markno999

On closer look, your clip is Mono, your Channel setting is stereo. Try the above but you can also revert your channel setting to Mono and that may resolve the thinness. Again, your original levels in Mix 1 example are fine in the original mix, I wouldn't change them. You have other options that are much more manageable and won't mess with the sound you already have. Regards

David is right, sample 1 is mono and sample 2 is stereo guitar track so not an apples to apples comparison. Personally I have no problem slamming the channel levels pretty hard (not clipping) but harder than -18db that many "experts" recommend. IMHO,the Acoustic guitar track level in your original is fine, if you want to pull back the level to accomodate vocals, you have a number of options, 1) create a music submix bus and send everything not vocals there, you can always adjust the volume there, 2) create a guitar bus and adjust the volume or automation there. Then you preserve what you have accomplished on the individual channels. I have seen many pro mixes where the channel levels are set much higher than you hear is acceptable by the YouTube experts. Lastly, try changing your Pan to Stereo Pan rather than Balance (Red Arrow in attachment), that will add some body back into your Stereo bounce (sample 2). Right Click the Pan Knob, select Stereo Pan. It is currently set to Balance. Regards

Try Settings/Audio/Processing Threads to High Performance rather than Automatic.

Try the SpeakEasy Kit that comes with the Logic Drummer, IMHO it has a much better brush sound than the Legacy Kits. Also 2 Logic Drummers are specific to the kit, Austin (County Vibe) and Tyrell (Pop and Jazzy) so some nice MIDI options as well. Regards

Here's a direct link to the video mentioned above. I see above I only linked to the article.

True, which is how a mono track behaves in Logic as well, which only adds to the mystery as to why they switch to Balance mode when going to a Stereo Aux, Bus, etc.. Should be, that would be terrific. Is that still a thing? Funny. Regards

Very true statement. Fortunately there is no need for anyone to test these theories if they have already been tested:) I am really a little at a loss as to why Apple's Default is Balance, not Stereo Pan. I worked with Logic for many years before noticing this was even a thing. It adds a confusing element for people that may be new to Logic if they are used to a traditional Stereo Pan behavior, i.e. "why does my stereo track sound so thin when I Pan it?" Chris does a fantastic job describing the not so nuanced differences between the options. Regards

OP asked, "Does Pro Tools sound better than Logic?" One suggested difference in "quality" or result was Pan vs Balance control. Logic defaults to Balance Control on Stereo Tracks or Stereo Bus, not stereo Pan. ProTools default mode is true Stereo Pan. In this video below, Chris at Why Logic Pro Rules presents the differences between Balance (Logic Default) and true Stereo Pan Control further demonstrating the differences with audio examples. I mentioned above my own experience with a ProTools session sounding massively different than a Logic session using the exact same template settings, until figuring out that Pan vs Balance was the only difference. Correcting the setting resulted in both sessions sounding identical. The #1 Logic Pro Mistake When Panning Stereo Tracks https://whylogicprorules.com/balance-vs-pan-stereo-tracks/ Regards

Fix for this until PA corrects their installer. Open Plugin Alliance Manager / On the Build Your installer Page select Download/Install option / under Filter by: select only AU, under Select Products choose SPL- Transient Designer Plus. You will see a 22.1MB file, select Download and Install. This should work, it worked on my system. I noticed when you have all Filter Options selected, AAX/AU/VST/VST the Transient Designer Plus AU does briefly show up in the plugins Component directory but when the installer completes the file disappears. Must be some cleanup programming error. For whatever reason installing only the AU seems to work. Anyway, it is a temp work-around so you can use your plugin. Regards

Same, must be a bug with the PA installer. Didn't notice it was missing until seeing your post. Also tried re-installing and though it shows downloading AU there is no SPL Transient Designer installed for AU or VST. Only VST3 and AAX installs. I would recommend reporting via PluginAlliance. Regards

As Sunbrother shows above, the stock Logic Compressor will get you in the ballpark of the T-Rack Classic Clipper and other vanilla type Clippers. I know you are trying to reduce 3rd party plugins, not increase, however you should check out Flatline2 by Submission Audio. It is not only a great Clipper but also has Limiter and Hybrid mode. As a producer, the Hybrid mode give you a combination of clipping and limiting with very precise envelope controls. The result is I find myself using less processing at the track level when going into the Clipper. It makes your tracks pop in a great way. Super powerful tool. For question by RaC above, why not put all that signal into Limiter. Limiters and compression push all signal down that is below the peak threshold you have set. Ex, a crash or snare hit engages the compressor or limiter on a drum bus, any other drums that may hit at the same time will also be reduced in level, where a Clipper just shaves off the peak and leaves everything else alone. Same idea on a mix bus. Clipping peaks allows you get get louder and punchier mixes and is a common tool used for this purpose. Regards

