Musician, producer, artist, technologist, educator, writer. Opinions expressed are mine and do not reflect the companies with whom I work. He/Him.
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Articles by Noah Pred
A beginner’s guide to Reaktor-based synths
While Reaktor itself contains hidden troves of inspiring synthesis power, adding a synth plugin to get straight to work in your DAW is easier than ever. Explore these three full-fledged Reaktor synthesizers to get you started. And for a limited time, get all of these synths and more in the Reaktor synth bundle – on sale now.
Live's MIDI Tools and FX Tutorial & Online Course - Ableton Live 12 102 Training Video By macProVideo.com
Ableton Live's MIDI features and effects have consistently set the bar for innovation, a trend that continues with Live 12. This comprehensive 41-tutorial course will give you the keys to mastering the extensive MIDI functionalities and effects available in Live.
Using Chance To Your Advantage In Ableton Live 11
Variety is the spice of life – and apparently the spice of music, too: in Daniel Levitin’s New York Times best-selling book, This Is Your Brain On Music, the esteemed neuroscientist outlines thorough research describing two fundamental synaptic reactions that correspond to our enjoyment of music. On one hand, our brains love to successfully predict patterns in music: when we expect a change – say verse to chorus or breakdown to drop – and the change happens when we expect it, our brains light up.
6 Fun Tricks With Ableton Live 11’s New Hybrid Reverb
For years, Ableton Live’s default native Reverb device has provided reliable spatial effects – though more recently, it’s fallen somewhat short of advancements in virtual reverb technology. Live 11 addresses this with Ableton’s all new Hybrid Reverb. Merging a flexible convolution unit with five lush algorithms, there’s quite a few features under the hood that make Hybrid very much more than meets the eye. 1.
Review: Endlesss Studio: Socially Distanced Collaboration Station
When their mobile app arrived on the scene, Endlesss turned heads with its intuitive, jam-centric interface and innovative real-time remote collaboration. Expanding significantly on the potential of their mobile app, they’ve released a powerful desktop standalone and AU/VST3 plug-in that brings the best features of their design-first, cloud-based app directly into your favorite DAW – and in the age of social distancing, not a moment too soon. Endlesss at work with the Bass layer selected.
Finishing a Track
In this companion to the 401 Producing "In The Box" course, Certified Trainer Noah Pred edits, mixes and masters a track he has sketched out in the Arrange View using Ableton Live 11. Now that the rough arrangement is recorded, it's time change your headspace from raw creativity to detailed editing! Finishing complete tracks is one of the biggest challenges producers have to face.
Producing
There's no better way to study Ableton Live 11 than with a Certified Trainer like Noah Pred. In this course, Noah guides you through his creative process and shows you how to build a track from scratch in Live while explaining and demonstrating the new features introduced in the latest version of the software. This course is all about learning good workflows to optimize your creativity when creating music with Live...
The Best Controllers for Ableton Live
Whether jamming in the studio or performing live – via stream, of course – new controllers continue to supply the demand for hands-on, real-time control of Ableton’s DAW. While possibilities abound, the best controllers strike a balance between guiding novices to fluid workflows while allowing experts to bend them to increasingly specific and unusual needs.
5 Best Max For Live Devices Available Today
Grain Relay by Max For Cats When not working on new Spectral devices for Live 11, Max wizard Christian Kleine saw fit to grace us with a wonderful new delay effect via Sonic Bloom. Incorporating Bucket Brigade style classic dub delays with smooth pitch shifting, unusual granulation, downsampling, randomized panning, and ring modulation.
Review: Eventide Shimmerverb: A Glistening Decay
Deploying one of Eventide's beloved reverb algorithms in a classic configuration originally discovered by legendary producers Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno – who are credited with first routing that reverb through an Eventide dual pitch shifter – Shimmerverb instantly transforms the pedestrian into the ethereal.
Comping Audio in Bitwig Studio
In traditional music studios recording vocalists and live musicians, it’s common practice to create the best possible representation of a melody, phrase, or passage by creating a composite – or “comp” – of all the best moments edited together from multiple takes. Traditional studio DAWs such as Cubase, Nuendo, ProTools, and Logic have built-in tools to help construct these composites with relative ease.
Luminance (Accelerated), by Noah Pred
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Online Collaboration Tips, Tricks & Tools For Musicians & Producers
In the era of social distancing, self-imposed quarantine, and international travel restrictions, it would be understandable to worry about the feasibility of collaborating with other creatives. The good news is, we’re also in the midst of a golden age of collaborative platforms, so working on tracks with friends, musicians, and other producers remotely – and even jamming with them in real-time – has never been easier.
Quantizing Tips: Getting On the Beat in Logic Pro 10
Pro musician, producer and trainer, Matt Vanacoro, shares his top 5 quantizing tips for fellow Logic Pro producers. And these go beyond MIDI. Quantizing is an integral part of modern music production. Logic Pro X has a few fun tricks up its sleeve, but there are also some great ‘best practices’ to think about when aligning parts to the grid in the studio. Here are my top 5 tips to take you beyond just picking ‘quantize to 16th notes’. Let’s make sure your music sounds tight, but not over-corrected.
Arcologies, by Noah Pred
Based on the work of Paolo Soleri combining architecture and ecology, an arcology is envisioned as an integrated design for sustainable coexistence. For the past few years I’ve been building generative creative tools in Max/MSP, and, naturally, conducting a variety of musical experiments with them. Problem solving is one form of creativity, another aspect of creativity feels something like a dance with chaos; these tracks are a result of both.
Review: Suzuki Kentaro’s Max for Live LFO Devices
Unbeknownst to many, sound designer and multimedia installation artist Suzuki Kentaro has been crafting ingenious Max for Live devices from his home base in Tokyo. From Clip Export utilities to granular reverbs, his work exemplifies refined design. Far beyond mere eye-candy, Suzuki’s unique approach and comprehensive yet flexibly intuitive functionality truly sets his devices apart. There are few Max for Live tools more popular than Ableton’s own LFO.
Ableton Live 11: In-Depth First Look
Combining innovative features like Tempo Following with long-awaited requests such as Take Lane comping and User Templates, Live 11 exponentially increases the power of Ableton’s already potent DAW – while seamlessly integrating new capabilities into existing workflows. You can find most of the new features listed on their website, but I wanted to share some less-publicized creative possibilities that stood out when playing with their new public beta. Comp Romp First up: creative Take Lanes.
Saturator: Ableton Live’s Secret Sound Design Weapon
Curves Galore Essentially, Saturator is a Waveshaping effect that processes audio by mathematically transforming incoming waveforms according to a variety of settings. Located in Live’s Audio Effects in the Browser, there are three parameter dials available by default. Pic 1: Ableton Live's Saturator, default view.
Review: Carver - Chisel & Slice Your Audio
If you need to make stale drums pop, or tame unwanted slap at the start of a sound without risking over-compression, transient shaping has become a first line of defence in recent years. But not all transient shapers are created equal. While it’s common to have simple gain control for the onset and tail portions of incoming audio, it’s rare to have more options than that.
Homeward, by Noah Pred
brian thrash This album is epic. I wish I had the right words for it. It is simply amazing. Well crafted, good focus and discipline. Grooves grooves grooves. Gentle acid grooves. A+ my friend!
Common Mixing Mistakes To Avoid In Ableton Live - Part 2
Missed the first part of our Ableton Live Mixing mistakes series? Read Part 1 here. Die-hard studio engineers may swear by mixing in Pro Tools or Logic Pro X, but the fact is, Ableton Live is a fantastic DAW for mixing – and plenty of producers use it for their mix downs. However, there are a few common mistakes that can be avoided to make Live’s mixing process smoother, and resulting mixes sound even better.
Common Mixing Mistakes To Avoid In Ableton Live - Part 1
Die-hard studio engineers may swear by other DAWs, but Ableton Live can be a great DAW for mixing too – and plenty of producers are using it for their mix downs every day. That being said, there are a few common mistakes that can be easily avoided to make Live’s mix down process smoother, and resulting mixes sound even better. 1. Bad Gain Staging Volume refers to the amplitude, or loudness, of tracks in a mix, and the mix as a whole. It can also refer to the available space within a container.
Roland Announces Model Expansions for the ZENOLOGY Software Synth
Series Debut Includes JX-8P, SH-101, JUNO-106, and JUPITER-8 Model Expansions, Available Through Roland Cloud in Q3 2020. Los Angeles, CA, June 30, 2020 — Roland introduces Model Expansions, the latest additions to Roland Cloud and the ZEN-Core Synthesis System. Each Model Expansion transforms the ZENOLOGY Software Synthesizer into an entirely different instrument with its own sonic personality, features, and preset tones.
Top Mistakes For Producers To Avoid In Ableton Live
Learn more Ableton Live tips, tricks and production techniques in the videos here. With Ableton Live becoming one of the most commonly used DAWs over the past decade, it’s fair to say it changed the way many people produce music. Nevertheless, its unorthodox workflow meant that many producers transitioning from other platforms missed out on key functionality – while the many new producers Live welcomed were able to form bad habits without knowing any better.
