RolandFan

It's the synth at 0:22 (and repeating throughout the track). I am not sure exactly what it is doing. First there is the stutter pattern. Then it also seems like there is a pitch drop at the end. Can someone give me an idea of how to create something like this?

I had never heard of AppNap before. Thanks for that. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear to be my issue as Logic has the Prevent AppNap box checked and greyed out.

Sorry - forgot to include that I'm on Mavericks.

I just got my new mac mini, 2.3Ghz i7 quad core, 16gb RAM, 512GB SSD and installed Logic 9 (which is updated to the latest version of 9). Sometimes when I press the spacebar in a project, I get a beachball for a couple of seconds before playback begins. Are there settings or preferences which might be causing this that I could tweak? It is a brand spanking new computer that is only used for Logic, so memory, HD space, CPU capacity can't be an issue. It's not the worst issue ever, but it can get annoying. Hopefully someone has an idea what is going on and can help me.

I ended up going with the mac mini because I like the form factor better. It's 2.3Ghz quad core i7 with 16GB RAM and a 512GB SSD. I think it will be more than adequate for me. I plan to stick with Logic 9 for now because of all the 32 bit plugins I use and to avoid spending another $200 on top of the computer costs. Now I am dreading having to prep the new computer and reinstall all of the software and plugins.

I'm not wedded to the Pro form factor. I was thinking of going with a 2012 Mac Mini with 2.3ghz i7 CPU and 16GB of RAM. Is that better than a 2010 Mac Pro?

I'm running Logic 9.1.8. My computer is a Mac Pro with 2x2.66 Dual Core Xeon processors and 8GB Ram. The main drive is a 640gb HD with 187GB available. Samples and projects are stored on separate internal drives. Certain processes like saving and timestretching can take an unusually long time. Even on a new project with just a few tracks and no plugins. Is my mac at the end of its useful life?

If you are working with the original track - the tempo is 170BPM. The staccato nature of the vocals will work in your favor because there is less vibrato and pitch variation. I would always go to Melodyne first, but that's just a personal preference. Give it a try just using Flex Time in Logic to do the stretch for you. I would start in monophonic, but you can experiment with the algorithms. Try stretching down from 170 to 128 vs. up from 85 to 128. It can also help to stretch the vocal in smaller bits - like 4 bars at a time instead of trying to stretch the entire file in one go. Then take a listen and use tricks like splicing in bits and pieces from the original, or chopping up words and nudging them on the timeline a bit. Every vocal is a different challenge and you just have to experiment to see what works. The Creamer and K remix is at 134BPM so that should give you a good idea of how your final product should sound. As for the reverb if it is mainly on the right side, then you can get rid of it using mid/side processing.

I've done it a million times as remixer, and I can tell you that it will be very difficult to get satisfactory results without a lot of manual work. 85BPM to 128BPM is a huge stretch. 20-25% is about the limit of decent timestretching and you're trying to go about twice that. Melodyne, flexpitch and other algorithms can handle the main stretch for you, but you will have a lot of unwanted artifacts and odd sounding vibrato. Sometimes it helps to stretch down to half-time before stretching up to the ultimate tempo. So in your case go from 85 to 64, then 64 to 128. It doesn't always give better results but it can. Then once you have a stretched vocal,chop it up so that all the weird artifacts and vibratos (mostly at the ends of phrases) can be removed. Then replace those parts will the corresponding parts from the original vocal and crossfade the regions until they sound good. You will be going word by word and syllable by syllable through the vocal. It is extremely tedious and time consuming work but it is really the only way to get a good vocal when the tempo difference is that great.

IN the past 6 or 7 years, I've seen remix contests from Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera, and a couple other big name artists, but by and large the record labels never really seemed to embrace the idea of putting their tracks out for remixing. I remember there was a site that was wrorking with the labels to try to distribute (for sale) stems for remxing - kind of like an itunes for remix stems but it seems they were unsuccessful as the site went down a few years ago. I'm guessing it has to do with the publishing and royalty issues, which would be complicated, but I am curious why more top artists (or their labels) haven't embraced fan remixing.

Sounds to me like an LFO modulating the amp with some automation to increase the LFO rate over time. Then just use hyperdraw to draw in the pitch bend.

I duplicate my kick track and set the duplicate track to "No Output". Then I put a compressor on the Sweep that is sidechained to the duplicate kick. Every time the kick hits, the compressor ducks the sweep and creates the effect.

If you do a google search for the song you want and "midi file", you might find what you need. E.g. "Jewel Standing Still MIDI file" You woud then import these files into Logic and set up the instrumentation that you wanted.

I think it is not clear what you are asking. If i had to guess, you are referring to sidechaining your kick to the sweep so that the sweep "pumps". Is that what you are after? If you could clarify what you mean, I'd be happy to help, and I'm sure many others would be as well.

Many ways to handle this. Which you choose depends on how you want to develop your track. You could: -Open the low pass filter on the bass a little more to let in more higher frequency content. -double the bass part with a different sound that has more content in a higher frequency range (shelving out the low end if it conflicts with your bass sound). -use your favorite distortion plugin to add some higher frequency content to your bass. -choose a new bass sound that works better -use EQ to boost whatever midrange frequencies are in your sound. I'm sure others can come up with several more options. Again, which you choose depends on what works in your track.