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Contents
Introduction ...... xxv
Chapter 1 • Optimizing Your System ...... 1 The Right Memory ...... 1 How Much RAM? ...... 1 Adding More RAM ...... 2 Setting System Preferences ...... 2 Dashboard & Exposé ...... 3 Desktop & Screen Saver ...... 4 The Dock ...... 5 Security ...... 5 Spotlight ...... 6 Energy Saver ...... 6 Keyboard & Mouse ...... 6 Sound ...... 8 Software Update ...... 8 Tips, Tricks, and Software ...... 9 Leave Room ...... 9 Disabling Dashboard ...... 10 Activity Monitor ...... 10 Universal Binary ...... 11 Your Hard Drives ...... 12 Researching the Best Hard Drive ...... 12 Formatting Hard Drives ...... 13 Partitioning ...... 13 Running OS X on an External Drive ...... 16 OS X Maintenance ...... 16 Maintenance Scripts ...... 17 Repairing Permissions ...... 18 Surf Smart ...... 19 Hardware Maintenance ...... 19 Smoke and Dust ...... 19 UpdatingCOPYRIGHTED Hardware Drivers ...... MATERIAL ...... 20 The Bottom Line ...... 20
Chapter 2 • Reason ...... 21 Overview of the Reason Program ...... 21 Introducing Reason’s Instruments ...... 21 Introducing Reason’s Effects ...... 22 What Reason Doesn’t Do ...... 22 Tech Support and Resources ...... 22 The Mastering Session Files ...... 23
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Installation and Audio Setup ...... 23 Basic MIDI Setup ...... 23 Audio Output ...... 26 A First Look at Reason ...... 26 Transport and Sequencer ...... 26 Instruments and Effects ...... 27 Reason Interface Basics ...... 28 The Reason Instruments ...... 30 Creating a New Session ...... 30 The Reason Mixer 14:2 ...... 30 Dr. Rex Loop Player ...... 31 NN-XT and NN19 Samplers ...... 34 The SubTractor Analog Synthesizer ...... 38 The Malström Graintable Synthesizer ...... 39 Redrum ...... 42 Effects ...... 44 Return to Sender ...... 45 RV7000 Advanced Reverb ...... 45 Scream 4 Distortion ...... 46 DDL-1 Digital Delay Line ...... 47 ECF-42 Envelope Controlled Filter ...... 47 PH-90 Phaser ...... 48 The Combinator ...... 49 Create Your Own Combinator Patches ...... 50 The Matrix Pattern Sequencer ...... 50 Basic Operation ...... 51 Multiple Patterns ...... 52 The Reason Sequencer ...... 52 Edit Mode ...... 52 The Transport Bar ...... 55 Arrange Mode ...... 55 Recording and Grouping a Performance ...... 56 Tutorials ...... 57 Automating the Matrix Pattern Sequencer ...... 57 Real-time Automation ...... 58 Creating a Template Session ...... 61 ReWire ...... 63 Reason and OS X ...... 64 More Power? ...... 64 Organizing ReFills ...... 64 Maximizing Processor Resources ...... 64 The Bottom Line ...... 68
Chapter 3 • Ableton Live ...... 69 Live Basics ...... 69 Live’s Major Features ...... 69 The Mastering Demo Files ...... 70 Setting up a Live Template ...... 70
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Session and Arrange View ...... 70 The Live Interface ...... 72 Included Instruments ...... 79 Using Impulse ...... 80 Using Simpler ...... 83 Using Sampler ...... 84 Included Effects ...... 87 MIDI Effects ...... 87 Audio Effects ...... 88 Expanding Live ...... 88 Live Clips ...... 89 Audio Clips ...... 89 MIDI Clips ...... 90 Live Tutorials ...... 90 Working with Audio Loops ...... 90 Envelopes ...... 92 Audio Recording ...... 93 MIDI Recording ...... 96 Ableton Live with Reason and ReWire ...... 97 Stereo Routing ...... 98 Complex Routing ...... 99 Live and OS X ...... 102 Keep up to Date ...... 102 Freezing Tracks ...... 102 CPU Meter ...... 102 Locations ...... 103 The Bottom Line ...... 105
Chapter 4 • Pro Tools ...... 107 Pro Tools Basics ...... 107 Tech Support ...... 108 User Forum ...... 108 Setting Up Pro Tools ...... 109 Creating Your First Session ...... 109 The Pro Tools Edit Window ...... 110 Creating Tracks ...... 111 The Counter Window ...... 117 The Transport Bar ...... 117 Changing Edit Window Views ...... 118 Saving Sessions ...... 119 Creating an Audio Only Session ...... 119 Adding an Insert ...... 123 Plug-in Effects ...... 129 AudioSuite, Real Time AudioSuite, and TDM ...... 129 DigiRack Plug-ins ...... 130 Dynamics III ...... 132 Reverb Plug-ins ...... 134 EQ Plug-ins ...... 134 Bomb Factory Plug-ins ...... 135
