Experimental Solutions in Ableton Live

12 Pages·2015·1.73 MB·English

by  Estevan Carlos Benson

Experimental Solutions in Ableton Live
Discover new musical possibilities through theory &
examples
Estevan Carlos Benson
©2014-2015EstevanCarlosBenson
Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Whatexactlyis“experimentalmusic”? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.AbletonLiveBasics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.1PrerequisitesofLivemusicproduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.Overview:Musictheoryaddressedinthisbook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.1AlgorithmicMusic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.2ObliqueStrategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.3Serialism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.4GenerativeMusic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.5AleatoricMusic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Preface
“Experimental music” can apply to any variety of musical scenarios but for the sake of this book I
refertoitasthateverydayapproachweusewhentryingtobreakfreefromasetofrules.Whether
you’reamusicianwithwriter’sblock,tryingtochangeyourhabits,oryou’retryingtobreakoutside
the confines of a strict musical genre, experimentation is a way to approach problem solving and
discovery.
Examplesinthisbookmaynotcontainthequalityofmusicalexpressionyoudesireorthatinterests
you,howeverifyoushouldbeabletohearwaysinwhichthefollowingtechniquescanbeusefulto
you.Itwillhopefullyinspirenewideas.Ifyoureflectonthehistoryandevolutionofmanygenresof
music, risk and experimentation was involved in order to move it forward and in order to discover
somethingnew.
What exactly is “experimental
music”?
ThisisnotentirelyadiscussiononthedetailsofprogramminginMax,Python,orhackingAbleton.
Programmingissecondaryhere.Thisisaboutplay–afoundationofexperimentation.Thisisabook
intended to inspire, provoke, and advocate a healthy relationship with play, experimentation, and
creationwithinthetoolofAbletonLive.
OriginallyIwantedtocallthebook“Abstractsolutions”whichsuggestsaproblemexiststhatneeds
a solution. The “problem”, as I’m proposing, is the limitations of creativity that often reside within
us.HowdoIavoidtheblankslate?WheredoIstart?
Some of us may find it difficult to get the gears turning after a full day of work, studies, and
unrelated tasks. The problem isn’t necessarily the inability to create. It may be the inability to
realizethatyoucancreatesomething,anything,ifyoujustconsiderdifferentoptions.Sometimesthe
solutionforalackofcreativityshouldbeabstractinitsapproach.Sometimesthesolutionshouldbe
aboutremovingassumptions,roadblocks,andintroducingexperimentation.Sometimesthesolution
requireslearningaboutmoreavailableoptions.
Youdon’thavetobeconcernedwithexperimentalmusictofindanswersinthisbook(butithelps).
An understanding of the history of electronic music is filled with a history of innovation. Youmay
not find your musical voice without the risk of working differently. This book introduces small
historylessonsinordertooffercontext.
I had a conversation regarding “experimental music” with a fellow artist while I was an
undergraduatestudentstudyingmusic:
“People think they’re making ‘experimental’ music when they’re actually not. They’re
misusing the term. In science you must first propose a hypothesis and then test for it.
That’sanexperiment.Itisthehypothesisfollowedbythetest.”
My friend was right. Although it’s quite literal it offers food for thought. Should the name
“experimentalmusic”beabandonedoristhereahypothesiswe’reoftentestingforafterall?
I believe there is a hypothesis we’re testing. Simply put, the hypothesis is: This is music. Our
experimentation is about testing the boundaries of what satisfies our need to categorize what we
hear as “music”. In other words, we don’t know if we consider something musical until we try it.
Wedon’tknowifothersconsidersomethingmusical,untilit’spresentedtothem.
For some of you it’s about testing the boundaries of the audience you wish to appeal to – although
admittedly,somemusiciansfearalienatingtheiraudiences.Somemusiciansfearrisk.
Whatexactlyis“experimentalmusic”? 3
Strategy
Alienateyouraudiencethenstopalienatingthem.
This approach puts aside taste or genres. As I describe these “solutions”, remember that ultimately
itgoesthroughyourfilter.What’simportantisthatweplaywithournotionsof“music”,reflecton
theresults,andreachourownpersonaldecisions.Thisistheapartofthefoundationofthecreative
process.
Turnoffthecomputer.Sitandlisten.Nowlet’sbreakthesilencewithsomenoise.
1. Ableton Live Basics
Ableton Live introduced a set of compositional ideas that were ahead of it’s time. Although it may
haveborrowedfromothersources,inmyopinionitquicklyperfectedanewkindofcompositional
softwarethatsuccessfullydealtwithliveperformance,thusit’sname.
WhatIfindintriguingaboutthesoftwareishowitintroducedafewfeaturesthatcomeoffassubtle
and they could’ve easily been excluded. Features such as Follow Actions, Instrument Racks with
Chains (signal routing), and a unified window user experience. All these elements, and more, have
allowedtheprocessforplayingaroundmucheasierandfaster.
Historical Perspective:
Not to get nostalgic nor am I certain about the age of anyone who may read this, but
there were a long line of sequencers and DAWs before Ableton Live that were far
removed from what we see today. Consider it from a market perspective. For a long
