Formatting Stems and Mulititracks for Live Performance

One of the biggest mistakes I see Playback Techs make, is they manage stems, not sets. If you want maximum freedom and flexibility when using tracks, and you want to build sets efficiently, you've got to manage Sets not Stems.
In this week's tutorial, Ableton Live Certified Trainer, Will Doggett walks you through part 2 of the 3-Part Framework for Using Tracks and shows you how to use the free tracks template to format all your stems and Multitracks for live performance.
With about 5 minutes of work, you'll save hours of effort and have maximum freedom and flexibility.
Download the free tracks template:
fs2s.link/trac...
Purchase the Advanced Tracks Template:
fs2s.link/adva...
Foundations for Live Preview:
• Foundations 3.0-The Ul...
Purchase Foundations:
Managing Track Volumes for Live Performance:
• Managing Track Volumes...
Saving your Tempo in Ableton Live's Arrangement View:
• How to save your tempo...
How to Save Song Sections in Ableton Live:
• How to save your song ...
Warping in Ableton Live:
• Warping Audio in Ablet...
Using Sends and Returns in Ableton Live:
• Routing audio using se...
Creating an Ableton Live Template for Live Performance:
• Creating an Ableton Li...
Formatting MultiTracks.com Songs: • Formatting MultiTracks...
Formatting Loop Community Songs: • Formatting Loop Commun...
Formatting Praise Charts Songs (Tutorial Coming Soon!)
Become a From Studio to Stage student:
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Download all my templates/patches/presets:
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Set-up a quick 15 minute call with me:
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Set-up an hour long remote Zoom call with me:
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Purchase Ableton Live
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Purchase Ableton Push
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----
Download my free Gear Guide:
fs2s.link/gear
Download free Click Tracks for Ableton Live:
fs2s.link/clicks
Download free Guide Cue files for Ableton Live:
fs2s.link/cues
Download free ProPresenter 7 MIDI cues template:
fs2s.link/pp7
Download my free Getting Started with Live 11 Guide:
fs2s.link/live-11
Download free LTC/Timecode files for Ableton Live:
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[@bobalobalee]

Such amazing, free and much-needed content for live electronic performers. Thank you!

[@fromstudiotostage]

Thank you!

[@bobalobalee]

@@fromstudiotostage Since you asked in the video, yes I would love to know about your current setup for the sends and returns! You mentioned you use 12 output channels, does that mean you typically use 6 return tracks in a live situation?

[@JensenFraProvinsen]

I would love a toturial on how to split up your stems to the return tracks.

[@markus.ivi22]

That's the best tutorial I have ever seen, thanks from Poland!:)

[@dannyhermida6058]

Thank you Will! You're doing the Lord's work!

[@donmathews109]

Hugely helpful!!! I'm a fresh Session to Arrangement View convert. Thanks!!

[@fromstudiotostage]

happy to help! thanks for watching!

[@ahoski]

I love you Will. Thank you for these videos. ♥️

[@fromstudiotostage]

Thanks for watching!

[@paulflores7026]

HOLY CRAP! You're a saint.

[@fromstudiotostage]

Happy to help! Thanks for watching

[@aldobmusic]

From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU

[@drewlaplante]

Great stuff. Thank you! Gotta get the midi click for tracking as well. That’s super useful 👍

[@synthseeker]

You remind me of Jonah Hill's character in the film "Moneyball" - advocating a process that makes sense but is radically different from what the artists generally evolve for their own performances...but a great and efficient approach nonetheless. Very helpful and thank you!

[@michaelbarak3723]

This is incredible❤

[@gabriel_levi]

So so valuable. Thanks a ton for this!

[@MILLofficial]

Wow you saved my life!! 😛Thank you so much!!🙏

[@wessanderssays]

Incredible content! So so helpful! I’m curious, do you ever get worried about fidelity loss when warping tracks or consolidating/bouncing in place? Organization and functionality wise it’s the best option but I worry about creating artifacts that might be noticiable on bigger systems when the warping algorithm doesn’t agree- am i overthinking it? I also worry about leaving a template with a band on tour that doesn’t have a dedicated playback tech and not having the process be as simple as just replacing stems if something isn’t working or needs to be tweaked on the road. Again thank you so so much for these videos!

[@fromstudiotostage]

Never :) If it's a solo act and only using stems, i'd worry but otherwise you'll be good to go. And if you setup the template right it'll be drag and drop for them-atleast that's my experience Thanks for watching! Will

[@mikehendrickx8144]

Thanks Will, for this great video. Yet it seems I'm not able to insert a midi clip with cmd-shift-M...? Neither by checking the "Create" Menu-button. Any advice?

[@kev7x2010]

This video is so good! Exactly what I need. So do you create a separate session for every song? And then you're just able to drag each one individually into a set?

[@fromstudiotostage]

Yes! I teach my students to format each song separately before building a set. It allows you to build sets much faster and manage your files well!

[@555foofighters]

Would you also split up a medley in different songs or would you consider the medley itself to be a song? Hope you understand the question!

