Six Bounce To New Track Tricks To Try In Live 12.2
Live 12.2 is here and it finally introduces Bounce to New Track. If you’re a longtime Live user, you might not be familiar with some techniques more commonly used in other DAWs. We’ve broken down six tips to help you get started with this long-overdue (and seriously helpful) new feature.
Sometimes the most boring-sounding features can be the most exciting. Which means that of all the new features announced for Ableton Live’s 12.2 update (Expressive chords, new device updates, additional Push features etc.), the most exciting might well be Bounce to New Track.
Why? Well, here are six of the coolest bounce-in-place-based production tricks that this new feature makes much quicker and easier.
Give them a try, and let us know in the comments which you use, which you’d never heard of before, and which we’ve missed.
Remember, click any image to enlarge.
Essential reverse reverb
Reverse reverb creates a magical swelling of echo that can be used to add interest to grooves, fill gaps, introduce new vocal / musical parts, and loads more.
It’s really easy and quick (45-60 seconds when you know what you’re doing) but requires a number of simple steps.
Done right, it sounds amazing (most people miss an important step), so you’ll often find yourself using it on many elements in the same project. And Bounce in Place makes it quicker than ever before.
By the way, while following these steps, say a prayer for the guy who invented reverse reverb (Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page, if legend is to be believed), using actual strips of magnetic audio tape!
Without reverse reverb:
With reverse reverb:
- HIghlight one bar of the audio section you want to use and Bounce to New Track.
- Un-mute (called ‘Activate’ in Live) the original audio clip that Live has automatically muted.
- Reverse the freshly bounced audio (the step most people overlook!) and move it one bar to the left
- Add a reverb (plate types sound great), fully wet, and set the reverb time to about 15 seconds.
- Highlight the bar of reversed audio, plus the next eight bars, then Bounce to New track
- Delete the bar of reversed audio (but leave the channel and plugin in place if you want to use the same reverb device again in the same project).
- On the new channel delete the first bar, leaving only the eight bars of reverb tail and reverse the audio. This is our reversed reverb.
- Add a bit of low cut EQ / filtering and raise the level of the reverse reverb if you like/ Some kind of pumping effect can sound great too.
- Tailor the length of the build with a Clip Fade. Shorter is usually better but the full eightworks in breakdown builds.
Top Tip: When using reverse reverb on different sounds in a project, you can save a lot of time at Step 4 by dragging in the same reverb device each time.
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Perfect delay / reverb tailsAdding reverb or delay effects to individual words or notes is great for adding emphasis, filling gaps, smoothing transitions, and more.
Now, production is all about attention to detail and sometimes those reverb or delay tails just carry on a bit too long, or sound a bit static, or… whatever else bothers you about them. And you might want different lengths for different words.
Automation was a game-changer, and gave us total control over our tails, but let’s be honest… having loads of automation lanes can be annoying and fiddly. And you have to remember to reset the values if you want to use the same effect later in the arrangement.
No thanks. Bounce to New Track is our friend.
Here it is in action...
And here’s how to do it…
- Highlight the word to be delayed / ‘verbed and select Bounce to New Track
- Un-mute (Activate Clip’ in Live) the clip Live has automatically muted.
- Add your delay or reverb (set to fully wet) to the new channel and tailor the effect settings to suit.
- Highlight the new bounce (plus as many of the following bars as you need for the tail) and Bounce to New Track again.
- Use Clip Fade to tailor the tail (and add any other audio edits you like, like gated chopping edits and panners).
- Repeat for any additional words / sounds
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Punchier eight-bar loopsThe key to a great electronic dance track is making each new eight bar section feel as if it’s kicking in like the first time.
There are many things you can do to create this feeling, but a really cheeky (and easy) one for four-on-the-floor tracks is to double up the very first kick drum of each eight bars (the downbeat) with a copy of itself.
And if you don’t feel like you need it every eight bars, you should absolutely try it on the first beat after breakdowns.
Try it now with these three simple steps…
- Highlight the first kick of an eight bar loop.
- Bounce to New Track and then unmute the audio Live has just muted (Groundhog Day vibes here).
- Copy the bounced kick drum to the start of each eight bar loop. (Or just to the first kick after breakdowns if you prefer…
There are countless reasons you might want to edit audio on a new dedicated track, so we’re just gonna pick one scenario here. We’ve got a drum loop audio clip playing and we want to do some cool little choppy edits.
But… there’s a reverb inserted on the channel. If we do the edits to the audio on this channel directly the reverb will be applied to the edits too… so it won’t sound choppy.
Here’s the effect without using the Bounce to New Track...
And now with…
Totally different vibe, right? Both are cool and have their uses, but while the first sounds like part of the beat, the second sounds like an edit. That difference is even more clear when you play them one after another…
- Highlight the section we want to add edits to and Bounce to New Track.
- Apply the edits you want to the new bounced section below.
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Vinyl-style beat juggling editsEvery turntablist and classic hip hop DJ knows this amazing-sounding beat-juggling trick, and you can use it on your productions too.
The original trick involves using two copies of the same track, with the second playing an eighth note earlier, then crossfading to the second track to create the beat-doubling.
It’s amazing on drum loops, vocals, both, and more. And Bounce to New Track makes it really easy.
- Highlight a one-bar section of the track you want to apply it to (in this case a drum loop) and Bounce to New Track.
- Duplicate this new track, so you have two identical tracks on top of each other.
- Move the second copy an eighth of a bar to the left.
- Delete the first eighth of a bar on track one, the second eighth of a bar on track two, the third eighth of a bar on track one, and so on.
- Create any additional variations you want.
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Reversed percussion groovesUsing reversed percussion hits such as hats, snares, claps, and kicks can be a great way to shape, enhance, and change the groove of your drums.
Here’s a basic 909 drum loop.
Now here it is again, livened up with some reversed percussion.
Much more exciting, right? And no prizes for guessing… Bounce to New Track makes it easier than ever.
- Highlight eight bars of some selected percussive channels in your project (we’re using a hat, kick and clap) and use Bounce to New track for each.
- Unmute (called ‘Activate’ in Live) all the audio Live has automatically muted.
- Reverse all of those new sections of audio.
- Loop playback over those eight bars and listen out for any reverses that sound good and delete the rest.
- Try moving the ones you like around – to the left or the right – to see if anything else jumps out
Top Tip: Don’t use too many or they’ll lose their impact.
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