Ableton Course
A comprehensive Ableton course and introduction to producing quality music. You will cover all of the essential music production skills needed to create tracks in any genre on this unique software which has revolutionised the creative process in music production. As well as being perfect for beginners, more experienced Ableton users will benefit too as you go over the elements indepthly with a professional engineer/producer. First we show you how to get creative with your clips in session mode. Bit by bit we walk you through each step, so by the end you’ll be arranging and producing your very own tracks, as well as remixing and mashing up other artists. We also cover everything you need to know about performing Ableton live DJ sets. This is a six week course and the price is £449. Check out the testimonials at the bottom of this page to see what recent learners thought.
Al Riley, Martin Delaney and Irfan Nathoo are our Ableton specialists. Check them out on our Instructors page and Google.
All courses come with extensive notes put together by our expert course developers and you also get an industry recognised certificate on successful completion. If you miss any sessions dues to holidays or illness, we can usually engineer it so you can come back on the next cycle and catch up.
The courses are designed for optimised learning so you take in the content in a day, recap in between sessions at home, and come back to us a week later for the next session of learning. This makes use of an educational practice called The Spacing Effect
To enrol, call or send us an email telling us which course you would like to do when it runs and we’ll organise the rest. You can pay securely through Google Checkout if that suits you.
Week 1 – The Basics
- What sets Ableton apart from other DAWs
- Getting set up: Audio and the preferences window
- Session view vs. Arrangement view: applications of each
- Live concepts: clips / scenes / browser / library
- Intro to Racks
- The concept of Ableton’s unique warp engine
Week 2 – Sampling, Recording and Working with Audio
- Warping in practice
- Clips: clip view and clip properties
- Editing in arrangement view
- Routing Midi and audio
- Effects: Live’s effects and using third party effects
- Group tracks and clip grouping
Week 3 – MIDI Tracks and Composing with Virtual Instruments
- Instruments: Simpler / Sampler / third party instruments
- Setting up a MIDI keyboard or drum pad controller
- Racks: instrument racks / drum racks / effects racks
- Programming and mangling drum patterns
- Getting creative with MIDI effects
- Multitrack warping
Week 4 – Automation & Hands On Control
- Clip envelopes vs. mixer automation
- Creating build-ups and breakdowns with automation
- Music theory – what we teach is not difficult and is well worth knowing
- MIDI control: remote control / map mode
- Key map mode
- One2one on your first production
Week 5 – DJing and Live Performance
- Preparing tracks and harmonic mixing
- On the fly DJ effects
- Using resampling as a creative tool
- Using MIDI controllers effectively / mouse-free control
- Live loop recording and resampling
- One2one on your first production
Week 6 – Advanced Techniques
- Using the looper plugin for complex live layering
- Making a ‘mash-up’ and warping acapellas
- Syncing Ableton with external hardware and other DAWs
- Advanced clip actions: Follow Action, Legato and Sample Offset
- Balancing, introduction to mixing and sidechaining
- One2one on your first production
End Of Year 2011
| Date | Time |
| Monday 14th November | 11.00 – 18.00 |
| Monday 21st November | 11.00 – 18.00 |
| Monday 28th November | 11.00 – 18.00 |
| Monday 5th December | 11.00 – 18.00 |
| Monday 12th December | 11.00 – 18.00 |
| Monday 19th November | 11.00 – 18.00 |
New Year 2012
| Date | Time |
| Monday 2nd January | 18:45 – 21:45 |
| Tuesday 3rd January | 18:45 – 21:45 |
| Monday 9th January | 18:45 – 21:45 |
| Tuesday 10th January | 18:45 – 21:45 |
