A Quick Note on Key Commands in Logic

One crucial difference between Logic and Protools is the ability to customize key commands. In Logic, every user can have their own set of key commands, which they can import, export, or even store in there mobileme account, so they can access their key commands from anywhere that has internet connectivity. I see way too many logic users using the default key commands; and some of them are not very efficient! My suggestion is that everyone pull up the shortcut menu the moment that they find a hiccup in their workflow, so they can keep going smoothly. Here is a screenshot of the window:
To change, create, or learn a shortcut, press opt+k to bring up the window, and select the function you want to make a shortcut for in the search field in the top right. Then, highlight the function you want a command for, and hit “learn by key label”. Once you type in the desired command, it should be set. If you have assigned one key command to two functions, there will be a window that pops up to tell you so. The whole process should take about 20 seconds.

Here are some functions that I’ve modified for better workflow:
[note:since ctrl, opt, and cmnd are all right next to each other, many refer to three together simply as 'claw']
r – zoom out horizontally (like PT)
t – zoom in horizontally (like PT)
y – zoom out vertically
h – zoom in vertically
ctrl+opt+cmnd(‘claw’)+e – export track
claw+r – copy track name to regions
claw+e – export region
opt+cmnd+c – set fade tool
opt+cmnd+z – enable individual track zoom
cmnd+r – repeat region

Midi In and Out

This title wasn’t meant to say everything there is to know about midi; this short blurb is actually, quite literally, about midi in and midi out. Midi out is, obviously, the port on anything that sends midi into your computer. Having a synthesizer or other hardware that receives midi, however, is an awesome and less talked about thing. I’ll stick with the synthesizer example. Let’s say you are jamming along to some beats and/or riffs that you made up, and want to lay down an idea. Well, if you’re track is based on loops, like so many are, you might not want to have your synthesizer part be the same thing over and over; that could easily get boring. So, what I like to do, is use both midi in and out.

For example, in logic, I will create two tracks. One is an ‘audio’ track, and the other an ‘external midi’. I make sure that whatever I’m using as a midi controller, currently an Oxygen 8, has the “midi out” going into the computer (this connection is often made through usb). Whatever is making the noises is receiving the midi. Sometimes what is controlling the midi, is also what is producing the sounds. This is the case when I use, for example, my Juno 106. This way, I record my synth part, midi and the audio simultaneously (sometimes I need to press cmd+comma and tweak my buffer settings). Then, I delete the audio. If the midi performance needs tweaking or looping, I do this now, using the pencil tool (escape+2) on the piano roll. Then, I start to record ‘takes’ of me playing back the midi into the synth and tweaking the knobs, recording each one.

What is awesome here is that I have put aside the issue of giving a good performance, and I can focus only on the sound and how my part fits into the mix. There is something magical about a repetitive loop that slowly morphs into something different. For example, if I have a riff going, and I turn my synths’ ADSR controls down to 0 and then turn up the “D”, just like 15% or so, my part will be very short and rhythmic. If, at some point I turn up that “D” a little more, it will start lasting its full length, and change a lot in character. Here is an example. It’s called ‘remodel’. At 4.40, you hear one of the riffs’ “D” (decay) being turned up…it changes things. Using midi in and out is a small example of the growing techniques that are make electronic music more listenable in scenarios other than the dance floor.

-Logician

Sound and Feel.snappages.com
soundcloud.com/patrickg

edit: There is one thing that I didn’t write about when I made this post that is extremely important! It falls under what my electronic music professor used to refer to as a “gotcha”. I have attached a few screenshots:

First, look toward the inspector window (all the way to the left) on the external midi track.

Now, look at the box titled “program change”, and see that I have unchecked it.

When you create a new midi track, it is essential that you uncheck this box, because it defaults to being checked. What this will do (only, of course, if you are sending midi into your gear) is it will change your preset back to the default, as soon as you hit record. I have lost many hours of my life, tweaking a sound exactly how I wanted, only to forget to uncheck this box and have it default to the stock preset on whichever synth I’m using the second I start recording. It is very frustrating, be warned!

