Implementing Automation and Modulation

Automation is a change of parameters over time, which is programmed into your Digital Audio Workstation (DAW).

There are multiple reasons why you might want to implement automation. It can be used for corrective reasons, such as automating the volume of your tracks in the project for mixing purposes, and for loads of creative purposes, for example, automating device parameters, such as a Dry/Wet control of reverb at the end of the vocal phrase.

Automation also can enhance the dynamics of your arrangement, help with transitioning from section to section, and provide some interest for certain instruments.

In this chapter, we will discover how we can work with automation in both the Session and Arrangement Views.

We are going to cover the following key topics in this chapter:

• Tempo and time signature changes
• Recording automation in the Arrangement View
• Recording automation in the Session View
• Drawing and editing automation...

Technical requirements

In order to follow along with this chapter, you will need the following:

• A computer with at least 8 GB of RAM and an Intel Core i5 processor
• A pair of headphones
• A copy of Live 11 Suite
• The Chapter 11 Ableton Live project

Tempo and time signature changes

In this section, we are going to discover how we can automate the session tempo as well as how to implement time signature changes.

Implementing tempo changes

This can be useful if you would like a section of your song to speed up or slow down at some point. It can provide some real contrast to your song, or can be useful you are recording various tracks into the same project with different song tempos.

Let’s check out how we can implement tempo changes into our project by automating the song tempo!

1. Open the Chapter 11 project (I already applied some automation and modulation for inspiration in this project, so feel free to work around these or delete them).
2. Navigate to the Arrangement View.
3. Navigate to the Master track.
4. To be able to automate any parameters, we need to enable Automation Mode, by pressing the Automation Mode button or using the hotkey A.

Figure 11.1 – The Automation...

Recording automation in the Arrangement View

We already learned how, in the previous section, to select a parameter for automation. In this section, we will take that further and record track automation in real time!

Take the following steps with me:

1. We could automate mixer parameters, such as panning, volume fader, or even sends, as we learned that nearly all parameters in Live can be automated. However, for this example, we are going to automate a device parameter.
2. Insert an Auto Filter effect onto the SYNTH 1 track.
3. Make sure that Automation Mode is enabled.
4. We also need to enable the Automation Arm button, as we are going to record automation.

Figure 11.8 – The Automation Arm button

5. We are going to automate the frequency cutoff of the Auto Filter device we have just inserted and click on the Frequency parameter on Auto Filter, so the parameter appears with its automation lane and automation envelope (the value...

Recording automation in the Session View

Recording automation in the Session View is similar to how we recorded automation in the Arrangement View.

The main difference is that the automation is written into the particular clip’s automation envelope that we are working with, not onto the timeline.

Let’s have a look at how this works:

1. Drop an Auto Filter onto the 909 Core Kit track.
2. Enable the Automation Arm button.
3. Arm this 909 Core Kit track.
4. Select the clip that you would like to record the automation to – in this case this will be the yellow clip called k+c+OH (don’t launch this clip though).
5. We are going to decrease the cutoff Frequency parameter of the Auto Filter device toward the end of the clip. Now hit the Session Record button and move the Frequency parameter.
6. The automation was recorded. To display it, double-click on the clip and hit the Envelopes tab at the Tool tabs, which you can find in the Clip View.

...

Drawing and editing automation

As usual, recording something in real time can give a more human feel, which isn’t any different for automation. However, some parameters require very precise values and movements to be mimicked; therefore, drawing the automation manually with the mouse might be a better option in this case.

Of course, you can also just record the automation and then edit it later.

Let’s find out how to do all these things!

As we already briefly discussed, there are two locations where automation can live:

• The clip envelope
• The track-based automation envelope

Drawing and editing automation works the same in both locations/views (the Session and Arrangement Views); besides some of the features that relate to the timeline, they only apply in the Arrangement View, such as the Lock Envelope feature, which relates to the timeline.

Drawing automation

We already looked at how to manually create breakpoints at the beginning of this...

Clip envelopes

In Live, all clips have clip envelopes. These envelopes can control anything from MIDI controller data to automation and modulation. Clip envelopes can be set to control the mixer, the clip itself (for example, transposition and gain), and device parameters.

As we know now, in the Arrangement View, automation is stored in track-based envelopes (they show up on the timeline). The Session View automation will be stored within clip envelopes. You can access these through the Envelopes tab in the Clip View.

Figure 11.31 – The Envelopes tab in the Clip View

Note

You can apply all the drawing and editing features within the clip envelopes in the Session View (besides, of course, the locking clip envelopes function, as that’s related to the Arrangement View’s timeline.)

While discovering earlier in this chapter how to record automation in the Session View, we also established that automation stored in clip envelopes...

Summary

We have just arrived at the end of this chapter. In it, we looked at how we can record, draw, edit, and automate in both the Session and Arrangement Views.

We also further investigated clip envelopes, which are the “storage” of automation in the Session View. While we did that, we discovered the difference between automation and modulation within clip envelopes.

We reviewed the use of automation, and how it can be a tool to enhance our sounds with a bit more movement and interest, as well as our arrangement, as automation can help a lot with transitioning from section to section in our songs.

In the next chapter, we will enter the amazing world of MIDI Polyphonic Expression (MPE) in Ableton Live 11.