One of the many excellent new features of Logic Pro 9 is Varispeed. Varispeed gives you the ability to speed up and slow down your projects — not just a single instrument, but the entire project can be instantly tempo-shifted. Let’s look at how it’s done.
Using Logic Pro 9’s Varispeed to Tempo-Shift Entire Projects
Nov 6th in Logic Pro, Production by Joel Falconer
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How to Use Pitch Correction for Vocal Effects
Nov 4th in Logic Pro, Production by Ryan LeachAuto-tuned vocals are a cool effect have become a standard technique in popular music. The sound can be heard all over pop and electronica from the last decade. A variety of artists use it, from T-Pain to Cher, and even the J-Pop band Perfume from West’s Polyrhythm tutorial. Even President Obama has gotten in on it (well, sort of…).
How to Use Gate Plug-ins Creatively
Nov 2nd in Ableton Live, Cubase, Logic Pro, Production by Mo VolansThis tutorial will help you to stop looking at your gate plug-ins as boring noise removal tools and get you using them as creative tools and effects.
Drum Replacement in Logic
Oct 26th in Logic Pro, Production by Björgvin BenediktssonThe basic rhythm track drives the song forward, and everything else
builds upon it. You may have written your song on an acoustic
guitar and laid that down first, but drums are usually the backbone
of a song, keeping everything well structured and grooving. But what
if you don’t know how to record drums? Or you end up with
someone’s recording that’s so bad that you’d rather tap pencils
on your desk. Drum replacement may be an option.
Recently we showed you how to use Logic Pro 9’s Drum Replacer. This tutorial covers a technique that allows you to fix drum tracks by replacing the drums using previous versions on Logic.
Quantizing Audio with Logic Pro 9’s Flex Time
Oct 23rd in Logic Pro, Production by Joel FalconerLogic Pro 9 introduced the “Flex Time” feature which is a set of tools for manipulating audio rhythm and timing data the way you would edit MIDI. I’m going to be covering Flex Time in detail and how you can use it in detail, but in this tutorial we’ll get our feet wet with some basic audio quantization.
How to Make a Trance Lead Synth in Reason 4
Oct 21st in Production, Reason by David BrownReason 4 is a brilliant synth-creating tool. The Thor Polysonic Synthesizer is one of the most powerful synths about and this tutorial will explain the basics of using it to create a massive trance lead synth patch.
How to Use Logic Pro 9’s Drum Replacer
Oct 17th in Logic Pro, Production by Joel FalconerDrum replacement is a tool that comes in handy when recorded drums just won’t work with the rest of the track. Whether that’s because of a badly placed mic or the wrong kit was recorded, technology has made it easy to swap in some more appropriate samples while retaining the dynamic characteristics of the original recording. I’ve long wished that Logic would adopt drum replacement abilities like those Pro Tools has, and with Logic Pro 9 it did — and it does it much better, too.
How to Create Grooves with Edited Drum Loops
Oct 12th in Cubase, Production by Mo VolansIt’s often pretty straight forward to create and program a basic beat. The real challenge comes when we try to introduce a groove that gives our track soul and character.
There are a few ways to do this of course and useful methods include using recorded performances, MIDI sequencing and even entire drum loops. All of these techniques can really add to simple beat, but if you are a fan of getting things down quickly and producing really satisfying results, then you may want to try a different approach.
This tutorial looks at how we can build a groove using existing loops in our library without using them in their entirety. The result is an original groove that often feel as if they have been ‘played’.
How to Layer Sequences to Create Depth and Pace
Oct 5th in Instruments, Logic Pro, Production, Sound Design by Mo VolansMost of us use MIDI sequences in our projects at some point in the production process. Even when you find the perfect pattern that really compliments your other parts, you can still be left wanting. Even with extra processing and effects a simple pattern can sometimes sound a little dry and clinical.
The answer often doesn’t lie in reprogramming the sequence or using heavy effects processing. A more simple approach can be using one or two extra synths layered with your original pattern. This can add depth and pace to the whole piece and often make the part more exciting.
Lets take a look at the entire process, from recording the original part right through to mixing the layered sounds into your existing project.
The Secrets of Great Sounding Percussion in Reason
Sep 23rd in Production, Reason, Sound Design by Eric ShaferReason is a great program for percussion, particularly with the ease of use of the Redrum drum machine. However, stock sounds won’t always cut it, so in this tutorial, we’ll look at some secrets for turning those stock sounds into unique masterpieces. Of course, these techniques can be applied to virtually any DAW. Continue Reading
