Logic Pro X Basics: From First Steps To Your First Track

1. Logic Pro X Basics: Introduction: Hi, everyone. Welcome to Logic Pro Ex Basics from First Steps to your first track. My name is Bennett and I'll be your guide throughout this course. I've been writing and producing my own music for just over six years now, and I've been creating my own songs from scratch as an independent artist. Whether you're brand new to music production, I just want to sharpen your skills a little bit. You're in the right place. Logic Protex is one of the most powerful and versatile tools for music production. Courses designed to help you master the fundamentals to confidently create, edit, and produce your ow track. So, what can you expect to learn? Throughout this course, you'll gain hands on experience with Logic Pro x, how to navigate the workspace, understand the layout, and customize it to fit your workflow from setting up your audio interface and recording your first track to editing Midi and audio, how to use logics built in instruments, applying EQ and Reverb, and exploring some plugins, how to structure your songs and applying automation and preparing your track for mixing. And finally, how to turn your project into a polished track ready to share with the world. Why this course? This course isn't just about learning tools. It's about unleashing your creativity, whether you're dreaming about making beats, composing film scores, recording vocals, or just producing your first DP. These foundational skills will set you up for success. As someone who spent many years in music production, I face the challenges of getting started, so I truly understand how overwhelming it can feel. That's why I've structured this course to be simple, approachable, and full of practical tips that can help you avoid these common mistakes, but also be able to build your confidence and your abilities. By the end of this course, you'll have all the tools to be able to create your first track. I'm so excited to join you on this journey. So let's start making music. 2. Logic Pro X Basics: Introduction to Logic Pro X: Hi, everyone, and welcome to Logic Pro X Basics from First Steps to your first track. My name is Bennett and I'm an independent music artist and producer. Whether you're a complete beginner or someone looking to refresh their skills, this course is designed to get you comfortable with the basics of Logic Pro x. So let's get started. So when you first open Logic Pro, the first thing you'll see is the new project dialogue box. Here we have some few options. So here we have empty project. This is your blank canvas. It's perfect if you want to build a track from the ground up. We have templates. Logic offers a variety of templates like electronic, hip hop or singer songwriter. These come preloaded with tracks and instruments to suit that genre. For now, let's select Empty Project to understand the setup process better. Once you choose empty project, logic will ask you what kind of track you want to create first, and you'll see three main options. Software instrument. This is for virtual instruments like keyboards or drums, audio, which is for recording vocals or live instruments, and drummer, this automatically creates a drum track with realistic patterns. Start with a software instrument track since it's perfect for beginners. Before we go any further, let's get familiar with the workspace. At the top, we have the control bar. This is where you find your transport controls like play, stop, record, and more. Below the control bar is the tracks area. This is your main workspace where you'll arrange and edit your audio and mini regions. Each horizontal line is a track, and this is where we build our song. On the left, we have the library and inspector panels. The library helps you browse and select instruments and sounds. You can open and close the library quickly by pressing Y. The inspector shows detailed information about your selected track or region. Quickly open and close the inspector, we press the Ikey. Above the tracks area is the toolbar where you can access editing tools. At the bottom of the screen, we have the mixer, where you can control the volume, panning, and effects of each track, and you can open up the mixer by pressing the mixer icon or pressing X. This is crucial for balancing your tracks and adding effects later on. Now before we go any further, I know we haven't done much, but let's save our project. Trust me, you need to develop this habit. Just go to File and Save or press Command ands. That's just a quick overview of Logic Pro x's interface. Understanding these key areas will help you navigate and work more efficiently as you start your music production. Next lesson we'll start experimenting with sounds. Until then just keep familiarizing yourself with logic and I'll see you in the next lesson. 3. Logic Pro X Basics: Working with Software Instruments: Hi, I'm Bennett and welcome back to Logic Px basics from first steps to your first track. Today we're going to be diving into the software instruments in Logic Prox. You'll learn how to set up and play and record these virtual instruments. Plus, I'll be sharing some useful shortcuts to help you along the way. Let's get started. Although Logic has already given us a software track, to add another software instrument, press Option Command, and end to open a new track dialog box, select software instrument, and then click Create. The default instrument is usually a classic electric piano, but we can change that in the library. Logic Pro offers a wide range of built in software instruments from pianos and synthesizers to drums and strings. And these instruments use MIDI data. Musical instrument digital interface. And we'll explore that today. And to quickly open the library, we just press Y on our keyboard. You can browse different categories like keyboards, synthesizers and drums. Well, let's stick with the classic electric piano for now. If you don't have a mini keyboard plugged in, that's absolutely fine. Logic provides us with musical typing. And we get this by pressing Command and care to bring up the musical typing window. This turns your computer keyboard into a virtual piano. And if you have a mini keyboard connected, logic will automatically detect