Beat Deconstruction… That David Crowder Sound

This week I am going to be scaling things back a bit and leading with just acoustic guitar, piano, and ableton running a simple beat/loop for each song. This is actually one of my favorite ways to lead. It’s simple and usually gives way to a killer atmosphere for worship. The only downside can be that the loop gets stale after a while… well, until… enter “beat deconstruction.” You hear some form of this in David Crowders stuff or in a lot of electronic music today and one of the best ways to mix up and have a loop sound a bit more interesting and not so static is to throw in a little beat deconstruction (between sections or at breakdowns in the song).

Our keys player is gonna run this from a trigger finger. Its a pretty simple set up actually. We route two loops (one for a verse and another for chorus/bridges) to two of the pads, and then use one of the rotary knobs as an on/off switch for the deconstruct effect (mapped via the midi map function).

Seems like I have wanted to do this forever live, but never found a good way to run it or have a good sound come out each time. But today I was tweaking around and stumbled across some settings in beat repeat and wanted to pass it all on to you…. so here are some files that I hope bless you.

The files are for the new Tim Hughes song – Highest And Greatest. Great song for the church. This is our scaled back version (like I mentioned below). I sampled out the piano lick although our keys player would play it live actually. We do reverse that loop for the verses… sounds killer though. Oh, its in the key of A (1/2 step down from the CD)
Highest And Greatest Example *the example starts on the chorus and then there is a little deconstruct breakdown for 2 bars and then the 2nd verse hits right away. Listen to the original CD and you will get the idea for the layout.

Highest And Greatest Project ; *Here is our file. Use the midi route function to map an on/off switch for the beat repeat plugin (on the main loop track) and mess around turning it off and on… You will get the hang real quick.

Beat Deconstruct Setting *Just the setting file.

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-

Hello Drummer… Using Live With A Full Band

Interestingly enough… especially after the last post (about using ableton as your drummer), our team is blessed to have a new drummer coming on to play every week. So the majority of my week has been figuring out how I will be able to implement a drummer with our current setup. So for example purposes… here is how we are gonna roll this week:

Myself playing electric and leading vocals, acoustic guitarist singing backup, keys player singing back up,  bass player and the new drummer… and of course… ableton.

The set list:

1) All Over The World

2)Everlasting God

3)You Alone

4)Grace Will Be My Song

5) Nothing But The Blood

All of the songs except You Alone will be played with the full band. You Alone I’ll rock acoustic with the keys playing a string arrangement behind it. So the question is how we will use Ableton in the set…

We have a basic loop that the drummer controls throughout the song. Basically it plays through the entire song and is light enough in the FOH that the people can hear it when the band it light but once they kick in it it masks it. The drummer has it pumped in his monitors (IEM) to keep in time. Our keys player has a trigger finger run from the Macbook (with the drummer) and she can trigger scenes during a song. For example we have a killer loop playing through Nothing But The Blood that drives the verses. Just before we hit the Chorus the keys triggers the violin loop we have set up for the Chorus. The are single shots and dont actually loop and set up exactly the length of the Chorus/Bridge (this is so they simply stop after they run their course, if we double she re-triggers it). We have the lead in set at 1bar.

On Grace Will Be My Song I recreated a lot of what you hear on Steve Fee’s CD track that we will play along with. Right up the the end where the track ends and the drummer takes over and the band hits nice and big. So the end of the song is played without a click or rhythm track of any sorts.

So thats the plan. Should work like a charm.

Hope that is somewhat of a help.

Ableton Live In Worship (Part 4 – Drums) / “All Over The World” Example

I lead worship currently for a 8 month old church plant just outside Dallas. We are about 100 strong and have some killer musicians playing each week… only thing is we are missing a drummer at the moment…. well kinda…

Enter Ableton Live. I program all our drums and percussion each week using nothing other than Live, some 3rd party sample sets/loops, and my M-Audio Trigger Finger.

Your first thought might be…. lame… a real drummer is better. Yes and no. Yes that a real drummer would be better (if they are good then no doubt), but not so lame. Overall its creates a solid, in time, perfectly mixed set up for our sets. the best feature is the drums are perfectly controlled in our worship auditorium. There are cons, but there are definitely pros as well.

Basically I have a couple Impulse instruments set up with “real” sampled drum hits. Check out previous posts for some sites you can check out. With a little reverb and some processing (EQ, compression) I can get the samples sounding pretty killer… most of that is added though Sunday during sound check.

A couple elements go into this set up:

1. Ive found its best to create each part, verse, chorus, bridge, intro, etc as individual clips. Keep them simple but add enough “touch” so they arent so “fake” (vary your velocity and use the swing feature in ableton).

