The purpose of this e-book is to teach you how to use Logic; Apple's premiere music creation/editing software.

While on the face of it, it may appear complex and challenging, it is in fact one of the simplest and most user-friendly pieces of music software that money can buy. If all goes well, then by the time you've nished reading this you will be more than capable of using Logic to produce a piece of music. Setting Up: When you open Logic, you will be asked to select from a number of options. In the left-hand column select "Compose" and in the right-hand column select "Empty Project". This will be the same almost regardless of what you intend to create. You will then be presented with the main project window, and a box will appear asking you to choose between "Audio", "Software Instrument" or "External MIDI". If you wish to use Logic's built-in instruments then select the Software Instrument, but if you want to record in live instruments e.g. guitar then select Audio. A track will then open in the project window. Instruments: For the purposes of this document we will concentrate on using MIDI, as in this modern digital age that's what most people are going to be using Logic for. Having selected Software Instrument, the track which opens will be automatically set to the EVP Electric Piano. If this is what you want then obviously keep it as it is, but if you want a different instrument then click the Media button in the top right corner and select the Library tab. This will open a list of all the VST instruments available to you. It is simply a case of selecting the type of instrument/sound you desire (Bass, Orchestral etc) and then selecting the relevant VST (e.g. Chamber String Ensemble). Within Logic there are also a number of preset sounds for each of the instruments, most notable the ES1 and ES2 synthesisers. To access these simply double-click the white box at the top of the channel mixer in the bottom left of the window which has the name of the instrument written in it. You are then free to browse the presets and choose the one which you like best. However, if you want to let your creativity run wild, then at the bottom of the channel mixer is a blue box which also has the name of the instrument in it. If you doubleclick on this then the instrument editor panel will open, giving you free access to all of the controls that are on offer. As is to be expected, different VSTs have different controls, and some of them have more than others. This means that sometimes it's not possible to create exactly the sound you want, but this is where Logic's effects come in. Effects: Underneath the top white box in the channel mixer, there are two blank boxes. These are your way into the effects section of the program. You are not limited to just two, as more boxes are added as you ll them, but it is important to remember

that the order in which you add the effects is the order in which the instrument will be processed through them, as would be the case when running a guitar through effects pedals. It would be impossible to list all the effects contained within Logic and the sonic possibilities which they individually offer, but while in the program it is always a good idea to take some time to see what's on offer and to experiment with different things in different orders to see what works. Effects are edited by doubleclicking them, in the same way as the VSTs are. Recording: In the bottom centre of the window is the main 'control centre' for your piece. It shows you where you are in the track, in terms of both bars and time elapsed, as well as showing the tempo (to within 1/1000th of a beat per minute), the total number of bars in the project, and the time signature. The tempo and number of bars can be changed simply by typing in a new value. The time signature can also be edited to a wide range of presets, some of which are quite complex. For your rst recording I would advise leaving the time signature alone. Unless you have a rough idea of what you want your track to sound like, you might as well leave the tempo as it is as well. For the purposes of jamming and experimentation, 120BPM is entirely adequate. Obviously if you nd it to be too fast or slow for what you're trying to play in, then adjust it. There are lots of options deep in the settings menus to edit things like the tone and volume of the metronome click if you're nding it to bee too quiet to hear or too intrusive when you're monitoring. Of course this shouldn't present too much of an issue and you're best off leaving these settings alone until you're more accustomed to the program. When you're ready to record, make sure the playhead is at the start of the track, and (you'll never guess this) press the big red record button to the left of the panel that contains the tempo etc. You will get a one-bar/four-beat (depending on the time signature) count-in. However the recording will not actually start until you input the rst not or controller data. When you've recorded what you wanted to record, click the stop button. The green area in the project window contains the recorded notes. Editing: You may nd, especially the rst few times that you use Logic, that what you've played in isn't quite in time. Some notes may be too close together or too far apart, to an extent which is noticeable when you listen to it back. However, this is easily rectied. At the very top of the track tab (above the instrument/effects) you will nd the word "Quantize". Click the drop-down arrow at the side of this and you will be presented with a list of options. The one which you will nd yourself using most of the time is 1/16ths. This is probably the best balance between allowing quantisation of complex parts while actually putting it in the correct time. There are also a number of more advance quantisation settings below this, such as Q-Swing (if you want a swung rhythm to what you've played in) and Q-Flam. Flam is

generally only used for drum patterns, and allows for a more realistic, humanised sound by slightly shifting any drums which are 'hit' simultaneously out of time with each other. As no real drummer will ever manage to hit drums at exactly the same time, the Flam function allows you to create the illusion of the drums in your track being played live. Mixing: Once you've recorded and edited a few tracks, it's time to get mixing. Click the Mixer tab at the bottom of the project window. It will then open with independent volume controls for each of the tracks, as well as the Master track. One thing you may nd is that some tracks seem to disappear in the mix and have to be increased in volume a lot more than you had anticipated. This is a quirk of hearing called Auditory Masking. Auditory Masking is shared by all mammals and is a throwback to an earlier time in human evolution. Essentially, if one sound is considerably louder than the other sounds that you can hear, then your brain automatically blocks out the other sounds because it thinks that the louder sound is an indication of some sort of threat. While this was useful when we were living in trees and caves, as a music technologist it's just a pain in the backside. You may not realise that one sound in your mix is particularly loud when you record it, but your brain will pick up on it and make the quieter tracks disappear. The upshot of this is that to make on track sound the loudest, you might actually have to make it one of the quietest in the mixer. When mixing you will also notice that you don't necessarily have to solo a given track to hear it clearly above the other instruments. This is another auditory illusion created by the human brain. It is the same thing that allows you to listen to one particular conversation in a crowded room as opposed to hearing an indistinguishable collage of voices. This is appropriately called the Cocktail Party Effect. It is, however, limited to sounds which are of equal volume, or louder than the other things you can hear. If something is especially quiet then you will nd it extremely difcult to listen in to it, and so in Logic if you have one instrument which is particularly quiet then you will probably have to solo that track in order to listen to it properly. That concludes our journey through the software wilderness that is Logic. With any luck you'll have found the information contained here at least vaguely useful, and will no longer nd the prospect of creating music using Logic so daunting. Only the basics are covered here, and to unlock the program's full potential you will have to learn its nuances and subtleties as you spend more time using it. Remember that the basis of creative work is making mistakes, and don't be disheartened when things don't turn out exactly how you planned. Some of my best compositions have come out of accidents and strange experiments, so just go with the ow, do what feels natural and see what comes out at the end.