[@jorge_schlueter]

thank you so much! This is awesome dude

[@fromstudiotostage]

Glad it helped!

[@moydominguezmendoza]

Incredible content! Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge. Could you help me with the following? I have already made my set list and all the songs in the order in which they will be played. At the last minute the artist tells me that song 3 will be 1 and that song 5 will be 2 😰. How can I rearrange them without everything becoming a disaster?

[@maxwellgetz252]

Do you need to warp the tracks if you don't plan on changing the tempo or key?

[@piratephilnitch8505]

Very AARRGGHH-SOME videos says I, Pirate Phil. Do you have a template for Live 10?

[@jroughen]

Thanks for the template! Only issue I have is that when I try to turn the "Marker" track into a midi track, command+shift+M doesn't work. I've tried duplicating the track and doing the same shortcut on it and it doesn't work. Is there any other way of turning it into a midi track?

[@fromstudiotostage]

Glad you’re enjoying the template! You’ve got to select a time range to create a MIDI clip, you can’t do it by clicking on the track.

[@SvintMvrcus]

@@fromstudiotostage i might be doing something wrong but I’m having the same issue. I selected and dragged the entire lengt of the song on the markers track and nothing happens when I try to create the midi clip. Is it because it’s an audio track?

[@jeffreyscott9262]

@@fromstudiotostage I am having the same issue. The first track I formatted, it worked flawlessly, as advertised. Subsequent tracks are doing what is described above; selected range is not creating (or even allowing in the menu) creating a MIDI clip. What have I done wrong?

[@ljules44]

The reason it's not working is because the Marker track is an Audio Track as opposed to a Midi Track. You can either create a new Midi track, name it Marker and continue on with the tutorial or drag a pre existing Midi clip on to the empty Marker track and it'll convert the track to Midi instead.

[@thales_stat]

Please! Is there any way to get the Advanced pack without the subscription?

[@fabioalferii]

Hi Will, a question about signal routing. I did exactly what you explain in the video but a strange thing happen. If I pan ledt or right a return track nothing happen ....have you got any idea why? Thank you

[@andretorruco]

Will, thank you so much! I love your content man. So helpful. I do have a question though, is it possible to just use the click on ableton rather than importing or using the click track on your template? It’s just more of a preference thing. Like would it essentially still stay in time once I collect all and save, then import into a set? Hope that makes sense, thanks again!

[@fromstudiotostage]

You can use Ableton’s click, I prefer to use Foundations for subdivisions but Ableton’s click is great

[@zachwalkermusic5256]

When grouping the tracks for each song into a group and folding - does that not effect the sends for each track? I’m trying to understand why not as now I would think the groups audio would all be going to the same output? Or is that because we’re using sends only and return tracks now and it doesn’t effect those? Help understanding?

[@birliban2k]

That is so great content, very helpful. Thank you so much! But what I don't get is, why don't you use your free template file you introduced in the first video of this series as a template for this song? Of course you are using the parts of it, but why don't just load it into Live and then only add the stems and finetune everything. Every track like click, tempo guide and also the return tracks would already be there. Is there any reason why you did it differently?

[@fromstudiotostage]

Glad you enjoyed the video! It's personal preference if you start with the template or start with a new set. Either way you've got to drag in click to match the song, tempo track to match the song, and guide cues to match the song, and route your audio to return tracks-so either way you're doing the same work. I prefer to keep the template file and treat it as "sacred" and drag from it to another file.

[@MrPacoArespacochaga]

You’re the best, Will!

[@fromstudiotostage]

Not as cool as you Paco, but thanks :)

[@MrPacoArespacochaga]

@@fromstudiotostage I’ve used everything you’ve taught me with my band, INTRoVOYS. We haven’t had a bass player since 2017 and we’re still rockin! I’ll be keeping in spreading the word.

[@fromstudiotostage]

Thanks Paco, so glad to hear it's helped. Please keep up the good work!

[@MrPacoArespacochaga]

⁠@@fromstudiotostageupdate: still rocking it out with INTRoVOYS and PlayBack Jukebox using your method, playing two hour concerts, without any problems. Thank you!!!

[@rootwes5030]

What if the click track the producer bounced for you is off the grid?

[@colinosheamusic]

Hey Will! Great videos, thanks so much. I’ve also been enjoying your new 6 part videos. One major issue I’m finding though. When I drag my configured song into the new set template, the song (with tracks grouped and prepped) still doesn’t play right. I’ve checked warp settings and all correct as per your guidance. Am I missing something else?

[@davidgraham3162]

Great content! Can the method of using midi to loop a song by location markers, also work in the context of a set of songs in Ableton, using the free template you provide, where the location markers are used to separate songs not internal parts of songs?

[@fromstudiotostage]

Yes! That’s exactly how I teach and what I use

[@brettbangerter8025]

Great video! I have run into an issue with using the free template where my returns show up in arrangement view but not in session view. How do I fix this?

[@rhiannarowlands2946]

Would I be able to used my APC 40MKll with Ableton arrangement view using the features and controlling ableton 12 ???

