Gtrmatic

Thank you David and des99. I really appreciate the assistance and your patience. I will ponder these concepts based on your responses. Thanks again. gtrmatic

Thanks for your quick responses! I think I need to rephrase my question. I totally get the gain vs absolute level measurements as shown by, respectively, the fader and the meter. When you Google the term “decibel” an array of measurements come up: dBu, dBV, dBSPL, dBfs, to name a few. The term “decibel” by itself seems meaningless in many respects. In Logic, when we refer to “decibels” on a fader is dBfs implied? I know it’s dBfs on the meter. Also, I know that the fader can adjust the gain of a signal and that the adjustment is shown in “decibels”. Are these decibels considered a “dimensionless quantity” because they don’t correlate to a physical occurrence such as voltage, sound pressure level,etc. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimensionless_quantity#:~:text=A dimensionless quantity (also known,which is not explicitly shown. Thanks again! Much appreciated! Gtrmatic

Greetings, Despite having scoured the internet and several books, I still grapple with basic concepts regarding Logic’s faders. One issue involves the term “dB” used in relation to the fader. For example, someone may say I increased the fader “by 3 dB”. To me this means that such changes to the fader increase the amplitude of the signal. Also, dB in this context is not an absolute measure. However, when the fader is increased by 3 dB, what exactly does the 3 dB increase on the fader signify? Is it just a measure of the digital headroom that will be used up (and reflected in the meter)? What do the numbers on the fader signify? Normally, when I see a meter with numbers I associate these with some representation of an underlying physical or digital quantity. My understanding is that the term dB, by itself, is meaningless unless associated with some point of reference, e.g. dBu, dBV, dBfs, etc. In Logic, is it correct to simply say “dB” with no point of reference? On the faders, is dBfs implied? I’ve read that all the measurements pertaining to dB inside the DAW are in dBfs since it’s a digital environment. Assuming this is the case again what is the significance of the numbers on the fader? Are they just for convenience? I apologize for the numerous questions but I really want to resolve these fundamental issues. Thanks in advance for your guidance. It is greatly appreciated. Gtrmatic

Okay, thanks again! This is very helpful!

Thanks for your quick response! Greatly appreciated! Mainly, I just wanted to see if this is a reasonable approach to a situation where I don’t have copies of my original logic at purchase time and also past updates. I know now it’s important to keep copies of each release but I don’t have them. I feel that my logic performance may be at risk as I can’t go back to an earlier version due to time machine unreliability and a lack of earlier version backups. I was wondering if it is just more prudent and safer to “jump ahead”, so to speak, to the latest Logic and Monterey versions and start over using a new time machine external drive going forward. Is it reasonable to expect that the most recent versions available i.e. logic from the App Store and current Monterey version are compatible? I know it’s a big process but I feel I made a mess of things. Thanks again! Your guidance is greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your quick response! Greatly appreciated! Mainly, I just wanted to see if this is a reasonable approach to a situation where I don’t have copies of my original logic at purchase time and also past updates. I know now it’s important to keep copies of each release but I don’t have them. I feel that my logic performance may be at risk as I can’t go back to an earlier version due to time machine unreliability and a lack of earlier version backups. I was wondering if it is just more prudent and safer to “jump ahead”, so to speak, to the latest Logic and Monterey versions and start over using a new time machine external drive going forward. Is it reasonable to expect that the most recent versions available i.e. logic from the App Store and current Monterey version are compatible? I know it’s a big process but I feel I made a mess of things. Thanks again! Your guidance is greatly appreciated.

I'm trying to get out of the weeds after a week of reading and trying to simplify things. I'll try to summarize things as best I can and apologize if I've missed existing guidance already out there. Firstly, I purchased a new Mac mini in summer of 2020 and everything went reasonably well (except for the interface). In System Preferences, I made sure to check the box to NOT do OS upGRADES, so my OS remained in Catalina the entire time. However, my system did install upDATES to Catalina and Logic during this time. I started using time machine about a year later in June of 2021, changing to a new time machine external drive in October, 2021. As a result, I missed backups for portions of 2020 and the first half of 2021 (I was entirely focused on backing up my 2 projects and not on the importance of version history). I’ve since reconfigured “Software Updates” in Preferences so that it will no longer install Logic and Catalina updates and upgrades. However, I don’t have copies of all prior Logic and Catalina versions since my time machine backups have not been continuous. Everything seems to be working okay but I can’t seem to access backups from my time machine external drives. I get a message about permissions. Also, there seem to be other issues possibly stemming from my bad choice of syncing projects to Dropbox. Finally, I’d like to switch my interface from the Apollo Twin to another manufacturer. Where I’m going with this is I feel like there is just a lot of residual crap that needs to be cleaned out. The buggieness of my time machine backups has me concerned. As a result, I’m asking myself this question: It is reasonable to just wipe the disk and do a clean install of the OS, this time to the latest version of Monterey? I’d prefer to start over again with a clean machine if this makes sense. For the Logic Pro application, should I then also install the latest version of Logic? I presume the latest versions of Logic and Monterey would play reasonably nice together. I want to use an entirely new LaCie hard drive for time machine and also start Carbon Copy Cloner. Also, as mentioned, I want to get a different interface. Are the above actions similar to getting a new computer with the obvious difference being that my Mac mini was purchased in 2020? I presume the latest versions would run smoothly on this machine since it’s still pretty new. All advice and guidance is greatly appreciated. Sorry if I’m asking any foolish questions. Gtrmatic

Very helpful information. Thanks again, I appreciate it. I’ve used wetransfer a few times. No complaints.