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Plug-in Automation ...... 135 Sends and Busses ...... 137 Included Software ...... 139 Ableton Live Lite 5 Digidesign Edition ...... 140 Reason Adapted 3 ...... 141 IK Multimedia SampleTank 2 SE ...... 142 IK Multimedia AmpliTube LE ...... 144 Xpand! ...... 145 Creating Templates ...... 146 Pro Tools and Reason ...... 148 A Basic Session ...... 148 Controlling Multiple Instruments ...... 150 Routing Multiple Outputs ...... 150 Pro Tools and Ableton Live ...... 152 A Basic Session ...... 153 Multiple Output Session ...... 154 Live, Plug-ins, and ReWire ...... 155 Using the Workspace ...... 155 Pro Tools and OS X ...... 156 Buffer Settings ...... 156 Keeping an Eye on the Disk Usage ...... 157 Round Robin Allocation ...... 159 The Bottom Line ...... 160
Chapter 5 • Logic...... 163 Logic Basics: Logic Pro and Logic Express ...... 163 Setting Up Logic ...... 164 The Arrange Window ...... 165 Creating an Autoload Song ...... 167 Creating a New Session ...... 168 The Mixer Window ...... 169 The Transport Bar ...... 172 Key Commands ...... 172 Recording into Logic ...... 173 Creating a MIDI Performance ...... 174 The Loop Browser ...... 177 Cycle Regions ...... 178 Basic Editing ...... 179 Logic Instruments ...... 183 The Keyboards ...... 184 Logic’s Synths ...... 186 Included Effects ...... 194 Delays ...... 194 Distortion ...... 195 Dynamics ...... 196 EQ ...... 197 Modulation Effects ...... 198 Reverb ...... 199
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Special ...... 200 Automating Effects ...... 200 Adding Effects on Bus Tracks ...... 201 A ReWire Session with Logic and Reason ...... 202 Complex Routing ...... 203 Controlling Reason Instruments in Logic ...... 204 Adding More Reason Instruments to a Logic Session ...... 206 A ReWire Session with Logic and Live ...... 207 Basic Stereo Routing ...... 207 Complex Routing ...... 207 Logic and OS X ...... 208 Automatic Updating ...... 208 Freeze Tracks ...... 208 The Bottom Line ...... 209
Chapter 6 • GarageBand...... 211 GarageBand Basics ...... 211 Installing GarageBand ...... 212 Your First Session ...... 212 Setting Preferences ...... 212 The GarageBand Interface ...... 214 Working with Loops ...... 217 Customizing the Loop Browser ...... 217 Included Instruments ...... 219 Recording with Software Instruments ...... 219 Recording with Real Instruments ...... 225 Included Effects ...... 226 Adding Effects to a Track ...... 226 Using Effect Presets ...... 228 Creating Your Own Effect Presets ...... 228 GarageBand Tutorials ...... 229 Using the Track Editor ...... 229 Musical Typing ...... 231 Pitch Shifting ...... 233 Exporting to iTunes ...... 234 Podcasting with GarageBand ...... 234 GarageBand and ReWire ...... 238 A GarageBand/Reason Session ...... 238 Ableton Live and GarageBand ...... 239 GarageBand to Logic ...... 241 GarageBand and OS X ...... 241 Installing GarageBand on an External Hard Disk ...... 241 Maximizing Processor Power ...... 242 The Bottom Line ...... 243
Chapter 7 • More Useful Software...... 245 Get Ready ...... 245 Default Playback Devices ...... 245
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AudioFinder ...... 247 Setting up AudioFinder ...... 247 Scanning ...... 248 Browsing ...... 250 Bookmarks ...... 250 Playing Files ...... 251 Copying Files to a New Location ...... 251 Converting Files ...... 252 Adding Effects ...... 253 Editing Files ...... 253 Plug-in Manager ...... 255 And the Beat Goes On… ...... 255 Audio Hijack/Audio Hijack Pro ...... 256 Looping and Sampling with Audio Hijack ...... 256 Audio Hijack Pro ...... 257 Audacity ...... 260 Basic Multitrack Recording ...... 261 Mixing ...... 261 Editing ...... 262 Saving and Exporting ...... 262 Using Effects ...... 263 Resources ...... 264 Wave Editor ...... 264 Wave Editor Basics ...... 265 Editing a Sound File ...... 265 The Processor Window ...... 266 Recording ...... 268 Keyboard Shortcuts ...... 268 BIAS Peak ...... 269 BIAS Peak Basics ...... 270 Editing with Peak ...... 271 Recording into BIAS Peak ...... 272 Melodyne Cre8 ...... 273 Setting Up Melodyne ...... 273 Working with Audio Files ...... 274 The Melodyne Mixer ...... 276 Rax ...... 277 Setting Up Rax ...... 278 Playing Rax ...... 278 Adding Effects ...... 279 Recording Rax ...... 281 VSTi Host ...... 281 Setting Up ...... 281 Playing an Instrument in VSTi Host ...... 282 Adding Effects: SupaPhaser ...... 283 Recording ...... 284 VSTi Host and Pro Tools ...... 284
