Welcome to Day 3 of my 30 Day Journal experiment. In this Video I was a victim to murphy’s Law and lost the whole video and had to redo it. Luckily I was able to redo it without too much trouble. This video finds me making a new melody part, constructing the loops into scenes, creating a sidechain track and beginning the song arrangement process.

Be aware that due to the volume of video material I’ve recorded (20 or more hours), there are no zooms or tricky video effects. I am also aware that there may be some imperfections & volumes may fluctuate with my voice from video to video. In this case I’m going for a wealth of content instead of perfection. It is recommended that you enlarge this video to fullscreen for best results. Enjoy and please share this with your friends through word of mouth, email, Twitter & Facebook. I’d like to share this free content with as many people as possible for the next 30 days. Understand that each video will only be available to stream for 48 hours or until the next video goes up. If you miss a video, the previous day’s Video/s will be at the end of this blog.

For those who are interested, I will be making all the songfiles, samples and final mixes of the songs available immediately if you decide to  Advance order this full collection   (you’ll need version 8.1.3). I will want to do some final work on these videos before sending them out. The full collection will likely be priced somewhere between $59-$79 but will be drastically reduced during the next 30 days.

I’ll also have all my collections available at a 20% discount through the duration of this Video Journal. Just use the discount code: 30DayDisc

* The comment section of my site is screwy at the moment but feel free to email me at MusicSoftwareTraining@gmail.com if you like.

I hope you enjoy this 30 day experiement. Happy Music Making

Jason

30 Day Music Production Video

If you've ever wanted to look over my shoulder while I make songs, THIS is the collection for you! In this collection you get me producing 2 full songs and a DJ mix from start to finish over a 30 day period. I take you through the good the bad and the ugly. It's the most honest video collection I've ever made. It includes every Ableton songfile for each day, every sample used and about 20 hours of Video. It also includes mixdowns of the 2 completed songs and DJ Mix.

Ultimate Ableton Collection 1

A must for anyone new to Ableton or wanting to dive deeper into the depth of this program. Over 4 hours of the most in depth yet easy to follow tutorials on the market!

Ultimate Ableton Collection 2

This collection makes an incredible companion to the first collection and gets into the newest features in Ableton. There are also 20 professional custom drum kits and a full Drum Racks replication of Roland's famous R-70 drum machine.

Advanced Warping Collection

This collection is a must for DJ's and remixers! If you find yourself warping full songs on a regular basis, you are going to run into warping issues that can really bring your production to a halt. These simple secrets will get you past that with ease and back to doing what you do best.

Dj'ing and Performance Collection

A must for anyone wanting to DJ or perform live in Ableton. Includes 17 in-depth Videos on Warping, Organizing files, Setting up midi controllers (including APC40) and lots more! As a Free bonus, it also includes my Ebook "Mixing with your Mind - Make your best DJ Mix".

Ableton Remixing Walkthrough

For those who want to see exactly how I approach a remix. From editing the original sounds, to dropping them into Ableton and building ideas. Then adding to these ideas to compliment the original material and finally working it all into a song. All edits, effect settings, automation, and arranging procedure is included in the information packed video collection.

Producer's Deluxe Collection

Get all 3 of my full video Collections (Ultimate Collections 1 and 2 and Advanced Warping Collection) Producers Deluxe Collection

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My 30 day video producing Journal

For those of you who are following me on Twitter over the last 30 days, you may have seen me tweet about an experiment I started on the 1st of August.  This idea has been running through my head all year and I kept putting it off because I was honestly a bit afraid of embarrassing myself publicly by agreeing to let you watch my songwriting process for 30 days straight.

One major hurdle was the fact that I have never produced music everyday for this length of time and wasn’t sure what the outcome would be if I forced myself to create when I wasn’t particularly inspired. Would inspiration show up or would I be left showing you 30 days worth of “go nowhere” ideas? That can’t be good for anyone’s ego.  :-)

Another fear was that you might not learn much from this process. I don’t purposely do complex things just for the sake of it, so most of my process is experimenting with layers of simple ideas until I find something that works. I didn’t want you watching me use the same techniques over and over and thinking “I thought he was gonna show me some crazy stuff” and being disappointed.

