The Beginners

Guide to

By Ned Flaherty

Introduction to Logic Express 9:

Logic Express 9 is one of the most popular and powerful DAWs (Digital Audio
Workstations) available today. Used by many for the diversity of sounds it can
help deliver, Logic Express 9 is also incredibly easy to use, and this booklet aims
to help those who need pointers in the basics of the program to get going in
producing a wide range of sounds.

Creating your first project:

When creating your first project you should be met with the screen below. It
gives a few options on how you would like to begin your Logic experience. For
example the electronic template will come with a few electronic drum kits
(909, 808 etc.) as well as some lead and rhythmic synths to start to form the
basics of an electronic style song. Depending on the template you choose, you
will have different sounds/instruments.
An empty project
allows you to start
from scratch with a
blank slate.

All of these templates will

come with different
electronic instruments that
can be played via MIDI
devices. They may also
come with effects to make
sure you get the right
sound youre going for.

The produce collection has great

templates for mastering tracks,
with some great effects as well as
access to Logics great Mixer.

If you have started with a blank project, then you should be met with the following
windows. These allow you to add new tracks to the project so you can start to record in
either MDI software instruments, or pure audio recording from real instruments, vocals etc.

Output settings can be

changed with software
instruments in case you
have more than 1 output.

You can select how many of a

certain track you would like. This is
great for when you know you may
need 5 software instruments for
what you have to do, so they can
all be placed into the project at the
same time.

Each type of track is used for different

purposes. Audio is for pure audio
recordings and will not support MIDI.
Software instruments are virtual
instruments that logic comes bundled
with that can be played via MIDI, but
will not support any audio recordings.
External MIDI is used to record MIDI
instruments you have that are not part
of Logic.

With audio, you also have the choice of

which input you want to use for your
microphone to record the audio, a
format type depending on whether you
want to record in Mono or Stereo as
well as the choice of which output you
want to use.

The Logic Project:

The Logic project page consists of many key areas, all of them being extremely
important in the production of any form of work created in Logic. From the
arrange area to the inspector and even the transport bar, its important to have
a good understanding of everything to achieve the best results from Logic.

Whole overview of a standard Logic project

The Arrange Window:

The arrange window is the largest and will probably be the most frequently
used section of Logic. The arrange area is Logics sequencer, and is used to
arrange different audio or MIDI regions to the required locations to make
sure everything sounds right.

Track Overview:
Firstly there is the track overview section. This shows you
all the tracks that are currently in your project, and tell
you which ones are recording, muted and soloed.

The track will also give info such as

what instrument is on that track
for software instrument tracks, or
the name of the track for audio
tracks. It also gives the track
number.

If the box is coloured in, it

means that this track is either
being used to record (the R
box), is muted (the M box) or
being soloed (the S box).

The Arrange Area:

The arrange area is the primary section of the arrange window. It where all
your sound regions are placed, edited, moved around etc. and is probably the
most important part of Logic.
This is a cycle. A cycle is
creating by holding down and
dragging left on the bar ruler. It
means only that section of
your project will be played by
the play head starting at the
left most position.

This is the bar ruler, which

shows you how many bars
into the song you are.

The white line with a little arrow on

top is the play head. It shows you
which part of the song is playing as
it goes over certain regions.

This is a MIDI region

currently sitting in the
arrange area. When the
track is expanded (Ctrl + Z)
it will show the MIDI notes
in that region.

Audio tracks will have different images showing a waveform, as

well as the name you give the track instead of the instrument
name found on software instrument tracks. They also have the
ability to support inline monitoring.

You can also change colours of regions

to help identify what each region
contains.

This is an audio region

currently sitting in the
arrange area. When the
track is expanded (Ctrl + Z)
it will show the waveform
of the audio in that region.

These two boxes show the 2

tools that are in use with the
arrangement. The one on the left
hand side is the left click tool,
and the one on the right is used
with Command + Click.

There are various ways in which

you can snap regions so that
they are in the exact place you
want them to be. Smart snap will
snap to where Logic thinks is the
right place, whether that be on a
certain bar or directly after
another region. Other snap
divisions can be found below.

