Your introduction to ... Ableton Live

If you're an electronic music fan looking to turn your passion into music making, then our short Ableton Live course could be for you. 

Aimed at anyone with a love of music and interest in music production, the six week course is the perfect opportunity to immerse yourself in the Ableton Live software. 

Led by ICMP music production tutor and Ableton Live Certified trainer Marcello Ruggiu, students learn how to create a track from start to finish. You will study time-stretching and arranging, how to create your own instruments using any source and gain a working knowledge of Drum Rack to manage your projects. 

We’ll also introduce you to Ableton’s brilliant Push tool and teach you how to use it to enhance your workflow. 

Held in the evening at ICMP, this Ableton Live short course is just one of our programmes aimed at supporting musicians at all stages of their creative journey. We caught up with Marcello to find out more about how he started out in music and what students can get from his course...  

Could you tell us a little about yourself/your musical background? 

I started making music aged 16 with an old Yamaha keyboard/sequencer my father bought to play his music. 

After learning how to program and play my father's keyboard I learned how to make music on a computer using a very old Pentium computer and a software called MIDI orchestrator. This experience merged with the interest I had for drums so I started playing drums in a punk band around the same age. When we had enough experience we decided to go to a recording studio and record our music. This inspired me to work on my music at home and so in 1998 I started building my own very humble, small studio. 

After playing live with various bands and setups, and making music in my small home studio for many years, I decided to study as a Sound Engineer at the SAE institute in Milan. I also worked there afterwards in a variety of roles ranging from supervisor to tutor.

I also enjoyed experience as a sound engineer and music producer, both for live and studio sessions, going on to manage a studio in the centre of Milan. 

Why did you move to London? 

I loved the music scene so much; jungle, drum and bass, breakcore, IDM. So I came over to follow the artists and producers making this type of electronic music. In London, I found the right environment to play my own music live. I then started teaching for different institutes, working as a sound engineer and music producer. 

How long have you been teaching at ICMP?  

This is my third year at ICMP covering roles as tutor and programme leader.

Tell us about the part-time course - who it's aimed at and the type of students who join? 

The course is aimed at musicians who want a different workflow where they can make music in a simple environment and experiment using different techniques. The student is open minded and ready to explore and experiment. Anyone taking the course needs to be computer literate, able to follow some complex processes and think outside the box. 

Why do you enjoy teaching the course? 

Teaching is like playing music live but in a more 'silent' way. Sharing the knowledge for me is similar to sharing my music and gives me the same kind of excitement. I also love music production and music in general so I must admit that I feel extremely lucky to do what I love for work.

Someone said “find the job you like and you will not work one day in your life”. Which really rings true for me.

What do your students get from it

A deep knowledge of the possibilities of the software and the chance to explore the software by themselves. It also gives them a really solid basis on top of which they can build their own experience. 

What have been some of your highlights of teaching the part-time courses? 

I love using MIDI controllers and generally when we arrive at this moment of the module, students have a really great time.

What else are you working on with your music outside ICMP? 

I am the owner of a small music production company, we offer different services like mixing, mastering, production, tutoring, and help in general with anything related to sound and music. From 2013, I've been running the CRUX AV Electronic series of live events and run the only open Ableton LINK Jam session in London.

I'm also making music with my own project Amousement and DJing on an experimental/IDM radio show for an online London-based radio, Threads.