Apple Logic Pro /LogicExpress Discussion

There is an article/interview on Apple's site about BT and his use of Logic 
and other stuff to make his new CD. Nothing earth shaking but a few interesting 
ideas.
http://www.apple.com/pro/profiles/bt/


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> There is an article/interview on Apple's site about BT and his use  
> of Logic
> and other stuff to make his new CD. Nothing earth shaking but a few  
> interesting
> ideas.
> http://www.apple.com/pro/profiles/bt/

Interesting, although some of these "interviews" read like paid  
sponsorship to me.
"I�ve paid hundreds of dollars for plug-in compressors and spent  
thousands of dollars on outboard compressors and the Logic compressor  
sounds better than all of them.�"

I'm sorry, but whilst Logic's compressor is good for what it is there  
is not an engineer on the planet that will say it is better than a  
Summit DCL200, Red3,  Purple Audio MC77 or the GML8900.
I call bullshit.

Interesting to see he has dropped TDM.

James

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He uses everything. I have an article from few months ago where he said he is 
using mainly AMD Windows machines and they were the coolest. He was edorsing 
so many things that they use the same photo. There was one magazine where its 
the same photo of him on one page for a software endorsement then on the next 
page for a mic endorsement - but in the second picture the used photoshop to 
put a mic in front of him in the same photo. 

As for his beat tweeker, we'll see what it is, but with a combination of 
Abelton Live and strip silence in Logic you can get prettty much any change you 
need.


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On Sep 10, 2006, at 1:35 AM, James Richmond wrote:

> Interesting, although some of these "interviews" read like paid
> sponsorship to me.
> "I�ve paid hundreds of dollars for plug-in compressors and spent
> thousands of dollars on outboard compressors and the Logic compressor
> sounds better than all of them.�"
>
> I'm sorry, but whilst Logic's compressor is good for what it is there
> is not an engineer on the planet that will say it is better than a
> Summit DCL200, Red3,  Purple Audio MC77 or the GML8900.
> I call bullshit.

He might be talking just about the plug-ins / hardware that he  
himself has purchased, not all compressors everywhere. Such things  
are subjective. I will say that Logic's compressor plug is rather  
excellent for a free "built in" plug.
---
Mibrilane





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I will say that Logic's compressor plug is rather  
> excellent for a free "built in" plug.
> ---
> Mibrilane


I might be doing sth wrong, but I do not agree with that either. It 
might be better if I stated it in the form of a question which I have 
been wondering about anyway about the native Logic compressor in 
Logic Pro 6.

Normally when one has a channel that is low the compressor can bring 
it louder. This happens because the dynamic range is reduced and 
therefore the average volume of the channel can be brought up, sth 
that is done automatically by Logic. Therefore when one has a channel 
which is just clipping at one little peak, one would expect to be 
able to put on a compressor and get louder average signal without the 
clipping. However what always happens is that when you do that it 
clips much more and you need to bring the volume of the whole channel 
down, which defeats the purpose. I was very curious about how other 
users use the compressor because I have a piece where this is causing 
me real problems with my main output which is clipping just because 
of a single channel which I cannot afford to have lower (the main 
bass line). I went to another ProTools studio and used the 
Rennaisance Waves compressor and it was wonderful, doing exactly what 
it is supposed to. What do you guys think? Any comments/ideas?

> He might be talking just about the plug-ins / hardware that he
> himself has purchased, not all compressors everywhere. Such things
> are subjective. I will say that Logic's compressor plug is rather
> excellent for a free "built in" plug.
> ---
> Mibrilane

BT has access to pretty much everything.
He worked with DJ Sasha- who I did some sound design/guitar stuff for  
a while back- who also has had an enormous outboard  collection over  
the years.
Whilst this is speculation on my part I am pretty sure he has access  
to some of these tools.

JR



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BT seems to be a positive fellow who gives glowing reveiws of everything - 
from Macs to PCs, etc. 

I liked Waves Renaisance compressor too - the graphics especially are nice to 
see when things are working. But as I mentioned before they are expensive and 
quite a hassle to install. My system has turned unstable lately and I wonder 
if Waves are the cause. Their multi-tap echo is really well done though.


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On Sep 11, 2006, at 3:59 PM, iraklis_l wrote:

> Normally when one has a channel that is low the compressor can bring
> it louder. This happens because the dynamic range is reduced and
> therefore the average volume of the channel can be brought up, sth
> that is done automatically by Logic. Therefore when one has a channel
> which is just clipping at one little peak, one would expect to be
> able to put on a compressor and get louder average signal without the
> clipping. However what always happens is that when you do that it
> clips much more and you need to bring the volume of the whole channel
> down, which defeats the purpose. I was very curious about how other
> users use the compressor because I have a piece where this is causing
> me real problems with my main output which is clipping just because
> of a single channel which I cannot afford to have lower (the main
> bass line). I went to another ProTools studio and used the
> Rennaisance Waves compressor and it was wonderful, doing exactly what
> it is supposed to. What do you guys think? Any comments/ideas?

