Creating compelling chord charts is not something limited to the select few Logic gurus blessed with score editor chops. You don’t need to be a notation expert to put together nice looking lead sheets.
In this video, I’m going to show you a fun little workflow that allows you to create interesting and original bass sounds quickly and simply, with minimal fuss.
Universal Audio’s Century Tube Channel Strip is the perfect first step in getting a warm and fluid brush sound. Close drum mics don’t generally need as much gain as quieter sources like acoustic guitars, or even vocals. This is the perfect scenario to take advantage of the Century Tube Channel Strip’s gain staging. Engaging the pad and then boosting the Level knob results in a nice thick warm tone. Combine this with a nice steep low mid roll off and a subtle 10k boost in the EQ section, along with a few dB of sweet vintage opto compression and you are halfway towards your final drum sound. Add on Universal Audio’s Pure Plate reverb, and you’ve got a sound with real personality and vintage charm.
One of the many features, I think, that makes this phaser particularly remarkable is its ability to have the all-pass filters react to a variety of sources other than the usual LFO shape(s) most phasers use. Here I'll explore its ability to have the all-pass filters react to the envelope from an external signal.
In this video, brought to you by Universal Audio, my buddy Morey Richman and I are going to look at recording three separate 12/8 based guitar parts in the same song. Each part uses the Suhr PT 100 guitar amp in Unison mode, along with the Korg SDD 3000 delay plug-in.
Preference Manager is a fantastic little free app from a company called Digital Rebellion. It does exactly what the name implies. It allows you to backup and manage your Logic (and Pro Tools) preferences.
Apple has released a new update to Logic Pro X. Version 10.4.4 fixes the recent bug where auto backups were not being created as expected. There are other under the hood bug fixes as well.
One of the endearing and ubiquitous qualities of Rhodes sounds is the ability to use the tremolo knob to pan the sound from side to side. We’ve heard it on a million records and love it. It creates a nice wide moving stereo spatial effect that adds a sheen of polish and sophistication to the sound. For an interesting variation, why not modulate the reverb’s position in the stereo field instead of the source?
During the month of January, Creationauts is offering an exclusive 25% discount off the regular price to Logic Pro Expert readers. Instead of $39.99, you get it for $29.99. If you want to try it out first there is a full featured trial version available.
In this video, brought to you with the support of Universal Audio, my buddy Morey Richman and I put the Suhr SE 100 guitar amp and the EP-34 Tape Echo to work on a couple of guitar parts. Each with subtly unique and colorful tape delay settings. Combined they create a thick and rich unique sounding guitar tone.
Would you like to be able to use older Digidesign control surfaces to control Logic Pro X, Cubase or Nuendo? You maybe able to quite soon We have news from Neyrinck that should make this possible.
The thing I probably record the most these past years, however, is my own voice. Doing VOs for the various videos I do here and for groove3. And after years of trying various mics of varying pedigrees, I have settled on the humble Audio Technica 4040. If I had to choose just one mic, this would be it. Not just because it suits my voice better than all my others, but it also seems to be a general all-around good sounding mic that is usable in most situations I throw at it.
With all the virtual flyers reaching our inboxes every day, it can be difficult to block out the “noise”, and zero in on what might be of real value to us. So we thought it might be fun to ask each of the logic pro expert team to choose a single plug-in that they can’t (or wouldn’t want to) live without. In other words, to cut through to the bone of what is really important to each of us. Perhaps that might be of value to you as you are contemplating your own potential purchase choices?
UJAM has just released a line of virtual bassists. Mellow, Royal, and Rowdy. As with their virtual guitarists and drummers, these instruments ship with a fantastic library of phrases in a variety of styles that can easily conform to your own chord progressions. And, as with their other instruments, they are designed to get a variety of tones with minimal fuss. UJAM have sure got the right formula for striking the balance between complexity and ease of use. Which is no small feat! They provide just the right amount of detail. Too much, and it becomes daunting to understand. Too little, and it’s dismissed as a toy. With these, we get a library of fantastic sounding tweak-able grooves. Plus something new!
Creationauts have given us a fantastic tool with LPX Colorizer. It can be used to subtly enhance the look of Logic without changing it completely. Of course, it can change it completely too, if that’s what you want to do with it. But the more I use this app, the more I realize that I appreciate the ability to add highlight and contrast to make different elements in the GUI stand out better, without changing the overall look of Logic.
In this video, sponsored by Universal Audio, we look at using the Lexicon 480L on a pop vocal duet. Using Lexicons Random Spaces algorithm, we use the Lexicon’s unique pre-echo, spin, and wander controls to work to craft a unique and compelling vocal space to help the vocals sit nicely in a relatively dense arrangement.
Apple has just released version 10.4.3 of Logic Pro X, as well as a GarageBand update; bringing it to version 10.3.2.
A While back I did a Logic Abecedarian here on logic pro expert. Twenty-six posts on Logic, each focusing on a topic relating to a letter of the alphabet. A few years have gone by, and many of the posts did not survive the transition to the revamped site format. Plus, Logic has come a long way in the ensuing years! It’s time for a fresh up to date set of Logic Pro X From A to Z posts. With a new team in place; it’s time for new subject matter and perspectives.
Recently, Reverb added 2 new segments: LP and software. Reverb Software is of course, very much in harmony with our world of Logic Pro X and I would encourage you to go take a look at the offerings. Reverb’s software section does have a slew of freebie offerings much like several other sites that curate links or downloads with an additional major bonus that is of particular interest.
I love food analogies and I think it will be a fun and effective way to shine some light or at least, change the perspective of the light we see on how we record and mix today. In particular, there are 2 food trends we see a lot of today, both in the restaurant scene and in home cooking media, that I feel worthy of some discussion. We’ll then look at how this may be in an analogous manner, affecting our choices when it comes to music production.
With Black Friday around the corner, we are all no doubt salivating at the prospect of plentiful new inexpensive plug-ins to slap across all our Logic tracks in the hopes that a new shade of lipstick will make our music beautiful. It’s a rabbit hole we all fall down to some degree or another.
I’d like to share with you an article I recently wrote with some mixing tips that start from a different perspective. Rather than looking at each track as a raw unfinished piece of the puzzle waiting to be painted and made up before the whole can be considered complete, top-down mixing takes a less is more approach. It’s a different mindset where we try and use as little additional processing as necessary. rather than trying to use as much as possible.
We see lots of articles on compression techniques and feature lists for both hardware and software refer to a blend mode or a control to mix the compressed signal with the dry signal as parallel or “New York” compression. The idea of parallel compression is that a blend of the sustain of the compressed signal and the attack of the dry signal combine in manner to give a result that is the best attributes of both signals. Prior to boxes with a dedicated parallel function, the technique to do this was to “mult” (split) the signals, and then mix them back together again on separate console strips. It is widely accepted that this technique was first used in one or more reknown studios in New York. The problem is that it isn’t authentic New York compression, there’s a missing detail that makes all the difference.
Roli is launching Songmaker Kit Garageband featuring deep integration with the Mac OS version of Garageband. It runs seamlessly with Logic Pro X as well.
n this video, sponsored by Universal Audio, I have Montreal session drummer Jean Nadeau in my studio to lay down some drum tracks. We set up sends on the five drum mics to Aux 1, using Ocean Ways Studio reverb and Oxide Tape. And then to Aux 2, using the Neve 33609 and Elysia Mpressor for a drum crush bus. Both Aux channels are printed to Logic Pro X independently of the five drum tracks.