Recording Metal with Ableton

[FarBeyondDriven16]

Over the past couple of months, I've been using Ableton Live as my main and may i just say that it is the most innovative and easy DAW i have ever used. I bought a Novation Launchpad to go along with it and making music has become so much more fun. People don;t generally use Ableton for metal but i can't figure out why not! The clip launching is amazing and especially with the launchpad i have the ability to change the arrange of my track and will and easily add or remove parts without have to rerecord anything. Also, with the constant looping layering ideas become much more interactive and "in the moment" (if that makes sense). Just wanted to know what you guys thought about ableton.

Here are some tracks I've made using Ableton and it's instruments (except for superior drummer in some):
https://soundcloud.com/zack16nk/reborn-an-execution-outro
https://soundcloud.com/zack16nk/ableton-live-ambient-guitar

 

[Ben.Last]

I love it. I'm not doing straight up metal, but industrial, and it works great for what I do.

 

[Mechanized]

I love it. I'm not doing straight up metal, but industrial, and it works great for what I do.

Could you please link me to some of your stuff? Id love to hear some new industrial

 

[Ben.Last]

Could you please link me to some of your stuff? Id love to hear some new industrial

We currently have our first ep in the works. As soon as we release something I'll post a link to it here.

 

[thraxil]

Absolutely. I love that I can easily explore ideas, making new loops and clips quickly and worry about the arrangement later.

Every time I try to use a more traditional, linear DAW, I feel like it's putting the cart before the horse, making me thing about things in terms of the arrangement of a whole song before I can really start doing anything. They don't *force* you to think that way, but the linear track layout really guides you in that direction.

When I'm at the computer ready to do some recording, I usually have a few rough ideas, but not an entire planned out song. Ableton Live makes it much easier for me to work that way.

 

[Alicat]

I've only briefly tried Ableton and I found it tough to get going with. I write in a lot of weird time signatures and wanted to try looping stuff but it kept triggering loops too early or cutting them in half or changing their speed and I just got horrible confused.
Almost certainly user error, though.

This isn't metal, but I was really impressed by this guy's remaking of The Prodigy - Smack My Bitch Up in Ableton https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eU5Dn-WaElI

 

[Steven B]

Ableton Live has been my DAW of choice since I first started recording my songs.
I find it easy for programming drums.

 

[sear]

Ableton Live is great and I used it for many years before switching to Reaper. Really the only thing that made me switch was that Ableton is very very crash-happy and unstable at times, and the long startup times and poor backup recovery were frustrating to deal with.

 

[FarBeyondDriven16]

Absolutely. I love that I can easily explore ideas, making new loops and clips quickly and worry about the arrangement later.

Every time I try to use a more traditional, linear DAW, I feel like it's putting the cart before the horse, making me thing about things in terms of the arrangement of a whole song before I can really start doing anything. They don't *force* you to think that way, but the linear track layout really guides you in that direction.

When I'm at the computer ready to do some recording, I usually have a few rough ideas, but not an entire planned out song. Ableton Live makes it much easier for me to work that way.

Amen to that!

 

[FarBeyondDriven16]

Ableton Live is great and I used it for many years before switching to Reaper. Really the only thing that made me switch was that Ableton is very very crash-happy and unstable at times, and the long startup times and poor backup recovery were frustrating to deal with.

Really? :S I found that my Sonar X2 crashes much more frequently than Ableton. Oh well, i guess different computers react differently to different DAWs.

 

[FarBeyondDriven16]

Good to see im not the only one who enjoys Ableton on the forum woohoo! I still wonder why there aren't that many big artists who use it. Most of the producers/bands that I know go for more linear DAWs like Pro Tools and Logic.

 

[Ben.Last]

[=FarBeyondDriven16;3717947]Good to see im not the only one who enjoys Ableton on the forum woohoo! I still wonder why there aren't that many big artists who use it. Most of the producers/bands that I know go for more linear DAWs like Pro Tools and Logic.[/QUOTE]

Most traditional bands don't need the non-linear stuff. They just need to record songs/sections. Plus, a lot of engineers still feel tied to the analog way of doing things. That's why you see more electronically minded artists, like NIN using Ableton (often in conjunction with other daws).

 

[FarBeyondDriven16]

[=FarBeyondDriven16;3717947]Good to see im not the only one who enjoys Ableton on the forum woohoo! I still wonder why there aren't that many big artists who use it. Most of the producers/bands that I know go for more linear DAWs like Pro Tools and Logic.

Most traditional bands don't need the non-linear stuff. They just need to record songs/sections. Plus, a lot of engineers still feel tied to the analog way of doing things. That's why you see more electronically minded artists, like NIN using Ableton (often in conjunction with other daws).[/QUOTE]

True true. However, ableton's session view is linear so you technically get the best of both worlds. I just think that when you continuous hear a loop over and over again, layering comes much more naturally and you get some nice ideas to put over a beat or phrase. Nevertheless you're right about engineers being used to the more traditionaly recording methods.