News - News

1. Use the Utility for fragmented gain control, then when you want to adjust the overall volume later in the mix down, you can change the volume of the whole track, even if it has volume automation.
2. A good tip for getting more volume without clipping in a live situation, is to use the Limiter instead of the volume (or a Utility). By bringing the gain on the Limiter up above 0db, the limiter kicks in and you get a louder sound while still keeping everything in the green.
3. Got heaps of tracks that are all being sidechained at the same by the same source?Instead of loading up multiple Compressors, set yourself up a dedicated sidechain track and feed all your single tracks into it.
4. Instead of tuning percussion to the key of your track, load up an EQ8, add in a pole with a lot of Q and move it around until that particular pole is playing a note which is in tune with your track. Lower the Q and gain until it doesn't sound intrusive, but still gives a subtle tuning to the hits.
5. To add more human feeling to a percussion loop, attach the frequency of a low pass filter to the velocity so that when the note hits quieter, it sounds slightly muffled.
6. You can use the LFO of the Auto Filter to get a rhythm gating effect, just set it to a square wave shape, bring the amount up to its maximum and bring the phasing down to its minimum, it will rhythmically gate the sound.
7. If you want a simple multiband compressor with sidechaining, use an Audio Rack with seperate chains for each band. Use an EQ8 at the start of each chain to specify the band, then put a Compressor after the band you want to be sidechained.
8. If you need some quick strange percussive sounds, turn your mic on and record yourself being an idiot. Once you have recorded your sample, right click it and choose "Slice To New Midi Track", making sure to leave the place where it slices set on "Transients". Once done, you now have a drum rack with a whole lot of little fun hits you can place over a new Midi Clip.
9. To give your sub bass more of a punch, use the pitch envelope. Set the start of the envelope quite high (20st to 32st), but make it quickly shoot down to the original pitch fast by having a short Decay Time.
10. For a quick melodic build up sound, put a Reverb over your lead/chords and give it lots of Size and Decay time... then when you are ready, automate the wet/dry amount to creep up from 0% to 100% (Just make sure you bring it back to 0% at the start of the next phrase)

Ableton Live Quick Tips 3 from Tom Cosm on Vimeo.

News - News

A few weeks ago, I worked on a tune with Circuit Bent (below). We were discussing ways that we could distribute this tune, and came to the conclusion that we would try and do a nice thing by offering a high quality download of the tune in exchange for a donation. Once the donation pool reached one thousand dollars, we would give that money to the Doctors Without Borders, a non-religious charitible trust that is currently undergoing medical aid in Haiti.

Tom Cosm vs Circuit Bent - Bent Cosmos by TomCosm

Using the Chipin widget, and my Paypal account, we quickly started raising money. Everything was going smoothly and everyone was feeling good, until I got an email from Paypal saying I was not eligible to run such a fundraiser, and that I needed to provide various documents (proof of charitible status etc) in order for my account to be restored.

I instantly contacted Paypal's support explaining the situation in detail, showing them that I was not in fact a trust, but was gathering money to give to a trust, as well as asking them what direction I needed to take to resolve the situation. Their automated system told me that it would take up to 72 hours for a reply, so I waited.

After 72 hours I still had not heard, so I contacted them again with the same story, and stating that I still had not yet recieved a reply, something I was concerned about as I understood very well how this could jeopardise my account and business.

Finally I recieved a reply, however I got this reply on the same day as another automated email saying that due to my failure to comply with their request my account was now set to "Limited" status, meaning all funds are frozen and I could not receive any more money into that account.

I quickly removed the fundraiser and refunded everyone who had donated in full. I emailed them explaining that I had done this and that I was waiting for their advice until I could comply with their request, however this waiting time for them to reply had meant my account had been frozen, something I thought was quite unjust.

I received some replies saying that by law, there was now nothing I could do and my account would be frozen for 180 days while under investigation. They were quite firm on the fact that there was nothing I could do.

Over the last 6 years I have been a very loyal customer to Paypal. I have transfered tens of thousands of dollars, always paying their high fees, and have resolved any issues or disputes instantly. This means nothing to them. They have frozen my account and managed to completley fuck up the last 6 hard years of work building a vibrant and popular online subscription service, which is this projects main source of income.

