A layered beat to set the pace

01:42

Steve kicks off the track in Ableton Live, and shows us a break he’s created to get things moving. It’s made of layer upon layer of loops and hits that Steve’s pulled from his massive sample collection: breaks, a ride cymbal, tambourine, two shakers, an extra snare layer, some reverbed percussion, and a hi-hat loop. The elements have been auditioned and selected to work well together by ear. Steve has collected the layers into their own group, and he quickly brings it all together with a bit of processing. “What I’ll often do in Ableton is add a compressor, just to tighten it up a bit. Ableton’s Glue has this fantastic Mix Gel preset – it’s really simple, it just tightens it all up a bit.” Steve leaves the compressor at its default settings, maintaining focus on building the track rather than getting bogged down in the little details.