Logic
This is the name of the programme I use for music production. It truly is an amazing piece of software, including a whole batch of state-of-the-art synths and effects plugins as well as a fully professional recording and editing facility. You can truly do anything with this package. Sounds like I’m advertising it but I’m not; I just regard it as probably the most important ‘instrument’ in my studio. Apple also include thousands of their Apple Loops which range from drum and percussion to guitar, piano and synth phrases. Just perfect for coming up with compositional ideas and even for structuring whole pieces of music around them.
One of the best features of the recent versions of Logic is the synth they call Sculpture. I’ve only recently come to grips with it as it is at first glance a very intimidating piece of software. But the flexibility and potential built into this instrument is second to none. You can basically design an instrument from the ground up using the fundamental idea of a ‘string’ which is excited or disturbed by a variety of different objects in different positions and using various materials to make the string. It then builds from there as you include all sorts of filters and other processes to develop the sound. This may not come across as all that exciting but when you get into it, the possibilities are endless. And some of the sounds you can come up with are truly beautiful, powerful and highly original.
Photo by evymoon: http://www.flickr.com/photos/evymoon_quatrain_quotidien/
How did I get into it to the extent that I did? Well by using another amazing facility available on the net which is the group of fantastic tutorials produced by macProVideo.com. No, this is not another plug, just a note of appreciation for the producers of these great instructional videos which de-mystify and simplify some really tricky aspects of an already hugely complex software suite. I am not very good at getting into the depths of programming etc. for its own sake – I am a musician first and foremost and I simply want to use this gear to make great sounds which I can incorporate into my musical compositions. I love to mix acoustic and electric guitars along with all these electronic sounds and textures to produce music which I believe contains all this richness while at the same time maintaining a high level of originality and naturalness. What the macProVideo tutorial on Sculpture did for me was to make this thing accessible whereas before I used to turn away in despair because it looked like I’d need a degree in engineering to even begin to use it effectively. As a result of this experience I am now hopeful of getting to grips with all the power Logic and its various different elements have to offer more and more as I explore their different tutorials. I’ve been using Logic for years and have produced whole albums on it but this takes my whole compositional and production process onto a different level. Stay tuned for news on up-coming recording projects which will include and integrate all this new learning.
