Radio-stlye Editing in Logic Pro (for Pro Toolers)

For anyone who knows me through the AIR board, I’ve frequently mentioned how much I prefer using Logic Pro over Pro Tools.  I use a number of audio programs, but for most of my “work work” (as opposed to fun stuff), I find myself hopping back and forth between Logic and Pro Tools for different projects.  I used to say that the only thing I liked better about Pro Tools was its general approach to audio editing.  Now that I’ve really gotten used to Logic, however, I’d just say that each program’s approach to editing is somewhat different and 90%(+) of the time I’d rather be working in Logic than PT. There are a bunch of other reasons for this outside of general editing work-flow, but I won’t get into them here.  Instead, I’d just like to focus on how I use Logic specifically to edit radio-style projects, so that any radio/podcast people out there can give Logic a try. It’s written with someone in mind who is reasonably familiar with basic “radio-style” editing in Pro Tools.

First thing’s first: Workstation Layout

I do a lot of my work on a Macbook, so screen real estate is an issue.  One of the things I really like about Logic is that I’m able to see a lot of the project all at once from the main “arrange” window.  The arrange window is essentially the same as the “edit” window in PT.  To the left of the arrange window, you have the “inspector” bar, which shows the mixer fader for whichever track you’ve selected as well whatever output bus that track is routed to.  Using the inspector bar, you can leave your arrange screen open to see as much of the project as possible while still having immediate control over a given track’s mixer functions.  You can show/hide the inspector bar with the “i” key.  Sometimes, of course, I’d rather see the entire mixer all at once, and I can show/hide it by pressing the “x” key. This brings the mixer up from the bottom of the screen and sort of overlaps the  arrange window–you can of course adjust its size as you see fit.  (You can also bring up the mixer in its own window detached from the main “arrange” window just like in PT with the “command+2” key, but I prefer not to do this, again to save screen real estate.)

Navigation

By default, “control+option+arrow keys” take care of all the horizontal and vertical zooming.  This is like “command+[” and “option+command+[” shortcuts in PT.  (I usually change those defaults to “control+arrow key” to make it quicker–I hate three-key combos–but that’s your call. If you want to make your own custom key commands, “option+K” opens the “customize key command” window.  Logic even offers an optional set of key commands based Pro Tools shortcuts, but I DON’T recommend using them. It’s like speaking Creole in Paris when you really just need to learn enough French to get by. Remember, we’re only focusing on basic radio-style editing here.)  If you have a Macbook (or Apple mouse), the “two finger scroll” (or scroll ball on the mouse) lets you scroll up/down/left/right through the project.

The Tools

Unlike Pro Tools, Logic lets you use any two editing “tools” at a time, a primary and secondary tool (in the top left corner of the main window).  You can set these tools up however you like, but I almost always keep the “pointer tool” (the black arrow) as my primary tool.  This is a contextual tool which changes its function based on where your mouse is hovering over an audio region.  This is like the “multi-tool” in PT (though without the “region tool” part–just “grab” and “trim”).  FWIW, I don’t like using the multi-tool in PT; I find it gets in the way when I want to do detailed editing, and I always work quicker in PT by simply switching between tools using key commands. But for some reason I find Logic’s pointer tool works the way I expect it to more so than PT’s multi-tool.  I  normally keep the “fade tool” as my secondary tool.  You can momentarily activate the secondary tool by holding down the “command” key. With this configuration (that is: pointer as the primary tool and fade and the secondary tool), you can do almost every function needed to edit radio without ever changing tools.

Using the pointer tool: With the pointer tool as your primary tool, hover your mouse over an audio region.  If your black arrow still looks like a black arrow, clicking, holding, and dragging lets you move the region around the timeline.  It works like the grab tool in PT, and you even see the black arrow turn into a “grab” icon as you hold down the button. Now hover your pointer tool over the bottom left or right corner of an audio region.  Notice the icon changes into a bracket icon, which lets you trim the start/end of the region, just like in PT.   Now click on an audio region and move your playhead to a place where you’d like to make a cut in your audio region.  Rather than switch to the scissor tool, use the “spilt” key command, which is the “|, \” key right above “enter/return.” (This is like “command+e” in PT.) Cool thing about this: you can cut audio while listening to it in real time without ever stopping playback. I still haven’t found a way to do quite the same thing in PT.  Just hit play and type press the “|, \” key whenever you want to make a cut.  By doing this, I can make rough edits while I’m listening a chunk of raw audio for the first time.  Very cool.

Using the fade tool: Press and hold the command key to use the fade tool (your secondary tool).  While continuing to hold the command key, click just outside of an audio region and drag the mouse over the the end of that region. Notice the green box that appears as you move the mouse farther into the audio region, which indicates the area that will be faded.  When you let go of the mouse button, you create the fade .  If you do this between two consecutive audio regions, this tool creates a crossfade instead.  Again, the green box that appears while holding the button shows you where the crossfade will be created. If you don’t like the fade you created, you can simply make a new one in its place. (Creating second fade over a previous fade just replaces the first with the new one.  It doesn’t “fade a fade.”) Here’s where it gets cool: after you’ve made a fade, you can use the fade tool (remember, holding down command before you click) to continually tweak it until it sounds perfect.  Here again, the fade tool is contextual.  Clicking on the end of the fade will adjust its duration.  Clicking on the body of the fade will adjust its shape.  This can get complicated but it helps immensely with sound design on tricky edits.  With this tool, I’ve been able to quickly correct weird-sounding edits in Logic that would have taken much more time to finesse in PT.

Drag Mode (like edit mode)

One of the keys to editing seamless radio-style audio in PT is knowing when to switch between “slip” and “shuffle” modes.  I’m going to assume you know how these modes differ, why, and when to use them.  Logic calls these “drag modes.” In the top right corner of the main window immediately left of the primary/secondary tools, there’s a little box marked “drag.” This lets you change how region move throughout the timeline, just like “shuffle” and “slip” mode in Pro Tools.  By default, it’s set to “overlap,” which is NOT the best mode to use for radio editing, and changing this to “no overlap” will correct a lot of weird behavior.  In Logic, “no overlap” is essentially the same as “slip” in Pro Tools, while “Shuffle-L” is (of course) like “shuffle.”  (Except that if you want your region to shuffle to the right instead, you can select “Shuffle-R” instead.  But in most cases “shuffle-L” will behave the way you’re expecting it to.)  “Shift+control+n” is the key command for “no overlap.”  “Shift+control+L” is the key command for “shuffle-L.”  I think these are annoyingly complex key commands for such essential functions, but once you learn them it’s fine.  (Or open the key command window with “option+k” and make your own custom command for these modes…say, F1 and F2?)

Automation

In PT, you edit automation on a track by track basis by selecting a drop-down menu on the sidebar of each track.  In Logic, pressing the “a” key shows automation envelopes for all tracks at once.  As you’ll see, the volume envelope appears on top of the waveform rather than below it, which I find very helpful.  (Thankfully PT 8 now lets you do this, too.) You can reveal another lane of automation data by clicking the black triangle in the bottom left of the track sidebar. You can change which parameter you’re automating (volume, pan, fx parameters if you’re using plugins) by selecting from the drop down menu at the top of the track’s sidebar (which defaults to “volume.”)  As soon as you add automation data, you’ll notice the automation indicator just above the track’s fader (in either the mixer window or the “inspector” window) turns green and says “read.” If you want to disable automation, click on the green button and select “off.” Of course, you can also write automation data during playback just like in PT–again, I’m going to assume you know what these various modes do.

That should cover the basics. I’ll probably update this later for typos or more info… Good luck and happy editing!