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ReCycle ...... 285 Working with ReCycle ...... 285 Advanced Editing ...... 286 Exporting ...... 288 Sample Manager ...... 288 Normalizing ...... 289 Converting a File ...... 290 Adding Effects ...... 291 Batch Converting ...... 291 The Bottom Line ...... 296
Chapter 8 • Plug-in Effects...... 297 Plug-in Formats ...... 297 Audio Units (AU) ...... 297 VST ...... 298 RTAS (Real Time AudioSuite) ...... 298 Other Formats ...... 299 Dongles and Keys ...... 299 Using Plug-ins in Your DAW ...... 300 Finding Free Plug-ins ...... 305 Types of Effects ...... 306 Delays ...... 306 Compressors and Limiters ...... 310 Distortion/Gain ...... 315 Modulation Effects ...... 317 Reverbs ...... 320 EQs ...... 323 Filters ...... 326 Multi-effects Plug-ins ...... 331 Plug-in Bundles ...... 333 Nomad Factory ...... 333 Waves ...... 335 Cycling ‘74 ...... 337 MDA ...... 340 More Bundles ...... 341 The Bottom Line ...... 341
Chapter 9 • Virtual instruments ...... 343 Plug-in Formats ...... 343 Using Virtual Instruments ...... 344 In Live ...... 344 In Pro Tools ...... 345 In Logic ...... 347 In GarageBand ...... 347 Virtual Samplers ...... 348 Limitations ...... 348 Which Sampler Is the Best? ...... 349 Sampler Formats and File Formats ...... 349
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Basic Sampler Parameters ...... 350 SampleTank 2 ...... 351 Kontakt ...... 354 Other Virtual Samplers ...... 360 Virtual Synthesizers ...... 360 Using Virtual Synths ...... 360 Digital Synthesizers ...... 364 “Vintage” Virtual Synths ...... 373 More Virtual Synthesizers for OS X ...... 378 Virtual Keyboards ...... 379 Virtual Pianos ...... 379 Virtual Organs ...... 381 Electric Pianos ...... 383 Virtual Drums ...... 384 Using a Virtual Drum Machine in Your DAW ...... 385 iDrum ...... 385 Battery ...... 389 Virtual Drummers ...... 393 Virtual Amplifiers ...... 397 How Virtual Amps Work ...... 397 Setting Up a Virtual Amplifier in Your DAW ...... 398 Virtual Amp Options ...... 400 Line 6 ...... 406 More Virtual Amps ...... 407 Virtual Instrument Bundles ...... 407 Reaktor ...... 407 Komplete ...... 407 Pluggo and Hipno ...... 408 Steinberg Studio Case II ...... 408 The Bottom Line ...... 408
Chapter 10 • Apple Loops...... 411 What Apple Loops Are ...... 411 Other Loop Formats ...... 412 REX Loops ...... 412 Acid Loops ...... 413 Buying Loops ...... 413 Read the License ...... 414 Free Loops ...... 414 Apple Loops Utility ...... 414 Inside View of an Apple Loop ...... 416 Converting an AIFF File to an Apple Loop ...... 417 Adjusting Transients ...... 417 Setting Preferences ...... 418 Converting WAV Files to Apple Loops ...... 419 Batch Conversion ...... 419 Changing Tempos ...... 420 Where to Go from Here ...... 421
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Using and Creating Loops with Reason ...... 421 Converting Loops in the Redrum ...... 421 Playing Loops in the NN-XT ...... 422 Creating Loops in Reason ...... 425 Using and Creating Loops in Live ...... 430 Warp Modes ...... 431 Loop Editing ...... 431 Exporting as AIFF or WAV ...... 432 Creating Loops with Live’s MIDI Instruments ...... 433 Using and Creating Loops with Pro Tools ...... 435 Setting Up ...... 435 The Time Compression/Expansion Tool ...... 436 Drag and Drop Rex Loops ...... 437 Acid Loops in Pro Tools ...... 438 Apple Loops and Pro Tools ...... 438 Using Import Audio to Add Loops to a Session ...... 439 Using the Workspace ...... 440 Creating Loops in Pro Tools ...... 440 Take It Further ...... 444 Using and Creating Loops with Logic ...... 444 Using Loops in Logic ...... 444 Creating Apple Loops in Logic ...... 445 Creating Real Instrument Loops ...... 446 Click and Export ...... 447 Importing WAV and AIFF Files ...... 448 Normalizing a Loop in the Sample Editor ...... 448 Cross-fading in the Sample Editor ...... 448 Take It Further ...... 449 Using and Creating Loops with GarageBand ...... 449 Editing Software Loops ...... 449 Pitch Shifting ...... 450 Adding Individual Loops to the Loop Browser ...... 450 Adding Loop Libraries to the Loop Browser ...... 450 Editing Real Instrument Loops ...... 451 Creating Loops in GarageBand ...... 452 Creating a Real Instrument Apple Loop ...... 453 Exporting Loops to iTunes ...... 453 The Bottom Line ...... 455
