Mixing Dance Music: Ableton – Mix Deconstruction

Point Blank have a brand new course called Mixing Dance Music in Ableton, or MDMA for short (just a coincidence, honest!). It looks at taking sound engineering skills with a focus on electronic music and applying them to Ableton Live, which is a platform generally not known for its broad mixing capabilities. This course aims to show that Ableton not only matches its competitors as a mixing tool, it can surpass them in many lot of ways some of its features.

Throughout the course you’ll learn about critical listening and mixing environments, dynamics, EQ, using reverb and mixing vocals in Ableton. It’s the perfect course for anyone looking to go beyond creative sampling and production in Ableton and want to finish complete tracks in the popular software.

With exclusive downloadable racks only available with this course, including a bespoke De-esser, Tap Delay and ADT (Artificial Double Tracking), you will also be provided with at least three complete projects to download – including all original stems – in addition to loads more exciting project examples.

In Point Blank’s new mixing series, course tutor Anthony Chapman (Franz Ferdinand, Klaxons, Rudimental) deconstructs his mix of Debukas’ track Shake in Ableton Live. Part 1 looks at the drum bus and the bassline and how he treats these elements of the mix. Part 2 gives you an idea of the kind of techniques you’ll learn on the MDMA course, as Anthony breaks down the synth and effects parts of his mix of Debuka’s track. Finally part 3 looks at how the vocals of the track came together, with some pitch and gating tricks.