Logic Pro 9 Exploring Logic Pro KKApple Inc. Apple Copyright © 2009 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. 1 Infinite Loop Your rights to the software are governed by the Cupertino, CA 95014 accompanying software license agreement. The owner 408-996-1010 or authorized user of a valid copy of Logic Studio www.apple.com software may reproduce this publication for the Apple, the Apple logo, Logic, Logic Studio, and purpose of learning to use such software. No part of Ultrabeat are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the this publication may be reproduced or transmitted U.S. and other countries. for commercial purposes, such as selling copies of this Other company and product names mentioned herein publication or for providing paid for support services. are trademarks of their respective companies. Mention The Apple logo is a trademark of Apple Inc., registered of third-party products is for informational purposes in the U.S. and other countries. Use of the “keyboard” only and constitutes neither an endorsement nor a Apple logo (Shift-Option-K) for commercial purposes recommendation. Apple assumes no responsibility with without the prior written consent of Apple may regard to the performance or use of these products. constitute trademark infringement and unfair Demo project screenshots from Thievery Corporation’s competition in violation of federal and state laws. “The Numbers Game” provided courtesy of Every effort has been made to ensure that the ESL Music, Inc. information in this manual is accurate. Apple is not “The Numbers Game” © 2008 ESL Music. responsible for printing or clerical errors. All rights reserved. Because Apple frequently releases new versions and “The Numbers Game” updates to its system software, applications, and Internet Written & Produced by: Thievery Corporation sites, images shown in this book may be slightly different Published by: Garza y Hilton Musica (BMI) admin by from what you see on your screen. Bug Music/Swing T Publishing (BMI) Copyright 2008, Thievery Music, LLC Released, 2008, ESL Music, Inc. Contents 7 Chapter 1: Welcome to Logic Pro 8 Opening the Demo Project 8 Using Key Commands 9 Chapter 2: Building a Basic Project 9 Creating a Project 13 Exploring the Arrange Window 16 Playing Instruments 18 Adding Apple Loops 24 Navigating the Project 28 Setting the Project Tempo 29 Exploring the Audio Bin 30 Choosing Tools 33 Creating a Basic Arrangement 36 Exploring a Track’s Channel Strip 39 Exporting the Project 41 Key Concepts 3 45 Chapter 3: Working with Instruments and Effects 46 Adding Individual Instruments and Effects 51 Working with Plug-in Settings 54 Loading Channel Strip Settings 58 Key Concepts 59 Chapter 4: Recording and Comping Audio 59 Setting the Metronome and Count-in 62 Making an Audio Recording 65 Recording Audio Takes 67 Exploring Take Folders 70 Creating and Editing Comps 75 Editing Take Regions 77 Managing Take Folder Contents 79 Key Concepts 81 Chapter 5: Recording MIDI 81 Making a MIDI Recording 84 Quantizing MIDI 86 Overdub Recording MIDI 88 Replace Recording MIDI 89 Recording MIDI Takes 91 Key Concepts 4 Contents 93 Chapter 6: Creating an Arrangement 94 Previewing the Demo Project 96 Dividing Regions 98 Merging Regions 99 Copying Regions 103 Cropping Regions 105 Editing Arrange Sections 106 Key Concepts 107 Chapter 7: Flex Time Editing 109 Exploring Flex View and Flex Modes 111 Creating and Moving Flex Markers in Flex View 119 Creating and Moving Flex Markers with the Flex Tool 121 Quantizing Audio 123 Key Concepts 125 Chapter 8: Editing MIDI Events 125 Exploring the MIDI Editors 128 Selecting Notes 130 Creating Notes 131 Editing the Position of Notes 133 Editing the Length of Notes 135 Muting Notes Contents 5 136 Editing the Velocity of Notes 138 Quantizing Notes 139 Key Concepts 141 Chapter 9: Mixing the Project 142 Exploring the Mixer 144 Working with Channel Strip Groups 147 Adding Effects to Multiple Channel Strips 149 Creating a Submix 150 Routing Signals with a Multi-Output Instrument 153 Key Concepts 155 Chapter 10: Automating Your Mix 156 Exploring Track Automation 159 Using Touch and Latch Modes 162 Creating and Editing Automation Nodes and Lines 163 Key Concepts 165 Chapter 11: Getting Answers 165 Exploring Logic Pro Help 166 What’s Next? 6 Contents Welcome to Logic Pro 1 If you are new to Logic Pro or have a limited knowledge of the application, this guide is for you. Each chapter of this book presents major features and guides you in trying things out. Chapter 2 lets you build a basic project from scratch, while the remaining chapters take you through the entire production process including recording, arranging, editing, and mixing. This guide assumes that you’ve installed Logic Pro on your computer. If you haven’t, see the Installing Your Software booklet that comes with Logic Studio. You should also connect the music equipment that you plan to use, such as your MIDI keyboard, audio interface, musical instruments, or microphone, to your computer. For full details, see the “Setting Up Your System” chapter in the Logic Pro User Manual. (Open Logic Pro, choose Help > Logic Pro Help, then click Logic Pro 9: User Manual.) 