Ableton Live is known as the sequencer you can play like an instrument. It has fast become the favoured solution for many high profile artists and DJs when creating original music, remixing, DJing or performing live.
Our 4 day weekend (or 6 week evening) course is aimed at complete beginners, and those with a basic knowledge of Ableton Live or music production generally.
Initially, an “everyday” working knowledge of the software is taught, moving on to more in-depth music production and performance techniques as the course progresses.
Suitability
16+
Price
£495
Lessons
6 x Wednesday evenings 7 – 10pm, or, 2 x Weekends (Sat & Sun 10am – 3pm)
Bonus!
Gain a full 6 weeks unlimited access to our Midi Lab, where tech support staff can provide you with extra assistance. We’re open 10am – 10pm Monday – Friday, and 12 – 9pm on weekends.
You will leave the course with a solid understanding of how use Ableton Live, and plenty of ideas for how you might start to put tracks together at home.
The first half of the course is all about Ableton Live and looks at all the ‘everyday working’ functionality: learning what each part of the interface does, customising it to suit your working style, and how to start building and controlling Live Sets.
We begin by covering the main aspects of Session view, and organising Live’s browser window, before learning how to import and control the playback of audio samples. To this, we add effect devices, and take tactile remote control of the Set using MIDI controller keyboards.
We look at how and why Live handles Clip launch and playback, methods for turning a pre-existing audio sample into something more unique, and how to organise groups of Clips in to Scenes for convenient playback control. By the end of day one, you will learn how to comprehensively create a Live Set from pre-existing musical ideas. You will have complete control over all musical ideas and effects, and will be able to perform a live set.
We then begin to add MIDI instrument devices to create original drum beats, bass lines and lead lines/chords. All the essentials of MIDI Clip creation and editing are covered, necessary for controlling all the instruments at your disposal. We show you where to find great samples for building drum kits from scratch, and how to control different parameters such as velocity and envelope decay to add expression to your drum beats.
We then move on to creating melodic ideas from scratch. For those without a background in music theory, we cover some basic methods for quickly coming up with ideas, using both music theory, and some of Ableton Live’s effect devices to ensure you avoid writer’s block.
The audio ideas from the first sessions are combined with the unique ideas we create during this, where we learn the plus points and potential limitations of both pathways. Finally, this session culminates in the recording and editing of an arrangement in Arrangement view.
Over the halfway mark, this course takes for granted a working knowledge of Ableton Live, and starts to look more generally at different music production scenarios. Because of this, it’s important to practice what you learnt during the first half of the course before we move on!
The syllabus for the second half is fairly open-ended and can be adapted depending on what the class would like to focus on. Topics covered include things like advanced audio handling for the purposes of sampling, re-editing, creating a mash-up, recording a DJ set, and manipulating stems for remixing.
Other topics include ‘how do they do that’: students can bring in their favourite tracks which we dissect and recreate by looking at the sound design and arrangement techniques used by the original artist.
For the final part of your Ableton Live short course we will look at some of the more advanced aspects of Live such as racks, mix down techniques i.e compression, EQ, reverb etc. We cover Live’s ability to convert audio to MIDI, and slicing up audio to a drum rack – both great ways of coming up with new ideas.
This means you will have covered all the steps involved in producing music from the initial idea to final rendering.
Mixdown is a vital part of the music production process which turns your collection of ideas into a finished professional-sounding piece of work, and will set you apart from the plethora of bedroom producers out there. In short, you will leave us understanding the fundamental functions and techniques needed to make your mix stand out from the crowd.
Course information
Evenings
March 18, 25, April 1, 8, 22, 29 2020 Lessons Wednesdays 7pm – 10pm
Weekend
March 14, 15, 21, 22 2020 (Women Only) Lessons Sat and Sun 10am – 3pm
Suitability
Beginners welcome or if you’ve dabbled at home and have questions!
Course fees
£495 advance payment. Monthly 0% plans also available totalling £495.
FEES: INSTANT DECISION 0% MONTHLY FINANCE
Options One and Two: Payment terms from 6 – 12 months, from £40 per month. Minimum 5% downpayment (£25) payable upon successful application. Total loan value: £470.
FEES: FUND YOUR OWN TRAINING
Option Three: £495 advance payment. Option Four: Reg fee (£50) to enrol + £475. Total £525. Balance due no later than 14 days prior to start.
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Enrol on course
Select from the dropdown menus below for further information.
When should I enrol?
In short: enrol as soon as you are ready. All live course dates are available for you to enrol on.
Unlike most training centres SEM has a limit on lecturer to student ratio and keeps its class sizes small. We therefore have limited availability and courses fill up in advance. We would recommend enrolling as soon as you are ready, to avoid disappointment.
Options 1 – 2: If you are funding with Monthly Finance with Omni Capital (credit check involved)
Apply online now via the course page, this will take you to Omni Capital’s page for the finance side of the application.
Your finance decision should be immediate.
Monthly repayments to Omni Capital do not begin until 1 month after your finance application has been accepted.
The initial downpayment is paid to SEM, which is required once your finance application has been accepted.
Options 3 – 4: If you are funding yourself (no credit check)
Enrol online, this will prompt you for your registration fee or the full amount depending on the payment option.
A course advisor will then be in touch to finalise your remaining payments if any are required.
If you have any questions pleasecontact a course advisor on +44 (0)161 833 4722. They will be happy to help!
Can I get funding for the course?
If you have any questions, we would always recommendcontacting a course advisoror calling us on +44 (0)161 833 4722.
Options 1 – 2: Get instant Monthly Finance with Omni Capital (you will need to be in employment)
Prospective students are able to get an instant online decision to fund training though our partner Omni Capital. Please note Omni Capital will undertake a credit check when you apply for finance.
To apply, you must be 18 or over, earning over £5000 annually and have been living in the UK for at least 3 years before your course starts. Omni Capital will also take into consideration additional factors such as your credit score. If you are uncertain about whether applying for the finance is right for you,please contact a course advisor first.
Apply by selecting the course start date, and the monthly payment duration that best suits your situation
Click ‘Enrol on Course’
On the second page, fill out your student details. At the bottom of the page select ‘Monthly Payments Omni Capital’.
This will reveal a dropdown. Select the monthly payment duration again.
Then select ‘Apply Now’
This will take you through to Omni Capital’s site to complete the finance application – a decision on the finance is normally instant.
Assuming your finance is accepted, you will need to pay:
The downpayment to SEM immediately
The monthly payments to Omni Capital do not begin for 28 days. We always advise ringing them on 0333 240 8318 to confirm the date of your direct debit.
You will need to pay a minimum 5% downpayment on the course fees to SEM at the point of successful finance application, although you have the option to make anything up to a 50% downpayment on course fees (a larger downpayment will make your monthly instalments cheaper). Should you wish to make a larger downpayment, contact SEM instead of applying online, as we will need to setup a bespoke application.
Options 3 – 4: Fund the course yourself
There are no credit checks involved with these options.
If you have not lived in the UK for the past three years, or have low or no credit score, then these options may be relevant for you as you may not qualify for Omni Capital finance.
Monthly finance calculator
You can use the finance calculator to try the potential options that suit your budget.
There is a minimum of 5% non-refundable registration fee (downpayment for the course fees) required from the student at the point of successful application. The calculator will tell you minimum deposit required on the right hand side. To pay a bigger registration fee to lower your monthly payments, please contact the school and we can create a bespoke finance application for you.
EG: Ableton Live Course. Fees: £495.
£495 over 6 months: Deposit £25 : Monthly instalments of £78.33. Total finance £495.
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