My Ableton Live Setup for Red Rocks (hardware walkthru/experience/FAQs)

Ok nerds, here we go!
TIME STAMPS:
0:00 - 1:40 Let's Go (Live)
1:41 - 2:23 Intro
2:24 - 6:03 Part 1: Prep
6:04 - 11:44 Part 2: The Hardware
11:45 - 19:26 Part 3: The Ableton Session
19:27 - 22:16 Part 4: The Experience/FAQ
Anomalie x Reverb video mentioned: • Ableton for Live Bands...
Hardware mentioned in the video (these are affiliate links that help me out at no extra cost to you!)
NS NXT 5 String Electric Violin: reverb.grsm.io/bs-ns-violin
Critter & Guitari Organelle: reverb.grsm.io/badsnacks-orga...
Meris Enzo: reverb.grsm.io/badsnacks-meri...
Walrus Iron Horse: reverb.grsm.io/badsnacks-iron...
Walrus Ages: reverb.grsm.io/badsnacks-walr...
Empress ParaEQ: reverb.grsm.io/badsnacks-empr...
Empress Echosystem: reverb.grsm.io/badsnacks-empr...
iConnectivity PlayAudio12: reverb.grsm.io/badsnacks-play...
Novation Launchkey 49 MKIII: reverb.grsm.io/badsnacks-nova...
Novation Launchpad X: reverb.grsm.io/badsnacks-laun...
Roland SP-404sx: reverb.grsm.io/badsnacks-sp404sx
Roland SPDS-sx: reverb.grsm.io/badsnacks-spds-sx
Souped Up Jeep Rubicon by Overbuilt Adventure (Bend, OR): overbuiltadventure.com/
In ear monitors by ADV. Sound: www.adv-sound.com/
Bad Snacks x Keeley Caverns will be back soon :)
Illustrations by @Jackelyn Designs
Footage by Austin Nicklas @ Creative Butter & Jordan Pena from SoulfulxNature
Dear Evegreen's IG: dearevergre...
Northwoods' IG: thisisnorth...
Huge thanks to the following folks:
Northwoods
Dear Evergreen
Derek @ Overbuilt Adventure
The Naymlis Crew
SoulfulxNature
Scott Welch
Anomalie
Mike Sassano
Jessy Mina
The Floozies
Marshall Zaffke
Intrnet Bf
Gates Callanan
Walker Stockly
Nathaniel Noton-Freeman
Links to my music:
Bandcamp: badsnacks.bandcamp.com/
Spotify: open.spotify.com/artist/5gZDp...
Apple Music: / bad-snacks
Soundcloud: / bad-snacks
As per usual, let's get social:
IG: / lilbadsnacks​​
TW: / lilbadsnacks​
FB: / ​​
E-mail: [e-mail]

[@sweetnothingscreative]

Had a blast making the illustrations!! Thank you ❤️‍🔥

[@badsnacks]

Thank YOU!!

[@aytchwastaken]

Great job on the illustrations! I was wondering where those super-clean images came from.

[@sweetnothingscreative]

@aytch thank you so much!!

[@BearbearbearbearbearbearRarrrr]

Those illustrations were great, very helpful. (I’m a person with disability, this kind of thing is invaluable).

[@OverbuiltAdventure]

Woooo the Red Rocks video, awesome!!! Thanks for the shout out; happy to have enhanced the experience, and that our Jeep made your show even if we couldn't!

[@thatomathebula6494]

Honestly I didn’t think there’d be so much to consider playing live 😂 I appreciate the wisdom.

[@badsnacks]

to be fair i probably made this more complicated than i needed it to be lmao

[@chrisjeaaalbertos3802]

@@badsnacks You didn't. Making it "less complicated" makes it more complicated for the crew. It sounds like it does exactly what I, as a FOH technician, would like to see. I have seen a lot of artists who thought they made it less complicated, i.e. reducing outputs by mixing themselves (including live mics) and it was a mess 10/10 times. All I head is a super solid setup (including redundancy which makes me super happy)

[@iConnectivitySupport]

This is a great video. It's super cool for people to see how all the work before allows for a great experience. Being able to rely on things being ready and working allows you to really get into performance mode. Also congrats on playing this iconic venue! So glad the PlayAUDIO12 could give you some peace of mind for your setup. We appreciate the shoutout. If you or anyone wants to know anything about our gear like the PlayAUDIO12 let us know.

[@ericshaden1111]

Appreciate you putting this together!

[@SteveMaggioncalda]

so insightful and helpful. great dive. thx

[@fenschmen2795]

This was an AMAZING video. So much info, TY for sharing!

[@markodesign]

This is super informative and really well done. Thank you!

