Logic Pro 9 New to Logic and need a little help...

sarah_g91

Logician
Hi everyone,

1st post so please be kind!! :D

I loaded Logic Express 9 five days ago, having switched to Mac just a month ago. I have a few queries that you may be able to help me with.


Query 1
When recording using the built in microphone for some reason the input level is really loud and I can't figure out how to adjust it. If I was on a physical mixer I'd turn down the gain input. But....the weirdest thing is that it doesn;t record at this level. The monitoring is all distorted, yet when I play it back it's normal.

What's going on, and how do I adjust it?


Query 2
The Midi instruments in Logic appear to lost their settings. If I use them in Garage Band you get nice reverbs etc, but all this goes in logic leaving the sounds a bit flat. How can I ensure it still uses the same same settings?


Query 3
This is similar to query 2. If I listen to a loop in the window on the right it sounds great. But if I drop and drag it into a track it changes. Again it appears to lose the settings (reverb, eq etc), but I have had some of them change completely, for example drums playing different drums to the demo.


Query 4
I'm nervous to play with too many of the settings and mess it up, as it's all so complicated, but there's a delay in the sound which is really offputting when recording. How can I reduce this?

Query 5
This isn't so important as it only happened once, but one of my Garage Band tracks wouldn't open properly in Logic. It was making weird sounds and came up with an error about compatibility. Any ideas?

Thanks in advanced. :D
 
By the way on query 5 when I say it only happened once, I mean it only happened with that 1 file. All the others were fine, and I ended up fiddling for ages to get each track accross, and again lost al lmy settings on my guitar sound while doing so.
 
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Welcome...


Query 1
When recording using the built in microphone for some reason the input level is really loud and I can't figure out how to adjust it. If I was on a physical mixer I'd turn down the gain input. But....the weirdest thing is that it doesn;t record at this level. The monitoring is all distorted, yet when I play it back it's normal.
What's going on, and how do I adjust it?

Press on the apple icon (upper left hand corner) and open your system preferences. Open the sound pane, and look in there. On input you select the internal mic, and adjust your levels there.

Also, in Logic, make sure you aren't jacking up the volume fader for that track when in record mode. (Sounds like you might have the level to +6, the fader being at the top).


Query 2
The Midi instruments in Logic appear to lost their settings. If I use them in Garage Band you get nice reverbs etc, but all this goes in logic leaving the sounds a bit flat. How can I ensure it still uses the same same settings?
Query 3
This is similar to query 2. If I listen to a loop in the window on the right it sounds great. But if I drop and drag it into a track it changes. Again it appears to lose the settings (reverb, eq etc), but I have had some of them change completely, for example drums playing different drums to the demo.

No idea... they have always seemed to change a bit here. I wonder if Logic Express doesn't have the same reverb type as Garageband when converted when opening it up into Logic Express. Not sure, I run Logic Pro.


Query 4
I'm nervous to play with too many of the settings and mess it up, as it's all so complicated, but there's a delay in the sound which is really offputting when recording. How can I reduce this?

That is called latency, and is the time it takes to have the audio convert to digital, go into Logic and be processed, and sent back to the outputs.

Open your preferences in Logic, and look for the audio driver settings. Change them from 512 (or whatever they are) to 128. that will be better, but the "cost" is higher CPU useage. That means you song audio might start to break up (you will know what I mean when you hear it). If this happens, increase the buffer up a size.. but know that will increase the latency...


Query 5
This isn't so important as it only happened once, but one of my Garage Band tracks wouldn't open properly in Logic. It was making weird sounds and came up with an error about compatibility. Any ideas?

Yes, always restart Logic after working on a song or 2. There are memory leaks and when you open and close songs, your ram will not always clear out 100%. After a while this will cause you issues (crashing, etc).

I would suggest you purchase David Nahmani's Logic Pro 9 book for Peach Press. It is an excellent reference for new (and old) Logic users.

http://www.amazon.com/Apple-Pro-Tra...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1263081700&sr=1-1

I have used the last 2 he has written to teach a couple of new people Logic Pro, and each time I have learned allot of new things. They are a fantastic resource, and I can assure you that after going through it, you will understand how to use Logic much better.

