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Setting up a Project in a DAW

Hi, My name is Mathias Hernandez, I am from Lima Peru, currently working in creating film/image music mostly with Hi end virtual instrument libraries such as LA scoring strings or Berlinwoodwinds. Thank you very much in taking the time to review my small Checklist type ofdocument about Setting up a Project in a DAW. The Daw I will be using for this checklist is LogicPro X.

Step 1:Opening Logic Pro X

Open up Logic Pro X, The first thing is going to appear depends on how you hace configure theSoftware at startup, me I like it to ask me what do I want to do as you can see in the photobelow.

As you can see there are 5 different options you can choose from. In this case, as we arecreating a new project, we select the Create a new project and click ok.Note: Logic Pro X is a very versatile DAW, in which it gives you a wide verity of templates for you to choose of, from

personalized templates to even film scoring templates, so if you hace logic pro X and havent explore it a bit, give it a

try, It surprises me every day!.

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Step 2:Creating a track

After selecting Ok, in the screen, the softwares main interface (Main Window) will appearasking you to state your intentions when creating a new track. For this example I have chosen

an Software instrument Track (MIDI)

Notice that the Output indicated is 1 + 2 meaning that we are selecting a stereo output, and thatthe interface is selected (PreSonus Firestudio). Click on create, and a new track should appearin the DAW, in this case Logic X has a default that the software instrument tracks icon are

green. Name the track by doble clicking on the Inst.1 default name of the track:

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Step 3:Name and Save the Project.

It is very important to give a good name and location for the new project because, in that project folder is where all the individual data of the project (including audio files, softwareinstrument information, or other data) will be stored. Logic pro X comes with a default folder that

is created on Music folder of the Mac HC drive. I think its a good idea to place the projectfolder there, because then you can have in the same logic folder all of the projects you areworking with in your HD. Just click Save As, and be sure to click the save as folder option

Step 4:Set up Sample rate, Bit depth and file type.

Probably this step is the most important one, because these four factors need to be clearlyselected from the beginning, I have had issues my self when trying to correct them have waythrough a project, and ended up making a mess and corrupting the file, so dont make mymistakes guys!

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Sample rate:

Because the higher the sample rate, the more you can accurately representative in the Digitalaudio workstation, its best to select the 48 KHz option. You can see this in File - Project settings- Audio.

Bit depth and file type:

Bit depth is like saying the resolution of the project or word length and its directly related toamplitud and Recording file type, is the type of file extension that the DAW uses to save theaudio track overtime you hit record.Bit depth is recommended to be at 24-bit because is the one that gives us more resolution and

file type should be WAVE (BWF) or AIFF because they are the one that allow more detail withinthe file types. You can find this on Logic - Preferences - Audio - General.

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Step 5:Checking hardware.

Many times it have happened to me, that I forget to check my input and output sources in LogicPro X, and the result is that when I am ready to record, or begin, nothing happens because theaudio interface was not selected. To avoid this, check that your interface is recognized by the

DAW, in this case go to Logic - Preferences - Audio - Devices and check the input and Output

Step 6:Buffer Size.

Its time to check and select buffer size, which can be said the be the capability of the computerto process all samples, data, plug-ins, etc at the same time. You can find the option in the samewindow where you were checking for the input output of the DAW (above). For recording it isbest to use a low buffer size to avoid delay (128 is a good option) and for editing or postproducing its best a large number such as 1024.We are ready to start working in our project!

Conclusion

All of this information have come very handy to me, I have understood a lot of thing I usuallydidnt move or interact with, however I would wish this information had come a few months agobecause all of the projects I am working right now have wrong settings!. I can say thatunderstanding how to set up a project help us a lot, because it orders everything up and alsoallows us to avoid future problems, as CPU crash, project file corruption, etc.Thanks!

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