Advanced Ableton Live Drum Processing Techniques

Ableton Live is much loved for its intuitive programming tools that let you make and edit MIDI and audio parts easily. But if you want to take your beats to the next level and start making truly advanced music, you might need a few pointers to get you there. In this short video from the course Ableton Live FastTrack 304: The Art Of Drum Programming II, DJ Kiva builds on core Live programming skills to show you the pro techniques he uses to make his beats his own. 

In this video, he uses creative pitch shifting to demonstrate that you can get some really cool special effects on your beats by changing the sample transpose control for any audio clip. And of course Live can change pitch without altering timing, so your timing stays correct! You'll see how you can use these controls to instantly create glitch-hop style beats and much more. The rest of the course covers many more aspects of advanced beat creation in Live, so be sure to check it out. 

Ableton Live FastTrack 304: The Art Of Drum Programming II

The course begins with an in-depth look at Live’s warping and transient modes. Kiva reveals exactly how these features can completely transform your drum loops by making them sound tighter, dirtier, grittier … and even transform them into abstract rhythm textures if you wish so. With lots of in-action examples, Kiva teaches how to create DJ-style and glitch effects, and explains why all beat makers should know about clip envelopes, sample offset modulation, time stretching and resampling. But that’s not all! You also learn drum slicing tips for creating brand new material out of drum loops, and innovative MIDI techniques and FX that are guaranteed to propel your beats to that next level. The course concludes with a practical musical example using all techniques covered in the course.

So what are you waiting for? Launch Ableton Live, and get ready to master the mystical art of drum programming with beat-making wizard DJ Kiva!