Introduction in to using Macs and Logic Pro

The Mac
The name 'Mac' is the branded name for the line of 'Apple' computers called 'Macintosh'. Steve Jobs invented and introduced the first 'Mac' on the 24th of January 1984. It was the first real personal PC sold to the public and became very successful. The 'Mac Mini' is an every level 'Macintosh that is fitted with a 2.5 Ghz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor with 3MB L3 cache. It has 4GB of 1333 MHz DDR3 RAM and a 500GB hardrive. The graphics card is an 'AMD Radeon HD 6630M 256 MB'. The 'Mac Mini' also has two 'USB' ports, 'Firewire' port, ethernet port, audio jack and a 'HDMI' port. The 'Mac mini' does have speakers but really should buy and use additional speaker for better sound.

Speakers
The speakers are one of the most important pieces of equipment you use and keeping them looked after and not damaged is easy but many people don't know how. When turning any equipment on like MIDI keyboards, mixers or the computer, make sure the speakers are the last piece of equipment to be turned on. If the speaker are turned on first and then the mixer a high amount of electricity can be used to power it up and then transfer to the speakers and blowing the speakers inside or blowing the speaker cones off. This is very important as a good pair of monitors can be expensive. Also when recording through a microphone and the speakers are in the same room as you turn them off as you can get feedback on your recording.

What does MIDI mean?

MIDI means 'Musical, Instrument, Digital, Interface'. A MIDI device is used to enable instruments to connect and communicate with computers. You can use real life instruments to transfer the sounds into digital signals on a PC.

MIDI keyboards
A MIDI keyboard is a piano-styled interface keyboard that is used for sending MIDI commands over USB cable to a PC. Most MIDI keyboards transfer the commands to a DAW (Digital, Audio, Workstation) where the commands are processed and can be seen. Most MIDI keyboards do not produce sounds the just transfer the commands to the DAW to generate the sounds. The main parts of the MIDI keyboard is the transpose button that sets which octave you want to play in, pitch bend wheel and the keyboard volume knob/button. Some MIDI keyboards have different input and output slots to connect different instruments.

Cables
There are many different types of cables that are used in the studio. The main ones are XLR, Jack and USB cables. An XLR cable has 3 pins, a circular connector and is used to deliver balanced microphone and line-level signals over long distances. XLR cables are used for many jobs in the studio. The main job they are used for is microphones but they can be used for instruments and speakers to be connected. The XLR cable has two ends a female end and a male end. The end with the pins is the male end and the end without the pins is the female. There are many other XLR cable that have more pins but those are used for other purposes like lighting. The three pin XLR cable is the main one you will use in the studio. Other cables used in the studio are Jack cables. You can get un-balanced cables and balanced jack cables. The unbalanced cables have one ring around the top of the jack and the balanced cables have two rings around the top. These cables are used mainly to connect instruments to amplifiers or speakers. They can also be used as speaker cables. The cable used to connect a MIDI device to a computer is a USB cable. The USB stands for Universal, Serial, Bus and transfers the data from the MIDI device to the computer.

The Mac Dock

This is the Apple Mac dock. The dock is the bar at the bottom of your desktop where you can access your programs and files quicker. It shows which programs are open and which are minimized. You can customise the dock by putting you favourite programs and folders on there. By clicking the lines that split the application on the dock you can adjust the size of the dock.

How to open Logic

Opening Logic is an easy process. You either open it by click the Logic icon on the dock or searching it in the search bar at the top of the desktop in the right hand corner. When Logic has opened you then need to go to the top left hand corner and click File New. This we then give you options on what type of project you want to create.

A window will pop saying New and various options. You select Produce and then empty project. Another window will appear telling you what type of track you want use. For live audio e.g. microphones or guitars you select audio and for a MIDI keyboard you select software instrument. Once you have chosen which option you want click create. Youre ready to record.

How to save a Logic file

To save a Logic file to first need to go to File at the top of the tool bar then click Save A Copy As. This will save all your instruments you have used and samples. Saving with Save As doesnt do this, it only saves the Logic file.

The export window will appear and you can choose what instruments you want to save, rename the file and choose where to save it.

A MIDI studio set up

This is the MIDI set up I have been using to make my 80s re-make. The diagram clearly shows a Line 6 MIDI keyboard, Apple Mini Mac, two Fostex monitors, Apple keyboard and mouse and a AOC LCD screen.

The two red lines on the diagram show the jack cables from the monitors to the MIDI keyboard. The three green lines show the cables to the Mac from the mouse, keyboard and MIDI keyboard. The blue shows the VGA cable connecting the Mac to the screen.

