Apple Logic Pro /LogicExpress Discussion

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WOW!!! Guys, move ooutta the way!!! This chick really likes ME & my 2 Gigs of RAM!!!


-- charlie eisenhardt : senior creative editor :

 
---------------------------------
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

charlie eisenhardt wrote:
> WOW!!! Guys, move ooutta the way!!! This chick really likes ME & my 2 Gigs of RAM!!!
> 
> 
> -- charlie eisenhardt : senior creative editor :
> 

No way dude.. I gotta bigger hard disk to show her!

(sorry had to hehe)

-- 
Chris

http://www.monotrematamusic.com
http://www.myspace.com/monotremata
http://www.descentrecords.com

Hi there. I've been working with logic for 2-3 months, having recently
(re) adopted the apple platform for production, after having used Sonar
and a hardware mixer for several years, and various other tools before
that.  I'm currently working on a macbook pro with logic 7.2 and a tascam
integrated audio & control surface.

So since I just finished my first full mix, I thought I'd throw it on line
and get some feedback. I'm pretty sure that both the vocals and the
maracas are mixed too high.  Everything is either a stock apple loop or a
logic-based virtual instrument, except the strat and the vocal tracks.

http://itchy.serv.net/~zeno/CommitToGroove.mp3

Curious, for anyone who has used logic and a tascam control surface: How
do you mix the master volume? It's clearly a motorized fader, but I can't
figure out how to get logic to assign to it in the automation control,
just the sub-faders. I ended up mixing everything through a secondary
track and not touching the master fader, just so I could get a track
bounce.

I have much to learn, obviously, but I'm happy I was able to go all the
way through the process.


Sean T. Lamont                ---               The way you watch Television and Movies
ReelTime Rentals, Inc.        ---               Is about to change...
http://www.reeltime.com       ---               Get Reel!

--- In Logic_Cafe@yahoogroups.com, Sean T Lamont <lamont@...> wrote:

> So since I just finished my first full mix, I thought I'd throw it on line
> and get some feedback. I'm pretty sure that both the vocals and the
> maracas are mixed too high.  Everything is either a stock apple loop or a
> logic-based virtual instrument, except the strat and the vocal tracks.
> 
> http://itchy.serv.net/~zeno/CommitToGroove.mp3

Pretty cool. It may be your first mix in Logic but it's very obvious it's not your first mix, 
period.

I'd say the maraccas are in subjective territory. If you hadn't drawn my attention to them, 
I'd probably have felt they were fine level-wise. Maybe they're fractionally over present - 
but that's a maybe, I still like them how they are.

The vocal, yeah that could use some treatment. You've got tons of reverb which gives the 
impression the vocal's washing all over the soundscape. It's possible that just lowering the 
main vocal level will fix this, but I'd recommend less reverb proportional to the dry vocal 
level as well. Maybe a little EQ treatment as well to make her sound like she fits in 
amongst the instruments more. It's hard for me to say off the bat - she's veeery treble 
while the song is bass and mid heavy, so it's not like there's a clash, but I sorta didn't get 
that illusion that she was there with the (virtual) band.

Btw, what plugs did you use to master the track? All Logic or some 3rd party too or what?

Cheers,

- Wade

---
http://www.garageband.com/artist/aeriae

On Fri, 3 Nov 2006, Wade wrote:

> --- In Logic_Cafe@yahoogroups.com, Sean T Lamont <lamont@...> wrote:
>
> > So since I just finished my first full mix, I thought I'd throw it on line
> > and get some feedback. I'm pretty sure that both the vocals and the
> > maracas are mixed too high.  Everything is either a stock apple loop or a
> > logic-based virtual instrument, except the strat and the vocal tracks.
> >
> > http://itchy.serv.net/~zeno/CommitToGroove.mp3
>
> Pretty cool. It may be your first mix in Logic but it's very obvious
>it's not your first mix,   period.

This is true.  But I get better every time I do it. At least, I hope I
do. :)


>
> I'd say the maraccas are in subjective territory. If you hadn't drawn my attention to them,
> I'd probably have felt they were fine level-wise. Maybe they're fractionally over present -
> but that's a maybe, I still like them how they are.

Yeah, Another responder said he thought they were fine, but I think it
would feel a little more balanced just a hair lower.