7 Opening the Demo Project While you can use your own projects to support the tasks in this guide, many of the tasks from Chapter 4 onward reference the contents of “The Numbers Game,” a demo project taken from Thievery Corporation’s fifth studio album,Radio Retaliation, and featuring Chuck Brown. To open “The Numbers Game” demo project: m Open Logic Pro, then choose Help > Exploring Logic Pro Demo Project. Using Key Commands You can execute nearly every Logic Pro function with a computer keyboard shortcut, known as a key command. This book includes references to those key commands that have default computer keyboard shortcuts, using the U.S. and “U.S. with Numeric Keypad” keyboard presets. You can use the Key Commands window to assign key commands to your computer keyboard, allowing you to suit your own working style. To open the Key Commands window: m Choose Logic Pro > Preferences > Key Commands in the main menu bar (or press Option-K). Full details on the Key Commands window are found in the Logic Pro User Manual. 8 Chapter 1 Welcome to Logic Pro Building a Basic Project 2 This chapter gets you up and running with Logic Pro in the shortest possible time. If you are new to digital music production, you can use this chapter to learn how to use the basic features of Logic Pro to build a simple music project from scratch. Creating a Project You’ll start by opening Logic Pro and creating a new project, then you’ll save it. Open Logic Pro and create a new project: 1 Double-click the Logic Pro icon in your Applications folder. 9 2 In the Templates dialog that appears, click the Empty Project button. Empty Project button 3 In the New Tracks dialog, select the Software Instrument option, then click the Create button. 10 Chapter 2 Building a Basic Project Understanding Tracks and Regions An audio track is a lane in the Arrange area that is used for the playback, recording, and editing of audio regions. An audio region is a rectangular object that resides on an audio track. It can be freely edited and its boundaries correspond to start and end points within the underlying audio file it is associated with. A software instrument track is a lane in the Arrange area that is used for the playback, recording, and editing of MIDI regions, which play internal software instruments. A MIDI region is a rectangular object that resides on a software instrument track. It contains MIDI events—individual notes or commands—that are generally created with a MIDI keyboard. Chapter 2 Building a Basic Project 11 After creating a project, you can quickly save it. When you save a project, a project file is saved within a project folder—which can contain the project’s audio files and other assets (such as sample and movie files). Saving a project with assets simplifies archiving and exchanging projects but increases the project folder’s size. Save the project: m Choose File > Save As in the main menu bar (or press Command-Shift-S), make the following selections in the Save As dialog, then click Save. Type a project name. Browse to a save location. Ensure that the Include Assets and “Copy external audio files to project folder” checkboxes are selected. Selecting additional options increases the project folder’s size. 12 Chapter 2 Building a Basic Project Exploring the Arrange Window The Arrange window is the primary working window of Logic Pro. It incorporates all working areas and editors, including the Arrange area. The Arrange area is the primary working space of Logic Pro. It is used to record, edit, and arrange the audio and MIDI regions of a project. Your Arrange window should look similar to this: Inspector button Media button Toolbar Library tab Arrange area (white frame indicates key focus area) Editor buttons Inspector Transport bar Chapter 2 Building a Basic Project 13 Try This Explore the Inspector: m Click the Inspector button to hide or show the Inspector. The Inspector shows parameters for the selected working area or editor. For example, if the Arrange area is active (indicated by a white frame), you can set region and track parameters. Also shown are the channel strips that reference the selected track in the Arrange area. m Click the Score button at the bottom of the Arrange area. The Inspector now shows parameters that are relevant to working in the Score Editor. m Click the Arrange area.