What commercial recordings look like in Logic!

[Foghat43]

I love this thread. I would love to see some screen shots or anything from one of the rock mixes mentioned. I use Logic mostly for live instrument stuff and since I used other software for many years until Logic 9 came out I was very used to my 3rd party plug ins so I still use lots of them. In fact I use 80% 3 rd party, mostly waves. I totally get the advantages of using the Logic plug ins but have still not been convinced. Maybe its just because I don't have enough time to fiddle with them when I am actually tracking or mixing. I would love to see them in action in a high quality rock mix with real instruments! Anyone?

[splicktik]

IMO it is all about talent. Technology is here and now, and everyone can have a tremendous studio workflow in their bedroom for a very decent amount of money. Talent and artistic expression is something we born with.

 

From my perspective, talent + the right tool (AKA Logic) = endless posibilities.

 

For instance, I am not a big fan of Lady Gaga's, but her producer RedOne only uses a MBP, logic, a very small usb controller and her voice for making a multi million selling record. In conclusion, as many people has now access to great tools like Logic, talent and creativity is still the key to success I must say.

 

Great discusion by the way.

[danyg]

cool, thanks David,

 

Just one question:

"Nobody cares about hitting the red on the channel strip level (which is justified since Logic is 32 bit floating point). A lot of the sessions I have seen have more than half the channel strips way above +6dBFS. "

 

Does this mean that the subgroups and outs usually do not clip as you are talking about the channel strip level?

[Arkadi]

This is true - I've done several shows for tv and some features. They always want 48KHz / 16 bit delivery.

[robertg]

 

• A lot of producers use pretty much 70 to 80% Logic plug-ins, and just a couple of 3rd party plug-ins. Several highly-successful producers (I wish I could name names) use 100% Logic plug-ins AND instruments !!!

 

Logic's dynamic processing plugins do sound ok, however there is definitely a lot of color out there.. UAD for example

[m33]

Just to add my two cents. I've personally worked with some big names in the the electronic music scene. I've had the privilege to see both tracks done in Logic and tracks done in Ableton Live (which is really catching on).

 

A couple of things I have noticed as well (David, yours is spot on).

 

1) I know this might make some people upset but I've seen it time and time again. Ableton is a great tool, it has it's own sound but sonically, it absolutely does not compare to Logic. Prove it to yourself by creating a song in logic and then try to recreate the song in Ableton (or vice versa). You'll see what I mean.

 

2) I also notice that a TON of these guys use parallel compression on more than just drums.

 

3) Bussing and subgrouping are king. It allows them to cater frequencies to each other in big groups as opposed to carving out every channel (although basic uneeded frequencies should always be cut on the channel level.) Plus, it's much easier to craft a sound that way.

 

4) Side chaining does not always have to be to a four on the floor kick. groups can also be side chained to each other. I know some french house guys that use this a lot.

 

5) The ESX24 is a powerful sampler. Specifically, I know of a top ten minimal beatport artist that uses this for every single track. He just bounces a C note from one of his external (or internal) synths and simply tweaks in using LFO to Pitch routing and does some really creative stuff with it. So simple but really effective. The emphasis on bouncing to a sampler is big. Even if you can automate the pitch on your soft synth, it's something about going to the ESX24 that gives it a certain sound and gives you flexibility.

 

There's more but I'd have to dig. I hope that helps or inspires someone. Great Thread!

[davebeans]

Great post m33! Inspiring!

[nylarch]

1) I know this might make some people upset but I've seen it time and time again. Ableton is a great tool, it has it's own sound but sonically, it absolutely does not compare to Logic. Prove it to yourself by creating a song in logic and then try to recreate the song in Ableton (or vice versa). You'll see what I mean.

Not really sure I buy this. Ableton is by default optimized for live music and there's some trade-offs for sound quality to optimize CPU and hot swap ability. Those who track/mix in it need to make some tweaks (turning off auto warp, auto fade, setting device defaults to hi-q mode, etc.) instead of just switching b/t Logic and Live and saying Live's sound doesn't rate. Not that you necessarily have done this but its VERY common. I work a lot in both programs and even after the tweaks I'd say Logic sounds A LITTLE better in SOME scenarios but there is no huge difference and once a mix is all said and done I doubt anyone knows the difference. Listen to Caribou's "Swim", done start to finish in Live 8 and tell me Live has sound problems.

5) The ESX24 is a powerful sampler. Specifically, I know of a top ten minimal beatport artist that uses this for every single track. He just bounces a C note from one of his external (or internal) synths and simply tweaks in using LFO to Pitch routing and does some really creative stuff with it. So simple but really effective. The emphasis on bouncing to a sampler is big. Even if you can automate the pitch on your soft synth, it's something about going to the ESX24 that gives it a certain sound and gives you flexibility.

 

This is a great tip - so many bass music / dubstep producers just resample and resample into ESX to get those huge basses. This is certainly a trend that has a shelf life IMO (wobble basses) but still a great lesson in creating unique sounds.

[Darude]

Here's the arrangement, mixer and final mix pictures of track that I produced for a collaboration release called '2AM vs. Darude feat. Georgia Haege - Crazy World'

(I hope the pictures are not too too big this time)

BOOM!

Yeah, yeah, a lot of EQs...

Purdee culours!

[duncanrs]

I see tonnes of scooping out in those eq's but little in the way of boosting. I'm guessing this way you can get rid of what you don't want/need and increase overall channel or plugin level instead. Interesting

[Darude]

Yeah, that's true, I do take out way more often than boost something. And usually if I boost it's a wide boost to get mids or high mids to bring up certain presence and still in that area I might cut a dB or few with a narrow notch EQ if there's a ringing frequency.

 

Often the cutting makes the sound thin and weird sounding when soloed, but with everything else playing it's fine. If there's a breakdown where a sound like that would sound thin, then I'll just add some of the cut areas back with automation during parts with less stuff going on.

 

Oh, here's a radio edit of the track: