This started off as a learning guide for Push 2 Enthusiasts. This is a comprehensive guide for all push 2 users and music producers. This is meant to be a compiled resource guide. The material that this contains has been made by others. I am just compiling the resources and expanding on the subject with the help of my research skills and writing ability.
The videos I have posted, I have tried to use the sites words to describe the video when possible. I have used Abelton's own words whenever it was possible as well. I only expand upon the ideas when I feel it's necessary to give a broader viewpoint or different takes on the same subject matter. I apologize if I did not cite you. I am trying my best to give credit where it is due.
I am a DJ , producer, promoter, festival stage manager and overall activist on my Rave scene of Minneapolis/St. Paul. I have worked with most of my scenes promoters over the last 30 years in some form of production. I have played with International DJs, Rock stars and locals alike and have had some of Electronic Musics biggest stars ask to play our stage. I am a member of the Headspace Collective, I started the first ALL female crew in Minneapolis/ St. Paul. I along with E-Tones and CeeBee opened the first night ever at the VIP room at First Ave in the late 90's. I helped Craig and the Disco Devils throw alot of warehouse parties at Premise. I have run stages at Even Furthur and The Great Beyond. I could go on for hours about all the stuff I have managed to pull off over the years but I still think that I can improve and I always wanted to be the producer that the 13 year old me knew I could be.
I have spent the last 5 years learning how to compose music in Abelton session while getting my production down and my sound clean. It has been quite the learning experiance. Arrangement view is easy and linear. Session View is a whole other animal. I have talked to other producers from all over and they hate that Abelton confuses them, they couldn't explain why... they just hate it. Maybe it's because of our age or maybe they want to play immediately and forget about programming. The more I talked to them the more I discovered that it was just to much programming in Session View. They just want to create and play. Then you have the producers who LOVE session view and the organization of its pieces. I myself LOVE SESSION VIEW as much as I love Arrangement View. Let me rephrase that... I have learned to LOVE session view. I am happy to report that I am beginnning understand how to compose in session view and make it so that I can play a live set in it, if I get all the parts in order. Thats great and all... but what if I want to compose while playing live and play my push like the instrument it was meant to be?
As I started writing this I realized I also needed a huge resource for Abelton Live. Because It is so overwhelming as a program and it has so many possibilities just as a DAW and not using Push. I put that in here as well.
And then the ADHD took over and I went down a rabbit hole of tutorial videos and learned everything from production to how to use this thingamijig to compression, to soundscaping to ... You get the idea, I watched alot of videos and most of the stuff I knew a little about but really wanted to expand upon it. YES...I put that in here.
Finally, I wanted a resource guide for my studio and all the toys in it. I always feel like I am not utilizing my toys as much as I could be so I put a section for that as well. Feel free to add your own section with your own synths and drum machines.
This is why I have compiled this source book. I want to be able to use this as a reference and go back to my favorite sources and look info up in all one place.
I wanted to create a guide where I could have a ton of resources on every subject for the Push 2 in one location and this is what I came up with. As I delve deeper into Abelton I will compile their manual to their videos so it makes this a much easier learning tool. I will also be putting articles and videos not produced by Abelton but cover the same subject material.
Learning should be fun and easy and hopefully this guide will take some of the work out of researching so you can learn faster.
PUSH 2, TUTORIALS, MANUALS AND EXTRAS
ALL OTHER STUFF IN PRODUCTION LIKE DRUM MACHINES AND MUSIC THEORY AND LEGALITIES
I hate that most manuals put the shortcuts at the end buried under tons of other information. Keyboard shortcuts save us time and we can get back to producing. This is why they are front and center here. Note: these shortcuts are for Abeleton Live
The Settings area is your best friend get to know and understand what each setting does and how you can personalize your production experiance. Settings can be found in the Options menu on Windows and in the Live menu on macOS. You can also open the Settings window using the shortcut Ctrl, (Win) / Cmd, (Mac).
This is very crucial but file management is often overlooked until it is to late and then you spend a week crying on your computer and praying to your chosen god or goddess that you didn't delete something crucial. The sooner you learn this the less stress and more composing you can do.
Various types of files are used in making music with Live, from those containing MIDI and audio, to more program-specific files such as Live Clips and Live Sets. This chapter will explain everything you need to know about working with each of these file types in Live.
What everyone should read but no one does until they need specifics. This is a handy guide into the Push 2. I didn't realize the things this beautiful machine could do until I had been playing with it for 2 years. It's when I started looking into using it as my main tool for live performance that I began to understand why people love this thing. I also understand why people open it up and then never use it again. There is so much to learn it becomes overwhelming. I don't blame people for quitting. Abelton as a program is vast and when you pair it with a controller that can open the universe, it takes a brave soul to not run away screaming.
Brandi Rasmussen