Generate new musical ideas in Ableton Live

PROBLEM: How can I make drum loops from sample libraries sit better within my tracks?

Sample libraries are a great resource that many producers use to create their music. Often in the flow of music-making, you might browse some libraries and drop a drum loop that feels right for your track. When the moment arrives to mix you may have wished you had more control over individual elements, especially with the low end, which can be delicate to get right. A full sample might have the right groove, feel and great sound itself, but might not have the right mix for your own track.

In the below example, the old-school drum loop has the right vibe, but the kick is not powerful enough and does not have enough low end for the modern dance style of the track. With a simple trick using Live’s Drum Buss, you can keep the flavour of the sample but keep control of the low end of it.

About The Author

Cristiano Nicolini is a Berlin-based music producer, sound engineer and tech consultant. He is fluent in nearly all areas of music technology. He makes music as MATTOKIND, BleakHouse and PlastikJoy

01 Isolate the bass

Duplicate the Drum Loop track. Add a low cut to the original sample. Cut until you don’t feel the bass of the kick anymore, but you can still hear the character of it. In the example 150Hz feels right.

02 Add sub harmonics

On the duplicated track insert a Drum Buss device. Dial up the Boom Amount, and activate the Boom Audition button, this way you are listening only to the added sub frequencies. You can tune the bass using the Boom Frequency dial.

03 Shape the sub

Add a Shaper device from Max for Live, and map it to the gain of a Utility device. Adjust the offset so the gain reaches 0dB at the top of the shape. Adjust the rate to 1/4 for a 4 to the floor pattern. Adjust the shape to keep the sub effective but not overtaking.

04 Blend in

Group the two tracks, adjust the volumes to reach a balance in between the groove and the sub, add a Glue Compressor with a low cut sidechain to glue it all together.