Ambient Arrangements | Tips for Arranging Ambient Music

Here are a few tips and tricks I learned along the way after arranging hundreds of ambient tracks.
---
NEW! Stuff you can do:
🚀 JOIN MY PATREON: bit.ly/3m7ox6T
🎹 GET STEPIC: bit.ly/3QLkkmj
🎧 FREE TO USE SOUNDS (Save $5 with code: s1gnsofl1fe): bit.ly/3NQuKCF
🛒 SHOP AT ZZOUNDS (interest free purchases!): bit.ly/3JyiTYr
💥 GET CATALYST (Sequencer): bit.ly/3NDAVbZ
⚡ (MY NEWEST SOUNDBANK) ANCIENT TECHNOLOGY 2 FOR SERUM: bit.ly/3WYwkFJ
🛠️ UTILITY TEMPLATE (Ableton): bit.ly/3aVfSm8
🔌 GET SOFTWARE AT PLUGIN BOUTIQUE (Best deals!): bit.ly/3Lrfzgp
--
More stuff you can do:
🌎 VISIT MY NEW WEBSITE: bit.ly/44yA5EE
👽 GET ANOMALY 2: material.bandcamp.com/album/a...
🛒 SHOP ON AMAZON? USE THIS LINK BEFORE YOU SHOP! bit.ly/3QpgjHB
💰 or donate via Buy Me a Coffee: www.buymeacoffee.com/s1gnsofl...
👾 Join our Discord Community: / discord
Where to find my music:
➤SYNPHAERA (S1gns Of L1fe / Ascendant): synphaera.bandcamp.com​
➤EXOSPHERE (Starterra): exospheremusic.bandcamp.com​
➤MATERIAL (Sound Design): material.bandcamp.com​
➤AURA (Exclusive releases): auraexclusive.bandcamp.com
★ Cheers and thank you to my S1gns Circle Supporters! ★
Parallax-5
bitclick
Blackfeather
Cutestory
Doug Koch
Dark Solon
Felix
Lunar Sequence
NorthNod3
Stellar Remnant
Mykal23
Omid Naeini
Rachelle Guehlstorf
Distant Worlds
Astral Toad
Star Maze
Tim
Aman
Brandyn Lee
Dave Hill jr.
LUTION
Arvik Torrensen
Ambient Drones
Itinerant Ghost
ElectroPunk
John Tyler
Monoliph
VC
--​
Full disclaimer:
The above links are affiliate links and while I do receive a small percentage from your purchases, it's a great way to support the channel and help me to keep doing what I do. Peace!
#ambient #musicproduction #ableton

[@JumpingCow]

That was so good! You make it look so easy, but of course, it takes a lot of experience to even approach your amazing talent. Thank you for taking us inside. I definitely learned some tricks.

[@user-un9fz3ip5w]

Wow! So such an inspiration you have given me through this tutorial! Thank you! Recent time I focused on ambient like slow lush textures, but with beat it sounds so punchy and still spacious!)

[@BradRossMacLeod]

Love that little sequence that comes in around the 10 minute mark. Creates a nice melodic focus.

[@s1gns0fl1fe]

Thanks so much! Appreciate the positive feedback.

[@michaelahanti9189]

Music making was my hobby until I gave it up a couple of years ago. I decided to give it one more go, and came acroos you here. So glad I did. I find you insprational. Now I've dusted off my Vital and Omnisphere and I'm giving it a go again. Thank you

[@PappuDas-fq1ll]

Sound like Robert rich good job sir

[@timwoodruff]

This was fabulous. This is probably one of the first videos that I've come across that helps with this specific style of track. I actually went back and rewatched it.

[@s1gns0fl1fe]

Thank you very much! Appreciate you saying that.

[@timwoodruff]

@@s1gns0fl1fe Idk if I ever shared this with you, but this track ended up being made after watching a bunch of your videos, and implementing the techniques, especially this video. kzbin.info/www/bejne/fXLTm5mkZ55pZqM

[@nudger1965]

Very helpful arrangement tips Chris. thank you.

[@mercurial71]

Superb! Love the ideas for transitions and the tempo changes... Musical magic!

[@s1gns0fl1fe]

Glad you loved it! More to come. Cheers!

[@Darkest_of_Winter]

This is such good info! Thank you!

[@KrisAkaVenno]

Thank you a lot for sharing your knowledge with us It's amazing

[@TheAlivekovich]

amazing work Chris

[@professorbacteriano]

Love it, I am hooked to your videos. Keep them coming!

[@s1gns0fl1fe]

Thank you so much!

[@TheCubeMusic]

Wow 😮 great one Chris still learning from you and other sources as well

[@blaudiss]

very nice tutorial - thank you!

