Machines & Ideas: Creative Electronic Music Production in Ableton Live 12
Learn the tools of electronic music in Ableton Live 12, then learn to break them.
Every electronic genre came from someone misusing a machine. This four-week course teaches both sides of that. Each week, you’ll learn a standard part of making music in Ableton Live 12, including drum machines, samplers, synths, and mixing, then explore the creative, rule-breaking side of the same tools through probability and generative sequencing, granular mangling, dub-style effects, and studio tricks a computer makes easy.
You’ll learn techniques from across electronic music history, from musique concrète and drum and bass to 90s IDM, ambient, and dub, while building one track over the four weeks and finishing it by the end.
The course is designed for intermediate producers who want to go beyond presets and dig into the experimental, art-driven side of electronic music. Motivated beginners are welcome.
Course Logistics
Dates:
Tuesdays, September 15 – October 6, 2026
Four sessions: September 15, 22, 29 + October 6
Times:
6 – 9 PM
Location:
In person at Gray Area
2665 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94110
Cost:
$480
Experience Level:
Intermediate. Motivated beginners with some prior experience using Ableton Live, another DAW, or music hardware are welcome.
Scholarships:
Diversity Scholarships are available.
Apply by September 1, 2026.
Prerequisites
Participants should have some experience with Ableton Live, another DAW, or music hardware, and be comfortable opening a project and recording and playing back audio and MIDI.
No music theory is required. The class uses Live 12’s scale tools, so anyone can write in key from the first week.
If you’ve made a loop before and want to learn how to finish a whole track and push it somewhere strange, you’ll have a good time here. Motivated beginners can keep up, since each week builds step by step toward a finished track.
What to Bring
A laptop with Ableton Live 12 Suite installed, either an owned license or the free 30-day trial, and headphones. No other purchases are required.
Additional Information
- No refunds or exchanges
- View our FAQ here
- Contact [email protected] with any questions
What You’ll Learn
In this course, participants will:
- Navigate Ableton Live 12 with confidence and use its core tools both conventionally and creatively
- Program drums and chop samples, both cleanly and experimentally
- Synthesize sounds from scratch with Drift and design your own patches
- Write basslines and chords that stay in key
- Use generative tools, probability, and Follow Actions to create material
- Arrange a track and apply dub-style mixing techniques
- Mix, master to a sensible loudness, and export a finished piece
- Use creative studio tricks like reversing audio and extreme effects on the master
- Explore how electronic genres have turned rule-breaking into new sounds
By the end of the course, students will have a completed track of their own and the tools to keep making more.
Course Outline
Week 1: Drums and Sampling
Goal: Build a beat and a bank of sampled sounds, made both cleanly and broken.
- Standard: Drum programming, step sequencing, velocity, groove, and chopping samples in Simpler
- Rule-breaking: Probability, breakbeat mangling, granular, glitch, reversing, and resampling
- Genre examples: Musique concrète, hip-hop sampling, jungle, and drum and bass
- Open studio time
Week 2: Synths, Sound Design, Bass, and Chords
Goal: Create a sound of your own, a bassline, and a chord progression.
- Standard: Synthesizing sounds with Drift, writing a bassline, the kick and bass relationship, and chords with scale mode
- Rule-breaking: Heavy modulation, feedback, unstable patches, and Max for Live
- Genre examples: Acid, electro, and IDM textures
- Open studio time
Week 3: Generative Composition, Arrangement, and Dub Mixing
Goal: Turn a loop into a structured, moving track.
- Standard: Session to Arrangement, structure, automation, and clean mixing
- Rule-breaking: MIDI generators and transformations, Follow Actions, generative writing, dub mixing and effect throws, and non-linear arrangement
- Genre examples: 90s IDM, ambient, and dub
- Open studio time
Week 4: Mixing, Mastering, and Finishing
Goal: Finish and export a complete track.
- Standard: Mixing with EQ, compression, panning, and sends; simple mastering and export
- Rule-breaking: Reversing audio, extreme master bus effects, resampling and re-mangling, and finishing ugly
- Genre examples: The loudness war and musique concrète tape tricks
- Closing listening session where everyone plays their track
About Ableton Live 12 Suite
Ableton Live 12 Suite is a digital audio workstation used across electronic music, from bedroom producers to touring artists.
It pairs a linear Arrangement view with a clip-based Session view for improvising and playing live. Suite includes a full set of instruments, including Drift, Operator, Wavetable, Analog, and Meld, as well as effects like Roar, Hybrid Reverb, and spectral tools.
Live 12’s MIDI generators and transformations support generative composition, while its scale tools make it easier to keep playing and editing in key. Max for Live adds modular and generative devices for anyone who wants to go deeper.
A 30-day trial is available for students who don’t already own Live.
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