I was excited to read that Intel was showcasing at San Francisco IDF 2009. Light Peak is a new Technology with a speed of 10GB/sec to transfer data between devices. To my mind if this delivers on it's promise it's sure to replace Firewire and USB.



The other rumour circulating is that Light Peak was developed by Intel at the specific request of Apple, so hopefully cross platform compatibility is assured.

Definitely one to keep an eye on.

For this post we've got an old video and a brand spanking new one. We're in the process of migrating our videos from the old host to our YouTube channel. So first up is an old video showing how to customise Logic's arrange page, so each session appears exactly the way you want it.



Next up is a viewer request, a while back we posted a couple of videos focusing ( here and here ) on Logic's automation functions, this led to questions about copying and moving automation. Just when we thought we'd covered everything we received a bunch of requests asking how to copy automation to a new track.

So here's the new video



This being Logic the methods shown in the video are not the only ways of copying automation to a new track. In our opinion they are the easiest but as always if you want to know more get in touch and ask !! We'll see what we can do.

There's a well known "trick" where a delay is only applied to one word of a vocal or to the end of a riff. In this video we'll have a look at how to acheive this effect in Logic.

When I first saw this I assumed it was an April's fool joke, a bent SM57 ?

But it's real and they're commercially available from Granelli Audio the more I thought about, the more convinced I was of it's simple brilliance. I'm a huge fan of the humble 57 and this new twist - pun intended - adds another dimension to their usability, especially for drum kits but anywhere other mics may fail to reach. I own a Shure Beta 56 which is similar in concept but not a mic I particularly treasure the sound of, so a mic that's as easy to position that sounds like a 57 is a god send.

You can of course DIY one of your own 57s by following these instructions. Not quite as elegant but should do the trick for those on a budget.

As the Americans might say "get bent".

James

Check out this amazing video. It's a track entirely composed using iPhone apps and it's stunning.



I have my suspicions that some of the sounds may have been sampled and reworked in a more sophisticated DAW, especially some of the glitchy drum stuff at the end. However it was created, it shows what you can do with limited resources, dedication and imagination.

James

At last year's trade shows Celemony were showing an early version of their Melodyne DNA software. DNA seemed like a remarkable breakthrough. In addition to the, now taken for granted, ability to move monophonic audio in pitch and time, DNA promised the holy grail of being able to move an individual note within a polyphonic chord.
Celemony had been hoping to have a Beta version of the software available in August 2009. As this deadline passed the dissenting chorus began to grow in volume. The problem for software manufacturers is, if they don't tell their customer's what's coming they get pilloried for lack of communication, let's use Apple and Logic as an example. If they issue advanced statements and miss the set dates they get accusations of vapourware and if they release software before it's one hundred percent ready they're using customers as "paid Beta testers".
I sincerely hope that DNA is everything we're hoping for. So let's be patient and give them time to get it right before we break out the pitchforks and torches.

James

The more generous souls that frequent the internet have teamed up to provide Impulse Responses from the glorious Bricasti M7 Reverb. The IRs were captured by the highly regarded IR specialists Acousticas. The best part is they're free and endorsed by Bricasti, so no moral conundrums. While an IR is not the equal, in complexity or tone, of a well programmed algorithmic reverb, they are a realistic substitute. They .wav IRs are available from here. And the .PST files ( Logic presets ) are here .The install instructions and correct install locations are specified in the folder with the logic presets.
Take ten minutes and install them, you'll may pleasantly surprised, I was.

James

Imogen Heap has posted some fabulous vocal parts from an unreleased track for aspiring re-mixers to have a crack at. You can find them here. Inspired by this we've added a new tutorial, this shows how to time stretch vocals ( or any audio ) in Logic's arrange window. Even though this screencast focuses on Vocals, the same ideas can be used for any other type of audio track. You can view the video here.

Another free plug-in. This time it's Tapehead from Steven Massey, Tapehead is saturation plug-in inspired by analogue tape machines. In their own words "add a little saturation to your mix. Make your drums fuller & louder. Add some grit to vocals." Not only is Tapehead amazing it's also free, you can download it here. To share the love, we've made an introductory screencast, to show some of the possibilities, you can see it here.

As regular readers will know, we love free stuff or cheap ways of making things sound expensive. To that end we've added a page which will focus on free plug-ins. While we're not suggesting that free plug-ins is always better than paid for, they are a great way to add tools or tones to your armoury. The other bonus is that because they are developed free of financial constraints they are often more innovative, extreme and just downright weird.
We've kicked off with Prosoniq's free filter North Pole. The good news is, it's now available as an AU, so compatible with Garageband, Logic and other hosts that support the AU format. You can download North Pole from Prosoniq.com.

We've also knocked up a quick introductory video, which hopefully you'll find useful.