This week I was so excited after we found out we were making some mash-ups on Ableton! As I have mentioned in my other blogs, I love Ableton out of all the DAW's I have tried.
Firstly, I think Ableton is so diverse as a DAW. You can choose the live version where you can perform on the spot or change it to create tracks. When I was first learning Ableton, I took the hard route and went straight to the arraignment view (since it is what I wanted to do). However, if I got Ableton and started using it for live performances, I would have found it easier to discover a lot of the features.
In saying that, last semester in my composition unit, I wrote an Electroacoustic Art piece through Ableton while being mentored by Alexis Weaver. Here is the link to that piece! She taught me a lot of how to manipulate sounds and how to make a drum rack through Ableton. I still use the advice she tells me to this day. However, I never got to learn the live view of Ableton, so I was very excited for this class.
We first tried to make a mash-up on Soundtrap. Of course knowing me, I hated it. it lagged a lot and was horrible to manage. Soundtrap would be good for low budget schools. HOWEVER, Ableton just released an announcement saying they are giving away Ableton Live to schools FOR FREE! Now I don't have to complain about Soundtrap ever again! Only joking, I would use Soundtrap for recording and midi things as it is easy for the students to use.
After we tried to make a remix on Soundtrap, we went straight into Ableton. I learnt a lot of touch up things I must have forgotten such as a transient. What Ableton is really good with doing is try to put samples in time with the metronome. This is very hard to do on Soundtrap.
James showed us this feature Ableton has on their website called Play with Beats. This would make as a great starter activity for students. He also showed us a version Soundtrap has. The pro to that is how there isn't anything you have to download, it is straight onto Soundtrap. With the play with beats online, you have to download it then put it into Ableton. I personally don't find that an issue, surely a year 7 student will be able to do that. If not, there are always tutorial videos I can make!
The video below contains Bad guy, a Lord song, Pump it up and a beat Anton and I made together during class. I fixed it up a little at home. Because these were all in different keys, I had to transpose the Billie Eilish song. Even though the Lord song and Pump it up were just for effect, I think it sounds cool transposed down.
Here is my mash-up I made at home! The samples are all within the 1:50 mark, after that, I was playing around the the drums and what not! If this is what music education is, oh boy, I will be having so much fun one day!
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