How to Write Film Music in Ableton Live

Has ableton 11 addressed any of the issues you’ve mentioned ?

I've migrated to ableton from Ill-logic over the last year. I typically score short sequences like this ie commercials. Ableton few short comings. More than are made up for by its flexibility. I list out my ques on paper then I score it in session view then record it into arraignment view. then import the video and massage all the hits etc.

You ARE CHANGING the speed of the VIDEO when you make Warp Markers and MOVING THEM!! You shouldn't do this!!

Are there any aupdated in Ableton to work in FPS workflow more easly? Thinking to switch from Logic to Ableton, but working a lot with video sounddesign.

I love ableton but its not made it for scoring; for my is almost imposible and i used ableton almost 20 years now ehehehehe but i love logic pro x for sound design and scoring. Nice video❤️

Very helpful and an all 'round great video. Thanks for the tips!

did Ableton address the time code issue in 11?

My export does not have the option for exporting as a movie, what do I do?

Thank you David! This was an excellent and super informative intro into and exactly what I was looking for! ✌

You're so helpful yet so underrated man. Earned a new sub :D

Its been a struggle composing in ableton till i seen this, thank you vvery much.

Lots of great tips in this video, David! Thanks

Hi David, quick question: how do you make the mod wheel animation (for increasing dynamics/layering) easy to use in your scoring flow? I tried to do that, but I am missing something and other DAWs make it seem very fluid and it just works out of the box. It is not really pleasant to do that with the mouse manually.

Thanks a lot!

So if I am scoring a video that is purely background (ire: drone footage) but want to keep 4/4 time and have the audio as the leader I should warp the video as follower and use warp markers to mark impact / cut / triggers ?

loved it

Great video. I’ve always been fascinated with Ableton. Keep up the good work.

Oh-oh... And here, I thought this was a tutorial on how to SCORE with Ableton. Dang it.

Man, I love this video!

Do you need to download something for windows to accept the video in ableton?

Why didn't you put film music in the background of this video?

Cool. Seems like it's more of a pain in the ass if I'm already comfortable with Logic, but it's nice to know that it's doable if I find myself in Ableton anyway.

Thank you! I use Live for everything and now I want to create scores on it! Liked and subscribed!

Anyone know how to do a tempo change without changing the video speed? You can see even in this video when he changes the tempo the video warps different. Also is their a way to change tempo speed in the clip? After you warp the video and set it to leader you can no longer change the tempo on master.

Great vid! Thank you :)

Very helpful vidio

My only problem with ableton is it's not possible to make RAM friendly orchestral templates like in Cubase, Studio One, or even Bitwig as it doesn't roll back kontakt sample from RAM when you disable a midi track with Kontakt instance.

Thanks for doing this - great insight 👍

Thanks for posting this, I like your options for cutting and longing up the midi to the film edits.

I'm doing a score that has many tempo changes (automated on Master fader, unfortunately) and anything I edit towards the beginning affects everything after and it's a pain. With adding markers in the Warped/Leader clip do you then adjust the tempo in the clip or how does it work? I've been doing it the hard way all along 😩 Thanks

In ableton version 9 instead of Leader it sayes Master. And the follower is named a slave. The question is, does this function works the same in the version 9? I am curious because, its not working for me as I expect. The tempo doesn't change after I added several warp markers. If I also drag the markers, then the master tempo reacts, but the transitions of the tempo aren't smooth it just goes straight up or down... Can anyone tell me how this Leader and slave function actually works? If the first midi note of the bar has to start in same position as warp markers in the Leader channel, it definitely doesn't do the job for me.

Thx sooo much for this vid. I will definitely put it to use. 😊

hey mate, great vid! What were you meaning when you said “turn off the audio from the video clip?” no idea what part that was talking about. cheers man!

Hello David, I love your content, and I would love to have a little chat with you...I use Ableton Live for years, and I'm starting to make music for film. I found another workaround to set my hitpoints I would love to share with you. Have a nice day my friend.

wow this is really helpful .. the warp and leader on video track .. thank you

On your note on the timecode: Isn't there a max for live device that can do that? I mean, they're making it possible to connect lego mindstorms to ableton, it should surely be able to make working with films easier right?

thanks, David!

I'm curious, what's your experience with using Kontakt libraries (mainly Spitfire Audio) in Ableton. I've been using Joshua Casper's technique for loading multiple libraries in a project. It works great but I seem to have an issue with closing a project that contains a big library like Albion One. It pinwheels until I force quit (most of the time). Also I noticed you use a combo of Addictive Keys & LABS Soft Piano. That's a great idea. I wish I could see how you have that set up. Lastly for this long winded comment, do you find it's hard to tame String libraries in Ableton as opposed to Logic? I can't seem to master the Christian Henson fader technique for dynamics/expression. I end up manually drawing in everything with a stiff neck. Thanks for this awesome inspiring video, love the channel!

i've scored a few things in Ableton using many of these techniques. I wish someone (with time on their hands) would make a bunch of the Pianobook libraries for Sampler!

Its worth using insert time instead of dragging clips across. It'll prevent any headaches later. Also if you name markers a time signature, it will change the time signature - so you can add a few random beats without misaligning all of the music ahead of that point. So you could add a bar of 2/4 and then change back to 4/4 the next bar with markers. [I write this assuming you already know this but didn't include it for the simplicity of the video, however others may find it useful]

When right clicking the time ruler in the bottom in Arrangement there are frame options besides ms, you can change to 24 FPS (for example).

Did you watch one of Daniel James' early first videos, where he showcases how he used Ableton to score an Italian feature fan film centred on Metal Gear Solid? He too made use of those warp markers, but only to signal the cut hits, he would then go ahead and add/remove beats

I've been using Ableton for years and didn't know the trick about finding the tempo by warping a file. I used to be a Logic guy, for many years, and I have to say...it's a pain that you can only add one video track per project. In Ableton it's endless, and that's incredibly convenient. You can throw all the footage in one project where you have all your elements, sound design, etc, so you when you change the mix or anything, it applies to everything. This has been very useful with some work for advertising where you have to make different versions with different durations. One thing that I think it's not that good in Ableton for scoring is actually scoring, but in the end the best approach is exporting MIDI files anyway, and importing them in Sibelius or a similar software. I haven't been in a project so complex that the markers would be a problem, but in the rest, if you ask me, much more comfortable and practical than Logic, which is supposed to be one of the main tools for soundtracks. Also I find Ableton is much more comfortable for sharing projects with other producers, or people you're working with. Ah, and another thing...I suppose you don't know anything about working with OMF in Ableton, right? Sometimes that can be a pain in the ass. Anyway, good video, I'm glad I subscribed.

super helpful - so rare to see the mechanics of writing to picture - I suppose b/c folks can't show the footage. Also love your ascetics and the way you apply them across everything you create. No idea how you have the time to do such consistently awesome stuff, but I'm super grateful for it!

You're wonderful! I love your work! Your videos are very useful and helpful for me! Please, make a Patreon, I want to support you!!

Been using Ableton for multiple years, but for some reason i had no idea i could just drag and drop video into Ableton like this lmao.
Great video!

interesting technique with a leader! thank you for this