Starting Up

Arrange page

The arrange page is where you can cut, paste, edit and delete your recording in your channels. When you begin to record you will see region start to form on that channel. The region is your recording. The arrange page is where you can view all of your recording on your different channels.

MIDI Events

A MIDI event is shown as a small black line on a region in the arrange page or as a long multi coloured line on the piano roll. A MIDI note is the note that has been played on the MIDI keyboard or been drawn in by the pencil tool. When you click on a MIDI region the piano roll will appear at the bottom of the screen with you MIDI events on it. Here you can move the notes, change their size, change velocity and cut, paste and delete notes.

Selecting different instruments

Logic has many different instruments to create various sounds for your MIDI keyboard. You can find all the sounds in the selected tracks media library on the left side of Logic. Click on Media and then you can choose from various sounds for your MIDI keyboard.

Toolbox and Tools

On Logic there are many tools that you can use to edit our recordings. One of the ways you can accesses the tools is by pressing the ESC button and a menu will appear showing you the different tools. Another way to accesses these tools is to go to the top left of the Logic screen and click the cursor and the same list will appear. There is a second cursor next to the first one so you can select a second tool to use if you are doing a lot of editing with a certain tool. To switch from the two tools you hold down the command button.

Transport bar

The transport bar is located at the bottom of the Logic screen and looks like this. The transports bar has the following functions: Metronome CPU Display Input and output display Volume slider Time Signature Tempo display Display on where the play heard is Play button Pause button

How to record an instrument:

To create a new track on Logic you first the + b utton on the top left of the screen. This will bring up the new tracks window and toy can select which track you want. The other way to do this is by clicking the Track button at the top bar and selecting New. This will then bring up the same new tracks window.

There are three different options you can choose to create when selecting a track these are Audio, Software Instrument and External MIDI.

When you want to record on a track you first have to click the R button on the channel which is the record button. Once clicked the R will turn red and you be able to hear your MIDI keyboard or audio.

If you want to record another track with the same instrument and affects you can duplicate that same track. To find this go to the New tab on the top bar and then click New with duplicate setting. You can also do this by clicking the duplicate button next the New Track button.

Sound Waves

Audio frequency and our spectrum:

Audio frequency is the range of signals/sounds that can be heard by the human ear and brain. The human range is from 20 hertz to 20,000 hertz. One hertz is one complete waveform.

The audio frequency can be measured on a spectrum. The spectrum goes from a low A to a high C for musical instruments. An oscillator can produce much higher and lower frequencies but these can damage the human ear.

Frequencies below 20 hertz are felt rather than heard this is only possible if the amplitude of the vibrations is high enough. When you are very young you can hear frequencies above 20,000 but his can lead to hearing loss.

Compression and rarefaction

Compression happens when air particles are forced/pressed together. Rarefaction is just the opposite; it occurs when particles are given extra space and allowed to expand. This compression and expansion of air particles causes a wave effect and this is how sound travels thought the air to the ear.

The process of compression and rarefaction is shown by waves as you can see in the diagram above. The compression is shown by a peak in the wave and rarefaction is shown by a drop in the wave. With higher frequencies the compression and rarefaction will happen a lot faster but with lower frequencies the process will happen a lot slower.

The speed of sound

The speed of sound is the distance travelled during a unit of time by a sound wave going through something. There are two types of sound waves, compression types (longitudinal waves) and transverse waves. Longitudinal waves can only travel through gases and liquids.

Longitudinal waves work similar to compression and rarefaction. Air particles are compressed together then spaced out creating a wave effect that mimics compression and rarefaction. Transverse waves are different and only travel through solids. A transverse wave moves in the direction of the energy transfer.

The diagram shows how the speed of sound increases when the frequency increases. This happens because the compression and rarefaction process increases in both the speed of sound and the frequency of the sound.

Envelopes

An envelope is the attack, decay, sustain and release of a sound. An example of this is when a cymbal is hit there is noticeable ADSR pattern in the waveform of that sound. The attack part of the waveform is the change between the start sound to the decay part of the waveform. The decay part is what happens to the waveform after the attack/hit. The sound then decays to a sustained level, which is a fixed sound. It then releases from the sustain and dies out.

Complex Waveforms
Complex waveforms are two or more different sound waves. You will find these types of waveforms when recording multiple instruments, vocals and drum kits. The top image, you can see the track Beach Fossils What a Pleasure in the sample editor. It is shown as a stereo complex waveform because of the various instruments recorded. Each instrument is recorded on its own channel and then was Bounced into an MP3 file all the waveforms come together.

On Logic the complex waveforms are shown like this.

