Bradley Immel’s Music Production Tips, Best Practices, & More

Most Applicable in Logic Pro X

Last Updated: 11 // 18 // 2020

This document is intended to be a collection of tips and tricks that I have picked up over the years.

These suggestions are in no way rules or restrictions - always trust your ear, and always explore!

Anything stated here may be a bad habit/idea - it’s what I’ve landed upon, but I’m sure it will change.

Please share this with anyone who may get some use out of it (:

Please offer your own tips, feedback, etc. and I will try it out and hopefully include it here!

General Vocab

Reverb : the difference between singing in your closet vs. singing in a church or a stairwell. That ​ shimmery-ringing-but-not-quite-an-echo is reverb - the sound of sound bouncing off the walls and making it back to your ear. A reverb is the mark of a space. ​ ​

Bounce : to take a track, audio file, section of a project, or entire project and compile it into a single ​ audio file. It will include the sound of all plugins, panning, automation, etc. (unless you specifically bypass them). Used for exporting audio, turning MIDI into audio (good for sharing a Logic project in which you used non-Logic MIDI samples with someone else), and general project utility.

Gain : confusing - lots of semantics around it. A measure of loudness/volume. Generally refers to the ​ input level. For example, if you are recording a track, you set your gain as the amount of signal to let in (to your computer/interface/compressor unit/whatever) and set your volume as the amount of signal to send out (through your speakers/headphones). Also a plugin that lets you control volume (explained later).

MIDI : a system of triggering notes in a digital instrument. The MIDI keyboard is not an instrument (it ​ doesn’t produce/generate sound); it’s a controller. It sends something like “MIDI/note62/14/16/98” ​ ​ which tells the computer to play a D3 at 98 velocity from time 14 to time 16. (I made that up and it’s super inaccurate, but it gets the idea across).

Velocity : a MIDI term referring to loudness of a note, but more specifically how hard the note was ​ pressed (or ‘pressed’ if you draw the MIDI in by hand). Good digital instruments will have different samples for different velocity ranges (because a snare hit gently doesn’t sound like a snare hit hard but then made quieter). I think of it as the velocity your finger is moving when it hits the key.

Sample Rate : digital music is different from analog music in that it is discrete instead of continuous. ​ Specifically, it is discrete with a precise resolution of the number of “samples” per second. Google “digital vs. analog” and you’ll find plenty of helpful drawings of this. Typical sample rates are 44100 Hz and 48000Hz - there’s some math explaining why the highest frequency you can communicate is half of the sample rate - human hearing only goes up to ~20kHz, so anything over 40kHz is fine enough that we can’t really hear the difference. The important takeaway here is that if you record something at one sample rate but play it at another, it will sound sped up/slowed down in a destructive way. Don’t let that happen unless you’re Justin Vernon. Check your sample rates before recording!

ADSR : attack, decay, sustain, release - you will find this on every digital synth, often as a little graph. ​ Attack - amount of time it takes for it to ramp from 0 - max volume/intensity. Longer attack = swell. ​ Decay - amount of time it takes to ramp from max to your sustain level. Sustain - level at which the ​ ​ ​ note should stay while the key is held down, after attack/decay times are completed. Release - amount ​ ​ of time it takes to ramp from sustain level - 0 after letting go of the key. Release is the “tail” that hangs off after you let go.

Automation : a way of controlling any parameter throughout a song based on linear control points - ​ e.g. for a fade out, you would automate the Stereo Out gain to ramp from 0 -> -∞ over time. Plugins

Plugin Purpose Add To Values

Space Reverb. The Golden Anything and almost Only worry about the wet/dry Designer Child of everything (usually not sliders. production. Can be kicks, not always bass) used for typical If directly on a track: reverb (‘wetness’, For normal reverb, // Dry: 100 shimmer, etc.) or choose from // Wet: start at 0 and slowly slide for general effects small/medium/large up to taste. Don’t overdo it! to spice up drums, spaces instruments, etc. If on a bus to which you’re For effects/filtering, sending a track: choose from warped // Dry: 0 spaces, small spaces, etc. // Wet: 100 Mess around! // Change send amount to control effect intensity