(Disclaimer: I have been hired by David to assist people with Logic, but this endorsement of his book has nothing to do with it)

Hope this helps you...

George Leger III
 
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Thanks George for your well written reply.

I have tried looking at the Audio Settings under preferences but can't find anything to adjust the input level. Also the sound is like that regardless of the channel I have selected (which I thought was odd) so I don't think it can be the volume fader on the track.


So does Logic Pro not have the problem I have with the sounds being different then? I guess I'll just have to play around with the settings of each sound to get a good sound.

Thanks for the tips on latency, I shall have a fiddle with that. Is it maybe something you can adjust to reduce while recording then put back to mix etc? Guessing maybe the sound will break up while trying to record though.

Would adding more memory help with this? I currently have 4gb in the new 21.5" iMac, so could upgrade to 8gb if need be. (It will go to 16gb but I couldn't afford that).


Your explanation on crashing may answer why when I first installed Logic it was forever crashing. I really felt like maybe I'd made a mistake upgrading. But it seems to have calmed down after a restart, and I've only had a couple since!

Thanks for the book recommendation, I will check that out.

To be honest I'm really impressed with Logic however I do feel I will spend more time learning how to use it than actually using it. lol

Thanks again!!! ;)
 
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On question 2 & 3 I think I can give You a hint what is going on...

The "instruments" in Garageband are more like "Channel Presets" in Logic, meaning that You not only get an Instrument but also a variety of effects as You noticed. In Logic You have much more control over this but it forces You to "do it Yourselves". Basically most of Logics (and Garagebands) instruments don't have effects built-in so You add these in the insert slots on the instruments channel.

The AppleLoops works somewhat similar. There are two kinds, Midi and Audio loops (green vs blue), Audio loops can only be placed on Audio tracks, but Midi loops have some tricks up their sleeves.

If You drop the Midi loop onto an Audio track, You will get an Audio loop that is the same "preview" that You heard in the Loop Browser.

If You drop the Midi loop into an existing Instrument/Midi track You will only get the midi events that will play the current instrument on the track (and through the current effects on that track) and if that don't match the condition under what the loop were made, it will sound differently from what you hear in the browser.

If I remember correctly, You can drop a Midi loop outside a track in the arrange window, and then Logic will create a new track WITH the correct instrument and effects, and it should match what You hear in the Loop Browser.

Regarding Q5, make sure You have LE 9.0.1, it might be a bug in LE where the import of the Garageband file refer to a sound or effect that are only available in Logic Pro.
I should not do that, but as said it could be bug in LE...
 
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Thanks Janne, that makes a lot of sense, and I kinda wondering if that was the case with Logic, that Garage Band, being simpler, does more for you.

Yes, you are right that if you drop the loop into the window (rather than a track) it creates a track with all the right settings. This was one way I was going wrong, as I was creating a track and then dropping it in, so had no settings. However, some of the loops still lose their settings, I am wondering if I have some plug-ins missing or something!!!

I didn't realise you could drop a midi loop onto an audio track. I just tried that and it works like a dream. Obviously you then can't tweak the notes or anything but if you don't need to this is a great way to keep the settings. Thanks.

Wow, as George says I imagine you could use Logic for many, many years and still learn something new each day.

I really think the money was well worth it.:thmbup:
 
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I figured out what was going wrong with my 1st query. (Posting in case it helps others!)

I had tried turning on and off the input toggle but it made no difference. I then figured out that as I had several of them on on different tracks it was kind of adding them all up.

I thought you should only hear the channel you have highlighted but you hear them all. This meant the gain was sky high, but the recorded take was at a normal level (making it very hard to monitor your recording while doing it too!).

It also meant it had all the effects I had on the other channels, and the delays/reverbs were what was causing what seemed like massive lag.

Anyway, problem sorted now.

Thanks for everyone's help so far. :D
 
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