Clippety clippety clips

Once you have a clip you can make all sorts of variations very simply in Ableton:

The first move is to copy your original (unless you want to change that too) with Ctrl D or right click and go to the ‘duplicate’ option in the drop down menu. Then click on the coloured part of the clip to reveal the clip view at the bottom of the display.

Here you will find a wide range of controls. You can;

WARP: (already covered) your clip into time, or to create a different sound by squeezing and stretching the sounds; (see previous blog entry - Going into warp drive)

LOOP: simply place the loop brace around the area you want to repeat and switch the loop button on (should turn yellow then) - the loop brace runs across the audio or midi notes pane and has two triangular flags at either end (see below).

MOVE THE START/END POINTS: In addition to changing the loop you can change where the clip starts and ends - these points are moved just like the loop brace and live just underneath it above the audio or midi notes panel (see above).

CHANGE HOW IT LAUNCHES - these dictates how a clip starts when it is triggered, it may begin at the start of the next bar, or you may choose to be able to drop it in on any sixteenth etc. You can have it so it toggles on and off with a key rather than having to seek out the off button. You may also want it to run within a gate etc. You can also have automated launching (see earlier post). You may also want to use the legato selection (button on the launch panel) which means this clip plays where the last clip left off (good when you are introducing variations to drop into a longer clip). Below you can see I set the launch to toggle (to trigger on and off with the same keyboard key as I wished). I used this for the melodic pieces that I had running over the poetry lines so I could use them sparingly so they did not overshadow the words.

REVERSE: Which is operated using the button saying REV, and it does simply that - reverses the sounds in the clip (see the ‘rev’ button in the sample section below).

PITCH SHIFT: This is done by altering the transpose control (a circle with a line through it) moving it round to the left or right will take the pitch up or down (see above the circles with a line halfway through it in the sample section. This is the transpose dial).

APPLY AN ENVELOPE: To apply an envelop you need to look to the bottom left of the clip view settings panel for a button with an ‘e’ on (next to one with musical notes on - which shows the notes for midi clips and one with ‘L’ on which shows the launch settings and controls. With the envelop panel up you can draw an envelop around parts of your clip to control a huge range of things, there are defaults there such as volume (I had to level out the volume between some of my sung and spoken clips and also used this to bring down the volume of a set of melodic pieces to run under the spoken words meaning I did not have to turn down the track volume while performing live or save the clips on another track to the rest of the melody pieces). You can also put an envelope around lots of other controls such as the send controls to allow an effect on only part of a clip or only on some clips in that track. To do this set the send to full on. Then turn down the send with envelopes in clips you don’t want effected and turn it up on those you do.

This shows a clip with the send A being allowed to effect the clip in an envelope (the pink bit - you can pull it up and down by double clicking on the pink line - it turns blue when you are over it - to create a round handle. This can be pulled up or down to bring the whole line up or down - or double click next to it, or further along to create the kind of arrangement above where there is a pocket of the clip encapsulated in the envelope).

To the left of the audio pane you can see the envelope control panel, beyond that would be the sample panel - with the effects such as transpose, warp, loop on and to the left again the launch panel.

In my piece I used this envelope to apply a simple delay and using the envelope I was able to get the delay to repeat just one word from the clip. I used this on several clips by putting the effect on Send A. I turned the Send controller up and then applied it to the clips in the track where I wanted to use it with an envelope. Here how it worked on this the line “Tick all the boxes” here: http://sharebee.com/895a8dd0

Below I have shown how I used one clip in different ways…
I used the line “Yes, Mrs Jones, I’m doing alright” in several ways.

First I extracted “Yes, Mrs Jones”, by putting the start and end point around it and loop brace:

Secondly I selected the “I’m doing alright” section by moving the start and end, and loop brace:

Then I applied an envelope to allow delay over the world alright so it would repeat:

Bringing it all together

In my piece I created some rhythms using Impulse, recorded Irene’s and my voice for audio clips, created some sound effects using Simpler and Operator, found some suitable sounds for melodies (mainly using the string machine – see below) and amended the tunes to fit my piece – using the clip view and notes – then I had to thinking about how it would all run together.

 

I have already decided that running all the voice pieces in one ‘verse would be too much for the audience. So I have split them into two verses.

 

So I am going to have an intro section which will basically trigger itself once I launch the first scene. Though I will alter the resonance and frequency on the Operator generated wind sound and use a live mic to speak some lines (I don’t know at this point if that will be running through Ableton - ie on a track with the record button pressed - if so I can then add an effect or processor to alter my voice and that may need a live controller on the keyboard) - I will have a master volume control on my keyboard so I can turn down the music to make my voice clearly heard.

 

I had to overcome the problem that all my scenes did not have all the same elements in - ie there may be drum fills come in later on which would mean a new track triggering - but with no clips playing above them there was nothing to trigger these fills etc - in midi tracks you can just ‘click’ in an empty slot and it will create an empty clip which has all the launch capacity of a normal clip. In audio tracks you have to duplicate one of your audio clips and then turn the volume off using an envelope (and to make it easier to use I tidied it up when I’d finished and made all the empty clips - the ones with no name on - a dark grey so they weren’t so confusing).