it. Now, let's record a simple melody using a software instrument. You can either press the record button or press R to start recording. And to stop recording, we can press space bar. And once you've recorded your MDI performance, we can edit it in piano roll. You can double click the recorded midi region to open the piano roll or we can press P. Here we can adjust the notes timing and the velocity. Here we can tweak the notes individually. I can make a note shorter or make it last longer. I can change it to a different note or remove it completely. Now, as you can see, this note is out of time slightly. Of course, we can manually drag it to the correct position or we can simply press Q, and this will quantize it, and logic just does it for us. Logic Pros instruments also support various plugins to enhance our sound. We can press I to open the inspector, and here you can add effects like reverb or delay to your instrumental channel. Now before we go any further, let's save our project. Go to File and Save or press Command on S. So today, we learned how to add, play, and record software instruments and Logic Pro x, along with some handy shortcuts. In the next lesson, we'll explore basic editing techniques. Until then, keep experimenting with different instruments. I'll see you in the next lesson. 4. Logic Pro X Basics: Essential Editing Techniques: Hi, I'm Bennett and welcome back to Logic Px basics from first steps to your first track. Today, we're focusing on essential editing techniques in Logic Pro x. By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to edit your recordings and set the perfect pace for your tracks. So let's get started. Let's start with the two most essential tools, scissors and eraser. The scissors tool splits a region into smaller sections. This is really useful for cutting and rearranging parts of your track. You can press T to open the tool menu and then I to select the scissors tool and just click wherever you want to split the region. And we can hold option while using the scissors tool to make evenly spaced cuts. The eraser tool deletes regions and midi notes very quickly. To select the eraser tool, we press T and then E. Then we click on the region or note that we want to delete. And if you delete the wrong one, to undo that action, we just press Command and Z. Now, let's talk about tempo. Tempo sets the speed of your project. Adjusting the tempo can really change the feel of your track. So let's see how we can modify it. We can locate the tempo display in the control bar. You can click and drag the tempo value up or down to adjust it. Alternatively, we can double click it and type in a specific number. Now, if we want to change the tempo over time, we can use the tempo track. You can open the tempo track by pressing global tracks and tempo in the track header. Or we can press G. We can click to add points on the tempo track, and then we can drag them to create tempo changes. Before we go any further, let's save our project. Go to File and Save or press Command NS. Today we covered essential editing tools and explore tempo control. These skills will help you refine your recordings and help you find the perfect pace to your project. In the next lesson, we'll dive into adding effects and plugins to enhance your sound. But until then keep experimenting. I'll see you in the next lesson. 5. Logic Pro X Basics: Effects and Plugins: Hi, I'm Bennett and welcome back to Logic Pro X basics from first steps to your first track. Today, we're going to be exploring how to add some effects and plug ins to your tracks on Logic Pro. We'll cover essential effects like EQ and reverb and understanding the mixer's functionality and also learn about channel strips and sends. By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to enhance your tracks with professional sounding effects. So let's get started. Now, effects are crucial for shaping your sound. So let's start with EQ, which means equalization and reverb, which are the two most common tools in music production. So EQ allows you to control the frequency balance of your track, making it brighter or darker or more defined. Select a track and open the channel strip in the inspector. Click on an empty insert slot and go to EQ, channel EQ and select it. This is the channel EQ, where you can boost or cut specific frequencies. For example, let's boost the high end to add some brightness. To reset the EQ to zero, use option and click on any EQ point. Now let's move on to reverb. Now, reverb creates some sense of space and depth, so let's add some to our track. Like what we just did with the EQ, click on an empty Insert slot, go to reverb and then space designer. Space Designer is a reverb plugin, and we can adjust the wet dry mix. A higher wet mix adds more reverb, while a higher dry mix keeps the original signal prominent. Try different reverb types and see how they affect the overall sound of your track. So let's explore the mixer some more. The mixer is where you control the volume, the pan, and the effects of each track. We can open the mixer by pressing X. Now here's the mixer. Each column represents a track with volume faders, pan knobs, and effect inserts. We can use the faders to adjust the volume of each track. For panning, we can use the pan knobs above the faders. Panning helps place sound in the stereo field. For example, we might pan a guitar to the left and a piano to the right for a wider mix. Let's quickly touch on channel strips. Channel strips are where you manage all the effects and settings for a track. So let's add some effects and explore some settings. So let's open a channel strip in the mixer, click on an empty insert slot to add an effect just like we did with the EQ and the reverb, and here we can stack multiple effects here, like compression, delay, and more. Now, the order of the effects matters, so experiment with different combinations. Sens let you apply an effect to multiple tracks without adding it individually to each one. Is really useful for effects like reverb or delay. In the mixer, click on a send slot in a track. Now we select a bus like Bus one. This creates an orcs track where you can add reverb or delay effect, and we can adjust the send level to control how much of the track signal is sent to the effect. And we can use these sends for effects you want to share across multiple tracks like the drum kit in the vocals. Now let's save our project. Go to File and Save or press Command S. Today, we covered how to add essential effects like EQ and reverb, navigate the mixer, and use channel strips and sends. These tools will really help you shape your sound and give you that professional touch. In the next lesson, we'll build on this by creating your first complete track. Until then keep experimenting. I'll see you in the next lesson. 