Lesson 2 - How to make bass lines for electronic dance music using Ableton Live 9 - taught by Ben (producer/remixer from synthpop band COSMIC ARMCHAIR (www.cosmicarmchair.com) at the ELECTRONIC MUSIC LAB (www.eml.org.sg)
3. Menu
Zoom in and zoom out
Tempo
Start, Stop, Record
Select a section
Loop
Switch between Arrangement and Session mode
Switch on or off
Volume control
Click on Add Folder and look for your Samples folder
Zoom in and zoom out
4. 1. Choose Instruments
2. Simpler / Bass /
Analogue Bass
3. Highlight one bar. From the menu, click Create-Insert MIDI Clip
4. Double click on the MIDI clip to edit it
5. Scroll to C1 and click to insert notes
5. You have created a bass line in C
Copy and paste this a few times
After a few bars, you may need a change – we call this a chord progression
6. Duplicate the clip
Select all the notes in the duplicate clip
Move them up or down to make a variation
Copy and paste variations
Popular chord progressions are:
C – Em – F – Am
Am – C – Dm – F
C – G – Am – F
See autochords.com for more ideas
7.
8.
9. Change octave up or down
You can also use the
computer keyboard to play notes
10. 1. Choose Instruments
2. Simpler / Bass / Analogue Bass
3. Click this to switch on the metronome
4. Click on the circle button to ‘arm’ it for recording
5. Click the ‘record’ button to start recording
11. Try it
Use the beats you created in Lesson 1
Add a bass line using one of the suggested chord progressions
Next week
Introduction to Synths
How to record lead lines, riffs, pads and other important instrument parts