Production Tutorial: How to make Retro Synthwave sounds in Ableton | Beat Academy

►► Download ill Factor's Sample Pack containing samples used in this video along with more royalty-free samples at - www.beatacademy.com/pack
ill Factor is a Grammy-Nominated Producer and has been a professional music producer for over 18 years, working on projects with: Justin Timberlake, Sia, Kygo, Jason Derulo, Skylar Grey, Ginuwine, Kelly Rowland, Kevin Rudolf, Cher, Jessie J, Groove Armada, Calvin Harris, and many others.
ill Factor is also the founder of Beat Academy - an online community that provides step-by-step tutorials on music production and an exciting community of artists and producers to collaborate with and give you feedback on your songs.
Learn more: www.beatacademy.com
#synthwave #ableton #musicproduction

[@BeatAcademy]

►► Enjoy this video? Download the project file as well as the sample pack here for FREE - www.beatacademy.com/pack

[@mike_gread]

thanks a lot mate for this tutorial, very helpful !

[@gabrielscopeldelima3640]

At 8:13 if you can't find the Chorus, go to Packs > Core Library > Devices > Audio Effects > Legacy

[@lucasphillips2177]

thank you so much

[@BrandonHeilBHB]

Holy shit Ron Pearlman teaching synthwave.

[@BeatAcademy]

Yup. Thought I’d switch it up ;)

[@luxomoore6711]

@@BeatAcademy Beauty and the Beats!

[@darrenhirst9900]

@@luxomoore6711 So this is what Hell Boy does when he relaxes 👀

[@ZadronXion]

Took me forever to find a tutorial that actually shows how to make the actual synth sounds! Thank you so much!

[@alexc9278]

@@TrenCoinArchive exactly!

[@kerymichael1849]

I learn so much about synthesizers and sound design every time Ill Factor posts a video. Thanks!

[@joelmpott]

What a great guide! Others have shown how to create synthwave with preset sounds, but I love how you've instructed how to build the sounds by using basic wave forms and manipulating the oscillators and adding effects. Thanks for sharing this!

[@AayushSingh]

Thank you! You have always helped me understand Ableton a bit better!

[@Eric-et6sj]

Great video. You’re very good at passing on knowledge in a easy-to-understand way. Making synthwave for years now, but learned some new tricks from watching. Thanks for sharing.

[@Taurex]

Thanks, tutorials like these are really fun to watch!

[@michaelvrontos5997]

Great video tutorial on making classic synth sounds...love it!

[@jeremyfox7599]

Perfect tutorial, superb work! Thank you!

[@Emguilar]

this tutorials are so useful, thank you so much!

[@s3vva]

I really love the pulse kick

[@jamesd7998]

The gated arp on the bass to get the double knock is cool!

[@Alex.FilipDUB]

Wow nice work, I mean I've seen many tutorials about Producing on ableton but I have never seen it with so much clarity and tbh, they used Analog, but honestly I have never understood it still now, and also making it seems simple. Thank you iLL Factor, you rock

[@corican]

Super detailed, yet super clear. Thank you so much!

[@culley20]

Thank you for the excellent tutorial ill Factor!!! A great starting guide for any electronic music beginner

[@XnazxulX]

I’m glad you finally did a synthwave tutorial, been waiting for this. Also a common thing i hear in synthwave is after doing the double hit bass like you are doing for a bit, then it comes in 1/16th arp bass sidechained just a small bit and the snare starts up.

[@EmmettFlo7]

Blown away by the sound design!

[@KarsonMusic]

Great tutorial best description and now I understand analog on a bigger scale! Thanks so much!

[@gmryn]

The final track was so sick I nearly cried. :') Bless ya

[@almightyIrie]

Few years back when i started messing with music / ableton i was strictly into Hip Hop beats, watching tons of tutorials and always thought yours where some of the best.. A bit surprised to see you again after searching for ableton synthwave! Dope content as usual!!

[@BeatAcademy]

Glad I’m still part of the journey ;)

[@iraklismoschonas5214]

ill, congrats and thanks very much for this amazing tutorial! The track you created to demonstrate the production techniques was dope, plus you explain everything so clearly and in such a simple way that watching and learning from you is inspiring and fun.

[@BeatAcademy]

Truly grateful for you taking the time to watch it. Looking forward to getting more out there

[@iraklismoschonas5214]

@@BeatAcademy Great! Always looking forward to new content!

[@cocathg]

You are such an artist.

[@floatinganarchychannel3204]

The best synthwave sound design tutorial i saw :) thanks!

[@BencePauker]

Fantastic tutorial! I love you Dude!! Cheers!!

