A few basics..

[Ducasse]

Hello all,
I must say that the instrument is incredibly well designed. Well done! It has been a pleasure for me to work with thus far. I do have a few basic questions:
Would it be better to bounce each track separately, and then mix, or try to achieve some mixing using midi first (pan etc)? I assume each track of audio separately. I did read the Beat demo on mixing, and are there any plugs in logic express or third party I could use to "mono-ize" the samples? (I am only using express until the new Logic is out)..
Also-last one for now- I am Mac only now, and SIR convolution reverb is for PC only. While I would like to buy Altiverb, it is going to have to wait a bit. Does anybody have any decent presets they have created for platinumverb? I know it is shameful to ask such a thing, but I really don't fully trust my ear on reverbs. It is an area I could really use some help in, and some good examples would help me a lot.
Thanks again for making such a quality product.

[Beat Kaufmann]

@Ducasse said:

...I am only using express until the new Logic is out)..
Also-last one for now- I am Mac only now, and SIR convolution reverb is for PC only. While I would like to buy Altiverb, it is going to have to wait a bit. Does anybody have any decent presets they have created for platinumverb? ...

Hello Ducasse
I can't help you directly. But please visit Hetoreyns Website at
http://www.elvenmusic.com/
He is a "MACer" and offers mixer templates and more.
I'm sure that he will help you to find solutions.

Here is a Link to KVR and to the searching parameters for effects
and instruments.

select VST, free effects, mastering, stereo, ... for MAC...
http://www.kvraudio.com/get.php


All the best and good luck
Beat Kaufmann

[Ducasse]

Thank you Beat. I found this on KVR- http://www.kvraudio.com/get/665.html
Do you think this will serve the purpose of monoizing the samples in mixing?

[Beat Kaufmann]

@Ducasse said:

Thank you Beat. I found this on KVR- http://www.kvraudio.com/get/665.html
Do you think this will serve the purpose of monoizing the samples in mixing?

Yes -->> check the sound quality and the "CPU consumption"
Nevertheless ask Hetoreyn. I know Logic comes along with its helpers...
Perhaps even if it is an LE-version.

Beat

[Dietz]

Welcome Ducasse,

thanks for your kind words - good to know that you enjoy our Instruments!

As far as Logic-issues are concerned, I would suggest to pose your questions in our EXS-forum - this is the usual hangout for our local Logic-gurus [;)]

-> http://community.vsl.co.at/viewforum.php?f=9

Regarding your questions in respect of mixing and workflow: It may sound platitudinous, but you will have to find your own way of doing things. Personally (from a mixing-engineer's point-of-view) I prefer to have bounced audio-files for mixdown, one per instrument or ensemble. As an arranger, I would most likely keep everything "live" (read: MIDI) as long as possible to have the option to change small things here and there when necessary.

Mono-izing tracks in Logic has to be done on behalf of the factory-supplied Direction Mixer from the "Helpers"-plugin-directory. Another option would be Waves' S1, if you happen to own one of their bundles. That said, I have to add that I hardly ever go all the way to real mono, even when the virtual stage is far, far away; I prefer to have a little bit of stereo-information left. - Other audio-sequencers like Cubase/Nuendo or even ProTools have more flexible panning option available directly in their respective "mixer channels", but Logic still has nothing but this very crude left/right-balance knob, so you have to use a dedicated plugin for mono-izing and proper panning.

For convolution-reverb, you already have the Space Designer (or is this plugin not included with Logic Express?). Platinum Verb is nice, but most certainly you won't get comparable results, as its approach is completely different (Space Designer relies on "reverb samples", i.e. impulse responses, while Platinum Verb is a synthetic reverberation engine).

HTH!

[Ducasse]

Dietz,
Thank you for the informative post. I agree with all you said about mixng/workflow, and it makes sense to my brain. The directional plugin isn't included in express, so I found a third party free one for now. Unfortunately Space designer didn't come w/ express either so I am out of luck( I was hoping for a new version of Logic Pro at the keynote in SF today!).. Next month I will buy Altiverb, but until then it is platinumverb. I found tutorials for mixing in Logic on Elvenmusic that were helpful, and had some platinumverb presets-Cool!
Thank you all for bearing with me while I figure this stuff out. I have 1 more (big) question: really a question I have often struggled with..
When composing to picture, do you use a grid, and establish tempo time signature right away? I always have gone free of grid in order to get the right placement of the music etc and not be constrained. This later becomes a nightmare when I am adding and editing as you can expect. I guess the solution is to first sketch the cue to picture in free time, and then re-create the cue on a grid with tempo changes etc for ease, organization and timing. I know this is an off subject question, but would love to hear how some of you work in this context.

[DG]

There are many way of scoring to picture. However, when there are cues that need to be fairly free in time, I sometimes just play to picture until it feels right, and then drag the barlines about using the Warp tool in Nuendo (thus creating a tempo map) until they are correct. Sometimes it looks a bit convoluted, but if it makes musical sense, then even with live players there is not a problem with a fluctuating click track.

DG

[Ducasse]

DG,
could you explain a little further? I have never worked in Nuendo. Do you mean the warp tool is actually stretching your audio and midi, or is it just sliding the grid around in order to give a "structure" to your freely performed music? Do you give it a starting point , and downbeats, and it calculates the tempo map? Just trying to figure how this would work-it sounds intriguing!

[DG]

@Ducasse said:

DG,
could you explain a little further? I have never worked in Nuendo. Do you mean the warp tool is actually stretching your audio and midi, or is it just sliding the grid around in order to give a "structure" to your freely performed music? Do you give it a starting point , and downbeats, and it calculates the tempo map? Just trying to figure how this would work-it sounds intriguing!

Either or both. What you do is (in simple terms):

1) Play the MIDI in.
2) Using the Warp Tool slide the first barline (or any barline or beat for that matter) until it hits the start of the first note.
3) Then you do the same for successive beats or barlines.
4) When you finish you turn the track back into a regular MIDI track and then you can alter the tempo again it you wish and the MIDI will now follow the tempo changes.

The stretching and compressing of Audio is less effective but it does work.

DG

[Ducasse]

This seems like a really good way to work. You can capture natural tempo changes, and still have the benefit of a grid when you need it for basic quantizing etc.. Does anyone have any experience using Logic in this way. I don't think it is possible, but a great technique! Any other users have any way of addressing this problem?

[DG]

@Ducasse said:

This seems like a really good way to work. You can capture natural tempo changes, and still have the benefit of a grid when you need it for basic quantizing etc.. Does anyone have any experience using Logic in this way. I don't think it is possible, but a great technique! Any other users have any way of addressing this problem?

You can do it (sort of) in DP. I think that this is another feature Logic should, but doesn't have.

DG