Music Production Basics with Logic Pro

Prepare for the next 12 weeks with an outline of the goals and topics you’ll cover, and an overview of Logic Pro. You’ll walk through the music production process, from songwriting to delivery, and learn where the role of music producer fits in. You’ll also discuss affordable ways to start producing music from home.

• Understand the many roles of a music producer
• Walk through the music production process in its entirety
• Discover Logic’s Arrange page
• Use Apple Loops to construct a basic arrangement

Investigate the different sections that make up a song, and the role each section plays in the final arrangement. You’ll create your own arrangement in Logic Pro, following a set song template.

• Explore common song structures
• Understand how to use track types and drumbeats in Logic Pro
• Use Logic’s drummer plugin to create an arrangement

Take an intimate look at Musical Instrument Digital Interface, or MIDI. Examine what it is, where it came from and the importance of tempo. Use this knowledge to create a beat in a genre of your choice.

• Understand the importance of a song’s time signature and how it affects your music
• Record and edit MIDI in Logic Pro’s Piano Roll
• Write a beat using Logic’s Ultrabeat Drum Machine drum machine

Examine scales, chords and keys, and learn how they create rhythm, bass, harmony and melody: the building blocks of every piece of music. You’ll then write a four-chord sequence and edit polyphonic MIDI in Logic Pro’s Piano Roll.

• Discover how major and minor keys dictate the feel of music 
• Understand the roles various instruments play in an arrangement
• Analyse how chords are formed

Discover how to get the best from a microphone when recording in a home or studio setting – from initial connection to an audio interface, through to editing in Logic Pro.

• Understand how to connect, set up and record with a microphone
• Learn how Flex Time can alter the timing and pitch of a take
• Record a spoken-word composition using folders in Logic Pro

Learn what is meant by audio effects (FX), the key FX types, and how to use them. Experiment with the basic FX plugins you can use in Logic Pro.

• Understand audio effects, including EQ, reverb and delay
• Explore the concept of buses in a DAW
• Learn how to load basic plugins and use ‘buses’ to organise effects with FX Sends

Learn how to write and draw automation – crucial for adding movement and narrative to any music track. Build on last week’s introduction to buses with a look at how group buses can make your track come alive.

• Explore automation methods, including point and click, pencil tool and ‘touch’ mode
• Understand how FX, automation and groups can be used together
• Make a track stack and automate effects for a group

Discover the world of synthesis, exploring the building blocks of a synth sound and the key parameters which affect it. Examine the most common types of synthesis, listening to a selection of stand-out synth tracks across multiple genres.

• Examine subtractive, additive and wavetable synthesis
• Understand oscillators, filters, LFOs and envelopes
• Design a synth sound from a retro synth patch

Examine the history of sampling across key popular music genres and learn how to use Logic Pro’s sampling tool to add flavour to your music.

• Listen to tracks where sampling has been used to great effect
• Understand when sampling works, and when it doesn’t
• Use Logic Pro’s Quick Sampler and Sampler to create a new hook

Understand the mixing process from the producer’s perspective and its place in the overall production process. Learn how to use compression and other more complex audio effects to produce a better-sounding demo track.

• Explore the difference between producing and mixing
• Find out how audio compression works, and why it’s important
• Learn how to deliver a top-quality music demo

Find out what a mastering engineer does and the tips and tricks to make your demos sound cleaner. Learn about the importance of relationships in music production – particularly those with your clients and fellow creators.

• Understand the difference between mastering and mixing
• Explore a range of production soft skills, such as organisational and social qualities
• Deliver a demo using the Logic Pro Limiter and other 2-bus processing tools 

Watch the past 12 weeks come to life as your tutor shares the story of a track they produced. Then play one of your own tracks to the group, receiving constructive feedback from your tutor and classmates.

• Gain confidence in sharing your productions
• Analyse the creative process as you listen to music by your classmates
• Explore the importance of feedback in identifying areas for improvement