Good question, they probably left it that way because it was long the Default when there was no other option? As you say, at the least it should there should be a choice in Preferences menu. I suspect older projects mixed in Balanced Mode would open with that Balanced setting, or, perhaps that is the problem? Good question for the Devs. IMHO, it is not a good default to lock in. Regards

I don't think anyone in this thread has actually suggested or supported that PT sounds better than Logic except the reference in the OP post about Ryan Tedder's opinion from his Master Class, which was posed as a question by the OP. These null tests have been argued Ad infinitum. I think the real point in this thread is the one Des started, which is 100% valid and testable. How could PT and Logic mixes sound different if everything is equal? If you compare default PT stereo pan behavior (True Stereo Pan) to default Logic Pro pan behavior (Balance Control Pan) the differences are vast. Take and in-phase stereo guitar track with True Stereo panning all the way right or left and then compare to an in-phase Balance Control pan. True Stereo pan is full, punchy and loud. Balance Control pan is thinner, weaker, and softer. True Stereo Pan moves the whole stereo track image to whichever side you are panning to, while Balance Control Pan simply reduces the level on whichever side you are panning away from. Huge difference in behavior and explains why this perception even exists between PT and Logic. Also the reason many Logic Pro audio mixers of the past used the Direction Mixer, or other Pan Utilities on their tracks to mimic this PT true stereo panning behavior prior to Logic Pro having the native feature. I guarantee if you do a null test on a stereo track with default pan settings in PT and Logic Pro, and make any changes to the pan direction you will not hear silence. Mono yes, they will will null out, but not Stereo if you make any changes to pan direction. Now, if you change the default Logic Balance Control Pan to Stereo Pan they will null as well unless you start messing around with the White handles described in Dr.Socrates post above. So I don't think any serious person would conclude PT "sounds better' than Logic Pro, rather, they might ask whether there reasons why a particular PT configuration or setting would sound different or perceived as better than Logic. In this case, I believe the answer is that for most people the Stereo Pan setting in Logic is going to give them the result they are looking for. I have changed all my Logic Pro templates to Stereo Panning for this reason. Balance Control panning (default Logic setting) is great for a stereo piano track where maybe the piano players hand is a little heavy on the right or left hand and you want to pan to balance out the levels(WhyLogicProRules video uses this scenario as an example )and how Logic's default pan behavior would be more advantageous than Stereo pan to correct this type of problem. I do also prefer Balance Control pan on Orchestral tracks, but any pop, rock, country, etc.. always defaulting to Stereo Pan these days. Regards

You just need to increase the Tempo track width. If you narrow the tempo width the numbers disappear. Use the White Crosshairs to change only the Tempo Track width, use the Black Crosshairs to change the width of everything in the Global Header view (Arrangement, Marker, Signature, Tempo). These (2) crosshair tools change depending on whether you are pointing your mouse on the line or above the line. See attached.

Went down this rabbit hole and Des is correct, Panning is the difference. Not Pan Laws (both DAWs are -3db by default) but Pan behavior. Long story short, created an "Identical" mix template in Logic Pro and PT. PT mix sounded better with exact same plugins, plugin settings, panning, levels, etc... PT mix sounded fuller, louder, more midrange and punch, and overall better. Looked at whether AAX plugins were superior, broke down routing paths but could find no differences until finally discovering the difference kind of by accident, pan behavior. Mono Tracks pan exactly the same in PT and Logic, however, Stereo Tracks do not. By default, Logic panning on Stereo Tracks is a balance control, not a true stereo pan. This makes a difference on how levels are treated and how they are perceived - you can easily test for yourself. Load an Apple Audio or MIDI Loop and play with the pan knob in both Balance Mode and Stereo Pan and you can hear the difference and it isn't subtle. I think Apple introduced Stereo Pan feature around 2018 or so. Back to long story above, changed panning to Stereo Pan in Logic Pro template, now PT and Logic template mixes sound identical. Chris from Why Logic Pro Rules explains here: https://whylogicprorules.com/true-stereo-panning/ Regards