[@johanngrillenbeck]

thank you so much for this breakdown! this is the nerdy content I signed up for and it is so inspiring 😁

[@electrolyteorchestra4214]

awesome breakdown, everything is super well layed out and understandable!

[@djsoomo]

WOW- It is a privalige to get such incredible insight and detail! Thank you for sharing!

[@thebicycleman8062]

thank u so much for taking all this time to help us out with this amazin intricate set up!! u r jus awesome!!

[@johnmcnally322]

Great job! It is great to see that you have such a robust support network to help you realize your dreams!

[@vishwamusix6664]

Mad respect for putting so much effort in prep for live performances

[@henryinvisible]

Thank you for that breakdown! I absolutely love the build stories of producers and their live setup!

[@_mueve]

This was a very informative video. Great tip on the automation part as well. Thanks

[@Cloudjump3r]

Awesome video! Thank you so much for putting this together! 🙏

[@craigreeves5465]

I love how you're so proficient in so many things, including live sound! It's really awesome!

[@Djpuzzle]

That setup was sick. Sounded really tight and you seemed comfortable and confident with it. Glad it went smoothly for y'all.

[@majesticpillowmusic]

The amount of time and effort you put into this really shows, thank you so much for sharing; I mean I wanna cry just watching haha

[@fourspiralarms]

Thank you so much for sharing this..I've always wondered how I could do this..the automating of the instrument chains along with device on/off for cpu management is a game changer!

[@JasonPriebe]

Thanks for sharing your techniques! I love your honesty about how challenging this was, and the help it took to get it all pulled together. Congrats on the Red Rocks show - I only dream of *seeing* a show there, and you got to play on that stage! 🤯

[@Diego_Estes]

Wow that’s awesome! Happy for you !

[@MegaCadr]

It makes me happy you played with your brother :) Great video!

[@thedakotahurley]

You are awesome! Talented, knowledgeable, and have a great personality. Congrats on Red Rocks! That's really cool!!

[@killinanmusic]

Thanks so much. Much clearer and more relevant than the usual "beginners" videos. A clear reference video that I can use over. Nice quality playing by the way.

[@sunglint]

This is soooo cool! And super inspiring. Thanks!!!

[@kernelpaniiic]

I didn’t know this automated redundancy device existed, very clever. I remember a Björk concert with Matmos where their Macbook froze, they had to wait for it to reboot to continue the performance. Also many thanks for sharing your process, that’s a lot of prep !

[@valdir7426]

ah the good times when your computer won't boot just before a live performance (this one time it happened to me I came preparared with a backup though; it still was a shitty experience)

[@austresenrelaxationmusic]

Great job, love your work!

[@johnsaunders6510]

That was very good and helpful. Thanks.

[@finncallinanmusic8936]

thankyou for this video!!!! its really saving me from the loop of many headaches

[@stephennicholas7095]

I had no idea you were playing my home town. you are the reason I got myself an SP and I love it.

[@davidduston1611]

Ah this combined with that reverb vid is a big help in making ableton efficient! I run into x runs on my poor old laptop so this will helps heaps. Thanks

[@dannydigtl]

Super interesting, and practical! Thank you!

[@shannonlee4125]

Very informative on live performances love your work stay humble🖖

[@seansley]

Love the message of backup systems and redundancy... it's imperative.

[@RedMeansRecording]

Such a dope experience.

[@FunkyDigo]

Great video! 🤙

[@67Jimbob]

I'm new to Ableton and this is really helpful, thanks!

[@65Drums]

Thanks for sharing your setup, especially that part about redundancy, I've never heard of that hardware! It must help you sleep at night knowing that stressful part of the rig is rock solid

[@Eliphosys]

yeahh stoked to see this! thanks!

[@hansolo8080]

I was going to write something among the lines "Oh great, so the most important thing is having good connections in the business." when I realized, in fact, that is very, very helpful and a good point. I always forget that, yes it's cool to know how things work and you did a great job explaining it (in a very entertaining way!), but in the end you don't get where you are as a creator, if you force everything by yourself. Contact friends and people you look up to. The worst thing that can happen is they telling you "no". Best thing that can happen is described in the video.

[@pedrodelamigofficial]

I’m busy building a crossover between dj’ing and producing with Ableton. This is really helpful! Thank you!

[@echoes4660]

Great video,will be helpfull for my next live sets, thanks :)

[@Inextasie]

Thank you for this very detailed rundown ! I'm on the process of going from a system where I was outputting separately most of my live instruments (around 24) to a much simple way where I bussed them to 8... Sending a lot of different stuff to the FOH is great when you have a reliable sound engineer : which is a big liability as I've learned the hard way... Most of the sound engineer I've worked with have been absolute delight but a few "bad" apples are enough to make a good case for simplying the outputs like you did. Even if it means having to spend way more time on mixing/mastering for live performance...

