J. Anthony Allen shows how to start a music production project in Ableton Live by loading a synthwave drum loop and building around it. He emphasizes being the creative boss of your own track, and notes that you can start with a beat, a sample, or a synth sound instead.
Okay, where do we start? For me, the answer to that question depends on what I'm doing. So I always think about, like, who's boss? Like, who's the boss of this track that we're about to make? If I'm working on a podcast, then the director is the boss, right? So I've got like a structure to work with in that case. And I'm not just totally on my own to do whatever I want. If I'm working on a film or TV project, there's a boss and it's not me. So my role in those cases is to start from not zero, right? Like, I've got a script or I've got actors dialogue or a movie or something to work with. But in this case, I have a blank slate and I'm going to make music for me. So who's boss? This guy. Okay, so I'm the boss, so I can do whatever I want. So what do I want to do? Well, I'll tell you what I want to do. I want to make synthwave music because that's what I'm super into right now. I'm about 2/3 of the way done with a big synthwave project and I'm really into it. I'm really having fun with it. So if you're not familiar with synth wave, it's like really synthesis heavy and very like futuristic 80s vibes. Think like cyberpunk, that kind of thing. So I think I know where I'm gonna start. I'm gonna search my browser for synthwave and I. Because I know that there's this audio file of this drum loop. That's what I was looking for. There we go. Very synthwave drums. Okay, so I'm going to throw that drum loop on here and I'm just going to start with this. I'm just going to put this on here. We might not even use it in the end, but we're going to start by playing with this a little bit. So probably from this I'm going to build some chords, a bass line, maybe some sound effects, some other synths, and just seeing if I can make a groove out of it. I'm not going to worry about the arrangement meaning, like the structure of the song. For now, I'm just going to try to get something going that feels like interesting music. Now, do I always start with the beat? No, I don't actually. It's fun to start with the beat, but sometimes I just start with a sound, like a sample that's inspiring me to do something. Sometimes it's a synth. Sometimes it's the beat, but not always. Okay, so I think this beat needs a little bit of work before we dive into using it, so let's chop it up a little bit.
