Before I tell you more about the Ableton Cookbook Clip Module, I’d like to tell you a story. If you want to get started learning more about Clips in Ableton right away, then feel free to grab the Clip Module now!

But for those of you who are still here, let me tell you a little tale.

Many of you know that I am something of a motorcycle enthusiast. And this entails doing a lot, and I mean A LOT, of work on my motorcycle. You see, I ride mostly older Japanese motorcycles and there is almost always something wrong with one of them. Valves need adjustment, carbs need cleaning, drive train needs some tweaking. Now, a few months ago, I had quite a predicament on my hands. I had to clean my carburator, which is connected to the rest of the bike by a rubber tubes called “boots.” Well, while I was reinstalling the carburator, one of the metal bands that seals the rubber boot fell down the drain. And, instead of going to the dealership and getting a new one, I found one that was close to the same size and jammed it on. Problem solved.

A few days later, I decided to take a little trip out to Lockhart, a town outside of Austin, to get some BBQ. It is a 45 minute ride or so, but the weather was nice, so I decided to ride out with some friends. It was a great day: ribs where eaten, beers (a beer, really) was drunk and we started home. Well, about halfway through my ride home, the bike started to falter and I had to pull over. It seems like my little problem wasn’t solved. The carb boot had come loose and had began taking on air. The bike wasn’t going anywhere. Well, my friends had to keep going, but I was stuck. As the sun went down, I hoped that I wasn’t in the part of Texas where Leatherface lived.

Now my point is not, “Buy this Clip Module or your mode of transportation will almost blow up.” My point is, sometimes you have to invest a little time and energy at the beginning of an endeavor to save yourself some heartache later down the line. And I would hope that you think of this Clip Module as just that: an investment. Hopefully it will make your life easier, your beats better and, more importantly, your time spent making music more enjoyable.

Now you might be interested to know what you’re about to buy. And that’s pretty reasonable, I’d say!

The Clip Module is over 4 hours of video wherein I exhaustively explain everything that I know about Clips in Ableton Live. This video will be available in every conceivable format, for downloading and for streaming. It will also be available to watch on your favorite iThing. I will cover basic aspects of Clips like Triggering Clips, Follow Actions, Warping, Dummy Clips, Recording MIDI Clips, Recording Audio Clips, Bouncing Resampling and Much, Much More. I accompany every explanation of a feature of Clips with a practical example: Basically I want to make sure you never finish listening to something that I say and ask, So What?

I’ve always disliked the idea of course levels, especially in things as fluid as producing music. Who gets to decide who is advanced and who isn’t? I’ve seen big name producers give presentations where it became clear that they understood one aspect of Ableton very well, say Drum Racks, but had never even thought about another aspect, say, Follow Actions. Are they a “beginner”? I also think that separating people like this prevents people from learning from producers of different levels. So, instead of having videos that are separated by level, I will focus each module on different aspects of producing with Ableton Live. I will then systematically go through each aspect, going deeper and deeper as we go, until I’ve exhausted everything I know about the subject.

I get a lot of email. I get a lot of email about: crap I don’t care about, crap I DO care about, work, people asking me for workout advice, videos of animals, etc. In between all of this, I try to answer a few questions about Ableton. Unfortunately, this doesn’t allow me time to focus on just one person’s questions and to follow up with them to find out if they understood my answer or not. So, I am only going to release the Clip Module Video to 30 people. Each of those people will have a priority email through which to contact me. That way, I can learn everyone’s names, answer everyone’s questions and be thorough as opposed to being running from cat video to gmail to twitter and back.

There will be plenty of people who won’t see the value in watching a video course that systematically goes through Ableton. They’d rather comb through the sea of information on the internet, and that’s great! I myself learned through trial and error, before there was very much in the way of “Youtube” (I’m showing my age). But, because I learned this way, I know that more than anything, it takes time and can lead to some frustration. Some people would rather come home from work, from school or from taking care of their kids and just chill with a beverage and learn how to produce music. As you can tell from this site, I endorse both methods.

Here’s what some of the folks who’ve grabbed the Clip Module already have to say:

“The Ableton Cookbook’s Clip Module is a great way to get acquainted with the most revolutionary aspect of Ableton Live – working with clips. As a relative newcomer to Live, I found the module to be extremely helpful in solving practical problems that we all run into while recording, as well as eye-opening to all the possibilities offered by working with clips as opposed to traditional methods. Highly recommended.”

