Ableton Live: Recording Tutorial

This tutorial explains how to record in Ableton Live, a powerful digital audio workstation (DAW) designed for music production, recording, arranging and live performance.

Get Started

1. Open Ableton Live
   
   In Ableton Live, you can record audio in Session view or Arrangement view. Press [TAB] to toggle between these views. 
2. Select or create an audio track for recording. In the track's mixer panel, use the Audio From section to choose the relevant input channel of your audio interface. For example, to record a guitar sending a mono signal into channel 1 of your interface, under Audio From, choose “Ext. In,” then select channel 1 in the dropdown menu below.
   
   
3. To prepare a track for recording, click the arm button at the bottom of the track mixer in Session view, or the top right corner of the track mixer in Arrangement view. Set the track’s monitor switch to Auto so the track’s input plays through Live’s output. Adjust the input gain on your audio interface so that the level is adequate (green) and does not overload the track (red).
   
   
4. To help keep recorded audio files organized, rename each Audio track before recording. To rename a track, right-click on the track header and select Rename, or select the track header and press [CMD/CTRL + R] on your computer keyboard. Recorded clips and their respective audio files will then be saved using the track’s title, for example "Guitar 0001.aif." Make sure your hard drive has plenty of free space for saving recorded audio. To begin recording into a Session View clip, press the slot record button.
   
5. To record into the timeline in Arrangement view, press the Arrangement record button. Press the button again to stop recording.
   
   
6. When you save a Set for the first time, Live creates a new Project folder to contain the Set and related media files. To make sure the Project folder is not "nested" inside another one, save the new Set to a location outside any existing Live Project folders. The Project folder contains the following folders:
   
   
7. Newly recorded audio files will be saved to the subfolder Recorded. To check where a recorded audio file has been saved, right-click on the audio clip in Live and choose “Show in Finder.” 
   

Video Lessons

Check out the tutorials available on the Ableton website, opens a new window.