GETTING a track started in Ableton can be tricky when there are so many possibilities for crafting your sounds.

One of the main pitfalls of getting into a project is losing inspiration as you spend a half-hour on tweaking a setting to get it just right. This guide will offer some ideas to try from the beginning of a project to streamline the ideas stage of music production and help you get your ideas on paper (or in DAW).

Sort out your sends and returns

ONE of the key things that will define your song’s sound is the space it is in. I’m not a huge fan of Ableton’s reverb so the first thing I do is set the return track plugins to something better.

For this, I replace the stock reverb with my go-to plugin – Native Instruments RC48. This is a great reverb plugin with easy controls and presets to get you started quickly.

Native Instruments RC48 is a great reverb plugin, though only worthwhile if you buy it in the Komplete plugin bundle because it is expensive otherwise (and other reverb VSTs could do the same job for much cheaper)

It’s important to remember that you set the plugin (whatever on you use) to 100% wet because any dry signal will mess with the track volumes. The return track should be exclusively the reverberations.

I also set up my delay effect (100% wet again) on the dedicated delay return track. This gives me another decision as to whether I stick with the stock one or use a different effect. I normally stick to Ableton’s stock delay for the main dealy return track, but sometimes add a third return track with a more creative delay effect for builds and transitions.

Add a Utility to each track

A REALLY great trick here is to add a utility to every track so you can control the signal level going into track effects. Set Ableton up so that every new track has a Utility on it by getting your desired default plugins and right-clicking on the track header. From there, select Save as Default Audio Track, and now you have those effects added automatically every time you make a new track.

Don’t go overboard with this as adding tonnes of plugins will just add load to your CPU. When I first started I had Spectrum and Tuner on every track as default but it is unnecessary and I don’t actually use them enough for the added load.

Dedicate a track to samples

HAVE a track at the bottom reserved for samples if you use them. This should be a clean track that has no effects. In here, you can add all the different sounds you want to chop and combine for the rest of your project.

If you are anything like me, you have tens of thousands of samples in your library. Finding them can be a pain so add anything you like to the dedicated sample track if you think you might use it later

You can mute out the track normally for when you are working on the song, but then also solo it to hear only the samples that you are working on.

Pick five or six instruments early

THERE is nothing worse than having a great idea vanish as you try and find the perfect synth patch for it.

Start your projects with a few instruments already decided that you feel will reflect the direction you want to go.

Well-written melodies and harmonies should sound good outside of the perfect preset, use pre-made jam tracks to get ideas down fast without forgetting them while you find the perfect sound for them

They should include your main components e.g. bass and synth leads so when that idea arises, you can jam it out and record it immediately.

Once you have an idea recorded, you can then move on to deciding the nitty-gritty of how the instrument should sound.

Bad at music theory? Add the key signature to the project name

THIS is an important one. If you struggle to remember what key signature your track is in (perhaps you never finished it and re-opened it months later) then adding the key signature to the project name is an easy way to find out.

There is nothing worse than having to write down all the notes you’ve used and comparing them to a chart to figure out the key, so this is well worthwhile.

Add notes to clips

SOMETIMES you don’t have to do all the work at once. When you are in the creative flow, the best thing to do is to get ideas down fast and perfect them later.

This is where one of Ableton’s most useful features comes in handy. Editing info text allows you to quickly write down ideas for a clip so you can work on it at a future moment.

Right-click on a clip and select Edit Info Text to make notes – this will save you wasting 20 minutes on perfecting an idea when the priority is to get the track structured and written out.

I like to use this on both clips and whole tracks. You can right-click on a track’s tab and add notes as well.

There is also a better option if you get frustrated with Ableton’s info text. This Maxforlive notepad plugin can be downloaded and dragged onto a track.

A Maxforlive notepad plugin works great too!

If you like, you can make it one of the default track plugins in the same way that I mentioned above.