[MUSIC]
There might be a certain place in
your mix where you want something very specific to happen.
Perhaps you want an effect to turn on or you want a knob to turn up,
In that regard,
writing those instructions into the arrangement is what's referred to as automation.
We're giving the computer instructions that,
this point in time,
you're going to turn this on.
We can do this both at the clip level and in
the automation lanes inside of the arrangement as well.
So we can do this in session view and arrangement view.
Let's start by doing things in a clip here.
So I'm over back in session view here,
and I'm going to open up this chord clip.
I'll just stop everything for a minute here
and we'll just listen to this one clip.
[MUSIC]
So there's some really interesting things happening up top,
especially with that distorted part of the frequency spectrum.
So what I want to do is filter sweep.
So the first thing I need to do is put a filter onto the track.
So moving over here to the Audio Effects category,
I'm going to grab what's referred to as an Auto Filter.
So I'm going to press Play and move this around,
but the basic mechanism behind
this device is that here's the frequency spectrum represented.
Down here are the lowest frequencies we can hear,
and these are the highest.
So as I pull this frequency parameter over,
I'm filtering out these highs.
Then as I move it back over,
I'm filtering them back in.
[MUSIC]
Classic DJ move.
Classic electronic music move here.
So I'm going to automate this directly into a clip.
So over here on the left,
what we need to do is open up the automation lane or the envelopes,
is what they refer to in this regard.
So first things first,
I need to dictate the parameter that I want to automate.
Which knob do I want to turn at what point?
So up top, we get to choose at which level the automation is happening.
Are we doing things to the mixer?
Are we doing something to the paddle effect, to the clip itself?
In our case, we want to be adjusting a knob on the Auto Filter.
So I choose the Auto Filter.
Then below, I have all of the parameters that
are available to me on that particular device.
So I want to adjust the cut off frequency,
and here I have this red line that's dotted along the top here.
Dotted means there is no automation written in yet,
this is just the place where the knob is sitting.
So I'm going to create breakpoints.
At any point in this red line,
I can just click to create a breakpoint.
So I'm going to create one in the beginning,
middle, and the end.
Then as I go towards this dot,
you can see that I'm getting a lot of flashing blue.
So if I approach something and it turns blue,
that's what's currently selected.
So if I were to move this,
this entire section moves down.
If I went over here and did the same thing,
this whole side of the automation in the clip would then decrease.
If I approach this automation lane and I have only the dots selected,
only this dot is going to be moving.
That's what I want to do.
In this particular instance,
I'm going to click and I'm going to drag down.
So now we have this frequency parameter going all the way down at Measure 3
and then coming all the way back up for the end of Measure 4.
So let's give this a listen.
[MUSIC].
It's just going to keep repeating.
So I don't want to go that low.
[MUSIC]
All right. So I've recorded automation directly into this clip here,
and you can see that now a little red dot exists on
the side of the boxes here where I've chosen the parameters to automate.
If I go back to the effect itself,
you can see there's also a red dot next to the knob
that I've automated or the parameter that I've automated.
So that's how I know that there is automation happening.
So let's remove all this automation.
I'm going to use the Command A shortcut here
to select it all and I'll just delete it,
and we're back to a dotted red line here.
So things that happen on the clip level are only happening in these clips.
They're not existing over here because this is the arrangement
and I am now putting the automation in after the fact.
If I had put the automation into the clip first and then pull that into the arrangement,
it would also be in the arrangement.
But there's a pretty clear distinction between
automation that's happening in the session
and automation that's happening in the arrangement.
So now let's do this exact same filter sweep,
except we're going to do it in the arrangement.
So to open the automation lanes in the arrangement,
I need to toggle this icon here
and its two breakpoints that are connected via a line of automation.
You'll see the same thing here where now I'm seeing these dotted lines across the lane.
I'm going to navigate to the chords track here,
and then the process is the same.
I'm going to choose the device that I want to automate from this drop-down menu,
so here's the Auto Filter again,
and then the parameter on the device.
So now I'm choosing frequency,
and I've got this red line ready for me to automate right away.
So I could do the same thing.
I could create these breakpoints here and then pull down.
I think I got to make it this long.
There we go.
So let's press Play and listen to this one.
[MUSIC]
Filter sweeps are great for prepping someone for a transition to the next section.
So I just moved over these chords
so they come in at the end of the filter sweep.
So I can write this automation in.
I can also create a curved line by holding
down the Option key as I approach it and pulling left and right,
and I can change the contour of
the line from straight to curve or however I want to do this.
So there's another way to record automation in here,
and that's to record it in.
So again, I'm just going to delete the automation.
You can see as I highlight this area,
this top bar of the clip is not highlighted.
So if I press Delete now,
the region will stay, but the automation will go.
So I'm now starting over.
I'm going to open this up so I can see
the device here and I have access to the perimeter,
and I'm just going to move it back and forth using my mouse.
So up here, this is the Automation Arm button.
As long as this is on,
if I press Record here,
any move that I make throughout
the whole process is going to be recorded directly into the arrangement.
So let me show you that in action.
I'm going to press Record on the global transport here.
[MUSIC]
All right. So you're seeing a lot of automation here
because I didn't just automate the Auto Filter.
There is that filter sweep
and it looks a lot like what I drew originally,
except it's way more granular and detailed.
If you zoom in,
you can see there are so many breakpoints here
versus before we only had three.
But additionally, I adjusted some volumes as I was going along also,
and you can see that reflected here in the hi-hats
and this arpeggiated pattern as well.
So I can go back in and delete this or do whatever I'd like.
Depending on whether you meant to do something or you did it on accident,
there's a lot of flexibility with this,
drawing things and deleting things.
The one thing that can be a little tricky here is that,
if I'm playing on this track,
let's say just do that right now,
then I decide I just want to change the frequency cutoff at a later part of this track.
[MUSIC]
So you can see that that automation lane went from red to gray.
So this should be really similar to the difference between session and
arrangement and how when wanted to be listening to what was in the arrangement,
we had to press the Back to Arrangement button.
Well, the same is true for automation.
So if I override the automation,
Ableton is assuming that that's what I want to have happened in
that moment because it's always thinking I'm performing live on stage.
If want to go back to the automation arrangement,
I need to press this button up here,
which is the equivalent of Back to the Arrangement,
except for the automation component of things.
So if I click it here,
it turns off and then my automation is back.
So this works a little bit differently than it does in other DAWs.
If you want to write in more automation here,
you're going to have to either record it in or click it in,
however you want to do that.
If you change a fader or something that you've automated,
you just have to remember that if you want to go back to it,
you're going to have to click this back to
the automation equivalent of Back to Arrangement.
[MUSIC]