Reloop Tape 2 Review
With the advent of SoundCloud, Mixcloud, and even streaming platforms like Spotify now supporting DJ mixes, documenting performances to share online is more important than ever. While there are plenty of portable recorders on the market, many common features are overkill for the average club DJ who likely has little need for 192kHz sample rates or stereophonic field recording mics.
Top Studio Tasks For Musicians To Get Through A Coronavirus Lockdown
As pandemic lockdowns sweep the globe, producers find themselves with plenty of studio time on their hands. But not all studio time is created equal – and in the course of our daily lives, what precious studio time we can find is often devoted directly to music-making. Now faced with unexpectedly expansive horizons of unstructured time, inspiration can’t quite be counted on to strike continuously.
Ableton Live Strategies: From Session To Arrangement
Once you’ve wrapped your head around it, it’s all too easy to fall in love with Live’s Session view. Who doesn’t love jamming on loops for hours on end? The problem is how to convert the palette of ideas generated in the Session view into an Arrangement that can be edited and mixed into a finished track. In this tutorial, we’ll examine some helpful strategies for doing just that.
Randomized Remixing With Simpler in Ableton Live
If you haven’t already used Simpler’s Slicing mode, new since version 9.5, now’s a good time to start. Simply drag and drop any sample where a default instance of Simpler invites you to do so, then click the bottom-most Slice option from the three mode tabs at the far left of the device. If you’re working with rhythmic samples, you may want to make sure it’s Warped and looping correctly as an Audio Clip before dropping it into Simpler. Default Transient slice mode.
Review: Eventide Spring Reverb Plug-In
In a musical universe where everything old seems to eventually become new again, it’s no wonder classic spring reverbs have been making a major comeback of late. Among many other deserving accolades, Eventide’s name has grown synonymous with top-notch reverb algorithms – so it’s little surprise they would arrive with a spring reverb plug-in all their own.
Review: Madrona Labs Aaltoverb
Madrona Labs have carved out a distinctive niche with boutique virtual instruments such as Aalto and Kaivo. Offering advanced sound design techniques in a versatile yet elegant package, Aaltoverb is something of a departure, at least in terms of its apparent simplicity. Based on the lush reverb built into Madrona’s Aalto synth instrument, Aaltoverb is a performance-ready reverb that’s light on CPU, heavy on spaciousness, and highly intuitive – with surprisingly unexpected sound design potential.
Review: Korg Minilogue XD
Noah Pred on Oct 05, 2019 in Review | 0 comments Korg's updated Minilogue now has 4-voice polyphony, 2 analog VCOs, an excellent step sequencer and much more. Noah Pred found it even more fun than he had expected... Named after one of techno’s most prolific analog producers, the Korg’s monophonic Minilogue was released to rave reviews and much fanfare.
IFS033⅓ | Noah Pred
This final (for now) installation of the IFS series explores a range of electro, minimal, house, techno, and ambient, featuring a debut of Pred's new EP for Face To Face, a hidden dose of disco, and even an extended meditation sequence on the back end - it’s been a ride…
Review: Boots N Kats 2, Drum Machine For Ableton Live & Push 2
Audioutlaw have just released an update to their unique Max for Live drum tool: Boots N Kats 2. Incorporating a unique multi-sequencer interface with a powerful Push 2 control mode, it offers an abundance of handy workflow tricks to help you generate beats with ease. PIC 1: Main Interface Drum Control At its core, Boots N Kats 2 features four drum sequencing modules: Kick, Snare, Hihat (including both Open and Closed), and Perc.
IFS032 | Noah Pred
This late-summer IFS edition blends classic yet modern electro with abstract techno before resolving into an extended house section that alternates between welcome exuberance and intimately wistful synth work...
Review: SubLab, Hard Hitting Sub Bass
Berlin’s Future Audio Workshop are renowned for their elegant, flexible, and highly powerful Circle2 virtual synthesizer. In a market flooded with new products on a near-weekly basis, FAW’s lengthy absence implied an exciting new product was on the way. Now, with their recent unveiling of SubLab, FAW have applied their distinctive aesthetic to a highly innovative take on subsonic synthesis.
Dynamic Changes With Ableton Live 10.1’s New Automation Curves
Ableton’s latest update has augmented Live’s already powerful sound design toolkit with the advent of new envelope curves and editing features. Taken in combination with much-improved differentiation between absolute parameter Automation and relative parameter Modulation, it’s easier than ever to change your sounds over time with unprecedented control and intricacy.