Harmonics

A harmonic is wave that vibrates like a waveform. A vibrating string is a great example of harmonics. The diagram shows how the first harmonic vibrates from the beginning to the end. To create the second harmonic it doubled over to produce four points of vibration and two waveforms. The higher the harmonics the more it doubles producing twice the amount of waveforms and points of vibration that it did in the first waveform.

As the diagram below shows that the first harmonic is 200 hertz and then second one is 400 hertz. These harmonics then can be formed to make a composite waveform. A composite waveform is a waveform that has been put together by other waveforms.

Sound waves explained

A Sound wave is a mechanical wave that results from the back and forth vibration of the particles through gases, solids and liquids. For example a guitar string being plucked the string vibrates and sends a series of waves through the air, liquid or sold to the human air to transfer it to the brain. If a sound wave is moving from left to right through air, then particles of air will be displaced both rightward and leftward as the energy of the sound wave passes through it. The human ear can only hear between 20 hertz and 20,000 hertz, which means that any sound below or above that range, will not be heard but maybe felt. I explained before in the Speed of sound section, there are two types of sound waves, compression types (longitudinal waves) and transverse waves. Longitudinal waves can only travel through gases and liquids. Longitudinal waves work similar to compression and rarefaction. Air particles are compressed together then spaced out creating a wave effect that mimics compression and rarefaction. Transverse waves are different and only travel through solids. A transverse wave moves in the direction of the energy transfer.

The diagram shows the compression and rarefaction in a longitudinal wave. A transverse wave moves in a wave like motion away from its point of origin. It copies the actions of dropping a rock into water and creating the outward ripple effect. One of the ways to describe a sound wave is by its frequency. The frequency is the number of vibrations per second there are. The frequency is shown in Hertz (Hz). Higher the frequency, higher the pitch of the sound will be. Another way to describe a sound wave is by its wavelength. The wavelength of a sound wave is the distance it takes for a complete cycle to be completed. A complete cycle is from one point of the sound wave to the exact same point but on the next wave. Lower the wave length, lower pitched the sound will be. This happens because of the speed of the sounds travels slower. Shorter the wave length, more high pitched it will be. When the wave length is shorter the speed of the sound is faster.

How to create a Remake

Different ways to input MIDI data

On Logic there are two ways to input MIDI data. One of these ways is to use the pencil tool in the drop down tool list. There are several ways to get the tool list and they are explained in the Toolbox and tools section.

When you have selected the pencil tool you can go to the piano roll of the MIDI region you want to edit and draw in the MIDI note where you want.

The most common way of inputting MIDI data is to play it on the MIDI keyboard. Once you have selected a track/channel to record on and recorded your MIDI event, you can edit the events in the piano roll from the first way or you can edit the region in the arrange page.

How to copy, paste and erase events

To copy a MIDI note/event you will need to select the MIDI note/event and then right click the mouse and select Copy from the menu.

After you have copied the MIDI note/event you will then right click and select Paste from the menu.

This will paste the MIDI note/event where either the time bar is. A quicker way of coping and pasting a MIDI note/event is to select the MIDI note/event and hold down the alt button on the keyboard. Drag the note whether you want on the piano roll and then let go of the mouse and you have copied the MIDI note/event. To erase an event you first need to select one and then click the Backspace button on your keyboard.

If you accidently delete a MIDI note/event and want it back then you can hold down the cmd and z button to undo the erase. You can also access this tool from the File menu at the top bar and click Undo.

Zooming in and out

On Logic you can zoom in and out of you arrange page to view you audio regions be easily. To do this you need to use the sliders on the bottom right of your Logic screen.

The bottom slider will make your regions on the arrange page more elongated if you slide the slider to the right. This can help with editing, making easier to see the MIDI note/event or waveforms from an audio track.

But if you slide the slider to the left it will make the regions on the arrange page look more compressed. This can used to see how many audio tracks you have and if you want to rearrange audio/MIDI regions.

The slider on the right-hand side above the bottom one will make the regions and tracks/channels become larger if you slide it down. You can use this to edit in more detail of a MIDI note/events or audio tracks waveforms.

If you slide the slider up it will make the regions become thinner and smaller. This can also be used to see how many audio tracks you have and if you want to rearrange audio/MIDI regions.

Using loop when recording

If you want to record a part of a track then a very useful tool is to loop it so you can record that pacific part without having the rest of the song playing.

To loop a part of a track all you need to do is click on the top ruler on the arrange page and drag towards the left of where you want the loop to start, then drag to the right of where you want the loop to finish. You will then have two green arrow locators and a green loop bar. This part of the track has now been looped. If you want to turn the loop off then just click the green bar and it will turn off.

