Guitar Plugins For Logic

[Rachelle Shriver]

Irecord on that track. When I play it back, I can hear the amp and effects if I leave them on in the channel strip. But if I turn off the amp in the channel strip, I can only hear plain guitar coming from the recorded track. Whatever amp and/or effects I had on while recording is not captured in the recording - just the plain guitar signal is on the track.

The short answer is: This is the way Logic and most DAWs work. The effects plugins are not on the Input, they're on the Output. The effects will be there on a mixdown.... or, solo the track and "Bounce" it, or use Bounce in Place and you will have a track with the effects permanent.

Look at it this way: there is no need to record that effect onto the audiofile. This is a great advantage of modern recording, and this is how most DAW's work by default. Just leave the plugin on when playing back.

Only for CPU management reasons it may be advantageous in certain situations to either freeze a track or bounce it in place (both techniques will render an audiofile that may include the effect). But in general it is a (very) good thing that it is possible to tweak any effect after recording, and have a clean, unprocessed recorded signal to work with. And if the effect was perfect at the time of recording, well, just leave the plugin(s) engaged.

You can either export the specific track to audio and then import the track back in to your session or you can set up a send on your guitar track and re-record that into a new audio track. Set your sends up in pre fade. The first option in Logic is the easiest and quickest. I do the second option when I work in Pro-Tools.

I'm used to old school recording into a dedicated recording device, just recently started doing the DAW thing. I've been using Amplitube on my Mac for gigs for about a year now, and just didn't quite understand why I couldn't record the Amplitube sound in Logic Pro X. Thanks for the links to more info on bouncing, I'll try that.

As Erik's ps: mentions... you can go into the Environment (Audio Layer) Use the drop down/New menu go to Channel Strips and select an Input Object if you use Amplitube as an insert on this object the effect will be recorded, and not undoable, old school style! ?

Thanks for the details, that worked! In Logic Pro X, I couldn't find Environment (Audio Layer) but found Environment for midi and followed your instructions (thanks also to Erik for suggesting it). ?

Now the final piece, if it's even possible. How can I use Amplitube (set up as you described), and get midi program change and control change to pass through into Amplitube? I use PC to change Amplitube presets on the fly, and CC to modify parameters while playing. In my tests so far, this midi info is not getting through to Amplitube.

If you're not familiar with recording audio in Logic Pro, don't worry, check out this video where I go through setting up audio tracks. Ok, so let's say you've added two new audio tracks now. The next thing we'll want to do is set a tempo for your recording.

You can set the tempo on the top control bar in Logic Pro. Once you've set the tempo, be sure to have your metronome on. If the metronome is purple then it is on. See the image below where I have two audio tracks, tempo set, and metronome is on. My tempo is set to 140 bpm which is a fast tempo, you can set your tempo at any bpm you'd like. If this is the first time you're hearing about BPM then be sure to check out this wiki article so you learn what bpm is.

Once we have our audio tracks added, our metronome on, we've chosen a tempo and a sample rate then we are ready to starting recording guitar. Acoustic guitar or electric guitar, the choice is yours! I'll leave that to you. If you'd like to record an acoustic guitar with a microphone then you can skip to Option 2. If you'd' like to record an electric guitar with your audio interface then keep reading Option 1.

Moving on, with an audio interface and 1/4 cable. Think of 1/4 cable as a regular guitar patch cord. This is an example. You should be able to plug and play right away. However, your interface may only have an XLR input. It really will depend on your audio interface. However, most modern audio interface will allow you to plug-in a 1/4 inch cable. For instance any of the Focusrite audio interfaced or Apollo interfaces allow both XLR inputs and 1/4 inputs.

You can of course record without a DI box and often times I do if I want to record something quickly. But if I'm in a recording session where I'm truly trying to get the best quality and the right take, then I will use a DI to make sure everything runs smoothly.

Tip: You also have the option to use the built in amp designer and pedalboards in Logic Pro that emulate vintage and modern guitar amps. Some of them sound really nice and I use them on a lot of my productions. You can the amp designer or the pedalboard as a plugin on the channel strip in the inspector window, here's a post where I talk about adding plugins in Logic Pro.

If your microphone is a condenser mic then it will likely require phantom power 48V. Make sure to red the mic's manual before since phantom power is very important. If you have an audio interface then you it should be able to supply phantom power to the microphone. Most standard mixing boards have this capability too. However, be careful if the microphone does not need phantom power. You could potentially damage a microphone, especially a ribbon microphone if you apply phantom power. When it doubt, read the manual. I know it's not fun, but it could save you a few bucks!

Once you have plugged your audio interface into your computer and you've plugged your microphone into your interface, using an XLR cable. Then turn on phantom power (if needed). Make sure to do these steps in order. Once that is done, we are ready to record. If you're having trouble setting up your audio interface then here is a great video for you. I cover everything you need to know about working with you audio interface in Logic Pro.

It's important that you record your guitar with headphones. However, you do not necessarily have to use headphones if you're recording directly with an audio interface. But, with a microphone it's essential that we record with headphones on. That is because we will be in the same room as the microphone and we do not want our metronome track being played through the speakers. If so, the microphone would record the metronome track. In our case, while recording with headphones on, the metronome will only be played in our ears.

Plug in your favourite pair of studio headphones into the headphone input on your audio interface. If you'd like to know some of my favourite headphones, here's a great post about headphones for mixing and mastering. Furthermore, make sure the volume knob is not completely set at 0. We want to be able to able to monitor our guitar on our audio tracks. If everything is set up correctly then at this point you should be able to hear your guitar being played through your headphones. If you're using an audio interface, you should be able to hear your guitar through your speakers or headphones. The choice is yours.

If it's still not working then let's double check our channel input settings. This is different than your audio input and audio output device preferences. It's very important that the channel input on your audio track matches up with the channel input on your audio interface.

On a typical home studio audio interface there would two channels. You can think of channels as being plugs. For instance, the number of plugs (inputs) the audio interface has on the front side of the device. Notice on the image below that the Focusrite Scarlett 4i4 interface has 2 channels. In other words, it has 2 plugs for microphones or instruments.

Now is the time we need to tell Logic where we plugged in your microphone or your guitar. Click "input" in the above image and choose the appropriate input.

You guessed it. If you plugged in your microphone on the furthest plug to the left on your audio interface then you would select input 1. If you plugged in your guitar to the second channel on your audio interface then you would choose input 2.

I've seen it a thousand times where my students are not sure why their recordings aren't working. They have everything setup correctly but they've forgot to double check their input settings. Often times you might not be thinking and plug in directly to channel 2 on your audio interface. However, if your audio track in Logic says input 1 then they will not match up. Logic Pro is a super sophisticated and smart software but it's not that smart. You still need to tell it what plug you are using.

Trust my, I know it might seem like a lot of steps to finally get ready to record audio in Logic but the more times you do it, the faster it will become. Also, overtime, you'll start to notice different options to do setup tasks more quickly. Ah ha! Yes, there are more ways to do things than just one. I won't get into all of them here but I'll mention a small one that could speed things up for you. It happens when you first add an audio track. I'm talking about this window below:

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