An overview of what will be covered in this class, and how I'll be covering it. This is the first class in a super comprehensive series of classes. At the end of this class I'll give you the goods to get you moving into the second class.

One of the first things that stumps a lot of people about Ableton Live is the two different views. It isn't as weird as you think! Let me help you wrap your head around it - starting here.

First, we will look at Arrangement view. If you have used any other audio program, this view will look a bit familiar.

Session View is where Ableton Live gets unique. You won't find this in any other program. Once you understand how it works, it is incredibly fun to use.

Getting around Ableton Live can be confusing at first. Here we will talk about the main layout, what to look for, and how to find help.

Info View is our first window we will look at. This window holds the secrets to Live - and tells you everything you need to know.

Help View is a little browser built-in to Ableton. It has lessons, sessions (sets), and all kinds of useful stuff. Check it out!

In this lesson we will look at production workflow in Live. This is something that can take a little getting used to, but once you get comfortable with it, you will moving through Live very quickly.

The main sequencer window in Arrangement view is, if you have used another audio program, a familiar timeline-based layout. It has a few things that are different, so in this lesson we will explore how it works in detail.

The Session View is probably the most foreign element in Live to most people. In this lesson we will look at navigating it, and the biggest part of it, the Clip Slot Grid.

Clip View is the big rectangle at the bottom of the screen, and it contains a lot of info. The trick to Clip View is knowing that it can show you different things depending on what you are doing.

A few tips and tricks when it comes to adding content to Ableton Live.

Getting around inside the Preferences window is key to making sure all of your settings are correct. In this lesson I'll show you how to set everything up.

The Browser is how we can quickly navigate all our files without leaving Live. Like most things in Live, once you get comfortable with it, it can really speed up your workflow.

There are a few tricks to the signal flow in Live - that is, the route audio goes once it enters the program.

Finally - Recording! Now that we are all setup, and know how audio is moving through Live, in this lesson we will do a little recording.

"Record to Arrange" is a way of recording Session view into Arrangement view. In this lesson, I'll show you!

In this lesson I'm going to walk through this whole Ableton Live Set that we've been looking at for the last few sessions. I'll explain everything I see, in hopes that you pickup on anything you missed, some vocabulary, and just to reinforce what you've learned so far.

In this lesson we will talk broadly about the basic editing features of Live.

One of the most basic functions in Live is Looping clips. In this lesson we will look at how that works in the timeline (Arrangement View).

Quantizing is a way to "snap" our MIDI notes to a grid, to clean up our sloppy playing (and for other reasons). In this lesson, I'll show you how to do it!

Automation is how to program changes in any parameter over time. Want the volume to go up in a section? Thats automation. Want a filter to start opening after the drop? Thats automation.

Possibly one of the most unique features in Live is the Groove Pool. In this video I'll show you what its for, and how to use it.

In this lesson I'm going to walk through another Ableton Live Set that we've been looking at for the last few sessions. I'll explain everything I see, in hopes that you pickup on anything you missed, some vocabulary, and just to reinforce what you've learned so far.

We've only scratched the surface!

Welcome to the class! A few notes about what we will cover in this class.

A few notes about getting started, what to expect, and how to get the most out of this course.

An overview of what we will be covering in this section. Don't worry - it won't be all that technical!

We typically think of two things that we need to record: A computer, and a microphone. But there is one other piece of the puzzle that is essential.

Now that we know what our hardware looks like, in this section we will walk through how to set it all up.

What to look for in a microphone, the different kinds of microphones, and my personal recommendations.

Microphone placement techniques could be a whole other class, but in this video I'll give you a few tips to get a clean sound and avoid some common issues.

Back to Ableton Live! A brief explanation of Monitor Modes - very, very important for home-studio situations in which feedback could be a big (and dangerous) problem.

We will start recording into Arrangement View, using a single microphone (but multiple tracks).

Now that we can cleanly record a single microphone in Arrangement View, in this section we will look at recording multiple microphones at once - a situation you would need to record a band.

Now lets look at tracking in Session View. It is mostly the same, but has a few things that work different that you need to know about.

Overdubbing is a way of re-recording something for a second take. Punching In is a much smoother way to do that, and in Ableton Live, we have a few smooth tricks for getting the "punch" exactly right.

In this video we will talk about what will be covered in this section, and make sure we are all up to speed on some terms.

The hardware you need to do MIDI recording can be simple and inexpensive if you know what to look for.