 

 

I will then launch in the first verse - which will play beats and sung/spoken lines randomly - I will trigger melody clips with keyboard keys and turn on and off the tracks to allow both mine and Irene’s calls and responses to be heard - I will know when it is appropriate to open the tracks as at the bottom of the track there is an oblong box which fills with the colour of the clip being played as it is playing - so I don’t turn on a track when a clip is halfway through - I will also be able to see which track is due to play next as the clip about to be triggered’s play symbol flashes before it starts.

 

There will be an instrumental chorus over which I will again speak in the live mic (this will be triggered with the first sequence and play automatically - the first scene will stop any remaining audio from the verse. Again I will use the master volume to make myself heard). I will have to tweak Operator’s controls to effect the wind sound.

 

Then I will trigger the second verse - same style as the first.

 

Then I will trigger the first part of the finale, again effecting the wind sound and speaking live lines over the end of the first part (this I have turned down in volume using envelopes). Then finally trigger the second part of the finale, ending with more wind (Operator’s controls effected using knobs on the keyboard).

 

Anyroad for a more interesting look at how it all works see ‘key to the whole performance’ - shows how to use keyboard to play it all live.

 

Going into warp drive

When you want to use audio in your piece you have to get it into Ableton, edit it and warp it so it plays in time with everything else - I’ve done that to get the clips of myself and Irene speaking and singing the lines from my poem. Here’s some notes on how to do it: (I’ll get to the nitty gritty of recording in the song lines later - still working a nice diagram to upload).

 

 

Loading, editing and warping audio

To load audio you can either drag and drop readymade audio files from Ableton or the computer into clip slots – or you can record it in directly by setting up an audio track, preparing it for recording by pressing the record button at the bottom of the track (in the panel with the track on/off switch which features the track number). Once this is on you will be able to hear the audio (in the case of my project this is how I recorded Irene’s and my voices for the sung/spoke lines). When you have set levels etc you can press record on and individual clip slot (you will notice that these have changed from the square stop buttons to round record buttons). It will start recording on the next beat so beware that it is recording before you play/sing in the audio. Then you can stop recording with the stop button at the bottom of the track (this is easier if you have it assigned to a key on the computer rather than with the mouse).

Record is the round button below the ’s’ (that one solos the track so you can only hear that one)

 

Once you have recorded all the slots you want you are ready for editing

 

To select the section of audio you want you have to open the clip view by clicking on the coloured body of the clip. Once in the clip view you can pull in the start and end flags across the top of the audio pane and also the loop brace if this is required (see other entries if any of those terms are unclear).

 

Click and hold in the grey area beneath where you want the start of your clip to be and run the mouse up or down to zoom in and out, so you can place the start at the very beginning of the piece you want. You can crop the sample, which will leave just the bit you have identified but you may want to keep the whole sample so that you can copy the clip and move the start, end or loop to make a variation.

 

Once you have identified which piece of audio you want to use you will want to warp it into time so it runs nicely with other clips in your set.

 

Warping is tough! Well I have found it so. This involves finding the start of your desired piece of audio, identifying how long you want it to run for (it may be the whole song or a large chunk, or perhaps just a couple of bars).

 

Once you know what you’re trying to warp you have to set the 1 point. Find the start of your piece (the first beat of the bar). You’ll need the warp button on (that’s to the left of the audio pane). No matter how long your piece you will have to start with the first bar. Bring in the 1 marker by clicking and dragging it to where you want it (or right click where you want it and select mark 1.1 here – that will bring it to the nearest marker – which is helpful if you are working in the middle of a long piece).

 

 

Then you need to identify where the second bar should come in. Once you have done this you can mark that spot with the 2 marker – double click it to fix it in place (it should turn yellow). Check your selection by counting time while it plays (use the metronome in the top menu – it’s symbol is a clear circle and a coloured in circle)  – this is often easier if you put a loop around it even if you’re not going to loop this bit for your final edit.

 

You can then look within the bar to see if any of the elements need pulling into time with the beats – again you may need to magnify and you’ll see more time markers come into view, and then again drag them to where you want them and double click to fix (see above).

 

Then you can go on to warp the next bar or longer piece – often doing one bar will put the whole piece into time – but sometimes not! This is one of the tricky bits. You have to remember to check further on in a long piece as it could have started to drift out of time…

 

In my final project my spoken lines were only one or two bars and most were worked pretty well as they were (lucky me!). But there were a couple I had to work on in more detail – when working on different types of audio you need to look at the type of warping – for vocals I used complex (it’s in a drop down menu below the warp button- see illustration above). There’s also beats (for beats) for example, or texture.

 

Warping for effect – when you are warping into time you usually want to retain the original sound of the audio – the different settings of complex etc help do this too. But you can use the warping setting to effect the sound. Set up a bar with the bar markers and then zoom in. Using the markers within the bar you can squeeze or stretch the audio between them with either pleasing, or often horrid results. It can be a useful tool.

