is very simple, every minute that goes by, you add another element to the song, whether it’s a new drum sound or instrument layer. I’ve found by doing this I help eliminate that tunnel vision mentality and am more open to new ideas.
Tip #4 – Listen to New Music, Watch Videos and Read Blogs
Keeping both your brain and your ears open to new ideas is very important in producing music. One way that I keep my ears open to new ideas from other producers is by listening to the “Discover Weekly” Playlist on Spotify. They curate a playlist of music that you’ve never heard before but also caters to genres that you like and genres that you may not normally go out of your way to listen to. Listening to new music can only benefit you because it helps expand your musical palette. Another important way of learning music production is by watching educational videos on YouTube. While they can be confusing with all the terms that you may not have heard before, watching first-hand how someone creates a vibe in a song goes a long way in helping you expand your creative boundaries as a producer. One channel that has helped me a lot is linked below
“You Suck at Producing” By Underbelly. https://www.youtube.com/c/yousuckatproducing
Lastly, pay attention to big music production blogs and forums such as https://www.reddit.com/r/ableton/ . These forums allow you to connect with other producers and most importantly bounce ideas off others to learn new techniques.
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