[@SAGE1991]

I have watched literally 10-15 videos..but no videos were as informative as this single video..i have learnt so much about ableton's synth design and synth wave..and how to make it..so thanku beat academy❤️

[@BeatAcademy]

Glad to hear that

[@fgtechtips]

amazing sound, depeche mode like. I absolutely love it! Hope i will learn to use Ableton like that one day!

[@MichaelSafwat]

Ivan ... You've been my unique teacher since the last year ... Thanks man ..

[@BeatAcademy]

Happy to be of service!

[@RichardRichardVC]

Really love this videos - I learn so much about Ableton, synthesis, layering, arrangement. Please keep them coming!

[@BeatAcademy]

That’s awesome happy to hear that.

[@wyldkard4461]

@@BeatAcademy where can I find the project file . its not on the folder

[@afaydilek]

THANK YOU for sharing your knowledge with us

[@BeatAcademy]

My pleasure!

[@Guitarmfig]

Thank you for an awesome tutorial

[@aaronmyrie]

That output arcade pad patch rules! Geeeeez

[@AlexandreSoma]

Thanks man! That was awesome!

[@dimwoo]

Perfect - exactly what I was looking for! Ta very much.

[@ugomariotti5266]

Incredible, Thank you so much !

[@emmprodigy]

AMAZING!!!

[@sabbathgita5511]

Even though you do this on Ableton I,as a FL user still find this useful :D Thanks for sharing sir!

[@keyron4]

watching this for the fourth time. it's so helpful... and beautiful

[@rayderrich]

This helped me out 2 years after the making, so thanks!

[@namansanghvi9653]

Beautifully explained using stock albeton :D

[@SteliosDaf]

I underestimated the stock plugins of Ableton Live. Thank you for sharing your knowledge! :)

[@ntartienii]

Would be loved a 2 part of this tutorial with Pads, vocals end stereo effects.

[@thifowhy]

Never though Ron Pearlman would teach me how to synthwave! Thank you!

[@freddyrlz]

Thanks for sharing! 👍🙌

[@jackjackson3591]

I prefer smaller channels like yours, please keep up the good work. Your directions are clear and concise bra bra

[@jaym2112]

Awesome video, thanks!

[@MeticulousGuitarist]

Great tutorial! Subbed!

[@BeatAcademy]

Thanks!

[@ilikeextentioncords2403]

sooo good thank you!

[@carlosbeltranpatino9950]

thank u so much!!! incredible!

[@FrankHoffmann1000]

Thank you very much for this very transparent tutorial! It is not easy to recreate the RC-20 effects with Ableton Live stock plugins only, but this is not a complaint! Thx again!

[@mobtek]

Really helpful stuff, as a new user of Live and learning the UI etc, this was still really helpful

[@BeatAcademy]

Glad it was helpful!

[@mfspark2393]

That is awesome. Thx

[@AlexandrChervinskiy]

Thank you!

[@Gesiek]

'Best academy', thanks! ;)

[@SmOkE118]

best retro tutorial ever!

[@BeatAcademy]

Glad you think so!

[@isaacgwams8080]

Thank you so much, we love you so much

[@BeatAcademy]

Right back at cha!

[@michaelkronenberg3712]

ure the best :) this is sick!

[@MXP250]

Great info

[@damondahl]

GOLD!

[@no.data.interpreter]

what a gem

[@rhythmguitar94]

thank you!

[@dannyday1984]

Was so surprised to see Ill Factor here. Is there anything you ‘don’t’ do, man? 😂 Good stuff. Cheers!

[@adrianray6756]

I'm installing Ableton for the first time right now. It'll be my first DAW and I have no idea what you just did but it sounds awesome

[@tillschroder6992]

How it's going?

[@adrianray6756]

@@tillschroder6992 I unfortunately gave up. I wasn't cut out for it I guess

[@tillschroder6992]

@@adrianray6756 sad to hear but I hope you find something else to Express yourself🤙🏻

[@TeddyTentacle]

@@adrianray6756 Dude everything is hard when you just started. Don't listen to that brainlet. You are not not cut out for it, you are fucking lazy. Look for some real beginner tutorials and get in there. (I really REALLY recommend the KZbin Channel Collective Intelligence for that, look up his newbie guides) Im struggling a lot myself, even after 2 months, but i still keep at it. If you want to get good at something hard it's never going to be easy, but if you want don't want to die with the knowledge that you could have done so much more the time to start and fight through this shit is now! The reason I'm saying this is because i was thinking like you a while back, but now im sick of it. I want to do something with my life, as should you.

[@alexmaur8817]

Keep going dude, it takes about 4 years to get okay

[@molliemk3477]

thankyou so much.