Once we've selected our MIDI controller (keyboard or something else), we need to tell Ableton Live a few things about it to get it setup correctly.

In order to make sense of MIDI in Ableton Live, we need to understand a little more background about MIDI. In this video we will walk through what MIDI is, and what an "Instrument" is.

Now we can get down to business! In this video we will walk through setting up a track and recording into Arrangement View.

Now that we've conquered Session View for MIDI recording, we will now look over at Session View.

One of the biggest advantages that working with MIDI has is our ability to Quantize. In this section I'll explain what that means, and do a few demonstrations.

Warping is a powerful element in Ableton Live. In this introduction I'll explain some key concepts about it.

What Warping is, What it is not, and how to take advantage of it.

In this section we get into the real details of warping: Setting Warp Markers, and helping Live to understand the clip.

We can help Live to understand our clip a little more by adjusting the Warp Modes. In this video we will walk through the different Warp Modes and look at what they are best used for.

Sometimes we might want to warp a clip "incorrectly" for musical purposes. This tends to result in granulation artifacts, which can make some interesting sounds if you use them well.

A few parting thoughts, where to go from here, and things to explore.

A quick overview of what we will cover in this class.

A few notes about this section before we get started.

In this video we will walk through some quick access tricks for looping, adding locators, and key commands. I'll also introduce key mapping in this video.

Reversing clips can be an awesome effect - in this video I'll walk you through one of my tracks (you can download the whole session in Lecture 7), and I'll point out how I used reverse crash cymbals for a quick sound design trick.

Tempo and Time signature changes can be hard to find in Ableton Live - so watch this video and you will be all up to speed on where to find them and how to use them.

In this course I'm going to give you a bunch of sessions for you to play with. This video walks you through how I'm preparing them to send to you - some important file info that you need to know.

Your first session from me! This is a complete track from my latest album, available on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, etc. Feel free to mess with it and have some fun!

But heads up: Due to the file size restrictions on the Udemy system, I've had to scale it back a little bit. So not all the files and tracks are in this session. It is still more than enough for you to have some fun with. Try using it as a starting point and build some new layers on top of it!

The advantages of working in Session View - a few tips and some info on what we are going to cover in this section.

First things first: Getting everything all setup.

Do not be fooled! All loops are not the same length, nor are they 1 bar. Sometimes a loop of 1 beat, 2 beats, or more is all we need. One of the most important concepts in Session View!

Automating a tempo change in Session View works very differently, but it can still be done. You need to know one super hidden trick to make it work, though.

We do not have a timeline in Session View, so how can we change the meter? The Arrangement view way will not work because it needs the timeline. But there is a way!

In this video we will experiment with adding harmony and basslines. I'll show you a really slick way to find notes that will work with your melody.

The mysterious and often troublesome "back to arrangement" button! Many have tried to understand it, and many have failed. But have no fear - it is often misunderstood, but not too complicated if you follow some simple rules of thumb.

Once we have a good set going, we can "print" it by recording the performance to the Arrangement View. Lets do it in this video.

Here is that session.

A few notes about this section before we dive into making beats.

There are a few more tricks to working with loops, especially as it relates to making beats that we haven't covered yet. So lets get all up to speed with those here.

A great way to make your own beats is to start with a loop, and chop it up into its individual sounds. Re-arranging them is a great way to make your own beats.

After you start dealing with lots of little samples (like we just did in the previous lesson) you will want to get comfortable with Consolidating. Without consolidating, expect headaches!

Wouldn't it be great if Live could just chop up a loop for us and put it into a MIDI sampler so we could play the individual sounds with MIDI? We can!

Racks are the monster sleeping within Live. It is a huge topic that we will work with more in later classes. In this video I'll introduce Drum Racks.

Now that we know what Drum Racks are, lets make our own.

Creating with Drum Racks can be as easy as working with any MIDI instrument, if you know the ropes.

Another session for you to work with!

A few notes about what we are going to cover in this section.

Layering synths is a great trick for creating rich sounds without too much synth programming.

You've seen me do this earlier - but it can be especially important when we are working with synths.

This time 2 sessions for you to download and play with!

Some notes about this section - basic audio effect overview.

In this video I'll work with a delay, EQ, and compressor to add some color and motion to our synth line.

Automating your effects will add a huge amount of motion and variety to your track. Lets walk through how to set it up, and find the right parameters to automate.