[@carlosraymundomartinezesq3396]

I’m a little late to the party but so toked for you! You’re killing it Snacks!

[@syruplease]

thanks for alllllll the detail i learned a lot

[@1dkappe]

Thanks for this. Congratulations.

[@MKS21471]

Great video. Fascinating to see behind the scenes, thanks so much for sharing.... It was interesting to see how you did it in Arrangement view rather than Session view. Hadn't thought of doing it that way. For anyone else struggling with this, Rachel K Collier's course "How to Perform with Ableton Live" is a great resource.

[@badsnacks]

RKC is dope!

[@MKS21471]

@@badsnacks …and a genuinely lovely person. Let us know if you make it to the UK or Scotland. I’ll be there to support and cheer.

[@muziqli]

I love this... I am totally music nerding out RN!!!

[@MacelDrums]

Fantastic, thank you

[@ThatViolaKid]

That's so cool that Adam performed with you! I loved this intro!!!

[@DarioMoog]

Great video! Thanks

[@Sarah2ill]

Wow! Very impressive!! Thanks for sharing!

[@FarrinD12]

Such an awesome video!! My band recently had an outdoor gig and had to figure out some logistics like this, I wish we could have seen this video first 😂

[@dragon-id5uj]

that's kinda the DREAM! used to have family out that way; recall growing up, i got to check out the stage n amphitheater during the day while not in use. so sick how the acoustics travel all the way thru the bleachers even without amplification. the climate's so sweet too! no frizzy hair haha. geez, legendary moment

[@FVDaudio]

Excelente. Thanks for sharing all of this.

[@VioletPrism]

Awesome thankyou!!

[@ErichWK]

Seeing how many people helped you figure this out makes me feel better about being a little overwhelmed with me doing it alone. I think this is all supposed to be..inherently a pain in the ass sorta.. but that is kind of what makes it so fulfilling when you pull it off!

[@elliothetzer9685]

I'm the music director for my church and an audio/ music guy for a marching performing group and I've shared this video with both sides of what I do I various groups. The redundancy system is one of THE most important aspect of what we do live and your breakdown of how that works is extremely helpful. Thank you.

[@wyattalexander4041]

Super awesome!!!

[@AkborVideo]

I could watch this for hours.

[@luisspivacow5344]

amazing.

[@Rock1290T]

That's sick!

[@LazedMusic]

Great video, was always curious as to how to approach a live set

[@JustinKimball]

Dope video! Wish I could have seen the show!

[@valdir7426]

that's great information; the play audio is a very cool tool. So for live sessions I work in arrangement view and I made a small tool in m4l that can trigger a loop point anywhere you want for a set length so you can either loop a part or have a silence on the track for a transition played live. very handy. I also made a tool that specify the order in which markers are played; so you can try different track lists without having to redo the entire live session. it can get a bit confusing though. made those a few years back and never look back; good compromise between using arrangement view and still having some flexibility.

[@jimkennedy472]

Yay, bad snacks is back. I've missed you

[@AsherFleming]

very insightful! thank you so much

[@electrolyteorchestra4214]

those illustrations by Jackelyn are great

[@sweetnothingscreative]

Thank u 🥲

[@LAZYRAVE]

Great vid, just going through the process of translating our content to live, playing soft synths live scares the c*ap outta me (can get glitchy and cane the cpu) so we are going hardware and re sampling the soft synths in a sampler for live manipulation, electronic drum kit and spdx. Going to use live for vocal harmonies some midi transport and misc audio. Interesting about the foh stuff, at the moment we are using the uad Apollo for mixing everything, click and in ears monitor setup giving only a stereo mix to foh. Really useful though and I feel your pain about the complexity and challenges this brings! Thanks x

[@thacrashdummy_]

so sick.

[@jasongravely7217]

I’m a nerd and I love this.

[@mistergorgonmusic]

Cool setup

[@freyafoxmusic]

Thank you 🙏 been needing to know more on how to perform with live

[@OLANSOUND]

Seriously thank you

[@marcushawkinsmusic]

Very nice!!!

[@ZapAndersson]

Hah, I saw a Bad Snacks caverns on the pedalboard. How insanely appropriate :P

[@AmentiaMusic]

Great content! Thanks for sharing :) But just so you know disabling tracks or individual plugins in ableton doesn't actually free up any cpu. I guess it's so that you can re-enable tracks or plugins while the song is playing and there won't be any pause since everything is already loaded up. Freezing tracks does disable all the plugins, it works to lower your cpu usage and prevent pops and clicks at lower buffer settings

[@tamirmeirraz7522]

Thanks for sharing, theres some M4L that can make setting up simpler

[@Mr.Nobody-420]

The way Anomalie sets ups his Ableton Live sets is basically the best way to do it, and that how I also do my live sets. I've never found the need for two computers (as my sets never crash or give me any problems), just get as much RAM as possible (32 or 64 GB) as that is what will most likely give you problems with very large sets (other than a fast CPU).

