1Sound Design - LiveKeyboardist

22Aug 2019 by Brett Pontecorvo

Synth Brass – Fast And Easy

A synth brass patch is an iconic sound. It works great for simple hits and even better for call and response with vocal lines. If your ears have never been drawn to synth brass live in action, then it's worth checking out some of these 1980's hits that prominently feature this type of patch: Talyor Dane's "Tell It To My Heart"Mariah Carey's, "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" Paul Abdul's, "Forever Your Girl". For this one, you are going to want to make sure you watch the video, but here are some thoughts that I think will add a lot to what you gain from watching. Before You Start It's always best to think about a sound you want to design in terms of the overall shape, which is most easily…

15Aug 2019 by Brett Pontecorvo

Best NI Piano VST? The Giant Or Alicia’s Keys?

1Sound Design, Blog, Sound Design

Out of all the Piano VST's out there, these are the two that I see talked about the most, especially in the context of modern worship. So I thought this would be a good opportunity to explore with more depth The Giant or Alicia's Keys debate. Here is the real question: If I could only have The Giant, or Alicia's keys, which one would I buy? Should We Compare Apples And Oranges? Alicia's Keys and The Giant are two different types of pianos, so can we really compare the two? Alicia's keys is a sample of the Yamaha C4, while The Giant is a sample of an unusually large upright piano designed by David Klavins called "Klavins Piano Model 370i" If you really want to nerd out, type his name…

30Jul 2019 by Brett Pontecorvo

Making A Super Saw Patch

1Sound Design, Blog, Sound Design

A super saw is a very common type of synth patch. You can hear the sounds of the supersaw in so many songs, but if you want to hear the supersaw in action you can check out "Party Rock", the intro hits, The breakdown in The Chainsmokers "Take Away", Or the lead line in "Summer Madness". Super Saws can be used as a starting point for creating basses, pads, brass, and strings. I'm sure I'm leaving something out here, but it's commonly used, and versatile, so how do we make it? Elements Of A Super Saw 7 Stacked Saw Waves The foundation of the supersaw patch are stacked and detuned saw waves. Using any synth, you can start by turning on multiple oscillators, and setting them to saw waves. In…

09Feb 2019 by Brett Pontecorvo

Prepping Multi Tracks For Use In Arrangement View

1Sound Design, Blog, Live Playback, Program Features

In the years of running tracks, I have gone through many phases of what I thought was best. After much reflection, I realize much of what works best is situational. Session view and arrangement view each have their own advantages. Today, we are going to look at how to prep multi Tracks for use in Arrangement View. If you are more interested in session view, you can check out my post, Exporting stems to session view. Track Prep Overview These are the steps you will go through to get a track ready for playback. Since it is a somewhat involved process, I find it helpful to start with a birds eye view and then move into details. Create MIDI clip markers to temporarily replace locatorsCreate tempo track to lesson automation…

22Jan 2019 by Brett Pontecorvo

How To Save Sounds With Audio Effects

1Sound Design, Blog, Program Features

Make sure you save the WHOLE idea... Let me set the scene. You have just spent 90 minutes getting a sound for your next performance dialed in just right. You created it using Ableton's wavetable, delay, auto-filter, Dynamic tube, and glue compressor. The glorious moment arrives for you to save your newly created sound into your user library. You click the save as preset button, celebrate because you can now use your awesome patch in every live set, open a new live set and drag in the saved preset. Slow tears begin to roll down your face because all that was saved with the patch, with NONE OF YOUR EFFECTS 90 minutes lost... That you can never get back.... Sound familiar? Admittedly, It's happen to me before. So, whats' the remedy?…

15Jan 2019 by Brett Pontecorvo

The Remedy For Muddy Piano Pad Patches

1Sound Design, Blog, Essential Audio Effects For Keyboard Players, Live Playback, Sound Design, Uncategorized

When playing piano/pad simultaneously, something things start to sound a little muddy. In my experience there are three things that generally cause this issue. The volume of one of the patches is too loudPatches are competing for dominance in the same frequency rangeThe initial attack of each patch happens at the same time For any of the above reasons, there are simple solutions. Before we jump in, pause and make sure you Join the Mainstage To Ableton Community. Every Tuesday and Saturday I release helpful information just like this to help optimize your live set-up, and I don't want you to miss out on solutions to your Ableton challenges, or information that will level up your Ableton game. Adjusting Volume Make sure that you piano patch has only slightly more…

12Jan 2019 by Brett Pontecorvo

Cleaner, More Interesting Chord Triggers

1Sound Design, Blog, Midi, Program Features, Uncategorized

Chord Triggers are a great tool. As a Keyboard player who is constantly playing the parts of several people with just ten fingers, they can be quite indespensible. It's always better to think in terms of artistic value though, as opposed to a necessary aid for covering more ground then physically possible. So the question then has always been, how to I keep more chord triggers sounding, natural, clean, and transparent. Here are three tricks I've come up with over the years that have helped me to use chord triggers in an effective way. I have also built a diatonic chord trigger that works in all 12 keys for you. You can download a free copy of that by clicking here. It's touch sensitive so high velocities produce bass notes,…

05Jan 2019 by Brett Pontecorvo

Three Audio FX to spice up any Piano Patch

1Sound Design, Blog, Live Playback, Presets and Sounds

I love a good piano patch. I've spent a ton of time thinking about what makes a piano sound interesting and I think it really comes down to three things. ColorPresenceTexture There was a time that I really hated using non musical words to describe sound, so let me extrapolate a bit more. Color When I talk about "color", I am specifically referring to saturation that has been added to the low-mids. It doesn't have to be a ton, and sometimes, it's not needed at all. But time and time again I find myself adding a little but of saturation or distortion there to help give my piano sounds a little more body. Presense When I talk about "presence" I am specifically thinking about come form of compression. When I…

01Jan 2019 by Brett Pontecorvo

Cool Ping Pong Delay Trick

1Sound Design, Blog, Essential Audio Effects For Keyboard Players, Presets and Sounds

If you are playing keyboard live, you will want to make excellent use of all the audio effects you have available to you. It's one of the things that sets us apart from someone who is playing on a regular acoustic piano. Ping pong delay is a great effect that you hear probably more often than you would expect. It's a great way to add dimension and rhythm to a standard piano patch. It takes a delayed signal and moves it quickly back and fourth across a stereo feild. Many ping-pong delays leave my sound a little muddy. I have created a bit of a workaround for that that will leave this effect still sounding crispy. Rather than using Ableton's ping pong delay device, I use the simple delay panned…

22Dec 2018 by Brett Pontecorvo

Supercharge Your Live Performance With Macros

1Creating A Keyboard Set Up, 1Sound Design, Blog, Live Playback, Midi, Program Features

Ever wonder why all of your keyboard sounds feel stagnant, sterile, and computerized? Perhaps you feel comfortable making set lists, but are looking to make your sounds go the extra mile? If you're tired of sounding more like a robot than a musician, read on... https://youtu.be/VB_rngXDS_4 Every instrument has the ability to produce many types of sounds... Ableton is VERY MUCH your instrument, so your approach to creating a variety of dynamics, textures, and tones is pivotal in creating a captivating performance. Unfortunately, just popping a few audio effects after a synthesizer isn't going to give you the ALIVE feeling that you need to have. In order to make your sounds pop you must have the ability to change how, and how much a sound is effected in real time,…

Category: 1Sound Design