Does anyone heavily utilize Overbridge when producing finished tracks? If so, what is your typical workflow?
I use OB for streaming audio, as it automatically handles latency well and uses fewer interface inputs. I also really like sound design through the plugin, as I find it visually appealing and faster to fine-tune the sound, but it is a little awkward going between the plugin and the device for sequencing.
Do you usually stick to using the Elektron sequencer and then just handle audio in DAW? Do you primarily sequence in the DAW? A little both?
Reason I am asking is that I have a lot of hardware jams that I like, but I’m struggling coming up with a clear path to finalized, polished productions.
If I made it in the Digitakt or whatever, I just record audio via OB into Ableton, and go from there. That might be loops into Session view, but more likely straight onto the timeline. Then I inly go back to the hardware if I need to make major tweaks. EQ and the like is all in Ableton.
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I’ve wanted to use OB to multitrack full songs, but OB is hindered by some ridiculous issues, specifically the Digitakt not letting panning on the boxes flow through to OB. I have a 1 hour long 8-song set that I can’t multitrack easily due to that stupidity. I’ve also found the OB recordings to be insanely quiet, which adds another step to mixing. Oh well.
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The way I finish my songs is to load the Overbridge Plugin into Live, create an audio track for each DT/DN/A4K track and then record them one after the other into the scenes. I only use the Ableton effects and not the Elektron boxes efx. Because recording reverb does not make sense (to me) and makes it more difficult to edit later on. I do that for the different song parts and then I move over to the arrangement view and build up the song.
Oh and usually I normalize the recored audio because the signal is quite low via Overbridge.
Actually there is a nice video from our friend Ricky Tinez that kinda shows exactly that…
And one video before that on how to record the synths. Worth a look.
I also add some VSTs if I need some other sounds, pads etc. Sometimes I exchange a sounds if I feel it does not fit into the final mix. But I do not go back to the HW at that point.
Probably many different ways to do it but I am quite happy with it.
Most important: Have fun!
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Yep, both is true. You could only add the panning later on with some DAW EFX. I am still looking for a free batch conversion tool on Mac to normalize all audio tracks in one go. And as far as I know Ableton does not offer any solution to normalize inside Live, which is stupid. Or I am.
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I love your perspective here! Here’s what I’m planning to try:
- Normalize volume (Utility device adjusted to taste roughly)
- Commit to audio per track, apply effects later
- Skip session view, as the devices’ sequencers basically do this
- Use arrangement view, chop, automate, effect, mix
- Feel free to use VSTs and the like to add additional interest/layers/transitions
I use samples all of the time, I don’t know why I built a mental block around feeling like I need to always be able to tweak the actual note arrangement. I really think an answer to a ton of uncertainty around production can be distilled down to “commit, move forward”.
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Agree that panning not passing through overbridge sucks. There’s a kludgy workaround where you can use a midi track to automate the pan in ableton but it’s not ideal. I end up using the master out more than I’d like because of this + I’m lazy.
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