Utilizing Freeze and Flatten in Ableton Live

When I first started using Ableton Live, I would load several third part instruments and effects and wonder why my computer would get bogged down and cause play back issues. Little did I know until about a year or so later, there was a solution to my problem.

The thing about using virtual instruments, especial CPU intensive third party plug-ins, is that they can use a lot of memory, so the more you load into your session, the more memory it uses. Luckily, there is a quick and easy solution to this problem in Ableton Live.

Freeze and Flatten

Once you have composed your track in Live and get everything EXACTLY the way you want it to sound (effects, etc.) then you will want to freeze the track.  Right click (Ctrl + Click on Mac) and scroll down to “Freeze Track” to freeze the track.

Once your track is frozen, the track will be highlighted blue.

The next step is to “flatten” the track; this can be done by right clicking (ctrl + click on Mac) and scrolling down to “flatten” in the drop down menu. That’s it!

Please note, make sure that your track is EXACTLY who you want it before you freeze and flatten.

Hope this helped!