How to set the tempo

The tempo of your track can be found on the transport bar. To change the tempo of you track you need to click the 93 and then either drag it up to make the tempo faster or drag it down to make the tempo slower.

Another way of changing the tempo of your track is on the Tempo list that can be found under Lists next to Media. Here you can change the tempo of the whole song or you can change the tempo for different parts of your track.

To set a different tempo for a particle part of your track you need to click Create. This will then set a new tempo to where ever your play heard is on your track.

How to add effects

To add sound effects to a track/channel you need look at the inspector bar on the left side of the Logic screen. Here you have the track/channel strip for your selected track/channel and also the channel strip for the output master.

If you want to add an effect to a track/channel you need to click one of the empty boxes under Inserts. This is were you can choose what effect you want e.g. reverb, a compressor delay .

In the photo, tape delay was added to a MIDI tack/channel. When you have added the effect in the insert box the effect window will pop up giving you options on editing that effect to how you want.

How to mix

There are a few ways to mix on Logic. One of the ways is with the Logic mixer. This is located at the bottom of the Logic screen on the editor buttons. You can also open the Logic mixer as a separate window by clicking Window on the top bar and selecting Mixer from the menu. This feature is used if you have dual computer screens, so the arrange page on the left screen and then the Mixer window on the right.

You can also mix on the inspector channel mixer. Here you can change the volume level of the track/channel you want and the output channel. You can add effects, pan and EQ both channel mixers, your track/channel and the output channel.

When listening back to your selected track/channel if a red box appears then this means your track/channel is to loud but you can select the fader to turn it done. Make sure that every track/channel doesnt get a red box.

How to find the sounds

There are a couple of ways to find the sound you want on Logic. If you want to find a sound for your MIDI keyboard then you need to click the Media tab and then Library. This then shows you a wide range of instruments you can select from.

When you have chosen your sound you can then add effects to that sound to change it using the inspector mixer. You can add effects to your selected track/channel and output channel and you can also both EQ the channels.

Logic has many preset, recorded loops available. To find them you need to go to the Media tab again and then select Loops. From here you can select a wide range of different sounding loops.

To put a loop in a track/channel you first double click it and it will appear on the selected track/channel. But loops can only be used on audio track/channels not MIDI track/channels.

Muting and soloing

Muting a track/channel when editing and recording can be very helpful. To mute a track/channel you first need select the track/channel you want and then click the M button on that track/channel and it will turn light blue to indicate that track/channel has been muted.

Another way to mute an audio region is to selct it and then press the M key on your keyboard. This then mutes that selected audio/MIDI region on the arrange page and doesnt mute th e track/channel. To un-mute the region, simply select it and press the M button on your keyboard.

Soloing a track/channel can be a useful tool when editing and recording. This function allows you just to hear that certain track/channel. To solo a track/channel click the S button next to the mute button. When you have clicked the S button it will turn yellow, this showing that the track/channel has been soloed.

Quantizing and automation

Quantizing MIDI notes is very important. If a recording is out of time then quantizing the notes of the recording will put it in time of how you want it. To quantize the MIDI notes you first need to select them on the piano roll.

When you have selected the MIDI notes on the piano roll you then click on off 3840 and this will bring down a drop down menu that will give you what option you want the notes to be quantized to.

The most common quantize option to use is 1/16.

Once selected what option you want, you then need to click the Q button to quantize the notes. This has then quantized the MIDI notes.

Tips on finding the correct note

If you have recorded a MIDI event and it doesnt sound right. You figure out there is a missing note or wrong note played. Dont worry as there are a couple of ways to finding the correct note.

The first way to finding the correct note is to put the part that is missing the correct note on loop and select the note that is wrong and move it around on the piano roll to see where it should go.

Using panning on track/channels

Panning is both used on analog and digital mixers and on DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations). When panning track/channel, you are selecting which speaker it should come out of e.g. left or right in stereo.

To pan on Logic you need to select the circular dial on the on your selected track/channel on the main mixer. Holding it down and moving it from left or right.

If you want that track/channel to come out of the right side of the speakers drag the dial to the right side with the percentage of sound you want panned.

If you want that track/channel to come out of the left side of the speakers drag the dial to the left side with the percentage of sound you want panned.

The side which is panned will have a light blue bar around the dial with the percentage number in the middle of the dial of which is panned.

Using buses
Using buses is very useful on both analog and digital mixers and also in DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations). Buses/Aux-send is where the selected track/channel is sent to an auxiliary channel when a bus is created which then gets sent to the output/master channel. The bus creates a reverb sound on the channel that has been sent there. You can also add different effects onto the bus channel.

