How to write a song in Ableton:(Master Template):
Bass – Part 3

Today I release the 3rd part in the process of walking you through my How to write a song in Ableton Live process using the Ableton Master Template & internal effects exclusively. If you haven’t yet watched the first part of writing a song in Ableton, you’ll want to Start Here

 

My Ableton Master Template is a massive tool I made that gives you all the tools you need to make tunes quickly & easily. Now understand that this isn’t necessarily a walkthrough of the Ableton Master Template as I only planning on using what I need to make a tune, instead of trying to fit every tool into this video. I have a series of videos if you want a detailed walkthrough of the template.

In the video below I share the following:

Saving a track outside of Ableton

I start by saving the Electronic Drum Rack to a folder I created inside the song project folder. This allow me to delete the track from the song to save cpu & clean things up, while still retaining the opportunity to bring it back in if I ever need to.

Layering Bass sounds 

I layer 2 bass sounds together using a Sub created with my Operator Rack and a Bass from my Sampler Bass rack. By removing the sub frequencies in the sampler bass, I give the sub room to breath.

Macro tweaking

Using some FM synthesis with a slow attack and adding a bit of LFO, I gave the sampler bass a bit more character. These are set up on each instrument in the master template to make this super easy.

Midi Shortcuts

By copying a midi clip form the sub bass to the sampler bass it’s easy to have a good starting point on a 2nd layer that matched the first. In this case, I liked them both playing the same part.

By highlighting the midi notes and press Shift and the Up arrow, I was able to raise the 2nd bass by and octave. I then duplicated the sampler bass track and raised that one by another octave. It’s subtle but effective.

Stereo widening

I used a trick with Simple delay that gives a great stereo effect. Then I used a utility plugin to reduce the effect a bit so it wasn’t too wide.

Mixing techniques

I show how the sound & vibe of a song can change dramatically with different mixing levels. By simply bringing down the percussion loops a bit, the song got a much warmer, darker vibe. Lowering one of the kick layers also improved the overall sound.

Sometimes you have no idea where the song wants to go until you play with the levels a bit. If something doesn’t sound right, often times it’s in the mix.

Enjoy Part 3!

Get into more Bass in How to write a song in Ableton Live part 4

 

With that said, if you are benefiting from these posts, you will absolutely love my 2 bestselling books:

The Mental Game of Music Production
The Process for Electronic Music Producers

You can also Check out the: Ableton Courses & Instruments

If you are looking for personal guidance with your music production or Ableton, you can set up a free chat with me to go over exactly what your best next steps are to create the best music of your life. If it seems like a good fit, we can move forward from there.  https://musicsoftwaretraining.com/private-coaching

Happy music making!
Jason