Archive for the ‘Tutorials’ Category

I have just finished uploading the last of the devices series. This consists of roughly 10 more hours worth of tutorials covering what absolutely every parameter of every device in Live does! These tutorials are accessible via the hardcore abletoneers section or the shop.

Hopefully you enjoy these and get something out of them. If you have any questions feel free to post them in the forum.

Cheers,
Bill.

I have recently recorded two videos explaining how I go about giving sounds depth with the creative use of effects. Here they are:

The live pack for the Fractal Effects tutorial can be downloaded here.

Cheers,
Bill.

After many emails regarding this, I finally decided to have a go at recreating some of the bass lines from Skrillex’s remix of Benny Benassi’s track ‘Cinema’. Proceeding this I posted a video comparison of our versions and people seemed keen on a tutorial. So here it is! The 5 part mini-series of how I created Skrillex’s bass sound.

Please note that the version I showed in the comparison had been worked on for almost 6 hours, being slightly tweaked over that time to sound as close as possible and the version in the tutorial is simple just the essence of what I did. Tweaking the parameters shown in my tutorials slightly will yield the same result I did.

I have uploaded the project file for hardcore members of mrbillstunes.com. Download the “Skrillex Bass Sound Reproduction Project File” here

Here’s the comparison between the Skrillex version and my version. The project file in this video is the one that is downloadable in the hardcore section, not the one produced in the tutorial!

Click on the thumbnail images to watch the tutorials in a lightbox.

	The Skrillex Bass Sound Reproduction Tutorial – Part 1/5 This is the first tutorial of a five part series covering how I went about re-creating Skrillex’s remix of Benny Benassi – Cinema.
	The Skrillex Bass Sound Reproduction Tutorial – Part 2/5 This is the second tutorial of a five part series covering how I went about re-creating Skrillex’s remix of Benny Benassi – Cinema.
	The Skrillex Bass Sound Reproduction Tutorial – Part 3/5 This is the third tutorial of a five part series covering how I went about re-creating Skrillex’s remix of Benny Benassi – Cinema.
	The Skrillex Bass Sound Reproduction Tutorial – Part 4/5 This is the fourth tutorial of a five part series covering how I went about re-creating Skrillex’s remix of Benny Benassi – Cinema.
	The Skrillex Bass Sound Reproduction Tutorial – Part 5/5 This is the fifth and final tutorial of a five part series covering how I went about re-creating Skrillex’s remix of Benny Benassi – Cinema.

Cheers,
Bill.

This video isn’t so much a tutorial as it is a comparison between two current, popular mp3 converters. Essentially I just did a simple phase comparison between the LAME and iTunes Mp3 converters. The only thing that can be proved here is that there is a difference. I’m not saying that one converter is better than the other. I’m just proving that there is a difference.

I thought it was interesting so I’m sharing the knowledge with you. The fact that they add different amounts of level to the final exported file was very odd I thought. LAME ends up peaking at 0dBfs so I’m assuming it has an inbuilt limiter or compressor in it, either that or it was just a coincidence that I set my limiter to -0.3dB on the mastered .wav and LAME added exactly 0.3dB to the exported mp3.

Anyway, make your own decision as to which one sounds better. Just be aware that they are definitely different. If you can’t tell the difference, then I wouldn’t worry too much. I’m sure the difference is quite minimal, I can’t hear it. I’m convinced any differences I’m hearing are influenced by the knowledge that there is a difference between them.

What do you think? I’m interested to hear other peoples thoughts on this subject.

Cheers,
Bill.

Hey guys,


I have just finished my first full length 10 part series on how to write music in Ableton Live. Within in these 10 tutorials I finish a tune, mix it and master it as well as have a bunch of fun and show you some tips and tricks along the way for writing high quality electronic music.


Here is the end product:
Mr. Bill - Tutorial Tune by Mr Bill


The 10 parts included in this series are:


Part 1: The Beat
In this tutorial I cover some of the basic features of Live’s interface (the main ones needed to operate it efficiently enough to write electronic music quickly) and write a drumbeat concentrating heavily on the mixing process, getting it sounding as big and clean as possible!


Part 2: The Bass (Part 1)
In this tutorial I begin to go through some of the methods I use to make bass lines. This includes, synthesis, sampling, automation and of course, heavy amounts of processing. I also go through how to get this sitting in the mix properly with healthy processing methods.


Part 3: Arrangement (Part 1)
This tutorial covers how to take your 4 / 8 / 16 bar loop and start turning it in to a track, It concentrates on arrangement, and how to make a track flow from start to finish. Build-ups and breakdowns start in this tutorial.


Part 4: The Bass + Arrangement (Part 2) and The Melody (Part 1)
This tutorial is a continuation of Part 2 and 3 in the sense that I continue working on the bass lines and arrangement and making something more interesting out of it. Continuing on from this some melodies start to make themselves apparent within the piece. A lot of attention is paid to very careful automation and processing to make the melody really stand out and sound excellent.


Part 5: The Bass (Part 3) and The Melody (Part 2)
In this tutorial I continue working on the bass and melody some more, making more of a tune out of it and essentially creating building blocks for Part 6.


Part 6: Arrangement (Part 3)
In this tutorial I turn those building blocks from part 5 into a bit more of a tune, The arrangement starts to get really technical and busy by this stage.


Part 7: The Bass and Arrangement (Part 4)
This tutorial continues with messing with bass sounds and arrangements a bit more, getting everything sounding really tight and technical, again careful attention to detail is paid to the mix at around this point.


Part 8: The Melody (Part 3) and Arrangement (Part 5)
Continuation of more melodies and arrangement. By this stage the piece is coming to it’s final stages and the mix is getting tighter and as it gets tighter I pay even more attention to it trying to get it sounding as good as possible.


Part 9: Finishing up
In this tutorial I finish the track off and do a bit more mixing (however this one was done in headphones so the mix couldn’t possibly be finished this way).


Part 10: Final mix / Rendering and Mastering
In this tutorial I finalise the mix from Part 9 and then show you the best/healthiest way of rendering your tracks. The majority of this tutorial concentrates on mastering!


To download the entire series register to be a hardcore abletoneer here


I hope you enjoy these tutorials, and get something out of them. I encourage you to use these as a tool to better your own production and to transfer the knowledge used in these tutorials to any genre you like.


Cheers,
Bill.