1. Channel Strip Settings

If you are just starting out with Logic, these are the quickest way to get going.  They automatically include effects and processors to shape the sound.  Presets are a great way to explore what is possible and a great starting place for tweaking.  Click and hold the settings tab at the top of a channel strip to access the list, or use the Library.

2. What is a Bus?

A Bus is a virtual pathway for routing audio.  Audio can be routed to a bus by changing the output of a track from stereo 1-2 to a bus, or by assigning a send from a track to a bus.  An aux track with its input set to the bus will automatically appear in the mixer (generally at the right hand side).

3. Naming tracks and regions.  

When you record a region, that region is auto-named after the track, eg if the track is called piano, then the region will be called piano.  Tracks have titles, eg Audio 1, Audio 2, Instrument 1, Instrument 2, etc which you cannot change.  This is the column on the left in the arrange window.  The next column is the 'name' of the tracks, and here you can name each track exactly as you wish by double-clicking the name.  To change the name of a region, use the text tool in the toolbox and away you go.

4. Fades and Crossfades

This is great for avoiding clicks and pops at the start, end and joining points of audio regions.  It is easy to add and edit fades with the fade tool (in the toolbox), but remember that it only works on audio regions and not midi regions.  Drag over an area at the start or end of a region to choose a fade in or fade out.  When two regions are adjacent to each other, dragging over the join point will create a cross fade.  To adjust the curve of the fade, hover the fade tool over the fade and when the sideways arrows appear, drag left or right.

5. What is a region?

A region is a piece of audio or midi data.  These are the individual chunks that you work with to build and structure your song.  They can be looped, chopped, copied, etc so you can arrange your track quickly.  By default, audio regions are blue and midi regions are green.

6. How do I edit a region?

Open the toolbox using the escape key, then select the scissors tool.  Hover over the region you want to edit, then make a chop at the correct point.  Dont worry if you mess up just press command-z to undo.  You can also trim the start or end of a region.  Place the cursor over the lower-left or lower-right corner of the region and the pointer becomes a trim tool (looks like 3 lines with arrows).  Click and drag to trim the region.  

7. How to open the toolbox anywhere on the screen.

Press the escape key to open up the toolbox where the mouse pointer is.  Saves you having to go over to the toolbox in the top-right corner of the screen.

8. How do I move, copy and delete regions?

To move a region, simply drag it with the pointer tool.  To create a copy of a region, hold down alt when clicking and dragging.  Make sure you let go of alt last.  When you copy midi regions, you are creating a new region identical to the original.  The two regions are in no way linked and editing one will not affect the other.  However, a copy of an audio region is still referencing the same audio file as the original so if you go into the sample editor and start messing around with one it affect the other.  To delete a region, simply select it with the pointer tool (so it has a black band across the top of it) and hit backspace on the keyboard.  

9. What's the difference between Preferences and Settings?

They might sound like the same thing but there is a big difference between the two.  Preferences are global to logic, they stay the same when you switch songs or restart logic.  Project settings, however, are specific to each logic song and are saved in the project file.  When you create a new logic project, the settings return to default.  To avoid having to adjust them each and every time, you can save a blank project as a template with the correct project settings, or import project setting (click the settings button in the toolbar.

10. Using the secondary tool

You may have wondered why there are two tool icons in the top-right corner of the arrange window rather than one.  You can only use one tool at a time, right?  Well actually the secondary tool is available at the touch of a button.  Pressing the command (apple) key switches the tool to the

secondary tool, and releasing it return the tool to the main tool.  Normally I use the pointer as my main tool and have the zoom or scissors as my secondary tool.  Even quicker than using escape to open the toolbox :-)