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Ableton Live Exercise 4 – Loudness and Exports

  • Updated

Exercise Objectives: 

This exercise is designed to reinforce concepts covered in modules 7, 8, and 9. The objective of this exercise is to use groups within Ableton to mix to a target loudness level, as well as to create a variety of exports/deliverables. You will be using the pre-mixed Live set ‘Dolby Atmos Music Loudness Exercise_Ableton.als’.  

 

Dolby Atmos Renderer 

  • Close any open master file 
  • Set up the Renderer as per Exercise 1 

Ableton Live 

  • Open the pre-mixed Live set 
  • Push play and verify that Ableton is communicating with the Renderer and that the Renderer is chasing LTC 
  • Create groups of tracks 
    • Select multiple tracks (Shift+click or Cmd+click; Right Click > Group tracks or Cmd+G) 
    • For this exercise create the following groups:  
      • Drums 
      • Perc 
      • Bass 
      • Synth 
      • Vox 
  • To change the level of all tracks in a group, ensure that the group is unfolded and all tracks in the group are selected. Manipulating the fader on one track will affect all selected tracks  
    • To unfold a group, click the ‘unfold group button’ on the right side of the track header 

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  •   Start playback from the beginning of the track 

 Dolby Atmos Renderer 

  • While the track is playing, make a note of the loudness values present in the Renderer’s loudness section 

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  •  Let the track play all the way through and make a note of the integrated loudness value. 
  • Click the reset button in the loudness section to reset the values for your next loudness pass  

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  •  For the purposes of this exercise you want to aim for a target loudness of -18LKFS 

Ableton Live 

  • Make adjustments to the groups to achieve an integrated loudness measurement of -18LKFS while keeping the True peak value at or below -0.5 
  • When you are done with level adjustments, create and record a Dolby Atmos master 

Dolby Atmos Renderer 

  • With your master file open, open the Loudness analysis window (Window > Loudness analysis or Cmd+L) 
    • Click the Analyze loudness button 
    • Verify that the values in the offline loudness analysis meet your desired specifications 
    • Click Export Dolby Atmos loudness report and select summary 
    • View the loudness report 
    • Close the Loudness analysis window 
  • Open the Export ADM BWF window (File > Export Audio > ADM BWF or Cmd+A 
    • Choose a directory and filename 
    • Export the entire master 

MP4 Export 

  • Export an mp4 for playback on an Atmos-enabled device: 
    • Navigate to the mp4 export dialog (File > Export Audio > MP4 or Shift+Cmd+M) 
    • Choose a directory and a filename 
    • Set the Encoding Mode to Music 
    • Set the Export In/Out to Entire master (you can also set manual in/out points) 
    • Click Export 

Creating and Exporting Re-renders 

The second part of this exercise will illustrate creating groups in the Dolby Atmos Render input configuration window and can be useful when generating re-rendered stems for future mastering workflows. Below are groups useful for this exercise. Instrument grouping for other music projects will vary. The default groups (Dialog, Music etc. commonly used in post-production workflows cannot be deleted or changed, but groups specific to music workflows can be added. This example will create stereo re-renders, however, re-renders of any channel width can be performed if desired. 

  • In the Dolby Atmos Renderer navigate to Window > Input Configuration 
    • In the bottom left corner select Groups 
    • Type in the name of the new group and click on Add Group.  Repeat for the following groups 
      • Drums 
      • Perc  
      • Bass 
      • Synth 
      • Vox 
    • Assign the appropriate Objects to the appropriate Group from the Group drop down menu.  Multiple Object inputs can be selected and assigned using Shift Click. 
      • Drums – Objects 11-30 
      • Perc – Objects 31-34 
      • Bass – Objects 35/36 
      • Synth – Objects 37-42 
      • Vox – Objects 43-46 

Exporting re-renders 

  • Define the re-renders 
    • Navigate to Preferences > Re-renders 
    • Ensure Re-render processing is active 
    • Navigate to Window > Re-renders or type Command + R 
    • Delete any default Re-renders by checking the X on each box 
    • Under Layout, select 2.0 from the drop-down menu and click Add 
    • Select Properties > Custom > Drums 
    • With Properties open type Drums in the Name file 
    • Click Accept 
    • Repeat these steps to create Re-renders for the Bass, Percussion, Bells, and FX tracks. 
  • Export the Re-Renders 
    • Navigate to File>Export Audio>Re-renders or type Command + E 
    • Enter a base file name (usually the song title) 
    • Choose the output directory 
    • Deselect any defined re-renders that aren’t needed 
    • For Stereo re-renders leave the File type as Multichannel Interleaved 
    • If the Master file has pre or post roll this can be trimmed from the re-render by check Set Manually in the Export in/out section. 

 

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