3 minutes to Start Recording Cover Music with Ableton Live
Have you ever wanted to start recording cover music and post it on social media but you never know how to begin with? This will be the easiest tutorial to begin with.
Ableton Live has been known as one of the largest daw (Digital audio workstation) on the market, it provides tons of sound libraries and plugins to users. If you have purchased an audio interface before, it is usually attached with a free Ableton Live activation code. You can also download a free trial from their website.
Step-by-Step Guide
Step 1: Ableton Live setting
Assuming you have already set up your input devices (mic/instrument) to your computer, the whole thing can be started.
This is the initial interface you will see when you open Ableton Live, the default is in session view, we need to change it from session view to arrangement view.
click the button with 3 horizontal lines on the upper right corner to change the view to arrangement view. You can also do this by pressing the Tab key.
Step 2: Find the song you want to cover and change it to an audio file
This is a self-explanatory step, just find the song you want to cover and convert it into an audio file with the help of online tools. For me, it always starts with copying the song URL from YouTube and pasting it on a free online converter. After the conversion process is done, you should be able to select the audio format you want, I usually select .mp3 or .ogg
You can already use this audio file as the backing track, but you can further process this audio file by removing the vocal or instrument. This is also simple to do.
Option Step 2.1: Vocal/Instrument removal
Using tools like Vocal Remover and Isolation [AI] to help you do the task.
Click save and select the part you want after the processing is done on the web.
Step 3: Start recording
Now, you can drag and drop the downloaded audio to Ableton Live, it will take a few seconds to process the audio, and you will then be able to hear the music when recording the cover.
Since Ableton Live automatically warps the audio with the BPM, remember to check out the warp option to let it return to normal speed. The above interface appears when you double-click on the audio track.
Remember to press the small button on the upper right on the input channel you want to use, it means the recording will start in this input.
Finally, start and have fun with the recording by pressing F9!