-Mike Lauri
Songwriter/Producer/Remixer
www.theelderjepson.com

The Ableton Cookbook has definitely expanded my knowledge in regards to the basics of the software. As a relative neophyte to Ableton, having use it for only a few months, I was overjoyed to receive details like keyboard shortcuts and real-world workflow examples. Access to Anthony’s twitter feed and blog has exposed me to several other incredibly useful resources to continue evolving as a musician.

-Ben Burnes
abstractionmusic.bandcamp.com

I’ve been using Ableton Live for a couple of years, but I’ve only just begun to appreciate its flexibility and power. But accessing that? Even viewing the tutorial videos I found on Ableton’s site, and trying to work though a book left me far short of the mark. I wanted more. Then I found Anthony Arroyo’s video tutorials. I subscribed immediately and worked through each one as it appeared. When the Ableton Cookbook Live Course on clips appeared, I scraped together the bucks to subscribe. I’m glad I did. The course immediatey enriched my track production, and I’ve only just atarted working though them. Anthony is a skilled teacher and talented video producer. If you’re serious about benefiting from the hidden powers of Ableton, the Ableton Cookbook is by far your best friend.

-Mike Robertson

Now, some people will wonder why I’m charging money at all, given that I’ve given away so much content. I have my reasons, though. And I think they’re pretty good ones.

I am a teacher, professionally (true fact: I teach Rhetoric at the University of Texas). I truly enjoy teaching and, to be honest, I think that I’m pretty good at it. But I don’t have anywhere near the passion for teaching rhetoric as I do for teaching folks about Ableton. The time I spend working on this site and helping yall with your questions is extremely rewarding and I’d like to do this for as long as you’ll have me.

The problem, though, is that when someone works for free for too long, they eventually begin to resent the work. It’s a psychological fact: I’ve experienced it first hand as a musician. Go find a dead blog and you can see it. People post a million times a day for two months, get more and more shrill and eventually just stop. I don’t want that to happen to the Cookbook. I like what I do with yall too much to risk it going sour because I didn’t have the cojones to ask yall for a few bucks at the beginning. The focus here is on sustainability.

I have big plans for this site: I’d like to start making the twice-monthly Q&A a live event (ustream, baby!), I’d like to start reviewing more hardware, I’d like to start a forum, I’d like to have more interviews, I’d like to finally deliver on that modern dance tutorial that I’ve been talking about, etc. A good chunk of whatever I make from my sales on the site will go towards making the site as awesome as possible.

One thing that I have learned as a teacher is that face to face, or at least one on one, communication will always trump splashy presentation. That is why I’m not stressing about how cool my graphic design is (or isn’t, hahah), or if the editing on my videos isn’t going to put anyone out of work. What is important is the attention I can give to everyone’s questions.

That is why I’m trying to limit how many people I personally work with at a time. And while some of you may get tired of hearing just me talk, being the sole employee at the Ableton Cookbook has its advantages. It means that I don’t have to pay a lease on a cool studio (although my house is pretty cool). I don’t have to pay an HR person. I don’t have to pay for marketing or advertising. And I can pass these savings on to you! (now I really sound like a car salesman).

Well, the good news is that, instead of paying 800 dollars for an intro course to Ableton Live, or 200 pounds for a “basic” course, you will be paying 47 dollars to learn everything that you could possibly want to know about Clips, plus unlimited email support with yours truly for a month.

AND

Folks who purchase this Clip Module will get a fat discount (how fat? REALLY FAT) on the whole Course (which will include a Module on Clips, Racks, Audio FX, MIDI FX, Performance, Arrangement/Composition, Music Theory and Mixing and Mastering) when it comes out.

AND

If you aren’t totally satisfied that the Clip Module was worth your money, then you can get all your money back for 30 days. No questions asked.

So, why not check it out now?

If you have any problems with checkout or any questions at all, give me a shout at

Anthony Arroyo
theabletoncookbook [a] anthonyarroyodotcom [dot] com.
2101 Rountree Dr.
Austin, TX 78722
(512) 348-6897