Performing with Ableton Live: On Stage with St. Vincent
Overview
Daniel Mintseris, keyboard player and programmer for St. Vincent, shares his onstage setup, his tips for working with Ableton Live, and insights from his long musical career.
Daniel Mintseris has been touring with critically acclaimed musician St. Vincent for over three years. With Ableton Live, he's able to direct the entire show from his keyboard and laptop. In these exclusive videos, he explains what it takes to run your own world-class production with Ableton.
First, Daniel provides a tour of his setup, starting from his keyboard riserâthe hub of communication on stage. With Ableton and a series of MIDI controllers, he's closely connected to all the other instrumentalists. Then he demonstrates the process of building a show file and creating sound presets for every song. Daniel also explains how to use the Drum Kit as a MIDI controller for drum sounds, and how to make program changes on the downstage Moog and guitar stations. Finally, in our interview with Daniel, he closes down the course with insights on what it's like to be a musical director, and how he balances technology and musicianship to bring ideas to life.
Daniel Mintseris has been touring with critically acclaimed musician St. Vincent for over three years. With Ableton Live, he's able to direct the entire show from his keyboard and laptop. In these exclusive videos, he explains what it takes to run your own world-class production with Ableton.
First, Daniel provides a tour of his setup, starting from his keyboard riserâthe hub of communication on stage. With Ableton and a series of MIDI controllers, he's closely connected to all the other instrumentalists. Then he demonstrates the process of building a show file and creating sound presets for every song. Daniel also explains how to use the Drum Kit as a MIDI controller for drum sounds, and how to make program changes on the downstage Moog and guitar stations. Finally, in our interview with Daniel, he closes down the course with insights on what it's like to be a musical director, and how he balances technology and musicianship to bring ideas to life.
Syllabus
Introduction
- Welcome
- What you should know before watching this course
- Using the exercise files
- Keyboard and MIDI station
- Software overview
- Ableton Live set layout
- Preparing to use a click
- Creating click tracks
- Count-off and starting pitch
- In-ear monitors
- Creating a song preset in an Instrument Rack
- Switching sounds within the song preset
- Using clip automation to switch sounds
- Adding songs in nested Racks
- Using a macro to conserve CPU and select song presets
- Automating presets at song start
- Drums and electronics
- Ableton drum presets
- Guitar stations and Moog bass
- Changing external instrument presets
- Program change automation with Max for Live
- When playback is necessary: Preparing audio stems
- Importing playback audio
- Audio routing
- Set navigation
- Line-check file
- Backup system
- From humble beginnings to St. Vincent's technical brain
- Bringing ideas to life with Ableton Live
- Technology as an extension of musicianship
- Next steps
Taught by
Daniel Mintseris
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