Logic EssayIn this essay I will be explaining how use and create music using logic; Logic is digital audio workstation and midi sequencer software and commonly used in todays music industry.

This is the layout of the studio I have been working in, equipped with 2 fostex speakers, 2 midi keyboards and a computer which of course has logic installed.

Firstly you will need to open up logic and this box will be there for you to pick your collection and template. For this project from the collection option I clicked compose and then for the template I clicked empty project, once your project is open you can begin to add tracks. An add tracks box should just be there after choosing your collection and template, if not just click the plus button and the new tracks option will pop up. Where it says number you should put 3 so you

have to keep adding new tracks; format- mono; type- software instrument output- output1-2. Then click create. Add another track however this time audio if you want singing or any audio in your piece.

This is the transporter bar and this is where the p lay, stop, record buttons are on the left. In the middle you have most importantly the BPM (beats per minute), which you can change the BPM by clicking and dragging up or down to increase or decrease the BPM. Our BPM for out minute long advert was 117BPM because we had some fast and slow music in it so 117 was a compromise between the two. On the right hand side is the metronome which is like a regular ticking sound that ticks in time with your BPM, I found this is useful for staying in time when recording.

Midi

You will need to chose which instrument you want on the track, you will find the instruments in the library. There are many instruments to choose from including synthesizers and other keyboards, guitars, drums, world instruments, and more.

Once you have chosen your instrument you can play it on the midi keyboard and make rhythm you want that track to be or even just add additional notes for layers on your track that will compliment each other. Logic have made recording simple, first Select the software instrument track you want to record to then Move the play head to the point where you want to start recording. Then you click the circle Record button in the control bar (or press R) to

start recording. After a one bar count in the recording will start. The recording appears as a new software instrument region on the track as you record. Click the Stop button in the control bar (or press the Space bar) to stop recording.

Piano roll editor

The Piano Roll Editor shows the notes in MIDI regions on a software instrument track as coloured bars in a time grid. On the grid, a note’s horizontal position indicates where the note starts playing. You can draw notes into the grid by clicking on the tools and selecting the pencil tool, from here you just click where you want the note to go and it will draw a note. To select notes you can Drag over the keys on the keyboard graphic for the notes you want to select or drag over the singular notes on the time grid to only select a few notes. To move a single note just click and drag to where you want it to go also to change the length of a note you Position the pointer over the edge of a note, then drag when the pointer changes to a length change icon.

The parts you play are on the midi keyboard which is a piano-style user interface keyboard devise used for sending midi signals over a USB or MIDI cable. With its keyboard like structure makes it very easy use and doesn’t take long to learn how to use. You can add more software instrument tracks onto your project for an improved sound, using different instruments adds different levels of the song such as bass, piano or stringed instruments etc. using them correctly allows them to compliment each other however use them without thought and the project can sound noisy. A software instrument is a synthesized version of a real instrument, or a unique instrument generated by computer software.

Audio

You can record audio sound from a microphone, or from an electric instrument (such as an electric guitar) connected to your computer, and the recording will appear as an audio region on the selected audio track, showing an audio waveform.The audio region is where you can insert an audio file into the track or you can record,

again by pressing the record button. Before recording however you should sing or play, and check the input level meter in the track header to be sure that the track is receiving the audio signal.Once you have that track recorded you can delete it and try again or you can edit it in the piano roll editor to add in notes, take them away or change parts of them such as the velocity (The velocity is how harsh or soft the note is.); also adding effects to your

tracks is very effective towards getting your desired sound.

Audio Track Editor

The audio track editor allows you to change many aspects of your audio file. To trim the audio track Place the pointer over the region until the pointer changes to a trim pointer then click and drag to trim the file.

Click the Flex button in the Audio Track Editor menu bar. Once you have turned on the flex button you can choose to change the flex time or flex pitch. Using this tool simplifies the process of editing the timing of notes, beats, and other events in audio regions.

Effects

There are many different effects you can use in logic, which can help you get your desired sound. Logic has an extensive collection of guitar and bass amplifiers and classic pedal effects, you can play live or process recorded audio and software instrument parts through these amps and effects. Another useful effect

would be the delay effect generally used as channel insert or bussed effects, which is when signal is repeated after a given time period, creating a repeating echo effect; Each subsequent repeat is a little quieter than the previous one.