| Monday 16th January | 18:45 – 21:45 |
| Tuesday 17th January | 18:45 – 21:45 |
| Monday 23rd January | 18:45 – 21:45 |
| Tuesday 24th January | 18:45 – 21:45 |
| Monday 30th January | 18:45 – 21:45 |
| Tuesday 31st January | 18:45 – 21:45 |
| Monday 6th February | 18:45 – 21:45 |
| Tuesday 7th February | 18:45 – 21:45 |
Early Spring 2012
| Date | Time |
| Saturday 18th February | 11.00 – 18.00 |
| Saturday 25th February | 11.00 – 18.00 |
| Saturday 3rd March | 11.00 – 18.00 |
| Saturday 10th March | 11.00 – 18.00 |
| Saturday 17th March | 11.00 – 18.00 |
| Saturday 24th March | 11.00 – 18.00 |
Late Spring 2012
| Date | Time |
| Wednesday 28th March | 18:45 – 21:45 |
| Thursday 29th March | 18:45 – 21:45 |
| Wednesday 4th April | 18:45 – 21:45 |
| Thursday 5th April | 18:45 – 21:45 |
| Wednesday 11th April | 18:45 – 21:45 |
| Thursday 12th April | 18:45 – 21:45 |
| Wednesday 18th April | 18:45 – 21:45 |
| Thursday 19th April | 18:45 – 21:45 |
| Wednesday 25th April | 18:45 – 21:45 |
| Thursday 26th April | 18:45 – 21:45 |
| Wednesday 2nd May | 18:45 – 21:45 |
| Thursday 3rd May | 18:45 – 21:45 |
Early Summer 2012
| Date | Time |
| Thursday 10th May | 11.00 – 18.00 |
| Thursday 17th May | 11.00 – 18.00 |
| Thursday 24th May | 11.00 – 18.00 |
| Thursday 31st May | 11.00 – 18.00 |
| Thursday 7th June | 11.00 – 18.00 |
| Thursday 14th June | 11.00 – 18.00 |
Midsummer 2012
| Date | Time |
| Sunday 24th June | 11.00 – 18.00 |
| Sunday 1st July | 11.00 – 18.00 |
| Sunday 8th July | 11.00 – 18.00 |
| Sunday 15th July | 11.00 – 18.00 |
| Sunday 22nd July | 11.00 – 18.00 |
| Sunday 29th July | 11.00 – 18.00 |
“I came into the Ableton course a bit worried as i had never used the program before, but was quickly put at ease by the friendly atmosphere. Our instructor Irfan was great, really enthusiastic and patient, he was happy to go over things again until you got to grips with it and his knowledge and skills were inspiring. I have never been one for learning from a book or online tuition, and the hands on approach of the course was perfect, having Irfan there to help if you have any queries or even the other guys in the class were always happy to help each other out when they could. I left the course feeling confident about making my own tracks on Ableton and also djing on Ableton.” Stuart Galloway – Ableton
“I found the Ableton course highly enjoyable and informative. I went from knowing nothing about Ableton to putting together live sets and even my own tracks. The instructors were brilliant, and it was great to have two from completely different backgrounds. The class sizes are small so it’s almost like having a personal tutor in the sessions. It’s easy to ask questions or recap if you miss something. I would most definitely recommend this course to anyone who’s serious about getting to grips with Ableton and producing music.” Beat a Maxx – Ableton
“They have multiple tutors on the courses who work in different areas of the business so you get different perspectives. In just six weeks you are able to fully understand and work the programme with great tips from industry people who really know their stuff. It’s brilliant!” Jenny O’Malley – Logic and Ableton
“Ive been DJing for years now and realise that the only way to progress these days is to produce my own releasable music. As a beginner, I tried out some private tuition from a bloke I found on Gumtree. I wasn’t getting much out of it at all and I even started to question myself. I did the Ableton diploma course at Garnish after a friend recommended it. The course is brilliant, our instructor Irfan was amazing, his enthusiasm when teaching is something else. Also very comforting knowing that he had released a new dance album I was already well aware of. A great mix of people on the course, and per hour, only a third of the price of the private tutor I had in the first place! I’ve just finished my first track, it’s such a wicked feeling 
I can’t recommend the course enough!
Melvo Baptiste – Ableton and EMP