First, a big, big thank you goes to fellow Cengage Learning author, Jon Margulies, for his 11th-hour save. Jon dutifully came in on the back end of production and cranked out some outstanding work in no time flat to help a brother out. Thank you, my friend. Also, a huge thank you goes to Nico Starke from the Ableton technical-support team in Berlin, who volunteered his astonishing knowledge of all things Live from day one. If you ever call into Ableton for some help and you get this guy, consider yourself in the best hands possible. Cheers, Nico!
To the powers that be: Mark Garvey, Kate Shoup, and Brian Jackson—the commando, the strategist, and the scientist, also known as executive editor, project editor, and technical editor, respectively. These are the folks that make it all happen, but more importantly, make it all worthwhile. You have to love the people you work with when you take on a project such as this, and these are some truly lovable peeps.
Inspirational thank yous go to Steve Jenkins, Matt Moldover, Dan Giove at Dubspot, and Jessica Starr (Artist Relations) for just being cool and being there throughout the project. And, let’s hear it for the artists who took time out of their much-deserved busy schedules to let us peek at their Ableton Live studios: Moldover, Micah Frank, Brian Jackson, Elijah B Torn, Laura Escudé, Steve Nalepa, Vernon Reid, and Jon Margulies.
To all those who helped out with images and making sure products were at my doorstep when I needed them, I thank you all and the wonderful businesses you work for: Vanessa Mering (M-Audio), Adam Cohen (Akai), Miriam Wiener (Novation/Focusrite), Tammi Endres (Auralex), Kurt Heiden (Numark), Amanda Whiting (Roland), Shaunna Thompson (Mackie), Davida Rochman (Shure), Jonathan Hilton (Omnirax), Orquidea Ramos (Belkin), Siobhan Lions (Seagate), Patrick Chen (MONO), Christian Donlon (Beta Monkey), Gregory Pizzi (Sennheiser), James H. Clark (Sonuus Limited), Marc Block and Lynda Haden (Line 6), Sean McArthur (Apogee), Brian Metcalf (Ultrasone), and Le K and Christian Blomert (TouchAble).
To the Ableton peeps who were there to help with the creation of this book in some way, shape, or form, both in the U.S. headquarters and the Berlin mothership. You guys beyond rock: Antje Hubner, Jesse Terry, Pascal Hagner, Yukio Van Maren King, Olaf Bohn, Dennis DeSantis, and Huston Singletary.
The biggest thank you anyone could ever give goes to my wife, Stacy, and my two boys, John and Wil. It’s their love for life and laughter that keep me going. And, a perpetual thank you to Louis and Mary Buono and Gary and Mary Ann Lordi. Stacy and I try every day to live up to what you’ve done and continue to do for us.
First off, thanks to Chris Buono for inviting me along on this project and being a pleasure to work with. Thanks to Brian Jackson for always being there to sort out the thornier technical details; Kate Shoup for making sure we made sense; and Mark Garvey for bringing me into Cengage Learning in the first place. Thanks to everyone who has worked hard in my workshops and classes—the questions you ask make me better at what I do. To everyone who has come out to support or helped to spread the word about my music, I appreciate you more than you will ever know.