Sounds to me like you need a limiter on the channel that is clipping.

Actually, you could accomplish the same thing by doing some volume  
automation at the point of the peak.

If you're clipping at all in a channel, you need to fix the part that  
is clipping first. I'm assuming the clipping isn't in the actual  
waveform, since you say it sounds fine through the Waives  
Renaissance. I'm not familiar with that one, but I'd wager that it is  
a limiting compressor and thus capable of limiting out the clipping  
part before compressing everything, and that's why it sounds ok  
there. Just put a limiter in the slot before your compressor on that  
channel and limit out the clipping.

Take my suggestions with a grain of salt, 'cause I'm not a mixing  
engineer, just a tinkering hobbyist. But, that's fairly standard  
dynamics control. :D
---
Mibrilane





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--- In Logic_Cafe@yahoogroups.com, GAmoore@... wrote:
> I liked Waves Renaisance compressor too - the graphics especially are 
nice to see when things are working. But as I mentioned before they are 
expensive and quite a hassle to install. My system has turned unstable 
lately and I wonder if Waves are the cause. Their multi-tap echo is 
really well done though.


Could very well be the case mate - went through the same hell when 
trying out a copy of Waves Diamond in the summer. Everything stopped 
recognizing my main driver so most of my instruments/effects would be 
inactive (with a line crossing through the box that holds them). Had to 
delete everything Waves on my system , whioch then caused ither 
problems with maxMSP installation becasue somehow they used the same 
Interlock Key from Pace. I personally like Waves al ot especially for 
dynamics, but this unstable thing can be a real pain....

iraklis

In a message dated 9/12/06 7:03:44 AM, iraklis.lampropoulos@... writes:

> I personally like Waves al ot especially for
> dynamics, but this unstable thing can be a real pain....
> 

Well you can hit "command S" to save often, but it really hurts to lose an 
hour's work by a Logic crash. 


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From: "iraklis_l" iraklis.lampropoulos@... iraklis_l:

>>  Logic's Compressor plug is rather excellent for a free "built-in" plug..

>  I might be doing sth wrong, but I do not agree with that..

>  Normally when one has a channel that is low the compressor can bring it
>  louder. This happens because the dynamic range is reduced and therefore
>  the average volume of the channel can be brought up, sth that is done
>  automatically by Logic. Therefore when one has a channel which is just
>  clipping at one little peak, one would expect to be able to put on a
>  compressor and get louder average signal without the clipping. However
>  what always happens is that when you do that it clips much more & you need
>  to bring the volume of the whole channel down, which defeats the purpose..

Hi.. Couple of points..

- If a signal is "just clipping at one little peak", then a Limiter 
would be a better choice than a compressor (try Logic's Limiter 
plugin).. On the other hand, if you want to reduce overall dynamic 
range as well as controlling occasional peaks, then use of a 
compressor would be appropriate (see below)..

- As you noted, Logic's Compressor automatically applies makeup gain, 
but this is not a necessary feature, and in my experience Logic Comp 
almost always applies too much.. To control make-up gain manually (as 
with most traditional compressors), simply turn off the auto-makeup 
gain button (it's below the makeup gain slider on the right). Then 
compress to taste and manually increase the make-up gain to bring up 
the quieter parts (Btw, this is how the Renaissance Compressor works, 
you apply make-up gain manually)..

- Doing the above may still not control stray transient peaks 
(depending on the compressor's Attack settings) - if any stray peaks 
keep you from advancing the gain as much as you'd like, you can also 
limit the signal at that point..

- Logic's Compressor also has an additional built-in limiter - it can 
be accessed by clicking the "additional controls" button on the 
plugin (upper left).. There are controls for limiter in/out and 
soft/hard knee..

>  I .. used the Waves Rennaisance Compressor and it was wonderful..

Personally, I like the Renaissance Compressor too (I find it fast and 
easy to get the processing I want), but Logic's Compressor, while 
different, is also very good (though a bit more finicky, IMO).. You 
should be able to accomplish what you want with it easily enough..

-- 
Cheers, Joe Albano
ROOFTOP PRODUCTIONS NYC NY
Music Production  : http://www.rooftopproductions.com
Freelance/Consult : http://www.rooftopproductions.com/Consulting.html