Get unstuckon your musicwith John
Focused, practical sessions shaped around the music you are actually making. Bring a Live Set, a loop, a question or just a starting point.
- Beginners to experienced producers
- Your own projects
- Coburg North or online
Five ways touse a session
Tutorials can be useful, but they cannot answer the question you are facing in your own Live Set.
Pick the track that sounds like you. Each one jumps to what a session on it looks like. You don’t need to choose before booking; we can mix focuses as your music needs.
LearnAbleton
“I’ve watched the tutorials and Live still won’t do what I hear in my head.”
From a first look at Live to the parts that keep tripping you up. We work in your own Live Set wherever we can, so what you learn sticks.
- Foundations: Session and Arrangement View, clips, devices and routing
- Workflow: templates, shortcuts and project organisation that cut out friction
- Sound design: Live’s instruments, racks, sampling and effects
- Troubleshooting: the problem in your Live Set right now
Starting from scratch? The Private Beginners Course is a structured one-to-one course: $1,350 in person or $1,195 online.
Knowing what each device does, and the order it sits in, is most of “learning Ableton”. We build chains like this together on your own sounds.
Composition andsong development
“I’ve got eight bars I love and no idea where they go.”
Harmony, melody and structure from a teacher with a jazz performance background, applied to whatever style you write in.
- Harmony: chord progressions that fit your style, and why they work
- Melody and bass: lines that move together instead of getting in each other’s way
- Structure: sections, tension and release, and where the idea goes next
- Direction: references, taste and finding your own sound
A common progression. The work is in what you put on top: which melody notes land on chord tones, and how the bass line connects the changes.
Finishyour tracks
“It’s been 90% done for a year.”
Turning a loop into a song is a set of decisions. We make them together, in your project, and you leave knowing what to do next.
- Arrangement: laying out sections from the loop you already have
- Transitions: fills, risers, automation and space between sections
- Decisions: committing, bouncing and cutting what isn’t helping
- A finishing plan: clear next steps for the work after the session
One session won’t finish a track for you. It gets you moving with a plan you can follow.
One loop laid out over 64 bars: parts enter, drop out and come back. Grey blocks are fills and risers at the section changes.
Mix yourmusic together
“It sounds great in my headphones and falls apart everywhere else.”
A guided mixing session: we work through your track side by side, and you learn the listening and the moves as we go.
- Balance: levels, gain staging and panning before any plug-ins
- EQ and space: making room for each part, especially in the low end
- Dynamics: compression you can hear and explain
- Listening: referencing and checking your mix on other systems
Start with volumes. Balanced volume equals a balanced mix, so levels come before any EQ: one or two main sounds lead and the rest support them.
Controllers andperformance
“My Push is mostly sitting there.”
Get hands-on with Live: mapping, Session View and a practical setup you can actually play and rehearse with.
- Mapping: MIDI mapping and controller setup that makes sense to you
- Session View: launching, jamming and building ideas live
- Hands-on control: Racks and Macro Controls so one knob does something musical
- Practice: a setup simple enough to rehearse
Akai MPD218 (simplified): 16 velocity-sensitive pads playing a Drum Rack, with Pad 1 at the bottom left, and six knobs you can MIDI map in Live, for example to a Rack’s Macro Controls.
Bring the music.Leave with a plan.
You don’t need to arrive with everything figured out.
- Beginners who want a supportive start in Live
- Producers who know the basics but keep getting stuck
- Musicians turning ideas into finished tracks
- Performers working on controllers and Session View
What you want to understand, solve or finish.
An Ableton project, a reference track, a controller, or nothing yet.
Focused and practical, at your pace.
Changes to make, things to practise, and what to bring next time.
In the studio,or online
The Snedlab
One-to-one in Coburg North, at John’s workstation or yours.
Remote sessions
Online with screen sharing, from anywhere.
90 minutes
Each session runs 90 minutes.
Single or 4-pack
One session: $120 in person, $110 online. 4-pack (4 sessions in 4 weeks): $440 in person, $400 online.
Not quitewhat you need?
Before yourfirst session
Do I need Ableton experience?
No. Beginners are welcome, and experienced users can bring specific projects or problems.
Can I bring my own track?
Yes. Working on your own music is encouraged whenever it is the most useful way to learn.
Will we finish my track in one session?
Probably not, and that is not the promise. You will leave with decisions made, progress in the project and a clear plan for the rest.
Is this the same as the Beginners Course?
No. These are flexible sessions. The Private Beginners Course is a separate structured one-to-one course, and the group courses follow scheduled classes.
Can I learn to mix, or will you mix it for me?
Both exist, separately. Guided mixing sessions on this page teach you to mix your own music. Mixing Services is John mixing it for you.
Bring the track.We’ll work on it together.
One-to-one music production lessons in Coburg North or online. 90 minutes: $120 in person, $110 online.
