Running Tracks and Click with Ableton Live

Philip Ellis Featured, For Drummers, Gear, Musicianship Leave a Comment

In this video, I walk through how I run tracks and clicks with Ableton Live for a worship service.


Here are some ideas and tips from the video:

  1. I use a reference track in my master set list to be able to quickly reference the full audio of the song if anyone in the band needs clarification on a part. This channel is only activated when we need to listen to it.
  2. I have a guide track for songs that we might use an audio guide on.
  3. I color code my grouping based on what output they are routed to. Click is a mono track. I don’t use the built-in metronome from Ableton Live. I use a midi channel with a highly customizable midi click.
  4. Our auxiliary track is also mono and is mostly drum/percussion tracks. I also use an electronic drum pad to trigger sounds inside a drum rack within Ableton Live for certain songs.
  5. We use stereo gang vocal tracks on certain songs to help our sound engineer get the gang vocals in the mix without having bleed from the mics on stage.
  6.  Our stereo pads track helps to give more weight and texture to our songs.
  7. I send each track to a return aux so that I can easily listen and edit my tracks when I’m not using my Focusrite interface (which has multiple outputs going to Front Of House).
  8. I use Ableton’s session view as a master set list to quickly re-order songs and save new sets. I create and highlight some scenes to be used purely as notes about the set.
  9. When I add new tracks I spend time warping them so that I can change the key and tempo of the song on the fly.

Questions? Comments? Start a conversation by leaving a comment below!

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Philip Ellis

About Philip Ellis

Philip is the Director of Resources for Austin Stone Worship and drummer for the Aaron Ivey Band. Philip lives in Austin with his wife Kim, and their 3 boys.