Recording tips

[Dewald van Deventer]

Hi guys. Dewald again. 

i mostly record piano music, mostly gospel songs. 

I play multiple instruments and would sometimes add an instrument in here and there but my main instrument is the piano. 

But I like to add some light drums, percussion, and some other stuff like bass and other synths with it sometimes. 

What would you guys recommend for a good starting point with Logic? 

I've always recorded the piano first using the metronome. 

But with some songs I find it extremely difficult to play with the metronome, and would rather play without it. 

Feels more natural. 

But in cases when adding drums, you have to have the right tempo. 

I do play easier with drums than playing to a metronome for some reason. 

I've herd of people using click tracks? Is it necessary in Logic? 

Thank you very much. 

Dewald

Dewald van Deventer

Happy Pianos Tuning and Servicing

RPT "Registered Piano Technician of the Piano Technicians' Guild"

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[Dave Leo Baker]

So depending on the work I find it helpful to make a piano version of what I'm recording, record that to the metronome, lay in the drums, etc. I learned, arranged and recorded a version of Ukraine's National Anthem in 2022 using just this method. And I've done likewise when doing a bet of electro-orchestral ostinatos and the like before people stopped paying us to do stuff like that for Tiktok and Youtube, and switched to the cheaper version, AI. Even when recording wellness music, my main bread and butter, I use a metronome to lay down certain drone / chord patterns and lay in bell arps and things, but when doing some of the more improv melodic sections, I turn the metronome off in project settings option + p. If you start without a metronome, it can be very hard to get your project back on track. So even recording a rough cut using piano, then turn the metronome off if you want, and play to your piano track is basically you using a click track without the clicks I guess. But the more parts you have in a recording, the more you're going to want that metronome to keep everything in time. 

When I record solo instrument tracks, especially piano, I don't use a metronome. When you listen to the main New Age pianists from the 80s and 90s you can hear it in the rubato and similar techniques, unless they are recording with multiple instruments. Michael Allan Harrison and David Lanz both are good examples, George Winston also but he mainly recorded solo. 

HTH,

Dave

On Apr 18, 2026, at 4:12 PM, Dewald van Deventer <dewaldva...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi guys. Dewald again. 

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[TheOreoMonster]

Personally I record to a drum track. One of the reasons I like the session players is I find the default drum pattern work with most things. Yeah once the main elements are recorded I will edit the session player pattern or play in a specific pattern I need, but it’s rare that I haven’t been able to record to that. When I record others I do the same. If they can’t vibe with the default drummer pattern I’ll play in a basic drum pattern for them to track guitars or piano or whatever to and then we can build a more purpose built drum track later.

Most people can’t play to a click track well, even the ones that say they can in my experience. I have gotten to the point where I won’t record without some kind of basic drum track to lay down the first instrument or instruments as it just saves time in the long run in my experience.

 -T.O.M

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On Apr 18, 2026, at 4:12 PM, Dewald van Deventer <dewaldva...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Dewald van Deventer]

Yes, I prefer playing to drums if I want to play other instruments with the piano. 

Is there a video or instructions to explain what to adjust where in the session editor? 

I'm sort of getting it right, and have gone into the step sequencer, but seemed a bit daunting. 

But just by messing around with the sliders I could get a decent-sounding pattern going. 

But Say I want a side stick for my verses and a normal snare for the choruses. 

i guess I would have to split regions like you said that it only adjusts the region you have focuss on. 

I would assume you can then copy and paste the different-sounding regions into specific places in your song? 

And also, I would like some advice on the drum fills, and also maybe to stop the drums for a bar or two? 

Thank you very much. 

Dewald 

Dewald van Deventer

Happy Pianos Tuning and Servicing

RPT "Registered Piano Technician of the Piano Technicians' Guild"

Make an online booking here:

https://gazelleapp.io/scheduling/RbfBgYQM3dsLGmCDZBTfMYwQ 

Cell:

0824614865

E-mail:

dewaldpi...@gmail.com

Visit my website:

Http://www.Happy-Pianos.com/

Go "like" my page:

http://www.facebook.com/HappyPianos/

Happy Pianos

   We'll make your piano smile and sing again! 

On 19 Apr 2026, at 02:31, TheOreoMonster <theoreo...@logic.band> wrote:

Personally I record to a drum track. One of the reasons I like the session players is I find the default drum pattern work with most things. Yeah once the main elements are recorded I will edit the session player pattern or play in a specific pattern I need, but it’s rare that I haven’t been able to record to that. When I record others I do the same. If they can’t vibe with the default drummer pattern I’ll play in a basic drum pattern for them to track guitars or piano or whatever to and then we can build a more purpose built drum track later.

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[TheOreoMonster]

A lot of these are covered in the various drummer playlist on the channel. Even the older Logic 10 Drummer tutorials are still valuable as the concept is the same but the interface will be different. Most notably the replacement of the X/Y pad with the intensity and complexity  sliders. And the kick and snare and cymbals and toms stuff is better labelled.

Everything session player is region based, so yes  select the region and edit in the session player editor, want a part else where in the song copy that region to that part of the song. Don’t want drums in a part of the song, remove the drummer region from that part of the song. Want a side stick in stead of a snare hit, you can either take the intensity down  and get a quiet side stick, or go into the details area and select the side stick for the snare  in a given region. Then you get the side stick at any velocity level.

As this is a generative process fills are generated and it’s a matter of playing around wit the sliders  to get something you like, or just playing it in yourself.

I can’t say I mess with the step sequencer too much as without a physical controller laid out to match the step sequencer grid I just find step sequencer interfaces increadibly inefficient of a workflow with a screen reader, and they can still be inefficient with a grid MIDI controller, just less so. 

-T.O.M
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