Callum Halls 8 October 2015

How to Create A Radio Advert Section A - Logic

Logic is a music production software available on Macintosh which allows you to create

any style of music. To load logic, search in the spotlight, finder window or dock and click

‘New Project’ in the top left hand corner. You will then be instructed to select where you want

to receive your audio from. You can select from

Software Instrument - A software instrument is a computer generated instrumental

sound, played through a MIDI ( Musical Instrument Digital Interface ) input, for example, an

Alesis Photon X25. The MIDI sends coding to the computer, which the computer in turn

changes into music.

Audio - An audio track is different to Software Instrumentation as it is already an audio

file. If you drag an MP3 file into Logic, it will automatically be changed into an Audio Track.

You can still apply effects and mix this, however it will not be your own creation.

Drummer - The Drummer track is the simplest and easiest way to add a beat to your

music. The drummer track matches the BPM and tempo of your work, and can easily be

programmed to suit your style of recording. You can select different genres of music and each

come with a set number of virtual drummers who will perform to your needs. You can

customise all aspects of the drum kit, including the basic percussion of tambourines, maracas

and to the basic extremities of clapping noises.

External MIDI - An external MIDI is used when the MIDI you are using has preset

sounds. Rather than using a a Software Instrument, where you can pick the sounds created,

using an External MIDI means you have to use the sounds that are already applied on the

MIDI. You do not get as much diversity as using a ‘trigger’ MIDI which just sends data to the

computer.

Guitar or Bass - This is for use when you want to use the computer essentially as an

amp. You can use a MIDI input to plug in your guitar or bass guitar and play in real time for

your project.

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Section B - MIDI

MIDI, or Musical Instrument Digital Interface, is a way of inscribing data from a device into the computer which in turn recreates electronic music. Essentially, MIDI is a the messenger between the computer and the MIDI device. Such things carried by the MIDI cable is things like velocity, pitch, modulation, length. A singular MIDI cable can transport as much as 16 different types of information, called ‘channels’ which can all be used separately.

Section C - Software Instrument

Software instruments are tracks on Logic that you can use to change the sound of the MIDI preset instrument. You can change the sound to your piece, and includes many different styles such as percussion, guitar, bass guitar, stringed, orchestral, Drum kits, mallet, piano, synthesisers and many more. You can use this type of instrumentation to change the expected effect of your music, as well as create more emphasis on the emotion you are trying to create.

Section D - The Transport bar

The transport bar is located at the bottom and can be used for a majority of things. The first is keeping track of the BPM, tempo, the transport position, any loops which may be in motion, bars, MIDI In and Out displays, as well as the main functions such as play, pause, stop, record, fast-rewind, fast-forward and the CPU and Hard Drive meters. On the opposite side, there is the metronome which can be used to keep in time with the BPM. You can set this metronome to your liking, by right clicking and selecting ‘Metronome Settings’ in which you can then change the pitch of the clicks you hear. You can also program when you hear the different sounding clicks, for example, you can hear the bar, the beat, and all in-between!

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Section E - The Tool Box

The tool box is a handy function to get your head around, as it contains all the items you will need to use when editing music.

Pointer Tool - The pointer tool is the bog standard, easy to

use function which allows you to move, copy, cut and paste,

shorten and loop, as well as many other uses. This is the easiest

tool to use and can be used in conjunction with the apple

keyboard for easier use even still with the use of commands and

pressing certain keys.

Pencil Tool - The pencil tool allows you to draw in notes

in the piano roll, as well as draw in empty boxes into the window,

in order to then draw music. This is the simplest method of creating music in logic, and is one

of the easiest too.

Eraser Tool - The eraser tool is used to remove notes from the piano roll, to do this

you simply double click on the note.

Text Tool - The text tool is exactly what it says, it creates text. More specifically, it can

be used to name regions of your piece.

Scissors Tool - The scissor tool splits your music, where you tell it to. It will create two

separate files and then you can move, copy, paste or do whatever you like with the individual

parts.

Glue Tool - The glue tool does the opposite of the scissors tool, it glues two or more

individual parts together, to make one track. You can highlight multiple parts and they will

create one individual track.

Solo Tool - The solo tool allows you to solo out the individual track to listen without

the rest. This means that you can then alter it to your liking without taking influence from the

other tracks.

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Mute Tool - The Mute tool lets you mute specific tracks to stop them from being heard

in the overall mix. You can undo this after you are finished with it

Crossfade Tool - The crossfade tool allows you to fade out your track, which in turn

allows you to also slow down using a specific setting found in the inspector window.

Zoom Tool - The zoom tool allows you to make big of the track you want to see in

more detail. This allows you to cut in the needed location and allows you to see most

envelopes of the track, especially with audio tracks. It also makes software instrument MIDI

tracks larger to see, to make sure you can draw in the correct note.

Section F - Quantising

Quantisation is the method you can use to make sure your work is in time with the tempo of the project. This is really useful as sometimes, when you are playing music pieces, you do not always strike a key or play a note at the exact beat marker. Quantisation allows you to make sure this doesn’t affect your work by snapping the notes to the nearest beat, or depending on where you want it. You can choose from 1/1 notes, through to 1/4 notes, all the way to 1/96, depending on how you want your piece of music to sound. This is really useful as alignment is key to a good musical piece.

Section G - Automation

Automation is a key feature of logic and it allows you to change the music as it is going along, instead of having to create new tracks for different tempos and velocities. To load up automation, click ‘A’ on your keyboard which will present you with the automation window. Here, you are able to define, for example, how loud you want the piece of music to be at the start, but you are then able to change the velocities throughout, by simply dragging. You can also pan using this method, throughout the track if you decide that a certain part would sound better in the left output, you can set this. Then, if you feel that it should go back to middle output, you can change it back, all without having to stop and start.

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Section H - The Piano Roll

The piano roll is the window normally located at the bottom of the screen, by clicking on ‘Piano Roll’ above the transport bar. This presents you with a place you can draw your own music and change velocities, length, pitch and other factors of the part you are drawing. This is useful as it allows you to manipulate the music you are trying to create without having to re-record every time. The piano roll also offers a neat feature of having a keyboard vertically across the piano roll to allow you to know which note you have played. Through this, you are also able, if you are creating a drum beat using a MIDI keyboard, to know which key to press to receive the intended sound.

1 - Speakers

2 - Screen

3 - Mac Mini

4 - Apple Keyboard

5 - Apple Mouse

6 - MIDI Keyboard

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4 5 6

Automation Window

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