Apple Logic Express 9 - Manual (Page 23)

Mixing also entails the use of audio effects, which change, enhance, or suppress particular
song components, adding up to a unified and polished final product. Logic Express
features numerous effects that can be used to turn your basic song into a professionally
finished project.
Logic Express allows you to record, or automate, changes you make to track, instrument,
and effect parameters, such as volume, pan, filters, and other controls. This can be done
in real time or offline with the mouse or an external MIDI device. These changes play back
when you play the project, and can be edited independently of the musical material. This
is very useful for a number of reasons:
• You can only adjust one level or setting of a playback track, if using the computer
mouse. The ability to record and play back multiple adjustments of all track elements
allows for a sophisticated mix.
• Performances are rarely consistent. For example, a vocalist will often sing louder or
softer during different sections of his or her performance, so you may need to even
out these level changes over the course of the song, or to balance the soft and loud
vocal sections against the musical backing.
• Song dynamics (the loud and soft sections of a song) benefit from animation. In other
words, building the intensity of a song section can often be achieved by gradual or
immediate level changes. Songs that are of a consistent level throughout tend to sound
flat and lifeless.
Stage 5: Exporting and Bouncing
The final step of the Logic Express music creation process is exporting your final product.
Logic Express allows you to produce a stereo file of your completed mix in a variety of
audio file formats. You can also produce several stem files, formatted for most common
Surround encoding schemes. You do this in the Bounce window; simply choose the
desired outcome(s) in the available menus and click the onscreen Bounce button. You
can even burn a stereo mix directly to a CD or DVD, or create an MP3, with one simple
step.
Understanding the Basics of Projects and Regions
This section will provide you with an introduction to the basic elements and terminology
of a Logic Express project. Detailed, step-by-step instructions on working with projects,
regions, and events are provided in later chapters.
Understanding the Basics of Projects
You start working in Logic Express by creating a project, or opening an existing one. This
is similar to using a word-processing application that requires a document to be opened
before you can begin typing. Logic Express, like word processors, also allows you to have
multiple documents (projects) open at the same time, and transfer media and other data
between them.
23 Chapter 1 Introducing Logic Express