Introduction to Ableton Live (Coursera)

Ableton Live is one such application. Used by an extremely broad range of music creators, Ableton Live not only facilitates the work of engineers, producers, and writers in professional, home, and mobile studio settings, but it is also a powerful platform for musicians on stage, in the DJ booth, and elsewhere.

In this Ableton Certified Training Center course developed by Berklee Online, you will explore some of Live’s most powerful and useful functionality: MIDI programming, audio recording, warping and processing, looping editing, mixing, performing, file management, and troubleshooting. Meant to be a springboard for those who are new to Ableton Live and/or DAWs in general, this three-week course will provide you with a strong knowledge base for using Live to take your musical ideas from conception to final recording. The course breaks down the many barriers of entry into music technology and encourages all those who wish, to create fearlessly.

Completing this course will count towards your learning in any of the following programs:

- The Singer Songwriter Specialization

- Electronic Music Production Specialization

What You Will Learn

- Navigate Ableton Live

- Program MIDI drums and instruments

- Record and edit audio, including working with preexisting audio loops

- Create a piece of music using MIDI and audio within Ableton Live

Syllabus

WEEK 1

Welcome to Introduction to Ableton Live

Welcome to the course! Here we will cover all the details about the course and what you'll need to know to get the most out of your experience.

Getting Our Hands Dirty

In this lesson, I'm going to demonstrate how to get set up in Live, whether you have an audio interface or just your computer. We'll also look at saving and submitting your sessions, devices, MIDI drums, and MIDI synths.

WEEK 2

Polishing the Sound

In this lesson, we'll be moving from MIDI to audio and implementing effects, which will give your sessions even more personality and depth. We'll also be diving into Audio Warping, which is one of Ableton's most powerful functionalities and is the cornerstone of remixing.

WEEK 3

The Endless Possibilities

In this final lesson, we're going to dive into some more advanced production techniques, the very basics of mixing, and I'll get into some valuable information regarding file management and troubleshooting. Hopefully with this new information you'll be able to tie together a lot of what we've learned in the past two weeks and bring your music to the next level.