FATIAM – Week 2

Welcome to Week One!

In this week we’ll get the foundations of out track together. Starting with the drums. This is a very common place to start a track and it’ll give us a firm bedrock from which to continue.

It’s important to have good drum sounds, I use a lot of Wave Alchemy’s stuff. Here’s a link to some – https://www.wavealchemy.co.uk/free-samples/

You have to register with the site to get them but it’s worth it. They also have free tasters for all their packs, I recommend Drum Tools 1 and 2.

So this week I’d like you to get started building a really good beat. Choose your drum sounds carefully and use all the techniques I show to add detail and interest. If you have any questions hit me up by email or on the Facebook group 😉

 

https://youtu.be/4Wyd7bUzhXwhttps://youtu.be/7-40zAXTn1c

Notes

  • 2 types of track in Ableton – audio and midi. Audio is for audio files such as samples and loops, midi is for software instruments and hardware devices.
  • We’re going to use drum racks to sequence our drums
  • Scroll down to Packs and click on the triangle by Drum Essentials. Click Drums>Drum Machines>808 Aristocrat. Drag this into Midi channel 1
  • Main drum types – Kick-Snare-HiHats(Open and Closed)-Clap-Toms
  • Adjust tempo to suit the genre you’re making
  • Double click on a rectangle in the track we’re using (Track 1) to make a 1 bar midi clip
  • Click the headphone icon to audition the sounds
  • Velocity is how loud each hit is. It’s a really important parameter so have a play around with it and see what results you get
  • Cmd-D – my most used keyboard shortcut!
  • Quantise – Cmd-U
  • Using grooves is a great way to add some feel to your drums. As always, experiment to get a result you like
  • Cmd-Z = undo = essential
  • Duplicate loop to double the length of your loop
  • Use cursor keys to move around notes that are selected (by clicking on them)

  • Cmd-T = Create new audio track

  • Cmd-Shift-T = Create new midi track

Week 2

https://youtu.be/Jn_STXy-TkYhttps://youtu.be/1y99z-hGCd8

Week 3

https://youtu.be/nj0cYVumMRYhttps://youtu.be/v9TDVSvo0E0

Week 4

https://youtu.be/3OxZamUfTLEhttps://youtu.be/VDrlZRPdET4