To send a channel on a bus you first need to go to the main mixer or inspector mixer of that track/channel. Once there, on the right track/channel click one of the empty boxes underneath Sends. A drop down menu will pop up and you select Bus and what bus you want to send that track/channel on.

Next to the Bus 1 button there will be a small dial that you can click and hold to get the amount you want to be sent to the bus.

If you go to that track/channel mixer it will say Aux 1. You can select the Insert button and you can choose which effect you want to add to the bus.

For example if the bus channel has reverb on it then you can put a channel on that bus and it will have reverb on it.

Bouncing your finished recording

Bouncing is when your transform your finished Logic recording/file into a MP3 or uncompressed AIFF and WAV. To bounce your project you first need to go to the top bar and click on File and then click on Bounce.

When you have selected this a window will pop up saying where you want to bounce it and what you want to call your file.

Rename the file here.

And then choose where to put it here.

After this you can then choose what file type you want to save it as. The most popular and widely used format is MP3, so tick the MP3 box.

When bouncing your recording you need to select an end and start time. This lets you choose where you want to start bouncing your recording from.

You can find the end time of your project by looking at the transport bar, at the bottom, to where the number is on the play head. When you have selected the start and end times you now click Bounce.

This window pops up showing you the bouncing process

Listening it back

The ear and its functions

The ear is the part of the body that helps us hear sound. To hear we have to ears on each side of the head. The ear has external, middle, and inner portions. The outer ear is called the pinna and is made of ridged cartilage covered by skin. Sound funnels through the pinna into the external auditory canal, a short tube that ends at the eardrum (tympanic membrane). Sound causes the eardrum and its tiny attached bones in the middle portion of the ear to vibrate, and the vibrations are conducted to the nearby cochlea. The spiral-shaped cochlea is part of the inner ear; it transforms sound into nerve impulses that travel to the brain. The fluid-filled semicircular canals (labyrinth) attach to the cochlea and nerves in the inner ear. They send information on balance and head position to the brain. The eustachian (auditory) tube drains fluid from the middle ear into the throat (pharynx) behind the nose.

Dangers and prevention of loud sounds

Sound that is too loud can be very dangerous for your ears. If you are in an environment that contains very loud noises it is important to protect your hearing because if you dont you can become partly death. Sound that is above 85 decibels SPL (Sound Pressure Level) is coincided to be to dangerous to listen to. If you experience this level of sound for too long you can develop Noise-Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL). They are some ways to prevent this and keep your ears safe.

The first way is simple just turn down the music that you are listening to. If its on a Hi-Fi system or your iPhone.

If you are someone who works at live music events then wearing foam ear plugs will help as they muffle the sound, reducing the volume level of the sound, so it is not dangerous.

Using noise reduction headphones will prevent hearing loss and keep harmful sound levels out. A drummer might use these to prevent his ears from getting damaged from the loud sounds. But the headphones wont block all the sounds just reduce the level of them.

Using your ears for stereo sound

The two types of sound used and heard are mono and stereo. Mono sound is just one sound wave being sent to the speakers and stereo sound is two sound waves being sent to the speakers. Stereo sound is two seprate sound waves one being sent to the left speaker and the other being sent to the right. When you have finfnished recording and are in the stage of finilizing and mixing your project, it is a good idea to mabye pan a couple of track/channels to either the left or right speaker. The right way to set up your music studio is in a a traingle shape. Both left and right speakers should be 60 degrees towards your head so you can clearly hear both stereo sounds.

Psychoacoustics
Psychoacoustics is the scientific study of sound perception. This is how the human brain preserves sound. Psychoacoustics can confuse the sound you hear from a distance to the sound next to you. Auditory masking occurs when the perception of one sound is affected by the presence of another sound. An exmaple of this is when you are on the phone talking to someone and yet the sound around you e.g. sirens and cars, becomes louder than the sound your hearing from the phone. Your brain relises this, as the outside niose becomes the primary sound. The sound that you were hearing out of your phone becomes masked to the louder outside sounds.

Evaluating my 80s rework

The rework of Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams was an ejoyable but yet challenging task to complate. I choose Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams because I have the song on my iPod with a couple of plays. The first cahaellenge was learning how to play the song. I leanrt how to play the song at home but when it came to recording it on the MIDI keyboards it couldnt be done. The keyboards were to small to play the song on so I had to draw each note in on the paino roll, which was very time consuming. Finding the right sounding instruments wasnt to difficult. The drums of the song was the easy part of the whole project. If a was to do the project again I would add in vocals to the song because the song sounds very plain without the vocals. If I had moretime that change could have been done.