How to Make Great Music Mashups: The Start-to-Finish Guide to Making Mashups with Ableton Live

Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
About The Author
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1 Why Mashups?
	What Is a Mashup?
	Why Would You Use One?
	Is It Difficult to Put a Mashup Together?
	An Important Concept about the Dance Music Audience
	How to Use This Book
2 The Components of a Mashup
	The Main Track
	Breakdown Tracks, Classics and Non-dance Songs
	Vocals
	Musical Riffs/Sections
	Added Drums and Effects
3 The Right Mix of Elements
4 Mashup Theory
	Key
	Figuring Out the Key of an Element
	Mixed In Key
	Finding the Key of a Song without Mixed In Key
	Deciding the Key of Your Mashup
	Tempo and Rhythm
	Time Signatures
	Music Loves Hanging Out in Bars
	Choosing the Tempo of Your Mashup
	Mashups that Change Tempo
	One More Note on Major/Minor Keys
5 What Will You Need?
	A Decent Listening Space
	Equipment
6 Ableton Live
	Audio Terminology
	Equalisation
	Getting Familiar with Live
	Importing Tracks
	Using Warp to Change the Tempo of a Clip
	Using Warp to Change the Pitch of a Clip
	Effects
	Automation
7 Preparing for Mashups
	Creating a Folder Structure to Keep Things Organised
	Creating a Mashup Key List
	Creating and Organising a Samples Folder
	Finding Pre-created Effects and Builds
	Creating an Ableton Live Template
	Label Your Current Tracks with Key Information
	Write Out a List and Find Your Best Mashup Combinations
8 Making Mashups—Part 1: Arrangement and Sourcing Audio
	Arrangement
	Laying Elements Together
	Basic Mashup Arrangements
	When Should I Bring This Bit in?
	Making Sure You Have All the Audio You Need
	‘DIY’ Acapellas
	General Tips on Arrangement
	Editing Intros
9 Making Mashups—Part 2: Techniques
	Transitions
	Bringing in an Element
	High-pass Filtering during Transitions
	Added Effects, Sweeps and Drum Builds
	Treating Vocals
	Using Low-shelf EQ to Balance Bass
	Reverse Reverbs
	‘Hinting’ and ‘Linking’ Sections
	Vocal Loops and Chops
	Side-chain Compression (or LFO Tool)
	Added Drum Loops
	Using Your Own Instruments
	Pitch Effects
	Arranging Tempo Changes
	Transitioning between 4/4 and 6/8 Time Signatures
	Using Multiband Compression to Make Room for Vocals
	General Ideas on Working Effectively
	Is It Finished?
	Exporting
10 House-Keeping
	Becoming Faster and More Efficient
	Quick Re-cap on Organisation
	Using Your Old Mashups as Inspiration
	Coming Back to Your Previous Ideas
	Intros and Set-breakers
11 Final Thoughts
	Keep Your Ears Open for Great Ideas
	Don’t Overdo It
	Legal Ramifications of Distributing Mashups
	More Resources
	Thank You
Resources and Links
Keyboard Shortcuts
Glossary
Index