Chapter 11 • MIDI ...... 457 Getting Started ...... 457 MIDI Basics ...... 458 Using MIDI ...... 461 MIDI Keyboards and Interfaces ...... 461 Choosing a MIDI Keyboard ...... 461 Other Types of Controllers ...... 462 Playing and Creating MIDI Files ...... 465
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MIDI and Reason ...... 469 Setting Up a Control Surface or Keyboard ...... 469 Automatic MIDI Mapping ...... 470 Manually Working with MIDI ...... 472 Quantizing in Reason ...... 474 MIDI and Ableton Live ...... 474 MIDI Mapping in Live ...... 474 MIDI Velocity and Clips ...... 478 Quantizing in Live ...... 479 MIDI and Pro Tools ...... 479 Creating a MIDI Performance ...... 479 Humanizing Your Performance ...... 481 MIDI Editing in Pro Tools ...... 483 MIDI and Logic ...... 484 The Matrix Edit Window ...... 484 The Event List ...... 485 The Hyper Edit Window ...... 485 MIDI and GarageBand ...... 488 Velocity ...... 489 Quantizing in GarageBand ...... 489 The Bottom Line ...... 492
Chapter 12 • The Laptop Studio...... 495 Getting Started ...... 495 Portable or Stationary? ...... 496 The Right Laptop ...... 496 The Right Software for Your Laptop Studio ...... 497 Audio and MIDI Interfaces ...... 498 Tips for Buying the Best Interface ...... 499 To MIDI or Not to MIDI ...... 499 Other Peripherals ...... 500 Headphones ...... 500 Headphone Splitters ...... 501 Cables ...... 501 Speakers ...... 502 Storage and Backup ...... 502 Power Adapters ...... 502 Microphones ...... 503 Mixers ...... 504 Laptop Recording ...... 504 Creating Isolation ...... 504 Using the Bleed ...... 504 Recording Drums ...... 505 Recording Vocals ...... 505 Recording Electric Guitars ...... 506 Recording Acoustic Guitars ...... 506 Recording Bass ...... 507 Using Overdubs ...... 507
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Headphone Mixes ...... 508 Creative Editing ...... 508 In-the-Box Composition ...... 510 MIDI Programming ...... 510 Work with Loops ...... 510 Lack of “Real” Instruments ...... 510 The Bottom Line ...... 513
Chapter 13 • Post Production...... 515 File Formats ...... 515 Mastering ...... 516 Mastering Yourself ...... 517 Using T-RackS ...... 518 Mastering Plug-ins ...... 522 Dithering ...... 522 Exporting Sessions from Your DAW ...... 523 No Peaking ...... 524 Exporting in Reason ...... 524 Exporting in Live ...... 525 Exporting in Pro Tools ...... 526 Exporting in Logic ...... 526 Exporting in GarageBand ...... 528 CD Authoring ...... 528 Red Book Standard ...... 528 Creating a Red Book–Compliant CD with XO Wave ...... 529 Toast with Jam ...... 532 Other Red Book–Compliant CD Authoring Software for OS X ...... 533 Using iTunes to Create MP3 and AAC Files ...... 533 Converting Files in iTunes ...... 534 Adding Metadata ...... 535 Gracenote ...... 535 Digital Distribution ...... 537 Mostly Free, Do-It-Yourself Services ...... 537 iTunes ...... 537 CD Baby ...... 538 IODA ...... 538 Other Sites ...... 538 The Bottom Line ...... 540
Appendix A • The Bottom Line ...... 541 Chapter 1: Optimizing Your System ...... 541 Chapter 2: Reason ...... 543 Chapter 3: Ableton Live ...... 545 Chapter 4: Pro Tools ...... 548 Chapter 5: Logic ...... 550 Chapter 6: GarageBand ...... 552 Chapter 7: More Useful Software ...... 555 Chapter 8: Plug-in Effects ...... 558
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Chapter 9: Virtual instruments ...... 560 Chapter 10: Apple Loops ...... 562 Chapter 11: MIDI ...... 566 Chapter 12: The Laptop Studio ...... 569 Chapter 13: Post Production ...... 570
Index ...... 575