Audio Technology Project L20934

Joe Bloggs Media Department Galway Technical Institute Fr. Griffin Road, Galway,

NOTE: This is a sample. Your project will be different. You may have used Live for recording Midi more where I used Logic. Thats OK. Don't Copy and paste every detail from here, as that is regarded as Plagiarism. This is designed to be an indication of the scope of the project and what is expected in terms of arrangement and documentation. Its ok to use Some Midi and Audio Loops from Logic. Just don't over do it and forget to record some midi of your own!

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Introduction
This Project, a study of Ableton is a large project that must be completed in order to receive credit for the FETAC module Audio Technology. The indented audience for this document tis my tutor an other examiners. In section 1 I will outline the technical requirements of the project. In section 2 I will present a small song showing my knowledge of Editing, Arranging and working with Loops in Ableton. In Chapter 2 I will present a small arrangement showing my ability to compose using Midi Sequencing in Ableton. In chapter 4 I will demonstrate the use of Automation and Effects in Ableton. Finally in chapter 5 I will demonstrate the application of Synchronisation and Sampling using Apple Logic and Ableton Live.

1.0 Technical Requirements

In oder to complete this project the following items were required. Ableton Live Intro Loopmasters Loop Packs Apple Logic 8 AKG K44 Headphones A Mac Pro

5.0 Synchronization & Sampling in Logic & Ableton

In chapter I will demonstrate the use of Sampling and Synchronization in Ableton and Apple Logic 5.1 Methodology For this Project I stared off my creating a Logic Project. I knew I would need around 8 tracks so I created 8 Software Instrument Tracks. I then used the Library to select instruments for these tracks. I decided to compose the track in logic first using logics software instruments and loops. Once I had the song concept, then I would choose suitable loops to export as Audio files so that I could stream these from Ableton in order to demonstrate the Rewire functions. I also decided that I would search the Apple Loop library to find samples and sound effects that suited the song. I would then go about creating a sampler instrument based on usable material.

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5.2 Setting up the Logic Project

Once I had my Tracks setup with Instruments I found a loop called Trip Hop Jungle beat. I decided to use this as the main beat in the song. I looped this beat from bar one to bar 60. Next I decided to compose a Bass Line that suited the beat. I recorded enabled the Bass Track, and played set the Cycle bar to loop from bar 1 to bar 3. then I played along with the drums to get an idea of what notes would fit. Once I had something worked out I set the Global Quantize Option to 1/16 and the pressed record. I was happy with the result and looped the region to bar 5 using the loop tool in Logic

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I continued using this technique to record the rest of the bass line. I created a new bass part at bar 5 and looped to bar 9. Then I created another and looped from bar 13 and so on to the end of the song.

On Track 3 I used a piano loop from the Apple Loops Library. The Loop was four bars long, So I looped it from Bar 5 to bar 17 using the Loop Tool. I then found another Slightly different loop and I inserted this at Bar 17 and looped until bar 33. Then I copied the entire piano parts again at bars 33 and 49.

I liked the piano part and decided to take the Chorus Piano part at bar 17 and duplicate this to another track with the same settings. I then added distortion to the second track and turned it down in volume. It is barely audible but adds some movement to the piano at this point. Since the piano trick worked I decided to duplicate some parts of the Muted Electric Bass track that I recorded earlier and place them on the FAT FM Bass track. I turned this track down in volume and mixed it in at various points to reinforce the acoustic bass.

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Next I recorded some midi from the keyboard on the Crunchy Muted Delays track. This was a Two Bar Loop. I recorded it by setting the Cycle bar and recording with Quantise set at 1/16. I looped this once and copied it to bars 25, 49 and 57.

After this I used the keybard to record some small additions on the Calm Winds track at bar 45 and 49 as the track was getting a bit boring. Selecting Loops for Ableton. At this point I decided to search for percussion loops in logic that would suit the track. I knew if they sounded ok then I could bounce them and open them in Ableton as loops for my Rewire Setup later. I found the following loops and exported them a wav files.

5.3 Setting Up the Sampler: The design Concept for my Custom EXS 24 Sampler Instrument was to create a sampler with several different Voice sound effects. I decided that This was a good idea, since the rest of the track was made with electronic instruments and I could not record vocals for the project. I searched the loop library and the BBC/Sony Sound Effects Library on the computers and selected various sounds. Once I had the sounds in logic, I edited them and added Effects to some of them. Here are the Sounds in Logic before I exported them.

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Once I exported the Sounds as Wave Files, I was then able to import them into my EXS 24 Sampler. I created a new Software Instrument track and added a Sampler by ************ ************** ********* Once I had added my samples and set the key range and pitch my sample looked like this:

NOTE: I deliberately chose to have each sample span an entire octave, because when yo play the C1 note it plays the Beat Box Sample, however when you play D1, the sample then plays the beat box sample, but tuned up by 2 semitones. This alters the tone and length of the sample. Having this key range provided me with more options to experiment with then playing along with the music. I then saved the sampler as Remix Voices by selecting *********. At this point I decided to record a track using my Custom sample Instrument. I recoded enabled the track, set the quantize and pressed record. I then recoded throughout the track.

After recording I edited the track saving the good bit and deleting the parts that did not fit.

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I then saved the Logic Project making sure to se the Option to save EXS samples with the project.

I then closed Logic. 5.4 Setting up the Rewire: In order to rewire between Logic and Ableton it is necessary to Start ***** first and ***** second. It is also good practice to indicate which is the ***** and which is the **** when naming the projects. I started *** first and *** second. I also saved logic as Logic is *** and Live as live is ***. Once the two programs were up an running I then Added my two loops to Ableton on audio tracks 1 and 2. Next I Routed Audio from tracks 1 and 2 to Logic Using the Rewire Out and Rewire Bus Options in the Ableton mixer.

1. Rewire Out to Logic 2. Rewire Bus Selection

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Then Back in Logic I needed to create 2 Auxiliary Channels in order to receive the sound sent from Ableton.

Once I had the 2 Auxiliary channels I set the Inputs to ******* and renamed them *** and ****. At this point I was able to hear the playback form Ableton. Next I switched to arrange view in Ableton and dragged he Loops in here. I wanted to alternate the loops to start playing for 1 bar every four bars. The layout can be seen below. You can see that the Logic Project and the Ableton Project are synchronized Bar by Bar to play together as one overall system.

5.5 Mixing and Bouncing Before I bounced the Project I opened the Logic Mixer and made a few adjustments. As yo can see in the picture below, the master bus was overloading in Logic. I selected all the tracks and reduced the volume until clipping no longer occurred. I then Inserted a Compressor on the Master bus to help gel the mix together.

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NOTE: All the other plugins were inserted by Logic as part of its Instruments Settings. You don't need to add loads of effects.

After this I set the Cycle Bar to cover the entire song and bounced the project as a MP3. Note: In this report the following is demonstrated: Logic Instrument Selection or Track List for song Recording Procedure for a Midi track in logic is explained. Looping and Duplication of regions is shown. The Piano Roll is shown for a midi region Building a sampler is described. Setting up Rewire is described. Arranging Audio and Midi Loops to form a musical arrangement in a synchronized system is demonstrated. Your project may be different!

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