How to thicken up instruments with layering in Ableton Live

Finding the synth sound that’s perfect for your track is a great feeling. But why does it seem like everyone else’s synths sound much bigger? Often, the secret is a bit of layering – adding more timbre to the part with extra synth parts playing the same chords or melody. This works fantastically with other instrumentation, too, such as brass, strings, vocals and more. Fortunately, the process is made easier with Ableton Live’s Instrument Rack.

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In this Ableton Live tutorial, Liam O’Mullane shows you how to layer up your track elements with Instrument Racks. You’ll learn some go-to methods in layering to bring more depth to your sounds and enhance their stereo image. You’ll also learn how to use subgroups to create effects chains for the layers, and how to thicken up bassy sounds.

Other lessons in our Ableton Live Tutorials series so far include:

• Random MIDI device
• Exploring Phaser-Flanger
• Live’s Audio Limiters
• Introduction to Electric
• Building engaging arrangements
• Using Corpus
• Create, store, browse and load templates
• Create polymeters and automating tempo and time signature
• Creative Sidechaining
• Shaping sounds with Multiband Compressor
• How to use Operator
• Saving CPU
• Master Macro Variations
• Grain Delay
• Scene Follow Actions
• Spectrum and EQ Eight analyser
• Velocity MIDI Device
• Making the most of Tuner
• Intro to Phaser-Flanger device 

Those of you who already know Live inside and out, but are looking to explore other DAWs may want to check out our Logic Tips Series, following a similar pattern to this course.

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