[@EricLThomp75]

My tempo track doesn’t seem to be working properly. I added the bpm and set to Lead, but it doesn’t seem to be setting the proper tempo. I’m on version 11. Any ideas? Thx

[@CutZooWorld]

Just curious. After setting your return sends in each of the grouped stems. What happens to the settings when you go from, let’s say, 5 sends, down to 2 sends? Where does the 3,4,and 5 get routed to? Is that something you just have to go back into stems to readjust?

[@marcoeltiempo]

thank you so much!!!

[@fromstudiotostage]

You're welcome!

[@AmandaLeePeers]

If I'm understanding correct, this is more for backing tracks for performing live right?

[@fromstudiotostage]

That's right! This series is focused on running stems/backing tracks live.

[@atangaman]

i tried downloading the free template but i didn't receive any email

[@beck3543]

I couldn’t add the template! Think its because I don’t have suite... I have intro and it says that im limited to 16 tracks... How do save the bpm for live sets if I don’t want to buy Ableton suite...?

[@fromstudiotostage]

It works with lite and intro as well!

[@cvkillerdrummer]

One of the issues I'm running into is my stems are warping to the next songs tempo in my set when I want them to crossfade from song to song. How can I prevent them from changing tempos? When I inactivate WARP on the tracks, they no longer line up with the click...

[@draildrums]

Do you only like consolidating the stems...what about guide cues or do you leave them if they need to be changed

[@fromstudiotostage]

I leave them separate

[@timjamiehayward5579]

When I am done creating a file with 3-4 songs in it and I play the song back through our sound board sometimes I get a crackling sound and I found out that if I go to each stem and deselect the "Warp" button it seems to clean it up. Do I need to turn warping off on all my tracks before playing them back? Also, sometimes when I turn the Warp button off the stem will get larger or lose the editing that I had done on the stem before.

[@henririsher403]

Will, when i click on my markers track the playhead won't jump to that section. Any ideas? I'm using the free template by the way, and thank you for all the great content

[@joephillips7612]

Looks to me like when you import a song with markers into a set, you have to add locators wherever you have a marker. You can do it fast with the 'add' method and he alludes to doing it automatically. kzbin.info/www/bejne/kIjJnaOLgtieorcsi=cF_6l9APCl6oF9IJ

[@solikmazhuga8555]

29:44 its okey if I will use the main Ableton click sound?

[@capinknuckles1]

just...thank you

[@nolemister]

Incredible content. absolute life changing stuff haha! Is there a way to save one song as a "set" if its in a session that has a bunch of songs? Essentially I have long form stems (the entire show) chopped up by individual song. Am i able to save each song as a "set" without starting a brand new session for every song and redoing a bunch of work? I wish i wouldve found you sooner!

[@fromstudiotostage]

I don’t normally recommend creating a Master Set ( a set with all your songs) but recommend keeping each song separate (pre-formatted) and then building your set you need.

[@Carsons-Clips]

Seems like all your links are broken?

[@fernandomartin8816]

you are awesome

[@emme6907]

This is a great way to lose audio quality of stems. Watch out people, if you have stems and you prepare your live set correctly, you should never have the need to warp. Warping changes the audio signal in worse than original.

[@fromstudiotostage]

“Let’s speed this up a few BPM” “Let’s drop this down a step” “Let’s lose that tempo change here, and play it straight ” The artist you’re working with asks for this and wants the change immediately. How does your method of “preparing your live set correctly” handle that?

[@emme6907]

@@fromstudiotostage In that case it would be very useful, but I honestly can't see instances where artists on stage, on the fly, call a change of tempo or a key change. It would be simply to risky. Those changes you mentioned are indeed part of a live set but should be done in the studio, pre-recorded and then just studied and learnt before the live gig. Isn't it? Or maybe I misunderstood what you meant?

[@PrivatePaul]

@@fromstudiotostage never in my career have i heard any of these statements being said on stage. and i'm only using my own stuff, so no need to adapt to other people wanting anything changed. meaning: i can skip the warping, right?

[@bswinn97]

@@emme6907It’s mostly done in rehearsal/soundcheck before the show. Not on the fly in the middle of a performance.

[@bswinn97]

@@PrivatePaulI’ve had a few singers and artists ask for key changes and tempo changes. It’s very common for houses of worship. You can always just not warp your files though if you don’t need it lol. For my original music I haven’t had to warp a song. So I just don’t warp out files unless needed.

[@gerhardwasowski]

too much talking...

[@fromstudiotostage]

Hey! Thanks for the feedback

[@richardjones2189]

😂 He kind of needs to talk to explain what he's doing don't you think? @fromstudiotostage - I think the amount of talking in this video is just fine. Thank you for the free lessons!

[@wymes1]

Great content, however your "free template" is only for Live 11. #2 I get so lost with how much you get off the subject and babel. No offense, be blessed.

[@fromstudiotostage]

Yes the template is currently only available for 11. I'm working on a template for 10. I babel alot so you probably won't like most of the content on the channel.