Thanks so much David and Triplets! I appreciate your getting back so soon and your countless other forum posts. Are there any good options for backing up Logic projects offsite? I used Backblaze for a few years but it seemed designed more for long term archival purposes. Any applications for offsite storage that play nice with Logic? Thanks again.

Greetings Logic Pro Community, After searching in various forums and internet searches I would like to clarify a possible approach for using Dropbox for my Logic Pro offsite backup needs. It seems that most guidance focuses on Dropbox’s great utility as a file-sharing medium and this certainly seems true. However, I don’t have an urgent need for this aspect of its functionality. Rather, I’m seeking an offsite backup option in which the files can be accessed quickly. My main concern involves the sync feature. If I were to inadvertently delete a project from my hard drive or if it was deleted by a hacker, then Dropbox would reflect this deletion (assuming it was saved in the Dropbox folder). Hence, no offsite backup. As such, I thought the best way to employ Dropbox for offsite storage is to not sync the Logic folder (and related files) in the Dropbox folder. Rather, I would continue to save the projects on my hard drive within the Logic application, as was done before, and then periodically zip the project in Finder and move it to the Dropbox folder. I could turn off sync and then if the Dropbox folder was somehow deleted on my computer, the Logic project and associated files would still be available in the Dropbox cloud. I hope I’m not overthinking this. Perhaps there is a simpler and more elegant way to have offsite storage for my Logic project (and all related files). I do use an external hard drive for backup so this aspect of storage is being met. All advice and guidance is greatly appreciated. Thanks so much! Gtrmatic

Will do!

Thanks Bonebones for your prompt response and excellent guidance. I greatly appreciate your sharing levels that work well for you in real world applications. You saved me from going too extreme in one direction. I plan to incorporate these as guideposts in my workflow. I don’t think I’ll have to compress much with the limiter to stay in these levels, thus preserving the transients and dynamic range. Thanks again!

Greetings, I have recently completed a mix and have bounced it to a single audio file to be mastered in a separate project. Before bouncing the mix, I slapped a meter on the stereo bus of the mix and the LUFS level peaked at -15.2 LUFS-S. The true peak on the mix peaked at +.1 (not good, as it should not exceed 0). I applied a “brick wall” limiter during the mastering phase and set the limiter so the mix does not exceed -.2 true peak. Also, I used the limiter to prevent the LUFS level from exceeding -14 LUFS (I use Spotify’s current LUFS benchmark). However, this is not an issue in the mix because, as mentioned, the LUFS peaked at -15.2. The song is intended principally to be streamed. I don’t want to unnecessarily compress the mix anymore to better retain the quality and dynamic range of the song. Based on this goal, it would seem that I would only use a limiter to control the true peak and prevent the master from exceeding my -.2 true peak limit. To me I do not need the limiter to control the LUFS level since it peaks at only -15.2 LUFS. Based on this scenario, it seems I’m essentially using the limiter only as a means to keep the true peak below 0. I don’t think additional loudness is a worthy goal in light of the normalization processes applied by the streaming services, so I’m not trying to make the song louder. Also, if the mix peaks at below -14 LUFS, (let’s say a hypothetical -21 LUFS) can I simply rely on the streaming service to apply their normalization process to bring up the level when the song is streamed? Is there an LUFS level that is considered too low? I ask this because the streaming services apply a normalization process to bring the song up to their specific level (e.g. Spotify uses -14). If the mix itself (before mastering) never exceeds the true peak and LUFS thresholds, is a limiter really necessary from a loudness perspective? if the primary purpose is for streaming? Finally, if I don’t need to use a limiter and I’ve applied mix bus compression, EQ, etc and am happy with the mix is there still even a need for mastering from a loudness perspective? Please note, I’m asking this question only from the perspective of mastering for loudness and not from the perspective of other mastering benefits (e.g. checking phase issues, ensuring compatibility with other mixes on an album, etc.). All guidance and recommendations are greatly appreciated.

Thanks for getting back so soon David. I appreciate it! The only device connected to my Mac is the Focusrite interface and the mouse. I disconnected these and listened out of the Mac. Things seemed to work. I then plugged these items back in. So far so good! Can I ask you to explain in a nutshell how this simple solution works?

Greetings, The faders on the Stereo Out as well as other tracks are jumping unexpectedly. These faders are not following their written automation. This behavior is occurring on some audio tracks and also on a midi track. I've read several discussions of this on the net, but these seem to focus on midi file behavior. I don't have any region based automation (that I know of). Faders can jump when I press the space bar and at other random times. I appreciate any assistance. Thanks, Gtrmatic