DEMusic

I use the waveform zoom, but sometimes quiet files are still quite small, that's the problem.

No. Thanks Jordito I assume you meant if I enable normalize I won't have to use the gain feature? Normalization seems to be a bit of a problem for this use though. See I want to keep not only my gain structure in the mix, but also the level at which the audio file is going into it's channel strip plugins (I often remove the sidechain compressor I have on the track, and re-apply it after bouncing in place, as that's a big committment) intact, so as to avoid any changes in compression, etc, after I beef up the waveforms. The problem with normalizing is, I don't know exactly how much the volume was amped up in the file, so it's hard to compensate back down with the mixer. Whereas if I increase gain in sample editor by 20db, I just trim the channel by 20db, or trim it's first plugin by 20db, whichever makes more sense.

Does the Sample Editor's "Change Gain" feature change or degrade the sound you process in any way besides volume? I've been running into a problem for a while now in Logic where regions/audio files that I process and bounce in place are quite low in amplitude, and it's very hard to see much of the waveform in a big session without zooming in and out a lot. It seems as though I can render files out once more using the sample editor's change gain feature to amp up the waveform (compensating by lowering the channel strip's volume after), and just want to make sure I'm not going to end up with artifacts or weird stuff later on.

Yup, they're still in the arrange window- they look exactly how they did before color wise, but there's just no audio in the waveform display. Just a blank region. And yeah they're still in the bin as well, with the ! next to them noting that they can't be found. Record path is set to the project folder, audio files folder. Thanks for your help ski!

Right, I was just saying that because the recordings have always been in the project folder. That's why it's so odd that they were selected for deletion. In theory yes, but not really. Basically the way a lot of electro and pop is done these days is by using a VI for a synth, tweaking it to get things sounding good (incredibly minute things like note length down to a ms or two can change the whole groove), then bouncing it to audio and manipulating it quite a bit further from there. You chop the audio up, move parts around, use logic's fade tools, region gain parameters, nudge slices around by a few ticks here and there, then re-render. You get the idea. I've now got to go back and do all that work again. A lot of these re-bounced and manipulated files were the ones lost. It seems odd to me that Logic would do this but I guess the files are lost.

None of it is recorded...I do electronic music and I haven't used vocals in this session yet so it's all drum/sound samples and rendered AU instruments that are audio in the arrange page. The samples are technically somewhere else on my HD sure, but that's not the version logic is using. I always set my projects so all imported audio files are copied to the local project folder. The samples are replaceable, but what is beyond frustrating is that logic decided to delete a few rendered AU instruments that I had literally spent hours tweaking parameters of, and then processing further. Again, these were all active regions in the arrange page. You mention that you did not empty the Trash but did you look in the Trash to see if the missing files are there? I did, and that's where things get weird. There are a lot of files from the session- the ones I wanted deleted (old unused drum samples, etc)- sitting in the trash right where they should be. Only for some reason, about 15-20 audio files, including a few I really need, are not in the trash, missing in the session, and no longer in the project audio folder. Been using logic 5 years and I've never had this happen before.

I'm working on a pretty large project right now and decided to use the clean up feature cause I had quite a few unused audio files (over 100) in the session. I've used this feature many times before with no problem. For some reason in this project- even though I always have Logic copy all audio files to the project folder, they are not referenced somewhere else on the HD- Logic decided to delete several critical audio files that are in the arrange page!! I have not emptied the trash or deleted anything, but I cannot find several important files. Is there anywhere Logic may have put these or any way to get them back!??

This seems to happen with a number of third party plugins- the particular session I'm running right now is using True Pianos, but again it seems to be a gain or volume issue, even though I have a very low mix level in logic and limiters where they are needed. I also don't actually know for sure it's only a 3rd party thing...I rarely use Logic plugs so that may be why it seems only 3rd party. It also happens with DMG Audio Compassion, as I said normally when the autogain is switched on so there's a burst of louder audio (although not anything level wise that should trigger something like this). I asked Apogee and they have no idea, of course..

This may also help...this is what my Duet 2 mixer looks like when this happens, yikes. Note their is no white noise blast or continual sound after the brief pop, just this meter overload.

I'm having a problem in LP 9.1.5 that seems to be happening more and more often to me, and it does seem to only involve 3rd party plugins.. Basically what happens is, it seems like a channel will overload heavily, and hit some sort of hidden internal limiter in Logic, after which all audio is dead and I have to restart the core audio driver to be able to run the session again. What's odd is this is not an overload issue, as far as I can tell, because I have the "Display Audio Overload" option checked in preferences, and it's not popping up. To be specific, it sounds like a very harsh pop/click through my speakers (even though I have my gain staging well setup, and limiters on both the channel and master), and then all audio is gone. I can press play and run the session but there's literally no audio. And it seems oddly level related- I've had this problem both with 3rd party synths, when editing and selecting multiple notes in the piano roll (so you get many notes playing at once- loud) and also with DMG Audio Compassion (compressor), when I overload the soft limiter accidentally, or auto gain goes too loud.

thanks man!

After years of working with MIDI for programming drums I'm now doing everything by manipulating audio samples in Logic's arrange window. I'm sure there's an easy way to do this but I've never worked with live drums in logic so I don't know where to look.. So let's say I program a hi hat line using samples and using the nudge feature, I move some of the hits off the quantized 1/16 or whatever grid by a few ms. Now I want to double that hi hat line with a second sample, but i want to maintain the timing movements I've made to the first. Is there a way to tell Logic to time align the hits on the second track to the first? Thanks!

Ok there's a few things I think you need clarification on. First off- no, you should NOT normalize tracks on export. Normalizing is not good when applied to a whole mix. Some of the more experienced ME's on the board like Holger can explain this better but AFAIK, it can really mess with your tracks overall balance and frequency content. Second, is there a reason you're giving yourself 3 db of headroom AFTER the master? The point of mastering, among other things, is to be the final step in the chain and prevent digital overs eg over 0db, and to maximize loudness (how loud varies depending on genre obviously). Most modern masters output at -.5db to -.1db. There's no reason to give yourself headroom after ozone unless you are sending it to a mastering engineer- in which case you really shouldn't be using ozone in the first place, aside maybe from some gentle excitement/reverb/eq. If you're pressing to vinyl I may need correction here, as I've never done so, but for digital/cd masters you should be using almost all if not all available headroom. Ok third, do you understand RMS levels? As someone else noted, RMS is what the perceived loudness of your track will be. It's quite different from where your track is peaking at. For a conservatively loud modern master, RMS usually hovers around -12db. In house, which I produce, we have people putting out singles now with RMS at -5 (totally insane). The point is, if trying to tie together all tracks on the CD at the same volume, they should all be limited to -.3 or so (using the limiter in ozone- and select yes if there's an option to make sure no inter-sample peaks escape the limiter), and then you have to use the RMS meter to figure out how hard each track is actually being pushed into the limiter and how loud it sounds. If you want the CD to sound coherent, then use about the same RMS level for the peak of every track.

FWIW I've had this happen on many projects that max out my computer's resources. The issue is always fixable by just disabling the core audio driver in Audio Preferences, then saving the project, then quitting and reopening logic and clicking the driver on again. In my experience it means Logic is really pushing too close to it's ram ceiling in 32 bit

Working excellent here, in fact Logic seems a bit snappier and smoother on my 2011 3.4 i7 IMac. I have loads of plugins from big and small developers and have had only one problem so far- Rob Papen's SubBoomBass for some reason is crashing validation. Everything else is good!