Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Logic Pro Newbie with some questions?

S

snerkler

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 14, 2012
1,176
171
Hi,

I'm currently on the steep learning curve of trying to get my head round Logic. This is the first time I've attempted music production so everything is new to me, including terminology.

What I'm struggling with at the moment is trying to find the right sounds for the drum kit and synth sounds etc. For example I can't find the kind of synth sounds I want for the riff/melody. To be honest, I can't find anything that close. Is it a case of manipulating the sounds in the logic library, or do I have to find additional sounds from somewhere? The trouble is, when looking for additional sounds I can only find loops rather than sounds that can b used with the logic instruments such as ESX24.

Can you get more sounds/patches for instruments like ESX24, and if so where can I find these?

Also, does Logic have software inbuilt that allows you to remove certain audio frequencies from tracks. For example I have an acapella, but on the last part of the vocals there's piano over the top and I want to remove the piano. can this be done in logic? If not, is there some free/cheap software available that can do this?

Cheers
 
Last edited:
Hello Snerkler,

welcome to the Logic Family!

Well, concerning your questions there are are several ways to answer them. On one hand you can try, like you did, to find a preset from the loop library and hope that the preset fits your needs. By the way, if you like to work with presets, have you tried to use the preset sounds which are available from the channel strip? You have to click the first slot on the channel strip for a few seconds and a drop down menu will show you several opportunities like sounds including reverb compressor and so on to choose from.
On the other hand the preset sounds are only a basis and they do sound like preset...that's nothing bad, but preset doesn't sound very customised and unique so I'd try to play around with the presets. Open the synths which are used in the particular preset and change some settings like attach, release, sustain etc. You will get quick results while doing this.
You can buy different sound libraries, other software instruments and so on. Check google for "software instruments" or check out www.native-instruments.com but this is only one little spot on the big world map of sound libraries. To my mind, a real analogue synth or real drums are better than using software based sound but that's another book in the library:)!

To make sounds disappear you can use the EQs or noise gates which are included but it is impossible to make certain sounds disappear completely.

Let me know how you advance!!;)

Cheers from sunny northern Germany!
KA
 
Kenaudio said:
Hello Snerkler,

welcome to the Logic Family!

Well, concerning your questions there are are several ways to answer them. On one hand you can try, like you did, to find a preset from the loop library and hope that the preset fits your needs. By the way, if you like to work with presets, have you tried to use the preset sounds which are available from the channel strip? You have to click the first slot on the channel strip for a few seconds and a drop down menu will show you several opportunities like sounds including reverb compressor and so on to choose from.
On the other hand the preset sounds are only a basis and they do sound like preset...that's nothing bad, but preset doesn't sound very customised and unique so I'd try to play around with the presets. Open the synths which are used in the particular preset and change some settings like attach, release, sustain etc. You will get quick results while doing this.
You can buy different sound libraries, other software instruments and so on. Check google for "software instruments" or check out www.native-instruments.com but this is only one little spot on the big world map of sound libraries. To my mind, a real analogue synth or real drums are better than using software based sound but that's another book in the library:)!

To make sounds disappear you can use the EQs or noise gates which are included but it is impossible to make certain sounds disappear completely.

Let me know how you advance!!;)

Cheers from sunny northern Germany!
KA
Click to expand...

Many thanks for your reply, very informative and helpful. Ideally I would like to learn how to create my own sounds rather than using sound libraries, even if it's by means of using a preset and then totally transforming it. The trouble is it's all well and good having LFO's, Compressors, Modulators etc but I need to know how these effect and manipulate sound, and I'm struggling to find this info. I can obviously twiddle around with these things and hear the changes and create some very interesting sounds, but without actually knowing what each one does it's very difficult to create the sound you want.

I will continue in my pursuit though :)

Thanks again.
 
snerkler said:
Many thanks for your reply, very informative and helpful. Ideally I would like to learn how to create my own sounds rather than using sound libraries, even if it's by means of using a preset and then totally transforming it. The trouble is it's all well and good having LFO's, Compressors, Modulators etc but I need to know how these effect and manipulate sound, and I'm struggling to find this info. I can obviously twiddle around with these things and hear the changes and create some very interesting sounds, but without actually knowing what each one does it's very difficult to create the sound you want.

I will continue in my pursuit though :)

Thanks again.
Click to expand...

Hey Snerkler!

You are welcome;)!!!

Well, a first site where you can read some things about how synths work, is here: http://bit.ly/NM9vOc.
But there are other sources. Another great and informative resource for analogue studio teqnique can be found on the forum sites of GEARSLUTZ. There are many engineers who can help you with a lot of questions. Try to google for things like "analogue synth functions" or something similar. But if you really want to understand how synths and their software brothers work you should get one. Maybe an older Juno 106 by Roland is great for the beginning. I would spend a max of 350$ for it.
Let me know how this works for you.

Cheers,
Kenaudio
 
Kenaudio said:
Hey Snerkler!

You are welcome;)!!!

Well, a first site where you can read some things about how synths work, is here: http://bit.ly/NM9vOc.
But there are other sources. Another great and informative resource for analogue studio teqnique can be found on the forum sites of GEARSLUTZ. There are many engineers who can help you with a lot of questions. Try to google for things like "analogue synth functions" or something similar. But if you really want to understand how synths and their software brothers work you should get one. Maybe an older Juno 106 by Roland is great for the beginning. I would spend a max of 350$ for it.
Let me know how this works for you.

Cheers,
Kenaudio
Click to expand...

Thanks again, I will be sure to look into these.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back