Dear all, welcome to this short tutorial on Apple Logic Pro X, a complete
DAW you can use to realize music on your Mac! In just 13 minutes
we will see everything you need to know to start from zero.
When opening Logic Pro its welcome screen appears. You can open your most
recent project, find useful tutorials and demos or go to New Project to
start with a new Empty Project or a Live Loop, which is the best solution
to make tests and experiments before rendering or going live.
To see how to use Logic we will start from a new empty project. Consider
that you can open any Project Template to get the right tempo and
instruments for specific genres you are looking for.
Under Details set the tempo, the time signature to use and the correct
sources for the input (for example the microphone) and the output for
the project audio. Fix the correct sample rate up to 192kHz, the bit rate
and then go to Choose.
At this point you have to create a new track or channel, between blue
Audio tracks - used for microphones and rendered audio samples - yellow
Drummer tracks - to make drums and percussions quickly - and green
Software Instrument tracks - to make compositions and loop patterns. Let's
choose an Audio Track first, setting input and output sources mono or
stereo as you like.
This new track appears on the main workspace which is a Basic one by
default. We suggest to switch to the complete workspace from the
beginning by going to Logic Pro, Preferences, Advanced Tools and checking
the main option on top.
The workspace shows the timeline with all the project samples and
compositions; the player and the time counter on top and several panels
around that you can open and close with their buttons. You can also open
the Quick Help panel to get additional hints and tips by hovering with
your cursor.
To import samples just drag and drop these from Finder or the Loop
Browser on the right, looking for all the files with a blue audio icon.
All these sample files are represented on the timeline as blue blocks
called regions with their file name and their complete audio waveform
within rows called Audio Tracks. The timeline is measured in bars and
beats but you can change it into seconds by going to Record, Use Musical
Grid.
You can also zoom vertically and horizontally with the right sidebars and
use your mouse wheel while holding down the Shift key to move through
time.
To record with your microphone take any audio track and arm it by clicking
on its Record (R) button. When the blinks in red color click on the main
Record button on top to start recording, using the Stop button to finish.
You can set counter and metronome options in the top right corner.
To playback the timeline content use the player above. This starts from
the main marker position that you can place anywhere by clicking below
the timeline. Time is measured in bars and beats by the counter above,
but you can change it in seconds with its arrow on the right.
Make sure to set the tempo properly. This fixes the conversion between
beats and seconds and so the overall playback speed of all your regions.
You can also playback in loop by clicking and dragging over the timeline,
creating a yellow cycle area selecting a specific region to put in loop.
You can drag it to move it or drag from its edges to change its length.
Besides Audio Tracks you can also add Drummer Tracks to make professional
drums and percussions in no time thanks to Apple AI.
To add a new Drummer Track click on the plus button in the top left
corner, selecting the genre and output source to use. This creates
a new track with a Drummer region in yellow color realizing a percussion
loop ready to use, extracted from a group of tracks (or instruments).
You can also select the Drummer region and open the Editors panel to
completely customize its sound quickly and easily.
Click on the small play button to put the region in loop. Then select the
right preset on the left and adjust the loudness and complexity levels
on the graph. On the right turn ON or OFF each percussion, adjusting its
volume level if needed. The overall drummer sound will be adjusted and
adapted by Logic Pro automatically.
You find further drummer presets from the Loop Browser, under a yellow
icon. Make sure to drop these on any empty space and not over
existing tracks.
To make custom compositions you can make MIDI or Pattern regions. When
adding a new track choose External MIDI to connect an external instrument
or Software Instrument to use a virtual synthesizer (or synth) within
Logic Pro. In this video we will work with Software Instruments only.
At the bottom select the synth for the instrument and the output source
to use. At this point open the Editors panel and select how to compose
your drums and melodies. With the Piano Roll you create MIDI regions by
placing notes during time; whereas with the Step Sequencer you build
Pattern regions by turning ON and OFF repeated steps put in loop.
These notes can represent either a melodic note with a different pitch or
simply a different percussion if you use a drum kit synth.
With the Piano Roll you can enable its Pencil tool above and click and
drag to drop notes with the right pitch and in the right start time,
defining its complete length. You can compose faster by enabling the play
button above to put the whole region in loop while building your
composition.
Click and drag any note to move it and drag it from its edges to adjust
its length. Whereas use the Backspace key to remove it.
At the bottom click on Show Automation to change loudness, pitch and
modulation on each note or on the whole track by drawing with the Pencil
tool. You can clear the envelope line by using the Eraser tool.
If you open the Step Sequencer set the number of steps per loop on the
right and the notes to use on the left. Click on any step to turn it ON
or OFF and define the loop. Also switch to Velocity/Value above to changes
the loudness for each step.
In addition you can import ready compositions from the Loop Browser, under
a green icon. Make sure to import these on a new Track, since they also
import their own synthesizer as well.
To manage the synth used on the whole Software Instrument track open the
Inspector panel on the left. You can adjust the synth properties or even
change it to use another set of instruments, other percussions with Drum
Kit Designer or Drum Synth or a custom audio file with Quick Sampler.
You can manage all the timeline regions with the Pointer tool. Click and
drag any region to move it in time or in another Track. Drag from its
edges to adjust its duration in time. You can also put audio and MIDI
regions in loop by dragging from the top corners. Drummer regions are
always put in loop if stretched.
To undo any action use CMD+Z. To split any region in multiple parts select
it, place the marker in the right time and use CMD+T.
On the left you have several options to manage each Track. Use the Mute
(M) to mute the whole track and Solo (S) button to mute all the others
instead. Check the loudness levels of the track through its volume bar,
adjusting it if needed and tune the panning knob to balance the left and
right stereo channels. Right-click on the Track to rename or remove
it.
You can also open the Inspector panel to find the complete options for the
current Tracks selected on the left and overall project sound on the
right. Besides the volume meter and the panning knob at the bottom you
can control and edit sound with the options above, which change depending
on the kind of track selected.
If you select any Software Instrument track you can edit sound by adding
MIDI effects, adjusting the applied synth and then importing effects and
corrections to the audio output. The Drummer Tracks are very similar,
using a Drum Machine Designer (DMD) as synth. Whereas on Audio Tracks you
get all the audio options only.
Click on MIDI or Audio FX to select the right MIDI or audio effect to
apply. Edit its properties and turn it ON and OFF to hear the differences.
You can add multiple effects by clicking below the effects list.
You can click on EQ to apply professional audio filters and check the
audio frequency spectrum live. Whereas use Send knobs to send the
track content to dedicated Send tracks and mix sound as you like.
From the Library panel you can drop several presets that include
corrections, effects and audio filters ready to use. Use CMD+Z to undo.
In addition you can open the Mixer panel to get the Inspector options on
all your Tracks together, including the Sends and both the Stereo Out
and Master Track, very useful to apply adjustments on the whole
output sound coming from the project.
To save your project use CMD+S, defining name and destination. Your
project will be listed under Recent Project when you launch Logic Pro X.
Whereas to render your project and extract its audio mute or unmute all
the tracks interested and then use CMD+E. Under Range set what to export,
such as the entire project or just what is under the current cycle area.
Then select file format, bit depth and also the audio file name by
matching the correct keywords. Click on Export to start rendering.
Thank you very much for watching this tutorial! Make sure to check our
YouTube channel for more outstanding free guides!!