E-Book Guide

Jonathan Fromings
(U1 and U32)

Chapter 1 An Introduction to Macs and Logic

A Mac (short for Macintosh) is a piece of computer software and hardware that is very unique and different to that of an ordinary PC. Here are 2 different setups of either a Mac or a Mac CPU:

During my time at college I have mainly been using the bottom setup (with the separate CPU), although we do have access to the setup above, I dont see it as necessary seeing as though the bottom one is equally as usable. From the CPU is connected the MIDI keyboard, which typically is a piano style piece of hardware used to send MIDI commands to the CPU. So for example, if you were to be using Logic and to push the middle C key on the MIDI keyboard, and everything was setup correctly, then that MIDI command would be sent through the CPU into Logic and would appear on the computer as middle C.

Here is a block diagram of a MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) room, similar to the one we have been using at college:

The MIDI keyboard is used to input musical notes onto the computer via a software (at college we have been using Logic Express). This is connected to the CPU using a USB cable (the on button for the CPU is on the rear of the box). From the CPU, the mouse, keyboard and monitor are all connected with USB cables. The speakers for the system are connected through the MIDI keyboard with 1/4 jack to jack speaker cables. All of this together, with the Logic Express software, is what allows us to record and play audio on the computer.

Opening Logic Express: There are a couple of ways that this software can be opened, one of which is shown here:

As can be seen, Logic is already listed on the application screen (3rd from the left). The symbol for Logic is a gold record in a black box. It is important to remember this seeing as though it is likely that Logic will be a commonly used program:

When opened you click File, located on the top left of the screen next to the tab Logic Express and then New, located at the top of the File tab, to open a new Logic file. Another way to open a new file is to hold the CMD key, and to push N on the keyboard.

After doing this, the window to the left will appear. You will need to select Empty Project. This means that you have complete freedom in what you do on Logic and to input whatever sounds you want. Nothing will have been done for you.

Next, you will see this screen. The 2 main types of tracks are Software Instrument and Audio. The Software Instrument track is used when you want to record a piano, for example, through the MIDI keyboard, whereas an Audio track is when you want to record yourself through a Microphone. So select how many tracks and what type of tracks you want to create and then youre ready to go!

Another way to open Logic: At the top right of the screen you can see a small magnifying glass icon; click on this. You will be able to type something in and the computer will search the memory for it.

Type Logic in the search bar and the software should come up on the list if it has been downloaded.

After this, repeat from step 2 on the first way to open Logic Express and youll end up at the same place.

Next, how to save a Logic file:

When you have done what you wanted to do on Logic, you can save the file by clicking on File and then Save (or by holding CMD and pushing the S key):

Next, change the name of your file by typing into the tab next to where it says Save As. As you might be able to see, I have named my project Piano Piece. Also find where you want to save your project on the computer.

Next, select the Copy EXS instruments to project folder and Copy Ultrabeat samples to project folder. This will make sure that you can open your saved file on another computer that uses Logic but that might not have the same sound files as the computer you started your work on.

After this, click Save and your project will save its self.

Chapter 2 Starting Out

This is the arrange page on Logic. Here you can input tracks and input sound files onto the tracks to make different noises. At the moment, the highlighted track in on Electric Piano, so when I push a key on the MIDI keyboard, the sound that will be input will be that of an Electric Piano.

This here, is the Media symbol. It is located at the top left of the Logic Express window. By clicking this, you bring up the Media tab, from which you can select your MIDI instruments to input onto the tracks (shown below).

Here is the Arrange Page with all the tracks changed to different instruments (you can see all the different symbols to the left of the tracks):

Here is a close up of all the different tracks that I have now put onto Logic. All of these will make a different noise.

In order to record a track on Logic, you need to Arm the track that you want to record onto. To the left is a picture of an Unarmed track, to the right, a picture of an Armed track:

On the transport bar (at the bottom of the screen, you will see these symbols:

The button at the far left will skip to the very start of the recording. The next button along will play from where ever you click. Then you have the rewind and fast forward buttons, which move the playhead along a certain amount. Then the stop button, which stops the track, the play button which plays the track from wherever the playhead is and the pause button, which freezes the track. The one on the far right is the record button, which you will need to push in order to record a track.

Below is an example of a track I recorded using a Rock Drum Kit:

The small orange and yellow lines that are seen next to the keyboard on the screen are the MIDI events. These are the individual notes used to make the noises. The different colours are representative of the different velocity of the notes, the redder they are, the higher the velocity.

