How to write a song in Ableton:(Master Template):
Song Arrangement – Part 9

The 9th part of my How to write a song in Ableton Live using the Ableton Master Template  is ready to go. If you haven’t yet watched the first part of writing a song in Ableton, you’ll want to Start Here

 

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:

Use another song as an Arrangement template

The first thing I do is find a song that I like the structure of, drag it into a new audio track, warp it & solo the track.

Create placement markers

Creating markers at different parts of the song with simple details, makes it easy to apply to your own song. Once you’ve mapped out all the important parts of the song,  I deleted the track & was left with these markers with little descriptions like “add bass, effect sound here, effect with delay”. What’s great about these type of descriptions is that they can be applied to any song or reinterpreted to suit your needs. This takes a lot of guesswork out of structuring your arrangement so you keep moving forward.

Cut, Copy, Paste, Duplicate

The most powerful tools in arranging a tune. Quickly choosing what to remove, what to repeat & what to relocate to another point in your song is the best way to get a basic structure in the least amount of time.

Don’t sweat the details (yet)

Broad strokes before the details. In this process, I don’t sweat with much mixing, filters, compressors, EQ or any of that. Instead I’m just creating basic building blocks. The only automation I do is volume fade ins & fade outs. This basically marks where I want things to come in, but not exactly how. I may decide to filter something in or out, or use some other trick, but for now everything is just a placeholder. The goal is to easily get a finished structure so you can start looking at this like a song instead of just a groove.

It’s not supposed to sound close to perfect but it should put an idea in your head of the vibe you are setting.

Enjoy part 9!

Coming up next I’ll be adding an evolving atmospheric loop to fill out the song. Click Below!
How to Write a Song in Ableton Part 10

Happy Music Making,

Jason

 

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