 

Trigger happy

Hurrah - I think I’ve worked out how the main body of my musicalpoem will work - and how I can have both me and Irene in it. I’ve put all Irene’s Qs on one track and all her As on another. Same with mine. They all trigger each other randomly down the tracks. But it’s a big jumble if all four are playing at once - so I’m only going to have two on at once - probably my Qs and Irenes As or My As and Irene’s Qs most of the time (as the answers trigger +two beats more than the Qs, so they don’t overlap too much with them) …. but the world’s my lobster if I dedicate keyboard keys to the track on and off switches - I can have any one track audible, two, three or all four.

I can also trigger the whole main section of my poem by lining up the first clip in each on the same scene and having that on another key to start them all at the same time (NB I must remember before I start playing live to switch two of the channels and off the other two - and I think I need a silent clip in the first ’answer/response’ channel otherwise I will be triggering it the same time as the call (….this comment added afterwards, after playing with the whole random thing - in the end I made the first clips on all but Irene’s call channel silent ones so that there was no danger of me triggering more than one as I started into the verse section) - and my finale first scene will switch them off when I launch it… or I can mute with my keyboard on/off keys (see the buttons below the 7+9 are yellow because they are on, 8+10 are grey because they are off).

I have also created a set of drum loops to trigger randomly  (varying whether they last for 2 - 8 bars mainly depending on how much I like them)  with the spoken/sung words - this means I will be able to concentrate on using effects on the words and drums, playing in sound effects and melodic pieces such as the strings when I perform it.

Does that sound like it will work to you?? (anyone’s welcome to answer but I’m mainly directing that one at my tutor Graham (or anyone who’s in Beaumont street working on their music tech project) - he’s got his class doing this blog thing so he can keep an eye on us from afar - well that’s what I think!) 

ANOTHER DEVELOPMENT - I think the verse piece will go on too long if I incorporate all the calls and responses in just one verse - so I’m going to break it up with a musical chorus and some live spoken lines from me (which I’m also going to do over the intro and finale).

With bells on …

Next job - sound effects - I’m going to use Operator (another of Ableton’s instruments, like Impulse, the drum machine. This is a complicated beast of a synthesizer). I’m going make some bell sounds I’ve found, sound like Weird Wedding Bells-ish … that’s the theory. Then I want some wind sounds and I think I’m going to use Simpler, probably  (one of the other two instruments - and as its name suggest a simpler sampler) to shape what I need.

Hmm a bit complicated and yet tuneful

 While I’ve been waiting for my singer to come into be recorded I’ve been thinking how this piece is going to play - I’d like the sung lines to trigger each other in a to and fro way (like questions and answers) but they normally only trigger down one track and I’d like them to play randomly - but alternating between the two types of lines at the same time …. Oh yes I forgot mention I’ve written my poem - Bank Holiday Monday laid on the lounge floor plonking out notes to go with the words on my out of tune upright piano. If you’re good I’ll share the words with you later (it’s a diatribe about being a woman …. that’s it boys, I can hear you all switching blogs now - I did warn you I wasn’t doing dance stuff!).

 

IRENE’S ARRIVAL - Irene Pirrera’s a folk singer from Holmfirth with a beautiful voice - I’m very lucky she’s such a good sport to come in and do this for me (she’s doing the digital graphics course that I’m also on and I know she had hoped to get on this course but couldn’t because of the timing so no doubt you’ll be able to read her blog on Ableton when the next course runs.) 

 

I’ve recorded Irene’s voice – she was very patient, I’m sure with her being used to singing ‘proper’ songs, this seemed like somewhat of an experiment – but THANKS VERY MUCH IRENE  - I owe her a drink (a large one).

 

Anyway wiring up and selecting the right mic etc was all something I had to get to grips with but since I have to draw a diagram of how it all went (which will need scanning in) and I cannot add that to the blog right now I shall put in full details later on …

 

Oh yes I promised you the poem words:

 

So this is (real) life … 

Making it right          -  No end in sight

Mother and wife             - No question whose life

Keeping house neatly         -  Tricked so sweetly

Four-wall security            - Birdcage immaturity

Time of your life          -  Echo inside

Tick all the boxes           -  No outside chances (choices)

Flying high                 - False hope cries

Mountains to climb          - Years tick by

No time to think twice          - Barely a life

One of the tribe              - Anyone left inside?

Yes Mrs Jones, I’m doing alright      - Turn out my light

 

(dunno how real musicians do it but I marked out the syllables of each word and gave them a note (or more) each for Irene to sing - plus we improvised a little too during recording.)

 

Now I’ve got all my voice recording in (Irene’s call and response lines, my call and response lines) there’s a lot to chop up and turn into clips.

 

All to be warped and renamed and then I can decide which ones sound best etc, find some effects that may go well with them and probably mess around with some to alter how they play and sound (though I think Irene’s voice sounds too nice to muck about with – maybe I’ll just loop words and things with hers and mess with mine!)

 

THEN I’LL NEED SOME MUSIC !!!!