6. Logic Pro X Basics: Recording Audio: Hi, I'm Bennett and welcome back to Logic Pro ex basics from first steps to your first track. In this lesson, we'll be covering how to start building your first track and Logic prox. We'll learn how to arrange sections like intro verse, chorus, and bridge. I'll be walking you through setting up your audio interface and your microphone and getting ready to record your audio track. Now before we jump into recording, we need to make sure that your audio interface and your microphone are set up correctly. You don't know what an audio interface is, let me explain it to you. An audio interface is a device that connects your computer to your external audio equipment, and these are things like microphones, instruments, and speakers. They provide a higher level sound quality, and most microphones actually require an audio interface. An audio interface has come with a pre amp and vantm power which helps the microphone work properly. Now, one that's perfectly fine. It's okay to record without one sometimes, but it does depend on what kind of recording that you're doing. If you want to improve the quality of your recording, investing in an audio interface is really worth it. So if you have an audio interface, let's set one up now. If you haven't already done so, connect the audio interface to your computer. Once connected, in the left corner, we press Logic Pro settings and Audio. In the devices tab, select your audio interface for both input and output. And if you don't have an audio interface, your USB microphone or your built in microphone will show up here as well. Set up your microphone. First, let's create a new audio track. We can do this quickly by pressing Option Command and N to bring up a new track dialog. We click on New Audio Track and click Create, and you should see your new audio track in the arrange window. Once you've connected your microphone to your audio interface, select the correct input channel for your mic in the input section of the audio preferences. That should be it. Now that your audio interface and your microphone is set up, let's start recording. Now, if you're ready to record, we can press the record button, or we can press R. And when you're done, press Spacebar to stop recording. Now before we build our first track, let's save the project. Go to File and Save or press Command S. So in today's lesson, we learned how to set up an audio interface, a microphone, and record your first audio track. In the next lesson, we'll build on this further and create your first complete track. But until then keep recording, keep experimenting, and I'll see you in the next lesson. 7. Logic Pro X Basics: Building Your First Track: Hi, everyone. I'm Bennett and welcome back to Logic Pro x basics from First Steps to your first track. So now that we've recorded some audio, it's time to arrange your track into sections like intro verse and chorus. So let's start thinking about the structure. A typical structure might include intro, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus, and Outro. So here's mine, for example. I have in my track intro, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus, Otra. You can do this easily by pressing Command C to copy and Command V to paste them into the appropriate sections. But feel free to do whatever you like. Some songs have a pre chorus, some songs have a post chorus. So songs don't have a bridge at all. Now let's talk about automation. Automation allows you to change the tracks parameters like the volume and the effects over time. It's a really great tool for changing the dynamics in a song. First, let's click on the automation button and the track header or we can press A to open the automation lanes. When the automation lane is open, select the volume from the drop down menu. Now click on the track and draw your automation points. For example, you might want to increase the volume during the chorus to make it more powerful. Also able to automate effects like EQ and reverb. So let's automate the reverb for the chorus. Let's add a reverb plug into the track if you haven't already, and then we can open its automation by selecting it from the automation lane. Here we can adjust the reverbs wet and dry mix or as SN level over time. Automation is a great way to make your song feel more alive in the more static sections. Once your track is arranged, automated, and mixed, we'll be able to export it, otherwise known as bouncing it. To export your project, go to file, bounce and project or section. Or we can press Control B. In the bounce window, select the file format you want, such as web or MP three. And here you can choose whether you want to export the full song or just a section of the track. And then we click Okay to export the track. Now for the last time, let's save our project. Go to File and Save or press Command S. You probably know that already. Congratulations on completing your first track. Today you learned how to arrange your song, automate volume and effects, and export your final track. Now, before I leave you to experiment further, I need to tell you there's no right or wrong ways to create music. The only right way is the way that works for you and your unique sound. So keep exploring, keep experimenting, and having fun with the process. The more you practice, the better you'll get, and the more confident you'll become in your abilities. And remember, every single producer and music artist has their own journey, so don't be afraid to make mistakes or take risks. And it's honestly where we really find our sound and develop our skills. But thank you for listening. I'm Bennett and make sure to check out my other music based courses. I'll see you then.