Tube Driver Spice up Drums (all), vocals, // Low drive (for subtle effect) (Pedalboard) ANYTHING, adds guitar, bass, ANYTHING // Squash : 0 grit, some lowpass, // Bias : use your ear! (clips can make bad sounds, like a noise gate - makes recordings sound drums staccato) artful // Low/mid/hi : use your ear

Chorus Make it feel wider, Anything! Drums // Rate : 0.5-1.5 Hz space it out, help it (snare), guitars, synths, // Intensity : 5-25% sit in the mix, etc. etc. Bass/kick/vocals // Mix: use your ear! (10-30% for may have more subtle effect) noticeable ~fx~ sound ​ ​ Delay (Tape Echo effect. Make Drums (hi hats, all), // Dry: 100 or Stereo) drum loops more vocals, any instrument // Wet: 0 then bring up to taste organic, space out (usually < 15) vocals (Antwuan Stanley in WFTM), For drum pulse/groove: whatever // Delay Time : 1/2 , 1/16, etc. - depends what you want

For vocal spacing: // Use Stereo Delay; turn Wet on one side off, Pan vocal gently (<10) opposite delay // Delay Time : 1/16 or less

Plugins (continued)

Plugin Purpose Add To Values

Vocal Vocal fx - monster, Vocals Pitch will change pitch; use Transformer chipmunk, accordingly everything in between Formant: ***Don’t adjust values // -15 to -5 => deep/monster voice during playback, it can fx create extremely loud // -4 to 4 => moderate to subtle pops*** change // -1 or -2 can make vocals sound sadder (Juno by Choker) // 1 to 4 is like JEWELZ by .Paak // 5 to 24 => chipmunk effect ( Still Don’t Think You’re Mine by Phony Ppl)

Phat FX Saturation - warms Vocals (and anything, I Turn everything off except the up vocals suppose?) Distortion section

Drive - ‘old mic’ Bit Crush : 0 Leon Bridges/The // Saturation : 10-50% (start low; Dip effect turn up until it sounds warm but not distorted/fuzzy) // Vari Drive : 0 for subtle vocal sat; 5-35% for ‘old mic’ distortion

Compressor Making kicks hit Any chordal instrument // Sidechain (top right) - select (Sidechain) harder, cool lo-fi your kick or your vocal track fx, EDM // Threshold - lower until you’re pulse, making getting 3-10 dB reduction vocals stand out // Ratio : around 3-6, usually // Turn auto-gain off

Phaze 2 Groovy purply fx Guitar, anything except // Just adjust mix to control how (pedalboard) main vocal/drums much of the effect you want // idk mess around

Mixing (General)

EQ

// 1 Unless you’re mixing a bass or kick drum, cut frequencies below ~200 Hz (esp. for acoustic recordings). That’s where the mic stand bumps, plosives, and general rumbles are.

// 2 For acoustic recordings: Take any peak, raise its Q value until it’s a relatively sharp peak. Slowly scan from low to high. When you hear a frequency consistently ringing (as long as it’s not just the fundamental of a sustained note/chord - you’ll notice it’ll sound annoying), dip that frequency with a high-Q peak intensely (-15 dB). That ringing is likely the resonance of the room in which it was recorded. You don’t want the sound of the corners of your bedroom in your mix. Rinse & Repeat.

// 3 Other than the above steps, try to only make changes of up to 3 dB at a time. It takes time to develop an ear for it, but any more than that can lead to a pretty bad mix.

Compression

Compression takes an input signal and reduces the output loudness when the input loudness passes a certain loudness threshold. This means it makes the loud parts less loud, thus making everything less dynamic. Great for polishing tracks; can also make things stale if overdone. Typically applied to most tracks (except MIDI). Can be used as an effect if you utilize sidechaining (See Plugins section).

Threshold : the level at which compression will be triggered. Lower threshold means more sensitive compression; generally lower it until it is triggering for loud parts of the recording but not for quiet ones.

Ratio : How much it compresses the parts which are triggered. I usually put it between 2 and 5 for mixing.

Auto-Gain : I always turn it off.

Attack : how quickly compression kicks in after being triggered by a loud sound. 0 ms will cause distortion. 5-20 ms is a good range.