>
> The vocal, yeah that could use some treatment. You've got tons of reverb which gives the
> impression the vocal's washing all over the soundscape. It's possible that just lowering the
> main vocal level will fix this, but I'd recommend less reverb proportional to the dry vocal
> level as well. Maybe a little EQ treatment as well to make her sound like she fits in
> amongst the instruments more. It's hard for me to say off the bat - she's veeery treble
> while the song is bass and mid heavy, so it's not like there's a clash, but I sorta didn't get
> that illusion that she was there with the (virtual) band.


Live instruments are always tricky ,and the voice is the only real 'live'
instrument - the strat is live, but it's also coming through an external
effects processor with an s/pdif output, so it's not like it's mic'd.

Do You think I should EQ down the high end of the vocal track? In my head,
the vocalist actually isn't quite right, but I only had two voices lying
around the house, and it was her or me, and this seemed infinitely
preferable. :)

I'll have to check the reverb on the vocal track, but I actually did one
thing that was totally intentional, which was push the last 'word' of
certain vocal phrases through a stereo delay loop, which ends up bouncing
parts of the voice as an actual rhythmic element, which was what my intent
was. I'm not sure if the additional reverb on the vocal track made it
fuzzy or not, I'll have to listen to it again.
>
> Btw, what plugs did you use to master the track? All Logic or some 3rd
>party too or what?

All logic. I actually just figured out how to D/L and install audio units
earlier in the week. :)  Most of them are out of the stock inserts, though
minorly tweaked.

I'm pretty impressed with the logic virtual instruments, especially the
EP, and sculpture. I was actually going to buy a Nord Electro, which has
one of the best boards for dynamic rhodes I've found, but the one on logic
7 is almost as good, so I may just buy a new controller. The one weak
point I would say is that there's not so much emphasis on acoustic
instruments in the stock instrument set, but this may just be a matter of
getting a better acoustic sample set. (there's no alto sax, for
example) I've not tried to load any third party samples as of yet, but I
think my sampler (emu) isn't compatible with the logic-based sampler
(forget the name)

Thanks for the feedback.



>
> Cheers,
>
> - Wade
>
> ---
> http://www.garageband.com/artist/aeriae
>
>
>
>

Sean T. Lamont                ---               The way you watch Television and Movies
ReelTime Rentals, Inc.        ---               Is about to change...
http://www.reeltime.com       ---               Get Reel!

nice work..

On Nov 3, 2006, at 1:11 PM, Sean T Lamont wrote:

> On Fri, 3 Nov 2006, Wade wrote:
>
> > --- In Logic_Cafe@yahoogroups.com, Sean T Lamont <lamont@...> wrote:
> >
> > > So since I just finished my first full mix, I thought I'd throw  
> it on line
> > > and get some feedback. I'm pretty sure that both the vocals and  
> the
> > > maracas are mixed too high. Everything is either a stock apple  
> loop or a
> > > logic-based virtual instrument, except the strat and the vocal  
> tracks.
> > >
> > > http://itchy.serv.net/~zeno/CommitToGroove.mp3
> >
> > Pretty cool. It may be your first mix in Logic but it's very obvious
> >it's not your first mix, period.
>
> This is true. But I get better every time I do it. At least, I hope I
> do. :)
>
> >
> > I'd say the maraccas are in subjective territory. If you hadn't  
> drawn my attention to them,
> > I'd probably have felt they were fine level-wise. Maybe they're  
> fractionally over present -
> > but that's a maybe, I still like them how they are.
>
> Yeah, Another responder said he thought they were fine, but I think it
> would feel a little more balanced just a hair lower.
>
> >
> > The vocal, yeah that could use some treatment. You've got tons of  
> reverb which gives the
> > impression the vocal's washing all over the soundscape. It's  
> possible that just lowering the
> > main vocal level will fix this, but I'd recommend less reverb  
> proportional to the dry vocal
> > level as well. Maybe a little EQ treatment as well to make her  
> sound like she fits in
> > amongst the instruments more. It's hard for me to say off the bat  
> - she's veeery treble
> > while the song is bass and mid heavy, so it's not like there's a  
> clash, but I sorta didn't get
> > that illusion that she was there with the (virtual) band.
>
> Live instruments are always tricky ,and the voice is the only real  
> 'live'
> instrument - the strat is live, but it's also coming through an  
> external
> effects processor with an s/pdif output, so it's not like it's mic'd.
>
> Do You think I should EQ down the high end of the vocal track? In  
> my head,
> the vocalist actually isn't quite right, but I only had two voices  
> lying
> around the house, and it was her or me, and this seemed infinitely
> preferable. :)
>
> I'll have to check the reverb on the vocal track, but I actually  
> did one
> thing that was totally intentional, which was push the last 'word' of
> certain vocal phrases through a stereo delay loop, which ends up  
> bouncing
> parts of the voice as an actual rhythmic element, which was what my  
> intent
> was. I'm not sure if the additional reverb on the vocal track made it
> fuzzy or not, I'll have to listen to it again.
> >
> > Btw, what plugs did you use to master the track? All Logic or  
> some 3rd
> >party too or what?
>
> All logic. I actually just figured out how to D/L and install audio  
> units
> earlier in the week. :) Most of them are out of the stock inserts,  
> though
> minorly tweaked.
>
> I'm pretty impressed with the logic virtual instruments, especially  
> the
> EP, and sculpture. I was actually going to buy a Nord Electro,  
> which has
> one of the best boards for dynamic rhodes I've found, but the one  
> on logic
> 7 is almost as good, so I may just buy a new controller. The one weak
> point I would say is that there's not so much emphasis on acoustic
> instruments in the stock instrument set, but this may just be a  
> matter of
> getting a better acoustic sample set. (there's no alto sax, for
> example) I've not tried to load any third party samples as of yet,  
> but I
> think my sampler (emu) isn't compatible with the logic-based sampler
> (forget the name)
>
> Thanks for the feedback.
>
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > - Wade
> >
> > ---
> > http://www.garageband.com/artist/aeriae
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
> Sean T. Lamont --- The way you watch Television and Movies
> ReelTime Rentals, Inc. --- Is about to change...
> http://www.reeltime.com --- Get Reel!
>
>
> 