Each day, all of the subscribers that have payments due on that day get defaulted and their subscription gets cancelled. Each day, I am loosing customers, and there is nothing I can do to change this.

I have managed to divert DVD sales to my partners account (which according to the support people, is allowed) however all subscriptions are just going to have to die out, and I am going to have to rebuild the last few years from scratch.

Ouch. I have a lot of loyal subscribers, and I am sure you can imagine that trying to get everyone to resign up again once I find a new system is ultimately going to loose the project a lot of money.

I feel very betrayed by all of this, I know it was my screw up not looking into the fine print when it comes to accepting money for a fundraiser, but I felt that because I was collecting money personally, and then would make a personal donation to a charity, it wouldn't apply. Wrong wrong wrong.

We had nothing but the best intentions for this. All three of us are musicians trying to make it in an industry that keeps on changing, and none of us have much money or help we can offer to the people of Haiti, so this was our idea. Offer our talents and services to try and do some good, and get everyone feeling happy.

So theres the story.

I am asking anyone out there for any advice at all. I have come to the conclusion that it is not worth arguing with Paypal anymore, I get rough emails back which are very impersonal, and they have said straight up that this is the end of the matter, so I am going to move on.

So dear internet, please help me in the comments, please help me get some suggestions to get back on track. Each day I am not only loosing payments I used to get, but I am loosing subscribers for ever (apart from you awomse ones who will sign up again when it's sorted, eh eh?)

What should I do?

News - News

UPDATE - DVD Sales are back, however the payments go to my partners account, so don't stress if you see the payment going to her and not me!

I arrived back at my inbox today to discover that Paypal have frozen my account, as I am not able to use their service to accept donations if I am not a registered Charity. Even though I am collecting money to then give to a registered charity, this is still against their terms and conditions, so it is with great regret that I have to end the fundraising for Haiti early, and refund all those 23 people who donated.

As well as not being able to get access to my money, they have also limited my ability to receive money, so for the next we while, I am unable to offer any more Pro Memberships and DVD Sales.

Obviously this is a huge dent in the project as there is no income coming in, so over the next week or so I am going to work as hard as I can to get things restored, I think it might take a while.

Cheers

-Tom

News - News

Here is part 3 of my series on Ableton Live Quick Tips. As these are a little more advanced, I've put together a 17 minute video covering each one with an example. The video is available to Pro Members now, and will be made public in the following weeks.

News - News

After Rainbow Serpent Festival, I stuck around for a week in Melbourne to finish collaborating a tune with Circuit Bent ( http://www.myspace.com/circuitbentobox ). It was a hell of a lot of fun spending all day and night writing with these guys, and the end result is what we expected, a very glitched out breaky number.

While we were discussing the way we would distribute this tune, the idea popped up that it could be a great way to bring in some money not for us, but for a good cause, and the most obvious thing that came to mind was relief funds for the people of Haiti.

So, the deal we have come up with is this - You can download this tune at 128k Mp3, and you can stream it from soundcloud, however anyone who makes a donation of any amount into this fund will receive a link to the tune in Wav quality format. Simple eh!?

The money raised will all go to the Doctors without Borders, a non-religious organization. I've looked into quite of lot of ways we could do this, and this way seems to be the the most help... no bullshit, just emergency medicine and medical care for those who most need it.

Tom Cosm vs Circuit Bent - Bent Cosmos by TomCosm

Who are Doctors Without Borders?

"Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international medical humanitarian organization created by doctors and journalists in France in 1971.

Today, MSF provides aid in nearly 60 countries to people whose survival is threatened by violence, neglect, or catastrophe, primarily due to armed conflict, epidemics,malnutrition, exclusion from health care, or natural disasters. MSF provides independent, impartial assistance to those most in need. MSF reserves the right to speak out to bring attention to neglected crises, to challenge inadequacies or abuse of the aid system, and to advocate for improved medical treatments and protocols.

In 1999, MSF received the Nobel Peace Prize"

You can find out more information here http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/

The fund raiser will last for a month, so if you've ever pondered about actually helping out over there but didn't really know what to do, now is your opportunity, click Chip In in the corner up the top right to make a secure donation.

Many many thanks

-Tom, Jesse and Eli