time a traditional band was the primary demographic and thus the software had to
appeal to their needs - multitrack recording. So the software was often only optimized
for the purpose of recording multi-microphoned drums, guitarists, and singers. Early
DAW software was often not concerned with the current surge of solo musicians and
theneedsofsolomusiciansaredramaticallydifferent.It’sthisdifferencethatleadsme
tobelievethatAbletonLiveisfundamentallyaninstrumentmuchinthesamewaythat
akeyboardworkstationisaninstrumentoradrumset.
“What is the purpose of writing music? One is, of course, not dealing with purposes
but dealing with sounds. Or the answer must take the form of a paradox: a purposeful
purposelessorapurposelessplay.” -JohnCage,Silence:LecturesandWritings
American composer, John Cage was an early electronic music practitioner. Best known for a piece
called, 4”33’, which is famously known as a silent piece. The quote above may be intentionally
abstracthoweverhechallengessomeassumptions.“Play”caneasilybemistakenaspurposelessbut
isit?
Play
Did you know you can delay the signal of a track? If you have two duplicate tracks with
one delayed 200 milliseconds, it creates a phasing effect. In order to make sure you have
theoptionavailable,togglethe‘D’buttonnearyourrighthandsideofyourmainwindow.
1. AbletonLiveBasics 5
Phasing can create problems in your mix but provides an interesting and sometimes
desirableeffect.
I have created a series of side notes regarding small ideas and tips within Ableton Live. They are
labelled “Play”. Throughout the book I’ve littered the chapters with quick asides and advice. My
intentionistobothofferdetailedinstructionwithquickideas.
1.1 Prerequisites of Live music production
There are basic elements you should be familiar with as we move along: the difference between
MIDI and audio, MIDI clips, audio clips, scenes, session view, arrangement view, instruments, and
recordingautomation.Withthatbasicunderstanding,wecanmoveforward.
Strategy
Misunderstandyourtools.
MIDI and Audio
MIDIdataisarepresentationofmusicinformation.Itcontainsnoaudioorsound.Thisisnottobe
confusedwithGeneralMIDIwhichisstandardizedorganizationoftypeofsoundsandinstruments.
Inorderto“hear”MIDIitmustbesenttoasoundsourcethatcanreceiveMIDI.
Clips
Clips in Live either contain audio waveforms or MIDI data. These clips can contain additional
informationrespectivelyrelatingtoMIDIordigitalaudio.Clipscancontainadditionaldatarelating
toenvelopesandotherfeatureswe’llcover.
Arrangement View
The Arrangement View presents tracks based on a timeline. This is the most similar to traditional
track views within multitrack recording software. You can view segments of clips within a scene.
Theseclipsarearrangedhorizontallyrepresentingdurationoftime.Youcanalsorecorddirectlyinto
atrack/scene.Youmayalsorearrangeaudioacrossthetimelineinthisview.
1. AbletonLiveBasics 6
Session View
Thisiswhereyouviewclipsastheyrelatetospecifictracksandinstruments.SessionViewdoesnot
represent a timeline like Arrangement View does (however a timeline is present else where within
theuserinterface).
AtrackwithinSessionViewcancontainanynumberofclips.Atrackwithaninstrumentassigned
toitwillhaveclipscontainingMIDI.YoucannothaveclipswithaudioandMIDIonthesametrack
sincethesearetwodifferenttypesofdata.
Instruments
DependingonyourversionofLiveorinvestment,Livecancomebundledwithaseriesofsoftware
instruments. The minimum bundled instruments with most versions of Live are the Drum Rack,
Impulse, and Simpler. Each of these instruments use audio samples and function as variations of a
sampler-typeinstrument.
OtherinstrumentsoftenfoundwithLiveareAnalog,Collision,Electric,Sampler,Tension,etc.These
instrumentsusevaryingmethodsofsynthesisinordertoproducetheirresults.
Automation
Another common feature in live is automation. If you reflect on the fact that Live is heavily opti-
mized for solo artists, automation can become a critical feature for performance. Many parameters
inLivecanbeautomatedviaMIDIorcomputerkeys.ThisincludesparametersforLiveinstruments
andmanyVSTsyoumaydownload.
Automation can be recorded to individual clips (a recent feature in Live 9) or it can be recorded
acrossanentiretrack.Automationis displayedasaseriesoflines andnodesrepresentingpointsof
data.
2. Overview: Music theory addressed
in this book
Let’sgooverafewmusicalconceptsandtheirhistoricalcontext.Theseconceptsareindeterminacy,
algorithms,“ObliqueStrategies”,serialism,andgenerativeprocesses.Someofthesemusicconcepts
may be familiar to you or none at all. I will reflect on a few of these ideas, repeatedly throughout
thisbook.
Strategy
Considertheeasiestoption.
2.1 Algorithmic Music
“Algorithms (or, at the very least, formal sets of rules) have been used to compose music for
centuries;”asWikipedianotes.Iwanttostresstheirminimumdefinitionofa“formalsetsofrules”.
In many ways there is a common practice of algorithmic composition for many composers. We
are often defining rules in which our music functions. Though we risk weakening the definition
of algorithmic music by broadening it, I believe looking at the big picture will make algorithmic
conceptseasiertounderstand.
Sets of rules we determine can derive from non-musical sources: fractals, mathematical models,
twitterfeeds,andothersourcesofdata.Theserulesmayalsobeassimpleasdefiningwhenthekick
drumcomesinandhowmanymeasuresuntilthedrumbreakoccurs.Thiswillbecoveredinmore
detailaswemoveforward.