Ableton Live In Worship (Part 5 – With A Band)

Here is a response to a question I got about using Live with a full band:

Yea we use a trigger finger to trigger specific loops throughout a song. Here is a screen shot ( below) from this past week showing how we would set it up for the song “All Over The World.” We map each section (verse/chorus/etc…) using the master slot on the far right to specific pads on the trigger finger (using the midi map function in the top right of ableton). Our keys player then trigger each section 1 bar before the actual part hits. So in this song I was missing our electric guitarist this week so I pre-recorded the electric rhythm parts. Note that the part doesnt loop (loop is tured off) but the far left “main loop” is set to loop. If we doubled the chorus all she had to do was re-trigger it 1 bar before we loop.

Depending on the “feel” for the set determines what we add into the loops. Sometimes it is string arrangements or extra lo-fi beats to add in. If we are missing a band member like this past week I usually play his basic parts so they arent missing.

So as for the transitions they work great with a 1bar grace. As long as the band has good dynamics and what is looped isnt a dominate feature (and more a support element) it works great.

Im blessed to play with killer musicians so the click hasnt been a problem yet. In just under a year we have only had two minor train wrecks, although we recovered quickly. I dont use a metronome click ever though. I usually create a simple lofi beat that sits in the song nicely that fits through each section. Sometimes it is routed to the FOH, other times just our monitors.

Hope that helps. Let me know if I can answer any more questions.

-G-