[@hotdubtm]

Never 100% trust a computer on stage :)

[@badsnacks]

The likelihood of a computer crashing is very low, although Anomalie and I talked about this very thing and he even expressed interest in having a second computer. I think backups are just the ultimate safety net even if they're hardly needed. That's why it's called a redundant system I suppose!

[@MikeMaz1022]

Look up Will Marshall. He pretty much has a template that does this but some things are simplified (turning off the synths can be done in an easier way with out automation and with in a rack)

[@Sadsoft]

Your there there cover is haunting. Also what is the brand that multi tier keyboard stand.

[@lillianfrances754]

Thanks so much for this! Did you have any issue seeing the lit buttons of your Novation Launchpad? I perform with the PUSH and am always running into the issue of: you can't see the pads in the sunlight.

[@theboywhochosethesea]

Great breakdown, even as a non-Ableton user. Are you going to be putting more of the set up?

[@ThePoorMusician]

New comer to your channel. I'm a "Poor" musician, well at one time I was I am moving up a little BUT still learning. The BIGGEST draw back for me getting started was learning music from KZbin believe it or not. Because, as someone new searching for "music theory", "beginner producer", "learning music", etc, etc you are taking down a HUGE RABBIT whole leading to worthless music courses people are peddling, wrong advice from people that nearly know as much as I do, etc. Basically no structure in learning. But I got through it and now I have the Full Ableton Live Suite and all. But I remember I want my channel literally for those starting out from nothing. No instruments, No Money, etc except a computer and looking for a FREE DAW to get started. I started with Ardour, which I love, and is that I'll be teaching new people with. Along with ONLY FREE plugins. By the way I found you through watching Andrew's "4 Producers 1 Sample" series. So it was good he choose you or else I probably wouldn't have found you. You don't really come up in popular searches that "beginners" will be searching for.

[@meticmusic]

love this as a follow up on the Anomalie video - both have been absolutely immensely helpful so really appreciate the work you put in for this! i still run everything in session view + dummy clips and was wondering if there were any decisive advantages that arrangement view has over session view? for one, drawing out automations in arrangment view seems to be MUCH more intuitive than in session view w/ dummy clips, but are there some other factors (perhaps CPU or sth else) that tip the scales?

[@badsnacks]

Honestly for me I defaulted to arrangement view because that's just the view I produce in and am the most comfortable reading/understanding. I think the long-form automation is absolutely a factor though and basically the whole MIDI stack/instrument rack method would be incredibly hard to work with in clip mode for me personally. Clip mode absolutely has its own advantages too though, so it just really depends on what you're comfortable and down with.

[@meticmusic]

@@badsnacks yeh makes a ton of sense - thanks for the lowdown!!

[@NemoCee]

Thanks a bunch for breaking it down for us! Very very useful information. Quick question: do you put the virtual instruments in the instrument rack (keys stack) or in the midi track itself (e.g. Jup-8)? Thanks.

[@MikeyLikesItt]

LIT ASAMF

[@julianshowalter7001]

Thank you awfully for explaining this. There is so much more management in being a musician than folks realize, this is one of the most concise run throughs of the fail safes needed in place. Love the work, always a fan

[@MaylorTaylor]

I would love a more in-depth look at how to setup yours (and Anonamlie's) live setup. I downloaded his template but got confused on what was happening lol

[@Roses_R_redeR]

I've wanted this sents I was put on this planet....🥀

[@piccoloblack]

Damn, I wish I couldve been there

[@sternenherz]

My redundant system is a premade liveset on an ipod, running into the FOH mixer 😂

[@games.music.tech.3560]

What keyboard rack is that in the back of your studio?! That thing looks awesome, like I could rig anything to it.

[@winter_inter]

@badsnacks What’s the main difference in approach for mastering for live? My guess is to ensure each stem sounds good and loud enough on its own if needed to be Solo’d.

[@AsRiversRunDry]

I too am also super curious about this @badsnacks

[@inarahmusic3369]

This was so dope! I'm curious - why did you opt for arrangement instead of session view?

[@danielpirone8028]

Mo nerdy - mo betta

[@sugatooth]

Any idea if/when the Bad Snacks Caverns will be re-released??

[@brianhoffmann2403]

You might want to show people what it was really like to prepare for a live show and the realities... all good stuff...and looks like you are . OKe concerning play audio; Do i need 2 of the same type of computers... meaning. M1 mac with another m1 mac?