2. Fill in the verses and chorus with a shaker or tambourine. You’ll be surprised how much these help.

3. Next record the layout and then use the “consolidate” [apple+J] (right click on the loop you just recorded) and compile the track that will take it from being just a looped file and lengthen it to how many times it actually looped. The reason is then I usually manually add in fills between each section. If you dont consolidate the loop it will play the fill every time it loops around.

4. Next, search for good cymbal sounds… grrr… this has been the biggest pain for me. What I finally did was sampled my own kit and use those… although I’m sure there are better out there. I’ve found if I keep them set back in the mix and not to dominate it works. Once you have your samples layer them on separate channels from your impulse set (seems I find people try and use them in their impulse kit… but i’ve found they sound better on separate channels, except my hats and ride of course). So I usually have a left and right channel for two different crashes.

5. After you have the song layed out how you most likely would play it live you can do two options. The first is render it and use that file and “play along.” or you can highlight each section and copy that over to the main view as “clips.” So you would have the intro as one set of clips (drums, where cymbals might hit, etc) that you can trigger via the master clip (far right of screen), then you could have the first verse, next the chorus. What is important is that you have the fills that lead to each part. OR, and this takes a little getting used to, but you could create clips that are larger sections… such as intro through the first chorus, another from where you left off to the bridge, next from there to the ending. With that you could create a double back to the chorus through the ending. This give you some flexability when leading if you want to “flow” more in the set. I would suggest looking at bwacksforum.com for some more ideas on how you can accomplish this . You’ll need either another band member triggering your sections for that, or a foot controller if you plan to change them.

6. I guess I should have put this first… you have two options for staying in time… run a click , or keep a constant rhythm element in the song (shaker, glitch, whatever you can follow). The later is how I usually roll when playing with other people… I’ve found few people are comfortable playing with a click in their ear. To start songs I usually have some sort of count off (sick count off, cymbal count off, or sometimes just a loop starts the song).

So thats a simple version of how to use ableton as your drummer. I’ve been doing it for 8 months, every week, and we are to the point that people dont even notice we dont have a drummer. I had someone ask me the other week who plays drums and if they play off stage to hlep control the volume (we meet right now in a 250 person auditorium where real drums could be a huge sound problem). So it can be done… just takes some practice.

And last but not least, here is a track for the new Redman song “All Around The World” giving you an idea how this whole gig might work. These arent mixed completely and are a little tinny cause its in an MP3 format.. but you get the idea. There is a heavy reverb loop at the beginning that plays by it self, then the band hits with the intro.

All Over The World Drum Track

NOTE: Under no circumstances may any of the contents of this track be used in a recording, neither live nor studio.

Recording Delay Problems in Ableton

Ever since I upgraded from my powerbook to a macbook I have had weird delay issues when recording real instruments into live (ex. electric guitar, bass, etc). I finally was able to correct this using Abletons “Driver Error Compensation” tutorial. I figured I would share this since just in case your having the same problems. It fixed my slight delay perfect.

Ableton Live In Worship (Part 3 – Live Options)

I use Ableton two ways in worship: The first is by pre-recording the songs I plan on using in a set and “play along” with these tracks (with other band members playing along as well). The second is by triggering sections at specific points in a song.

In the first way I will usually set up and pre-record all the necessary tracks in Ableton for each song. A intro, verse, chorus, etc. Usually this includes drums, lofi beats, pads/atmospheres and percussion elements (shakers, tambo, clicks, etc). If I’m short a guitarist or other instrument I usually track those parts in as well. This is a lot of work though. A whole set can take me a good two days to put together this way.

The pro’s: You don’t necessarily need a click here. As long as the band can here the rhythm. And if you can stay in time the band can sound really tight.

The con: Your stuck playing/worshiping with the song “set” in stone. One way I get around this is to start or end songs without the pre-recorded track and allow the Spirit to direct those moments. Usually this is a good time anyway to scale back to acoustic parts where the people can sing out.

Last, usually when I run sets this way I will export each song and then reload them into Live. Then I can start each song without having to open each song file individually. It’s important to make sure if you do this to disable the “warp” on each track. That will keep it from locking in with the tempo set. Here is an example from this last weekends set:

**note that the warp is set to off. This week I wanted to layer in some second electric parts as well as our bass player was sick so we pre-tracked his parts as we would normally play the song in a set. We routed those in live to different outputs on my firebox so the sound tech could control their individual in the mix. Just as a side note. We also had acoustic guitar, electric guitar, keys, and 3 vocals playing in this set.

The second way I use ableton is to create “sections” in Live. Usually this is two or three simple loops (intro, verse, chorus) and a “hook” (like the electric part that starts “beautiful one”) that you can bring in and out of the song.

