All right, let's get rolling here. So no matter where you come from, you will need some necessary pieces of gear to run click and tracks. Just kidding. Okay, real talk though. All you'll need for right now are Ableton Live software and a computer. Ableton currently has three versions they have intro standard and sweet.

The main differences between them are intro will limit you greatly. They only have eight scenes and only up to 16 tracks. It's very limiting. If you don't know what any of that means. Don't worry for now, but intro will limit you quite a bit intro does not have complex mode, which is basically this fancy algorithm for transposing. Long story short if you transpose a track from C to D, it's gonna sound pretty bumpy.

But through standard or suite they have this mode called complex mode which transposes that super smooth. It's really nice and if you're running click and tracks right Literally, you're going to be using that a lot. I personally recommend Ableton Live standard, I think it's the best bang for your buck if you envision yourself getting into producing and actually like making tracks suite would probably be a great option because it comes with a bunch of extra instruments and sample packs and extra add ons like that. But standard for our means of running clicking tracks and not being restricted will do great if you want to in depth comparison of each of these versions. I'll put a link under this video you can check that out. Ableton also currently has a 40% off deal for students.

I used that when I was in college, and that's a lot of money. You will do that if you can. And if you're still not sure if you want to buy this or be this invested, I totally understand they do offer a 30 day free trial but it just won't allow you to save for the means of getting through this course and understanding and following along. That'll do great. So honestly, there's really no excuse not to get it now. For the physical gear, you'll need to run click and tracks in a venue to run click and tracks we need a minimum of two channels of audio one channel to send click and track through and one to send.

Oh my gosh, one channel to send clicking cues through and the other channel to send the track through. Basically, we want only the performers to be able to hear the clicking cues and everyone else to hear the track as well as performers need to hear the track too. So there are multiple ways to do this. And I'm going to talk about two main options today. So let's talk the different options and then you can make a decision of what will work best for you. Option one is outputting out of your laptop.

This is the cheapest easiest, but a little more riskier option for this option. All you need is this cable right here. It's eighth inch male to duel, quarter inch male you plug this into your laptop Then you would plug these into a DI box which would then go to the sound system. The Pro to this technique is this cable is like six bucks on Amazon right now I'll put a link to it under this video just to review with this technique you would send clicking cues down one channel and you would send track down this other channel. The cons to this technique are, there's only one cable for track and most tracks are stereo, meaning you hear something different in the left side than you do on the right side. And since we only have one mono cable for that, you'll have to run your tracks in mono with this method, so it'll be a little bit less quality.

It just means you'll hear the same thing on the left and right side. Another con to this technique is it will play laptop sounds through this cable. So if you empty your trash, if you get a FaceTime call if you just get any notification sound could pop up on your laptop while you're running tracks like this. That's going to play through the speakers to the audience and it's sex. I've done it But it is super cheap man. Hey, it works.

So make sure to put your computer on Do Not Disturb if you use option one. Option two is outputting. Through an audio interface, this will cost a little bit more money. It'll be a little bit more setup, but it's way less risk. With this technique, you'll be able to run track as stereo so full quality. To do that you would need a track right channel attract left channel and clicking cues.

I wish I had three hands for a total of three channels at minimum unless you're getting a little more complicated. So essentially, in this case, an audio interface would just be used to add more outputs to your laptop. I have an audio interface right here in this rackmount. It has eight inputs, and it has eight outputs on the back. I also have a little one over here, this little guy that has treated me very well and it's been great for travel. It's just a little guy has power supply and look at all these outputs.

This one has six outputs on the back. So I can send, clicking cused on output one track left down output to track, write down output three. And then I could send like sample pad if I'm running that through my computer out Channel Four. And if I wanted to split up my tracks, a lot of pros do this where they split up their tracks into eight outputs. The biggest pros I know of are running tracks this way with eight outputs, and they use what's called stems. So instead of having one track that has all the instrumentation in it, they split up those tracks when they export into one channel for bass one channel for background vocals if it's in the track, one channel for guitars, one channel for synth effects and so on.

If you don't have stems are this confusing, don't even worry about it right now. Basically, if you envision yourself using three channels and if you want the highest quality audio to be sent, you will need three channels have audio minimums so you'll have to buy an audio interface this also leads me to kind of a funny thing I've realized that's like a subtle industry standard that all musician professionals in the music realm know and understand but no one ever talks about so I just want to mention it is your duty as a musician to provide necessary gear up until the DI box the DI box and on is the venue's responsibility to provide so if you have a computer with Ableton on it going to an audio interface, you will also need one cable per channel to go out of the auto audio interface to the D eyes that the sound guy provides at the venue, whatever.

So make sense? Cool. So yes, that means you'll have to buy however many cables for the amount of channels you want to use. And I also just want to warn you if you buy an audio interface, make sure you check what type of port is on the outputs on it. This one has quarter inch outputs on the back. So I just need quarter inch male to quarter inch male, boom.

So I plugged right out of here and di boxes take a quarter inch male so some audio interfaces will output like an RCA, some even output like an eighth inch. So just make sure you buy the necessary cables. In that case you'd need an eighth inch male to a quarter inch male. Cool. So to wrap up option two, if you have a computer with Ableton go into your audio interface and then cables going from the audio interface to quarter inch male you're all set to run clicking tracks in a venue. The good news is you don't need an audio interface or quarter inch cables to keep learning and finish this course unless you're planning on running tracks soon.

Audio interfaces also come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Some go USB to your computer, some go FireWire, some go Thunderbolt, so just make sure you get one compatible with the ports on your computer. And then make sure you get one with the right amount of outputs that you're looking for. If you don't really know what to do, I recommend starting with a four output a four output will be a great start so you can run full audio quality with truck left track right and clicking cues. Being the total of three channels. I'll put a link to a four output USB audio interface under this video, that's all you technically need to run click and tracks, but some other tools like sample pad, or MIDI keyboard or even these launch pads will make it much easier and honestly fun to run clicking tracks and extra sounds.

You don't need any of that right now unless you want to. We'll get there. Alright, so homework time, one simple thing pick the version of Ableton you think is best fit for you if you don't want to buy a getting the 30 day free trial. Just a reminder, you can compare those different versions on the link I put under this video and if you intend on performing with traffic Very soon I would start buying an audio interface if necessary and the necessary cables you'll need with that and once again just be patient this will take time but it is so worth it and I'm super excited for you. I will see in the next video