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

It's a great piece of work, but if you really want some constructive criticism here's some 
ideas:

1) Take everything down a touch, just to get some 'space' for it to work in - the sense that 
it's all taking place in a room.

2) Take a little of the vocal volume, but remove all the effects. If you need to shave a little 
of the top end with the EQ, but I suspect you won't need to. The problem with the vocal is 
that the middle and bass ends are washing around in the reverb and bleeding into the 
other instruments at that level, the natural treble tone should cut through nicely when its a 
little quieter and a little cleaner.

3) I can't quite make out your stereo positioning, but I like to arrange all the instruments 
in stereo space as they would appear on stage (or however you imagine the setting) - 
subconsciously it makes everything sound 'right' to the casual listener.

4) Maracas - listen to the percussion only and set the levels as if the drummer and maraca 
player were stood relative to each other. Route them to a Group Fader for the final mix and 
only go back into the maracas if you're not happy with the end result. You could try 
positioing the maracas next to the vocal, as though she were playing them.

5) With only essential effects on individual tracks you can now add the room on your 
Master output track. Just a touch of reverb to bind it all together in the same environment.

6) Now you can go back in and sparingly apply the stereo delay to exactly the phrases you 
want. 

Hope that's not more than you bargained for. As I say, there's really nothing wrong with it 
as it stands, perfectly professional, but that's how I'd do it.

Kind regards,

Nige

--- In Logic_Cafe@yahoogroups.com, Sean T Lamont <lamont@...> wrote:

>
> 
> Hi there. I've been working with logic for 2-3 months, having recently
> (re) adopted the apple platform for production, after having used Sonar
> and a hardware mixer for several years, and various other tools before
> that.  I'm currently working on a macbook pro with logic 7.2 and a tascam
> integrated audio & control surface.
> 
> So since I just finished my first full mix, I thought I'd throw it on line
> and get some feedback. I'm pretty sure that both the vocals and the
> maracas are mixed too high.  Everything is either a stock apple loop or a
> logic-based virtual instrument, except the strat and the vocal tracks.
> 
> http://itchy.serv.net/~zeno/CommitToGroove.mp3
> 
> Curious, for anyone who has used logic and a tascam control surface: How
> do you mix the master volume? It's clearly a motorized fader, but I can't
> figure out how to get logic to assign to it in the automation control,
> just the sub-faders. I ended up mixing everything through a secondary
> track and not touching the master fader, just so I could get a track
> bounce.
> 
> I have much to learn, obviously, but I'm happy I was able to go all the
> way through the process.
> 
> 
> Sean T. Lamont                ---               The way you watch Television and Movies
> ReelTime Rentals, Inc.        ---               Is about to change...
> http://www.reeltime.com       ---               Get Reel!
>