Here are some of the tools available on Logic: Pencil Tool, this is another way to record. You can physically draw the MIDI events on to the page and listen to them back.

Pointer Tool, with this, you can select some MIDI events:

Eraser Tool, this is used to delete specific MIDI events:

Finger Tool, this can be used to change the size of individual tracks:

Scisso r

Tool, this is used to cut a track in order to play 2 or more notes instead of just 1:

Glue Tool this is used to make 2 or more notes become 1:

Mute Tool, this can be used to make notes not make a noise when played. You can tell which ones by looking at the colour (the grey ones being the muted):

Quantize Tool, this is used to make all the notes intime:

Velocity Tool, this is used to change how much force is used to play each individual note (blue is least velocity and red is most):

Fade Tool, this is used to fade out an Audio Track (the blue ones). Note that this cannot be used to change Software Instrument Tracks (the green ones):

Chapter 3 Sound Waves

This is what a sound wave looks like when it is imported into Logic. This particular sound wave comes from the song Beat It by Fall Out Boy. This looks nothing like what a sound wave is described to us as or is shown as in an image of a perfect sound wave:

The Amplitude of the sound is the overall loudness, and the time defines how long the wave form is. One complete wavelength is from when the waveform begins (in this case lets look at the start of the diagram), until just before the wave repeats itself (in this case here). Although, you can have a wavelength anywhere on the sound wave, as long as it doesnt repeat itself. For example, you can have one wavelength here which is the same as the one shown above, just on a different point of the sound wave:

Compression: When the air particles are pushed together. Can be seen on a sound wave as when the wave goes above the central line. Rarefaction: When there is a gap in the air particles and there are very little particles there. Can be seen on a sound wave as when the wave goes below the central line.

The frequency of a wave: if a sound wave has 1000 wavelengths in 2 seconds, then the frequency of the wave would be 500 vibrations per second. A commonly used unit for frequency is the Hertz (abbreviated Hz), where 1 Hertz = 1 vibration/second therefore 500 vibrations per second would be 500Hz. The average human can hear anything from 20Hz 20 kHz (20 000 Hz), although as they age, their hearing decreases rapidly. After knowing this, it is interesting to look at some other animals and their hearing spectrum: Dogs: 40 Hz to 60 kHz Bats: 20 Hz and 150 kHz Mice: 1 kHz to 70 kHz

Chapter 4 How to Make a Rework

To create a rework of a song, the first step is to input the song onto Logic. The way to do this is to first put the song onto the hard drive of the computer. Then open an Audio Track on the arrange page on Logic and drag the song from the folder in the Finder application onto the Audio Track. It may take a moment, but the song will load onto the arrange page and you should be able to see the sound wave of the track appear at the bottom of the screen. Something important to do before you start is to make sure you know the BPM (Beats Per Minute) count of the song, and to change the BPM of the Logic Project to match the song. To do this, make sure the Audio Track with the song on it is highlighted, and then add an insert. On the tab Metering you should see a BPM counter, click on this and play the song. Once the song has been playing for a few second the BPM should appear on the counter and youre ready to change the BPM of the project. Changing the BPM of the project can be done a number of ways: 1) At the bottom of the screen you should be able to see a black bar, similar to the one below. On this, the default BPM should be 120.0000. Look for this on your bar. Click on the 120 and drag downwards to slow down the BPM or upwards to speed up the BPM. Continue until you reach the number you want. Another way you can do this is by double clicking on the number and changing it by typing out the new number (some people may find this easier to do).

2) Another way you can change the BPM, is to open the Options tab, and select Tempo and then Tempo List. A window will open and you can change the tempo by either dragging it like above, or double clicking and editing manually like above. Looping the track is another great way to listen to what you are doing to make sure you have the right notes etc. all you need to do to do this is:

Where you see the numbers on this picture, click the left button on the mouse and drag to wherever you want to loop to and the next time you push play, the track will automatically loop itself. You will know when something has successfully looped because it will turn green like the one below.

Quantizing is when you make all your notes in time. To do this, follow the steps below.

Where you see the off (3840), click and find where it says 1/16 Note. This is the selection that you want it on when you quantize.

Select the notes you want to quantize by highlighting them either using the CMD + A method, or the mouse click and drag method. It should look like it does below.