These 2 sliders found in the bottom right

corner of the arrange area are used to zoom
your view of the area both vertically and
horizontally. This is great for whether you want
to have an overlook of your whole project or
want to zoom into certain parts of it to tweak
things.

There are many tools that

can be used for
arrangement in Logic.
Pointer is used to select
and move regions around
the arrange area. Pencil is
used to draw MIDI notes
into MIDI regions. The
eraser can be used to
delete MIDI notes or
regions as a whole.
Scissors re used to split/cut
regions into different
segments, and glue is used
to put 2 separate regions
together to make one. The
can all be used in the
command click box above.

The Transport Bar:

The transport bar is also in frequent use when using Logic. It combines a lot of
the key functions such as playing your track, recording, output volume and the
tempo of your song.

The whole transport bar

Stop Button

Play Button

These buttons found furthest to the left

controls they play head, and allows you
to record either MIDI or audio into
regions.
Returns play
head to start of
song.

This section of the transport

bar gives information on time,
tempo and much more.

Record Button

The time at which

the play head is
sitting in the track.
Shows the tempo of the
song.
Output volume can
be controlled with
this slider.

The metronome and its

settings can also be found in
the transport bar. This helps
you to keep to time while
recording in MIDI or audio

Shows what note is

being input by a
MIDI controller.

The Inspector:
The inspector is also a major part of Logic. It compacts a lot of information
about the track you have selected, and allows you to perform a range of
tweaks and changes to it such as changing audio levels or adding effects. It also
contains the track parameters section and information of the master output of
the project.
If an EQ is being used on the
track, this window is here to
show how it is being used to
save you from opening and
closing the EQ itself
constantly.
Some of the effects that Logic
allows you to choose from

This is the effects section of

the inspector. If an effect is
in blue, it means its active
and effecting the audio, but
if its grey it means it is being
bypassed.

Levels can also be changed in

the inspector so that if an
individual track is too loud or
quiet it can be altered to
sound right. This can be
changed on either the
individual track or the master
output.

Effects can also be used on

the master output of the
project to affect the whole
song.
The inputs and outputs
(I/Os) of each track can be
changed in the inspector in
case more than one mic or
output is in use.
This circular dial is used to
pan the track either to the
left or right. With Logic you
are able to pan all the way in
either direction, and this can
be done on an individual
track or on the master
output.

This is the track parameters section that can be found in the

inspector. It allows you to add a fade in or out of the track it
controls or even to loop a region within it.

Looping is an imporant part of sequencing music, especially

in electronic music which tends to be more repetetive.
Below you can see a before and after of what should
happen if you tick the loop box in the parameters.

Before looping is enabled

After looping is enabled

The Library and Loops:

As mentioned before, Logic comes with a wide range of virtual instruments
that can be played through a MIDI controller. All of these intruments can be
found in the library found on the right hand side of Logic.

The first menu gives a

rundown of the general
sounds you will find
within that folder.

This will lead to another

menu that will start to
get more specific about
the kind of sounds you
want, in this case
electronic, acoustic or
single drums.

This will eventually lead

to a folder with the kit,
instrument or sound
you can use and record
into your project.

If you are in need of a certain sound and are unable to find it within the library,
or you need to fill a gap in your project with a short clip of audio, then you can
look into the loops to find something you want.
You can find the loop
section by clicking th
Loops tab next to the
Library one.

If you are looking for a

particular sound then
you can whittle down
your option by selecting
tags that relate to what
you need. In this
example Im looking for
a clean electric bass clip
to add to my project.
Logic will filter through
the tags you have
selected and give you
what match your
criteria. It will tell you
how long the clip/loop is
in beats, the key it is in,
the tempo it is played at
and how well it matches
with your criteria.

Saving and Bouncing your project:

Of course its important to save you work as you go, and this is done by going
to File > Save and then ensuring that the Include Assets and Copy External
Audio Files to Project Folder checkboxes are selected. You can use the further
options to save more to your project folder, but it means the folder size will
increase.
Bouncing you song is also a very easy process that allows you to export your
song in a number of ways.
You can select a name for your
bounced file, and choose
where it gets saved.

Logic allows you

to select which
format your song
is saved as, the
resolution,
sample rate and
much more.