Automation: Touch, Latch, Write, and Read

Automation is the programming of any paramater to change during playback. A good way to describe a parameter is any information that can be changed (i.e. volume , pan, delay mix, flange feedback, send level), usually controlled by a knob or fader. For example, one of the most common ways automation is used is to fade in the volume of a track.

There are a couple of different ‘modes’ of automation control; latch, touch, write, and read. In most Programs, latch and touch are the most common. In latch, when you let go of a knob (or deselect it with the mouse, if you don’t have the Mackie Control Universal or something or something similar), it stays put where it is. In touch, as soon as you let go of a knob, it bounces back to the position it was at before you touched it. In write, (which I hardly use), every parameter of every track that has any automation data will be set to it what ever its at even it writes over what you’ve already put in. Read is what you leave your automatin at once you’ve programmed some in.

Programming Automation is simple; you turn it on by selecting which mode, and move the fader or knob while listening back. For example, you turn on latch, and turn the volume of a track down. As you’re playing your song, you move the volume. The computer will remember that and do exactly what you ‘recorded’ every time you play it back. When your done, switch to ‘read’, and then your computer will read it. If you leave it in latch, you might accidently touch it later and not realizing your programming something.

People use automation either for creative purposes (like changing the delay or reverb length on a vocal track at the end of a singing line, so the lyrics are audible, but have a cool efffect when they cut out), or for more practical purposes, like making a guitar player’s part more uniform in volume. In electronic music, automation is used in all sorts of places, and contributes to the ‘weird noises’ that often play such a huge role. Here is a sample track of a piece hugely relying on automation.

Personally, when I automate, I like to start with latch, to ballpark what I want my parameter change to sound . Touch is a little annoying at first, because it will keep reverting to what the knob started with. However, touch is good once you have gone through once with latch, and you just need to make some small changes. Most people don’t use write, except in cases where they are totally overwriting stuff they’ve already done. If a track has read, as opposed to ‘off’, showing in the automation bar, that means that something has been automated. Automation is a great way to make songs’ and other compositions’ arrangement more interesting.

-Logician

soundandfeel.snappages.com
sites.google.com/site/broadsidegroup
myspace.com/gilloakland
soundcloud.com/patrickg

Logic or Protools?

Many people have trouble deciding between the two most reputable computer programs for recording and producing music, that exist today: Apple’s Logic or Digidesign’s Protools. Is one better than the other?
Many people have many strong opinions on the matter, but I think those who are the kind of people who don’t like to shut things out that they don’t understand, see the immense power in both of them, for different reasons. Many people take this stance, more or less (though this is oversimplifying a little bit):

Logic shines when it comes to creating music, especially midi stuff, while Protools is a much better tool editing and managing audio.

Logic’s audio capabilities are still very powerful, and for that matter far surpass other programs like Propellerhead’s Reason, or Image-Line’s Fruity Loops. However, Protools has a few a key features that make it the standout choice for recording what I’m calling ‘audio’ (of course its all gonna be audio in the end). This term, in this context, has come to describe the kind of track being made; as opposed to ‘instrument’, which is midi on the way in, and audio on the way out, and ‘midi’, which is midi both ways. When you are a producer/engineer recording a band, with multiple takes of multiple tracks (for example kick, snare, ovrhds, etc.), Protools is the standout winner. When you are jamming with your midi controller, some drum beats, and maybe a mic’d up guitar cabinet – making loops, getting ideas, trying out sounds, etc. – Logic has a strong argument for being better. There may not be a whole lot of things that Logic can do that Protools can’t, but Logic is able to put out a general vibe, coupled with some really nice stock instruments, that many people recording in the modern trend of incorporating ‘electronic’ elements (from synthesizers to drumbeats to found sounds, which historically fall under the ‘electronic’ categorization) find themselves very comfortable with.

There is no clear winner. They have different workflows and different options. People make electronic music on Protools, and record bands with multiple takes on Logic, they’re both made to do both; however, most will discover that Logic lets them be creative and Protools lets them actually get something done!