Logic Pro X - from the beginning... [tutorials by @grizzle]

Tutorial Outcomes:
Understanding the Logic Pro interface
Selecting and using Apple Loops

Introduction

I’m starting a series of tutorials about things that I’m passionate about, hopefully tutorials that may help people learn something new, or improve their existing skills and experiences. As an experienced music-maker and a former teacher, a series of music / technology tutorials seems to be a good place to start. I’m going to release these tutorials as regularly as I can, with written tutorials to start, followed by video demonstrations and discussion of the techniques used, once we get things moving.

We're going to start right at the beginning, and I'm going to assume you know nothing. I'll be creating some music using Logic Pro along the way so you'll get to learn the software, as well as some music-making and music production techniques.

If you haven't already, get yourself a copy of Logic Pro. The simplest thing to do would be to visit the App store, or see Apple.

About Logic Pro X

Logic Pro X is Apple’s flagship music making program. It has a history going back to the early 90’s, I first used it in around 1995, it must have been version 3 or something... It’s a complete music production application and allows you to record and produce music in any style. Logic Pro allows both absolute beginners and seasoned professionals to make music using the same application, so anybody can dive in and make music.

Technical note: I’m currently using Logic Pro X 10.3.2 so if you have a different version you may see things slightly differently. (Logic Pro X is also only available for Mac. For PC users, once I’ve covered some ground in Logic I plan to produce some Ableton and Reason tutorials...)

OK, Let’s get started. As I said previously, these tutorials are going to assume you know nothing, and will gradually bring up your skill level to a good working state. If this is way beneath you, come back later!

Firstly, open Logic from the dock. Up will pop a window asking you to choose what to do next. Choose Empty Project.

If you don’t see this choose File > New from the dropdown menu, or use shortcut ⇧⌘N (shift-command-N). You will now see the main Logic screen like so:

The popup window gives you various options for creating your first tracks:

• Software Instrument - Allows you to create MIDI sequences using the wealth of virtual instruments supplied with Logic, including
  pianos, synthesisers, orchestral instruments and drum machines.
• Audio - Allows you to begin sequencing or recording real audio material, as opposed to sequenced instruments.
• Drummer - Logic Pro X has a sophisticated drum feature that allows you to create realistic drum tracks in a range of styles,
  without needing advanced drum programming skills or a large sample
  library.
• External MIDI - Allows you to sequence and control external MIDI instruments, such as a synthesiser, drum machine or sampler.
• Guitar or Bass - Similar to Audio above, Logic Pro X will create a track specifically for recording a guitar track, with effects and
  amp setting available to tailor your sound.

Audio should be selected. If not select it. Now hit Create, and the popup should disappear.

You now have the Main Window open, so we’ll have a quick look around before moving on.

The top of the screen is called the control bar, from where you can enable or select different features or menus within Logic. This part of the screen also includes the transport controls.

The tracks area is where we can arrange our sequences in order to build songs and arrangements.

The inspector is where we can control the parameters of instruments, tracks or sequences.

There’s other areas, such as various editors, and the mixer, but these aren’t visible yet, we’ll come to them later...

Now we’re going to explore some simple ways to start making tracks using Apple Loops. Apple loops are pre-made samples or sequences of instruments, vocals and drum loops that you can use within your tracks. They’ll effortlessly adjust to fit the tempo and key of your track, and can be looped and arranged as you wish.

At the top-right of your screen you’ll see the loop button (It looks like a roller coaster loop). Click it.

This will select the loop browser window. Loops are categorized into Loop packs, arranged in different genre, such as dubstep, disco break, symphony orchestra. We’ll start by clicking on All Genre at the top and choose Dubstep from the dropdown.

You will see that you now have a long list of dubstep samples that you can use to begin constructing a track. You can select Instrument, Genre or Moods to break down the samples into different categories to help select an appropriate sound. Let’s choose Instrument.

You will now see that you can select from All Drums, Synths, Guitars, Bass, Vocals etc. to begin building a track. So let’s begin...

You will see that the samples have a name, number of beats and tempo listed next to each one. With the dubstep category selected you will see that most of these samples have a tempo, or bpm of 140. We need to change this in our project so we are creating a track at a suitable speed.

The transport bar at the top of the screen has a default tempo of 120. Double click on 120 and type 140 and then hit Enter to override this. You are now at 140 bpm. Once we have some loops playing you can change this to see how it alters the speed of your loops.

OK, back to our loop browser. You will hear that by clicking on a loop, it will play repeatly or indeed loop, until you select another. You can adjust the volume at the bottom also.

Now select All Drums at the top, listen to a few and find something you like the sound of. I’ve chosen Blocking Move Beat 01. Click and drag your loop into the tracks area and position it in the top left-hand corner underneath the number 1. We’re now going to loop it. Select the track by clicking on it. Hover the mouse over the top right-hand corner of the loop. You will see it change to a loop symbol. Click and drag the loop to bar number 7. We now have the loop repeated two times.

To complete an 8-bar cycle, and to add some interest to the loop and going to drag Blocking Move Beat 02 to the end of our loops. This will create an 8-bar loop from 1-9.

To play our 8-bar sequence we will use the transport buttons in the control bar at the top of the screen. Clicking the triangle Play button will begin playing back our sequence. We can hit the square Stop button to pause playback. It will then change into a Go to Beginning Button to return you to the beginning of the track.

We’ll finish off this tutorial by cycling our sequence so we can here it over and over again, to get a feel for the groove. On the right of the transport bar is the Cycle control. Click this to enable cycle mode. You will find the cycle is initially set to bars 1-5, highlighted in yellow. You can click and drag the left of right side of the highlighted area to shorten or extend the cycle. Drag the right side so it cycles from 1-9. Now when you hit the play button your sequence will continuously play from bars 1-9 repeatedly.

Finally we need to save our work. If you’ve ever saved your work on a Mac this isn’t rocket science. Go to File, and select Save As. Navigate to Music, then Logic, and give your file a name. You will see there’s options for saving your file to include different files but the default should ok for now. (If you’re going to send your project to somebody who hasn’t got the same loop packs as you, then you may wish to select Include Apple Sound Library Content in your project.)

OK, that’s your introduction to Logic Pro X, and your first tutorial. I hope you found it interesting, and learnt something new. Let me know how you got on in the comments, and I’ll see you next time!

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