Then I had a thought…..

These excuses were the exact reason nobody else has done something like this before and if that’s the case, this must be common with most everyone that creates. Maybe by showing my strengths and weaknesses I might be able to pull others outside of their comfort zone. Maybe this will show you some of the essential things to learn instead of you feeling like you have to know everything before allowing yourself to start.

Through this process I’ve been motivated, unmotivated, grumpy, anxious, unorganized, inspired, bored, confused and slightly embarrassed at times. Despite all that I was able to complete 2 songs & a DJ mix I am pretty happy with. That has got to count for something. I’ve also become that much better at fighting through resistance and getting to the other side. I may talk more specifically about my struggles as I share this 30 day process. If I can create in the state of mind I was in on some days, you definitely can too!

So here’s how this is going to work…

At some point soon I will be posting 1 video on my blog a day for 30 days. Almost all the videos are 30 minutes of longer, while some are well over an hour. Each day 1 video will be up to watch for free for 24 hours (or until the next video takes it’s place). So for 30 days you will have a new video to watch. I’ve edited the videos a bit to keep them more focused so you don’t watch me go off on tangents that are unnecessary. You will however see me do some things that don’t get used at all in the final process. I figured it was important to include that so you can pretty much watch the whole creative process.

For those who find value in this collection, I will later make it available if you want to purchase it. It will include all the samples used and all the Ableton song files from each day as well as the 2 completed songs and DJ mix (obviously seperated tracks from my DJ mix will not be included).

Don’t call this a tutorial

Although there is alot to learn from this collection of videos, it was put together without any planning and therefore is not like any other collection I have made. This isn’t a “how to make a (choose your style) song” but rather an relatively honest approach to some ways I approach making music.  I do however limit myself to just Ableton’s internal effects and instruments. These limitations take me outside my comfort zone which I thought was a good challenge. I wanted to be working with tools that all Ableton users have access to so everyone can not only follow along but stop thinking they need more stuff before they can start creating professional sounding music. In another track I built the song just using samples and internal effects. I also go through the process of preparing a song to play live in Ableton and build a DJ mix.  Do to the 20ish hours of footage, I haven’t done the type of editing I usually do. Sometimes you’ll find me in the “zone” and I stop talking about what I’m doing and I just DO, although I try my best to fill you in or why I’m doing what I’m doing and what I am thinking at the time.

I hope this lets some of you inside my head creatively and shows you some building blocks, techniques and tools that you can apply to your work. I certainly didn’t invent any of the techniques, so it’s only fair that I pass along what I know so you can take it and figure out a way to do it better. … Then I can learn from you  :-)

Keep your eye on this blog and make sure to follow me on Twitter if you want up to the moment updates.

Til then,

Happy Music Making,

Jason

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Personal 1 on 1 Ableton training

Although I believe that my tutorial video collections are  very helpful for most, I know of several people who prefer direct interaction with me. You may have a specific topic that is challenging you or perhaps you run into a rough spot in one of your songs  that you need guidance on.

Whatever it may be, there are several reasons to opt for personal training. I personally find my learning and production skyrockets when I’m working with another person. I find that the power of 2 or more people working on a creative task can accomplish quite a bit more that each individual on their own. Each person brings certain skills to the table that the others may not have.

Since 1999 I have been doing 1 on 1 training on a number of programs including Cubase, Acid, Fruity Loops, Pro tools, Sonar and Reason. My experience over the years helped me understand what was most important tips and tricks are that would be most helpful and productive. This also led me to making video tutorials and starting my blog.

The reason I switched from personal training to making videos was simply the ability to reach and assist more people through the internet than I possibly could privately. There were only so many people I could help within my local area & to go outside of that zone was very time consuming.  The reason I return to a limited amount of private training is that I now have the ability to do sessions with anyone in the world from the comfort of my home.  Now we can access my studio or yours at any time during the session. That prospect is exciting and inspiring to me.