IFS031 | Noah Pred
Bass-heavy minimal house builds into rolling hypnotic techno before a brief adventure in playful electro terrain gives way to an extended ambient denouement on the latest IFS mix...
Review: Mixed In Key SE
Mixed In Key has become a powerful industry-standard tool for DJs looking to organize their digital music collections by Key, Tempo, and Scale, with the goal of harmonic mixing. It may seem obvious nobody wants to hear a dissonant mix at the club – but why would you need a key detection tool in the studio? Mixed In Key’s Studio Edition, now available as a VST or AU plug-in, provides a few helpful options that any producer might want to seriously consider adding to their toolkit.
IFS030 | Noah Pred
Experimental broken beats give way to simmering minimal grooves, bubbling up into searing techno before unconventional melodics take hold over the course of this adventurous non-linear IFS session...
Additive Synthesis With Ableton Live's Operator
With the recent spotlight focused on Live’s latest Wavetable synthesizer, your average Ableton user may not realize Live Suite has shipped with an additive synthesizer for quite some time. Primarily known as a deceptively powerful Frequency Modulation, or FM, synthesizer, Operator comes with full-fledged yet lesser known additive synthesis capabilities for each of its four oscillators. The Good Kind Of Additive But first: what’s additive synthesis?
Endlesss: The Future Of Music & Production Collaboration?
As hardware and software development continues to accelerate, producers often find themselves more alienated than ever: holed up in the studio for days on end in self-imposed exile, delving ever deeper into their own sonic bubble.
Review: Blink Sonic Cataliz
With analog hardware increasingly dominating the production market, software developers are forced to turn to increasingly specialized expressions of uniquely digital tools. So it’s no surprise that granular synthesis is in the midst of a renaissance, with all kinds of fresh takes pushing the sample-based technique in exciting new directions. Reaktor-based innovators Blink Sonic have brought their clever approach and distinctive interface design to their own unique take on granular with Cataliz.
The 4 Coolest Things You Might Have Missed At Superbooth 2019
In just a few short years, Berlin’s annual Superbooth has become a key event for synthesists and modern producers of all stripes. Boasting an abundance of well-curated talks, technical demonstrations and musical performances, it’s exactly the sort of inclusive combination that helps galvanize a global community. Founded by key players behind Schneidersladen – Berlin’s renowned modular outlet – it’s no wonder there’s an overwhelming Eurorack focus as retailers display their wares at Superbooth.
IFS029 | Noah Pred
A spring fling from deep electro to mutant house, exalted techno, twisted 2-step and back again, the latest IFS mix explores the wilder side of lush analog textures throughout…
IFS on Apple Podcasts
33 episodes IFS: the monthly mix show from Noah Pred IFS: the monthly mix show from Noah Pred
Review: Sinevibes Stream
In a market seemingly saturated with virtual delay plug-ins, you’d be forgiven for assuming that everything possible in echo architecture was already available. But if you were looking for a new take on the classic effect, it’s little surprise the prolific developers at Sinevibes would be the ones to deliver. Combining a multi-tap delay with a sequencer, Stream presents a fresh approach to delay programming.
Intricate Equalization Inside Ableton Live’s EQ Eight
For meticulous mix engineers, few plug-ins are more crucial than EQ. While the market offers a wide range of powerful vintage emulations to surgical parametric tools, Live’s bundled EQ Eight provides a surprisingly powerful set of features. With Live 10.1’s incoming Channel EQ designed to bridge the gap between EQ Eight and the DJ-themed, performance-oriented EQ Three, it seemed a good time to take a deeper look under the hood of Live’s workhorse studio EQ.
IFS028 | Noah Pred
Emerging from spacious tones, a body-rocking electro party soon gives way to an extended techno session rife with Detroit influences on the latest IFS mix, before an electro reprise ultimately recedes to oceanic synth waves on the exit…
K-Devices WOV & TTAP Review: Carving A Niche
Italy’s K-Devices have made a name for themselves in the Max For Live community as purveyors of highly unusual devices with somewhat cryptic if stylish interfaces. With WOV & TTAP, they make their debut for producers outside the Live domain with a pair of audio effects available in both VST and AU formats. Both feature a flat vector-based design with handsome yet somewhat esoteric parameter denotations, and a flexible yet ultimately singular DSP objective.
IFS027 | Noah Pred
A hazy winter dream wafts into club-ready off-kilter house, building into urgent minimalist grooves before waking from full-color techno into an unforgiving realm of maximal electro, tied together with a comforting cloud of uncertainty by the end...
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