Berklee Online is offering a free introductory Ableton Live course. Used by an extremely broad range of music creators, Ableton Live not only facilitates the work of engineers, producers, and writers in professional, home, and mobile studio settings, but it is also a powerful platform for musicians on stage, in the DJ booth, and elsewhere.
In this course, you will explore some of Live’s most powerful and useful functionality: MIDI programming, audio recording, warping and processing, looping editing, mixing, performing, file management, and troubleshooting. Meant to be a springboard for those who are new to Ableton Live and/or DAWs in general, this three-week course will provide you with a strong knowledge base for using Live to take your musical ideas from conception to final recording. The course breaks down the many barriers of entry into music technology and encourages all those who wish, to create fearlessly.
Note: If you do not own Ableton Live 9, you can download the free, fully featured Ableton Live Trial. The trial version will allow you to save and export your work for 30 days. If you use the trial version, do not download it until the course is scheduled to begin.
Course Syllabus
» Lesson 1: Getting Our Hands Dirty
— Quick Overview of Interface and Windows
— MIDI
— Audio
— Clip Properties
— Creating and Exporting an Arrangement
» Lesson 2: Polishing the Sound
— Audio Warping
— Audio/MIDI Effects
— Editing
— Mixing
— Automation
» Lesson 3: The Endless Possibilities
— Audio<->MIDI
— Max for Live
— Remixing
— File Management
— Troubleshooting/User Community
Recommended Background: No prior knowledge of Ableton Live or any other DAW is necessary to complete the course. No instrumental or theoretical understanding of music is required, but it is always helpful.
No specific hardware is required and several options will be demonstrated, including using your computer’s keyboard as a MIDI controller. The class will consist of lecture videos, which are on average 5 minutes in length. Each lesson will require quizzes, in addition to peer review assignments that involve creating unique compositions in Ableton Live and sharing them via Blend. You will be required to create a free account on Blend, in order to share session files created during the course.
Berklee