[@sound.silence]

Bro….that was fabulous. I really enjoyed watching how you strung it all together and it seemed familiar to a bit of my workflow. The thing that truly stuck out to me was how you arranged by putting the 3 sections in totally different places in your DAW. Now that’s something I haven’t seen and will probably give it a go on my next ambient project. Thanks for a great tutorial and insight!!

[@SolairNova]

Interesting vid ! Thank you. I don't have any arrangement tips to give. What's beautiful with ambient, we can follow our feelings without a real plan. I never know where I will go and that's fascinating.

[@s1gns0fl1fe]

Totally agree! Thanks so much for saying that.

[@paperwings8673]

Your videos have been incredibly helpful for my beginnings of producing ambient music, thank you! It would be amazing if you could share some tips on how to create those transitionary elements, would love that!

[@soundsofsnow5313]

Love that tempo change trick. really make it more intresting

[@s1gns0fl1fe]

Agreed!

[@TheCubeMusic]

Great learning ableton and ambient all at the same time

[@agreen9903]

Awesome tutorial dude

[@shinezacharias3118]

nice one again thanks

[@Morteza_Jahan]

My tip would be not putting high freq sounds at intro. As the song evolve, introduce them. It can be applied to hihats and perc as well. Most of us do it intuitively. Of course there is no rule here.

[@s1gns0fl1fe]

I thought about this and I may agree with you. I’m gonna keep listening to it over the weekend.

[@KrisAkaVenno]

I liked the high freq melody at the start but yes most of the tracks have high freq introduced later. I think it depends on intentions, style and the track itself

[@derekhernandez9000]

Love these tutorials! I am just now starting to dip my toes into the world of ambient music. Any chance you would consider doing either a series or a crash course video for beginners? I.e. covering the basics as far as the practical end of starting to record ambient music, painting in notes vs using midi controller, some basic thought processes behind the choices your making while writing a track? Thanks! I really enjoy and appreciate your style of explaining the music.

[@s1gns0fl1fe]

Thanks Derek! I really appreciate your comment. I have thought about doing a series of tutorials for complete beginners. I plan on producing an ambient masterclass once my Patreon reaches a certain level. The more people that subscribe the faster we'll get there. Stay tuned!

[@rayderrich]

You make it look so easy, but in practise it takes me a lot of work, fun work though, to make tracks like these. Love the ideas though!

[@TheCubeMusic]

Hope you are well as usual

[@jjc75019]

My problem with this is that even though, every part can stand well on its own, they don't have anything to do each other. There is no relation, no theme that binds the three. So, basically you have three peices tied together, without the whole being a song.

[@TheCubeMusic]

Does Ableton Love have an arrangement track ??

[@TheCubeMusic]

Are those all audio tracks ??

[@nate4732]

Hi mate, just a question about pads - should you put them over a click track, even if you're only loosely aware of it, particularly if you're planning on putting on a rhythmic element later? Thanks again! I've been returning to this tutorial a few times.

[@s1gns0fl1fe]

For sure! Click tracks are great placeholders and give you a good subconscious clue to the overall tempo in an ambient piece.

[@manteuro]

skip to 1:14 if you want to avoid the business side of youtube LOL

[@darrencurtis4277]

Is this how you start your own arrangements as three seperate distinct parts and then from there move the three elements together to merge ?

[@s1gns0fl1fe]

Only when I'm doing demos! I mentioned that in the video that normally I'd have all the tracks spread across the entire timeline. These demo tracks are a special case. There's other ways to make a demo, I just chose this approach before I started.

[@brunotortorello8530]

why do you bounce the audio? is it for saving cpu?

[@s1gns0fl1fe]

I would not recommend mixing in MIDI. Not only do synths use more cpu, but it's not always consistent in timing or timbre! The sound can change. Only when I'm drafting something or working quickly do I just mix the MIDI tracks. Otherwise I freeze and flatten before adjusting the faders.

[@brunotortorello8530]

@@s1gns0fl1fe make sense, I'm going to start doing that

[@bobrobertsNotUrBob]

@@s1gns0fl1fe always make save the track as it is before mixing down, i.e you keep your plugin setup, notes used etc...sometimes mixing down doesnt go as planned and you might need to go back at some point in time.

[@JerryVandenBosch]

You are mixing with pink noise?

[@s1gns0fl1fe]

I am. I went over this during my recent livestream. It’s been a game changer for me!

[@JerryVandenBosch]

@@s1gns0fl1fe Missed this one then. Good tip.

[@ndwknss]

I seriously love replicant2, so much fun. I've been running my hats through it, and mixing both signals together and it sounds great

[@somemothersson4184]

Thats not ambient.