Equalization is one of the most-used audio processes, you can use EQ to subtly or significantly shape the sound of an audio file, an instrument, a vocal performance, or a project by adjusting specific frequencies or frequency ranges. Channel EQ is a versatile multiband EQ and you can use Channel EQ to shape the sound of individual tracks or audio files. It provides eight color-coded frequency bands, including low pass and high pass filters, low and high shelving filters, and four flexible parametric bands. BPM Counter analyses the tempo of incoming audio in

beats per minute (bpm). Modulation effects—such as chorus, flanging, and phasing—are used to add motion and depth to your sound. You can also control the ratio between the affected (wet) signal and the original (dry) signal. Some modulation effects include feedback parameters,

which add part of the effect’s output back into the effect input.You can use reverb effects to simulate the sound of acoustic environments such as rooms or an open space, Sound waves repeatedly bounce off the surfaces walls, ceilings, windows etc. dying out until they are inaudible. These bouncing sound waves result in a reflection pattern, more commonly known as a reverb.

Each track has a track header that shows the track name and icon, and features a number of track controls including Mute, Solo, Record Enable buttons, and volume and panning your track.

The bar ruler lets you see the bars in your track and they can help you keep your song tidy and precise. Also you can add in a cycle range, a cycle range plays the selected part continuously and to add a cycle range you click at the top of the bar ruler and drag how long you want it to be. The play head is the line with the arrow at the top that sits in the bar ruler and this indicates the current playback position. To make one of the tracks have a loop you just click the end of the track and drag as long as you want it to loop for.

Mute button

Panning (left/right)

Volume sliderSolo button

This is how you can change what tool you are using, and you will probably use most of these during the project. Here is what the ones that I used do: The pointer tool is the default tool which you will use the most, this tool can be used for dragging, loops and just general usage. The pencil tool allows you to draw in your own notes instead of using the midi keyboard. The eraser tool is quite self-explanatory and is like a virtual rubber. The text tool allows you to change the title of your tracks or bars. The scissors tool lets you cut a recording. The glue tool can stick two separate recording together and the crossfade tool means you can fade in or out of the section.

Inspector In the region inspector section located in the upper part of the inspector you can view and edit region parameters. The pan and balance

nob allows you to be able to pan the track, which means its split between the left and right headphone, this can be very effective however in my advert I did not use this. The volume fader is how much sound is being released from the headphones/speakers; the mute button allows no sound to be released. The solo button allows only that track to play the rest will be mute.

Using the quantize tool is really helpful as it fixes minor errors eliminating imprecision of ant slightly out of time notes. You should not rely on the quantize tool because sometimes it can alter your recording not in the way you wanted and can take away a personal essence to your project.

On the Region inspector you can view and edit playback parameters, including transposition and quantization, for selected regions. Region parameters affect the playback of regions, but don’t alter the data in the region itself. If you change region parameters while the project is playing, you hear the changes immediately. With the Track inspector its simple to edit various track parameters, including transposition, velocity, and delay. All regions on the track are affected by the track parameters. In the Inspector channel strips you can adjust the level, pan, sends, and inserts, change effects, and control audio routing for these channel strips without opening the Mixer.

Inspector channel strips Region inspector

Track inspector

Modern digital audio consoles or mixers use automation. Automation is the technique, method, or system of operating or controlling a process, which allows the console to remember the audio engineer's adjustment of faders during the post-production editing process. It is Stored in the memory to be used again at a later time or date such as the volume where it can be altered throughout the track so different parts of the track have different volumes.

Mixing

Mixing a project involves balancing the different parts of the project and blending them into a cohesive whole.

In the Mixer, each track has a channel strip that corresponds to its track type. You can control the sound of the track using its channel strip controls, which include Mute and Solo buttons, a Volume fader and level meter, a Pan/Balance knob, and others.Channel strips are used to process audio or MIDI information that is routed from tracks

and the Channel strip controls are to adjust the level and other aspects of the audio signal played through the channel strip. The View buttons are Used to switch between Single, Tracks, and All views, limiting the Mixer view to channel strips required for the task at hand.

Apple loops

Apple Loops are pre-recorded musical patterns that you can use to quickly add drumbeats, rhythm parts, and other musical parts to a project. Apple Loops contain musical patterns that can be repeated over and over; after you add a loop to the Tracks area you can extend it to fill any

amount of time. When you add an Apple Loop to a project, it automatically matches the project tempo and key. Apple Loops are available in a variety of instruments, genres, and moods in the Loop Browser. You can choose to add either audio loops (which are the blue recordings) or software instrument loops (with are the green recordings) both of with can be edited like midi regions.

To add a loop to your track is really simple, all you have to do it choose the recording that you want and then click and drag on to one of the tracks.

Saving

And finally to save your project you go to file then save as, choose your file name and where the file is going to be saved then click save.