Once I have these all set up you want to set the clips up horizontally. Then you are able to trigger multiple clips via the “master clip” slot. I usually route these to an m-audio trigger finger’s pads. Then have a member (usually the keys player) trigger sections as they come in the song. Its best to set the transfer of clips to 1bar.

The Pros: Flexible.

The Cons: You have to be on with the transfers between sections. Also, a click is pretty necessary if your going to bring a loop in and out. If I do this you’ll need In Ear Monitors with the click routed on a separate channel or use a small mixer with in ear headphones sent to key band members (drummer and maybe the keys and main guitarist)

Thats all for now. Hope this is helpful. Next I think Ill talk about how we re-create a drummer using live (if you dont have a real drummer for your band) .

Ableton Live In Worship (Part 2 – A Couple Tips)

Last I discussed getting started with Live and a worship song. I’ve got a second and thought I would share a couple tips on ways to “enhance” your basic loops.

1. Search and download some sampled shaker and tambourine loops. Usually I will use a shaker to enhance loops I use for the verses and tambourines for chorus/bridges. Pan them out (shakers left, tambos right usually).

2. Listen to the new steve fee album and you will hear a lot of ‘clicks’ helping keep the rhythm. check out audiopervert.com and download their free sample set and you can find something similar to that in there. Just like above create a clicky rhythm that sits well with the loop and it might be just what it needs. If I do this I will usually use one of Ableton’s Delays (my fav is the filter) to create some cool textures or rhythms.

Here is a screen shot of the delay I use on a Tomlin song where I do this and a the click that sits with another loop:

Click Example

3) Rhythm Enhancers are loops created to… well… enhance your existing loops. You can check out sample craze’s (www.sample craze) hiphop loops which have these or you can be a little creative and sample out some of your favorite loops and then apply high and low pass filters in Live to EQ out specific frequencies. Its usually times I do this that people notice my loops and ask “did you do that?” And the answer is… yup.

4) And last for today, a good way to enhance your basic loop is to create over all filter delays. This is similar to the click mentioned above, but applies to the entire loop. A good start is to use all three channels of the Filter Delay in Live (L, R and LR) panning certain frequencies to each side. I usually keep my higher (hats, top of snare hits, etc) to the right (to create space in the loop cause it is normally coming through on the opposite side) and lower to the left and with a short delay (1 or 2) and quick decay. Try this and keep the mids in the middle. Mess around with where the delay hits and you will quickly be satisfies at how your loops sound more creative.

Ableton Live In Worship (Part 1)

DISCLAIMER: This is one man’s version of how to implement Ableton Live in worship. Obviously there are may other ways.

Ableton Live is in my opinion one of the best resources for worship leaders who might be looking to add more color/a modern feel to their sets, as well as (as is most cases) if you are lacking certain instruments/musicians.

Basically Ableton Live functions as a loop based instrument (when its used in a live performance). You are able to create your own loops with Abletons built in instruments and effects (as well as any other 3rd party VST/AU effects/instruments), or load and use stock loops you have purchased or downloaded from a 3rd party. Both are killer options and I do both. I also use Live as a full DAW as well.

It all begins with getting your session set up. First you need to know what song, its tempo and time signature. The song is obviously up to you. You’ll need to know the time signature, such as 4/4, 3/4, 6/8 etc. Plug that in in the header of Ableton and then set the BPM. The tap tempo is a good resource if you are wanting to keep around the same tempo of the original song. Just click a couple beats in and your set.

Once I’ve got that rolling its all about creating a simple loop (or using a stock loop you’ve purchased). For the sake of being original I’ll assume your gonna create your own. For most of our songs I create a simple loop (check out the loops page for an example) using the impluse instrument in Live. Keep it simple is usually the key. I suggest using alternate samples/sounds (other than typical drum sounds) for this.

Start by recording the length of the loop. How many bars will it be? Once you’ve got that make sure its lined up properly and turn on the metronome. I usually start by playing out (on my trigger finger) the kick and snare pattern. Once thats down I layer in some sort of high hat section. Then I have a couple custom Impulse kits that I have “flavor sounds” that I add here and there to make it my own (usually glitchy or odd samples I have found over the years). Be creative but keep, and I’ll say it again, keep it simple. To much can be… well, to much.

Sometimes this is all people need… they either have a full band or they keep it simple and dont require more. Often I strip things down for a set and rock just acoustic guitar, piano and a loop that get brought in and out of the FOH mix. I usually dig these sets.

Ill end here for this one. Just an intro I guess. Next I’ll talk about using this in a set and staying in time. And just so you know where we’re headed… I’ll also hit on (1) tips for improving your loops (2) creating the hook of a song (3) options for triggering loops or “playing along” with a pre tracked song (4) routing options (5) making it easy for your sound guy, and I’m sure more along the way will come up.