To finish, either push the Q key or click the Q button that can be seen next to the 1/16 Note tab. Using Automation is a brilliant and easy way to change the sound levels of selected parts of your track. To do this, first click the A key and your screen should change to this:

Then just click where you want your track to get louder or quieter and after it should look something like this:

Muting and Soloing events is something that I did a lot when I only wanted to hear a couple of things together or not hear one of my tracks, or if I only wanted to hear the actual track. To do this you need to select either the S button or the M button to the left of the track:

Chapter 5 Listening back

The ear and its functions:

The parts of the Outer Ear, as shown above, are the Pinna (or the Auricle), the Auditory Canal (or the Ear Canal) and the Eardrum. The Pinna is the outermost part of the ear and the most visible. Because of its shape (going from wide to narrow) it acts as a funnel, directing the sound through the Ear Canal to the Eardrum. The Eardrum is a thin membrane which vibrates with the sound and carries the sound towards the Middle Ear. The parts of the Middle ear are three bones called Malleus (or the Hammer), Incus (or the Anvil) and Stapes (or the Stirrup). Together these are the Ossicles. The Middle Ear carries the sound along these three bones and to the oval window or vestibular window. This is the covered opening between the Middle Ear and the Inner Ear. The parts of the Inner Ear are the Cochlea, the Cochlea Nerve and the semi-circular canals. The Cochlea is the coiled portion of the Inner Ear with fluid inside, the Stirrup hits the Cochlea and it sends waves through the liquid

inside. The liquid hits the tiny hairs at the start of the Auditory Nerve. The Auditory Nerve sends the vibrations to the brain to be processed and to determine what noise is being made. The Semi-Circular Canals are filled with fluid and are designed to help with body balance and direct rotation of the head (i.e. when the head is tilted the fluid tips).

Psychoacoustics Psychoacoustics is the study of sound perception and how we can manipulate sound with our minds. To study this we can look at the Cocktail Party Effect. The Cocktail Party Effect is the idea that if we are in a room surrounded by people talking, we can focus on a particular conversation and tune everything else out. This means that we can effectively stop hearing sounds that arent important: for example a fan spinning in a room or traffic outside the house.

Hearing Stereo with Two Ears Stereophonic sound or Stereo is a method of sound production which creates the illusion of hearing things from different directions. This is most commonly done by using two or more speakers. For example if we were going to look at a car going past in front of the listener and we were only using two speakers we would Pan the sound. This means moving the sound from one speaker to the other by slowly increasing the volume on one speaker and decreasing the volume on the other. Doing this in films creates a much more realistic sound and through that makes the film more enjoyable.

Loud Sounds Every part of the ear is essential to our hearing, but due to their nature, they are extremely fragile and sensitive to high decibel sounds. This means that exposure to loud sounds can, either immediately or gradually, cause deafness.

Above is a chart which shows at which level sound (at different decibel levels) goes from very faint noises, to intolerable noises. A rustle of leaves, shown at the very bottom of the chart is not going to cause any damage at all, but when you are listening to a high-hat strike, it could become painful and things louder than a live band could become intolerable. Here are some dangers of sound: Ear pain occurs at about 130-140 decibels. Eardrum rupture occurs at about 160-185 decibels. Lung rupture and death can occur at 200 decibels.

Preventing Ear Damage In order to protect your ears from damage it is important to know at what decibel level you will be working with; if it is 75 decibels or less it is not dangerous. Also, you need to know for how long you will be exposed to the noise for; if you are exposed to a 85 decibel sound for 8 hours your ears can be damaged to the point of hearing loss (from 85 decibels, every 3 decibels higher, it takes half the time for any damage to happen). Ear protection is always a good idea if you are going to be working with loud sounds. For musicians general ear protection (although it works) may make the music sound wrong, so it might be better to look at special ear protection, specifically for musicians, which preserves the sound quality and provides protection.

Evaluation I think that my rework went very well. It took me a long time to get the basic structure down, but once that was completed it was much easier to work on finalising and perfecting the song. At the end it didnt sound exactly the same as the track (although this was expected due to different synthesisers and other variables) but with what I had to work with, I was extremely happy. Doing this task was very helpful to me because I learnt to listen to the different levels overlapping in the song. It was helpful to use the Cocktail Party concept to focus on one particular instrument and doing this made it a lot easier for me to create all the sounds.