Mixing (by instrument)

Vocals

EQ : Cut below ~100Hz. Sibilance (ssss, chhh) is often around 6kHz (4-8 kHz), but dropping ​ that too much can lose clarity. Sometimes you can make up for it by boosting frequencies around it. Boominess is around 200-500 Hz. Cut ringing frequencies (high-Q --> sharp peak)! * I will often automate the gain reduction of a given peak if I have a recurring strong “sss” or “g” or “t” or whatever sound that I want to soften around 4 kHz or something without reducing it for the whole track, which would sacrifice clarity. Super time-consuming.

Reverb : Use a bus so that you can send all your vocal tracks through the same reverb. Start ​ low and don’t overdo it. Depends on the song - sometimes you want super dry vocals (Billie Eilish), sometimes you want a small room reverb just to distance the singer a bit, sometimes you want a long wet reverb like they’re singing in the stairwell. Don’t overdo it! It sounds like it’s making up for a bad mix for a bit, then you realize it really doesn’t cover it up.

Flex Pitch : As far as I can tell, nobody actually uses ‘Auto-Tune’ for general pitch correction. ​ I use Flex Pitch - it’s a bit tricky because it *can* produce artifacts (unwanted clicks and blips) but it’s my go-to and it usually works out. Use the top-middle circle on vocal notes to adjust the pitch (double click to snap to the nearest half-step). Always listen back to your changes right away to make sure it didn’t do anything crazy. This is sort of the ‘busy work’ of production, but it’s worth it.

Acoustic Guitar

EQ : Mine is boomy, so I dip a wide peak around 200-500 Hz. Gently boost 5-7 kHz for shine. ​

Compression : Odds are, it’s dynamically inconsistent (boomy in some places, quiet in ​ others), so you’re usually gonna want to put some compression on - lower the threshold/raise the ratio until you’re getting about 5 dB reduction (or more if you want, but it might be noticeable). Turn off auto-gain.

Layering an electric guitar under the acoustic has helped me when I wasn’t satisfied with the fullness of the acoustic!

Mixing (by instrument, continued)

Electric Guitar

Layering different tracks can be cool for depth, e.g. drive in left ear, chorus/flange in right. Favorite Logic pedals include Tube Burner, Tye-Dye Delay, and Trem-O-Tone.

Electric Bass

I like to seriously dip around 200-400 Hz, because it sounds too resonant and ringy to me. Then I get sub-tones and high end articulation. But it’s also harder to hear on computer/phone speakers. Also, cut the bottom 20-50 Hz to make it less muddy? More insight pending.

Drums

Pan : For ‘real’ drums (recording or acoustic-sounding samples) I usually do snare ~12 to one ​ side, ride/hat ~10 to the other, and kick in the middle. Mess around with it!

EQ : Kick punchiness is around 200-400 Hz, oomph is below 200, hiss is above 500. ​

Chorus on snares can widen them out a ton. Subtle delay on hi hats can make it groove more organically.

Best Practices

1. Apply a gain plugin (found under Utility) to every track you create. When you want to automate volume, automate this gain instead. Then, you will still be able to use the volume slider to do overall mixing. Put it at the beginning or end of your signal chain.

2. Normalize all of your files (right after you record them / before mixing)

3. When applying (non-FX) reverb, do so by creating a bus through which you can send all of your vocals, or drums, or whatever. Put the reverb plugin on that track. Now you can adjust the parameters once instead of 12 times.

4. Do something to every Logic stock sound. Tube Burner, chorus, cool reverb, weird EQ… ​ ​

5. For effects, start at 0 and slowly bring it in to taste. If you start with a ton, you will probably take some away and think “much better” when it’s still too much.

6. Always adjust midi velocity (unless you’re specifically making an Atlanta trap beat or something). You almost never want a measure of hi hats that are all the same exact velocity - it’ll sound stale.

7. If you ever want to learn a specific vocal effect, sound effect, mixing style, etc., just google exactly how you would describe it to someone out loud. (“that over-the-phone vocal billie eilish thing” or “bon iver auto-tune harmony” or “squishy bass sound”). Usually works better than I expect it to.

8. General plugin order (not a rule) : Reverb last, Gain right before it, DeEsser/Compression first-ish (maybe after an EQ cutting the rumbles)

Most-Used Shortcuts

Command-K : on-screen keyboard toggle ​ K : Metronome toggle ​ R : Record ​ X : Mixer window ​ C : Loop toggle ​ M : Mute toggle ​ S : Solo toggle ​ A : Automation ​ Return : jump to beginning of project ​ Command-S : SAVE ​