Here’s a few small Ableton Live tips I use all the time. When in Session View you can click on the small left facing arrow on any mixer channel and move it up or down using the Arrow keys. This is a great way to fine tune the volume of a Channel. If you hold Shift down while pushing the up or down Arrow Key the volume will jump negative or positive 3.12db. If you want to return any Fader to 0db simply click once on the small left facing triangle and hit the Delete key. Lastly, if you hold down Control and click the Left or Right arrows you will move to the next Left or Right Channel Fader.

Remember you can find all the Ableton Live keyboard shortcuts in Chapter 28 of the user manual. Happy music making!

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In Ableton Live when you hit the Space Bar it triggers the transport to start or stop. Each time you hit the Space Bar the song begins playing from the last Insert Marker. I find this very useful as you can make changes to a section and listen again to the same section quickly. But what if your playing a live show and you pause the music or you know your happy with a section you have just changed? You want the arrangement to keep playing from the location you stopped it right? Hold down shift and hit the Space Bar and presto your song keeps playing without returning to the last insert marker!

Arrangement playback can also be toggled on and off by pressing the keyboard’s space bar. To continue playback from the position where it last stopped, rather than from the insert marker, hold down the shift modifier while pressing the space bar. – Ableton Live User Manual

photo credit: gottlieb

In any DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) an important keyboard shortcut to learn is “Loop to Selection”. In Ableton Live’s Arrangement view select a clip you want to have looping and hit Command-L. The Loop Brace surrounds the clip and Looping is turned on. Command-L also works inside Clip View. Hitting Command-L will work on selected Midi notes or audio waveforms.

Here is an Ableton Live keyboard shortcut most people don’t know or use. Once you learn it you will use it all the time. In either Session or Arrange view hit COMMAND-OPTION-L. This toggles Clip View on and off giving either your mixer or arrangement more space.

Great no?