[@Chef_PC]

JFC. This is amazing.

[@kipdrums147]

i actually understand analog now lol

[@Timmy_04]

Same, Thank you so much!

[@treesforzoe4655]

Same exact feeling

[@treesforzoe4655]

Love this teacher he is not only successful in his craft he shares how to develop.

[@theviolinoob]

This guy is really awesome

[@alexdias3700]

great!!!

[@galacula]

seeing those analog boxes at the bottom of the screen for the first time made me go...yeah maybe music production isn't for me...but it's not that scary now! thanks!

[@LordLoss66613]

Amazing tutorial! You don't have this live set downloadable from the sample pack right?

[@Violentic81]

That makes me wanna watch 80s cult cyberpunk movies and play Farcry 3 blooddragon

[@Bazzguit]

amazing video!!!! thank you so much Ill as always. any tips on how to design that amazing kick? and synthwave snares like the C418's rendition of Stranger Things theme?

[@linkmancin4455]

Thank you! This helped me a bunch. (Btw, has anyone ever told you that you look like a younger Ron Perlman)

[@nicotastic4331]

Awesome, this already helped me to understand the tweaking of the Analog much better... Thanks!

[@Luszkah]

Hey, you should watch this tuto, its amazing. kzbin.info/www/bejne/aXmThpt-o7dsa7s

[@laodes]

Oh look it's Ron Earlman! Nice

[@nongfabeats9468]

Such an amazing tutorial, nothing special about synthesis, but still those easy techniques can really give that 80's sound. Subscribe for sure!

[@emiliesky2009]

Nice guide, thank for that! I am using/learning in Ableton live 11 (standard). I can't see any "analog" as you use? It is not under instruments and I cant see it under the other categories. Can you help me? Maybe it is because I use the standard. Can you find it online somewhere?

[@dewellhowell4348]

Is there more to this tutorial at Beat Academy? This is great and I would totally pay for more of this type of instruction. The only class that looks similar is the Ableton 10 sound design class.

[@BeatAcademy]

Hey there, if you are already a Beat Academy member visit the exclusive section in the user forum for the exclusives breakdowns for the song titled "Get Me out"

[@_andez]

What are your computer specs? Love the content!!

[@boymatmat]

Nice

[@fanilosendrison3050]

great video, what is the white noise at 4:18 for ? i can't hear any difference before and after

[@marissalipschutz4730]

What chords were you using for the first part I only three of them

[@MetalDoraemon6]

i need to find a in depth tutorial..this was good but very subtle

[@f0kxi]

This is the episode

[@Hangover_TV]

Hey! Cool stuff! what is the name of project in this pack?

[@amusicians2cents]

13:18 - Your reaction, LOL :)

[@XMrStalkerX]

Great tutorial, if I had one criticism it would be that it can be difficult for a sound design beginner like myself to apply your instructions to other synths - I have the standard version rather than the Suite version of Ableton and, for eg, I'm finding it quite hard to know what "go to the matrix and assign the detune to LFO1" translates to on synths that aren't Wavetable. Besides that though I am learning a lot about designing sounds

[@waldeirferreira6771]

thankUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

[@tonytalamantes1062]

Can you show us how to do melodic Dubstep like seven lions? and Illenium?

[@Xupra]

Can you talk about your mic settings for this video?

[@MinaJoksimovicc]

can you do this/something in logic pro x also?

[@amusicians2cents]

Really nice video! You might want to check out SamiRabia's "smart pan" video. It's also done with Ableton plugins only. Relating to this video, Sami's videos can be really useful when doing the widening effect, without making it sound weird when panning 100% left or 100% right, especially in headphones.

[@davidschmid1836]

And Thanks for the very good Tutorial do you also make House and Techhouse?

[@BeatAcademy]

Wrapping up a full in depth EDM course covering those topics in detail be sure ot visit the site and sign up for more info

[@Psynewaves]

Thank you, early 90's Ron Perlman. :D

[@BeatAcademy]

;)

[@haztj1]

Any tips on drums?

[@jakeharrell4327]

any suggestions for something other than abletons wavetable?

[@thewookiee78]

When I tried the tutorial, my initial synth sound wasn't as 'punchy'. Was there an effect already added to the main outs at the start? Thanks!

[@benlund7459]

Having troubles finding which folder contains this project. Could you help?

[@kingcondornev]

He removes them after a couple months. Probably not available anymore

[@Tikolu]

When making a song, how do I know which instrument to choose? Analog, Wavetable, Operator etc?

[@david92x43]

Yup i personally prefer wavetable for chords and atmospheres, Analog for leads and operator for bass