My sincere goal has always been to empower people to be more productive and to help them make music they can be proud of. Sometimes knowing all the tricks isn’t enough to give you that creative instinct. Sometimes you get stuck with too many choices and you freeze up, afraid of making the wrong choice.

This is where personal training can come to the rescue. You can have someone on your side taking you directly the the right tool in your toolbox to accomplish what you have in mind.

You’ll also have someone who can see and hear potential issues before they turn into a problem. To know your tools well is definitely important, but more important is to know which technique will give you the best result for your immediate task. This is why many people hate reading manuals.  Sure the information is most likely in there (if it’s a decent manual), but who wants to dig through all 500+ pages to get to the 1 paragraph that will solve your issue? Out of the 1000′s of choices you have from moment to moment in your songwriting. wouldn’t it by nice to know that you’ll only need 15 or 20 of them to finish the song in front of you?

Although I have a Remix walkthrough collection that has helped a number of people, some want that experience applied directly to their song. Perhaps your song needs different tools that I didn’t address in my video collection. For whatever the reason, I am making myself available to help you get to the next level.

When you book a Personal Training session, it will be your time to learn exactly what you want to learn. If you want to learn a certain technique, I’ll walk you through it until you have confidence performing the task yourself.

Maybe you want to watch how I might approach a certain songwriting task. Perhaps you want me to help you work on your own ideas to try to pull out the potential that hasn’t yet shined through.

Remember that very few people do everything on their own. Pretty much everyone has people they go to when they are in a jam. Even the best of the best. I do it ALL the time. There is no shame in asking for help when you find yourself stuck. If I can be of service, I encourage you to contact me.

As I expect to be booked up pretty quickly, it’s probable that i’ll be raising my prices if wait times get too long. I would rather charge more and be able to work with people more quickly. Also if you would like to go in on a session with a few friends, that is also fine by me. Just make sure you are organized in what you want to learn or work on.

This should also help those of you who read my blog and watch my videos as I’ll be able to share more challenges and solutions that I come across.

What this is not

Those of you with viruses, software problems, or computer repair needs will not benefit from my services. Make sure you sort out your glitches before booking a session with me. I work pretty specifically with Ableton Live so I won’t be doing training on 3rd party synths, effects or other DAWs. If you have specific needs, make sure to discuss it with me prior to booking a session.

Booking a session

If you are interested in booking a session click on the link below:

http://www.musicsoftwaretraining.com/1on1.php

Happy Music Making,

Jason

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*This post will likely only interest Ableton users who have an Iphone and work on a PC (or Bootcamp/Parallels).

Here is a custom controller I have made to control many of Ableton’s features with my Iphone.  Although it isn’t an “end all” solution, it definitely makes things go faster and much more conveniently whether you are producing at home or DJ’ing. As long as you have a wi-fi signal to connect to, you’re golden.

Here is what you will want to do to get started.

1. Go to your Iphone AP store,  purchase and install Snatch Remote (don’t worry, it’s only $4 and if you don’t like my custom controller, you cn pretty easily make your own).

2. Download and install snatchtrackpad & remote onto your computer at this link http://www.hoofien.com/Snatch/

3. Open up Snatch on your computer, and then your Iphone

4. enter the server/password info into the setting on Snatch inside your Iphone

5. Download and unrar my Snatch remote files at this link http://www.musicsoftwaretraining.com/share/snatch.rar

6. In Snatch on your Iphone, hit “Keys” tab, then “Edit” then “load screen”

7. a window will pop up on your computer, choose the first Snatch file, confirm on your Iphone and hit “done”

8. On your Iphone, swipe from right to left to get another blank screen and repeat steps 6 and 7.

9. Watch the video below and make sure to assign your 1,2,3,8,9 & 0 keys to the correct locations.

Enjoy!

I look forward to our community sharing further tweaks and custom controls.

Happy Music Making,

Jason

Follow me: http://twitter.com/AbletonVids

Website: http://www.musicsoftwaretraining.com

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