Ableton live??

[duffycolm]

Hi Guys

I'm relatively new the the whole audio engineering world and i've been looking for some reasonably priced software to get started. I've been looking at Ableton Live 6 (or 7), mainly because i've used it before in different contexts, i.e. for djing and making some loop-based music.

My question is how does it stand up against the big guns in terms of recording audio. I will hopefully be using a Mackie 1640 Onyx with Firewire capabilities for m interface and my P.C. is definitely powerful enough. I would like to be abe to record up to 8 tracks simultaneously and was wondering if anyone else has used ableton for this purpose specifically.

I've heard it's not sh$t hot for mastering in terms of effects and plugins but i'm not too worried about that for now.

Any feedback or suggestions?

[brandondrury]

I've heard it's not sh$t hot for mastering

From a computer / plugin standpoint mastering is the most simple of all processes. All you need is a stereo track, maybe an EQ (if someone messed up at mixing), a little compression, and a limiter.

I can't for the life of me understand why people make such a big deal about mastering.

Read this:
Why You Don't Need Mastering Software | Home Recording Blog

I know quite a bit of people who really like Ableton. It apparently has a different way of working. I've never used it. I'm big on Cubase, personally. If you already are familiar with Ableton, you should know if it can do what you want to do. As far as I'm concerned, all recording software is way too powerful. It hurts the quality of music in many cases, but that's a different story.

Tell me what you don't like about Ableton.

Brandon

[doug941]

I have used Ableton live. There are some real benefits to the program. It's great software for capturing that single riff you can't get out of your head, or working out that harmony part that you can't seem to nail. Because it's works with short clips, it's pretty easy on the cpu.

If I come across a drum loop that I find inspiring, I will drop it into Live and start riffing over it. It's then easy to take the best few, and drag them to a library. I try to do this on a regular basis. The upside is you don't have to keep a bunch of large cubase, logic, of pro tools session files, just little clips. After you have a pretty large library of parts, ableton live is perfect for auditioning different parts together (each clip is auditioned at the BPM of the session). I'm not a prolific composer like prince or someone, where the hits keep flowing, so this is how I use a little bit of elbow grease to stay creative through the droughts!

As for mastering, I tend to agree with Brandon. People speak as if it is something more than EQ and compression, usually it is not. I myself, like to use a small editing program with plugin support like Bias. For me it just strips things down to bare essentials, but you can master in almost any software. It all comes down to what you are trying to accomplish.

Now here is the part I'm a little hesitant to add. Again, this only my own opinion and Is certainly not meant to be flame bait!

There are professionals with credentials that master music in the same environment on a daily basis. They have access to parametric eq's that cost as much as your car. They work with sonically perfect rooms with different sets of monitors and speakers that cost more than your house! In my own experiences, I have found there services to be worth the investment. I try to avoid using overall compression and do the best mix I can. The mastering engineer says "what are you looking for?", I say "your the one with the platinum discs on the wall... make it sound the best you can!" Then I shut the fuck up and listen! Sometimes it's hard to step back and evaluate things as whole when you have been so meticulously involved in each of the little parts. Sometimes fresh ears are a beautiful thing.

You can have a whole album mastered for about a grand. This also includes creating the "glass master", which you will need if you are going to take your album into production. I understand this forum is all about home recording, and so am I! But if you seek things like radio play, the truth is, there are a handful of people that have mastered most everything you hear on the radio. Again, please don't brutalize me on this forum, this is only my humble opinion.