Article Samples

2018

Issue 1 May 2018 1

Quick Tips: Logic Pro X

BOOST YOUR WORKSFLOW WITH LOGIC

PRO X’S PLUG-IN MANAGER
By Elizabeth Turner

One of the key aspects of being For this Quick Tips article, we will a second option for all other Audio
an audio production professional be focusing on Logic Pro, but similar Units made by other manufacturers.
is work-flow. Without a solid and things can be done in most other As standard this isn’t a bad place to
efficient workflow, you will often find DAWs available. start, but in this article, I am going to
yourself wasting time. If there is one First off, we must look at what Logic be moving around some plug-ins so
thing that clients will remember, it is gives us as standard. Clicking on an that all my reverbs come up under the
having their time wasted. If I was to insert will bring up the plug-in menu reverb tab, all EQs in the EQ tab etc.
set up a ‘hybrid’ studio the first thing which displays all of Logic’s own
I would do is make sure that all my plugins separated into types, and then When we first launch the Plug-In
go-to pieces of equipment were to
hand, and the items I rarely used, be
tucked away. This means that after
some time muscle memory takes
over, and I know reaching slightly to
my left will get me to my favourite
EQ or compressor. That works great
in a hybrid studio environment but
can also pay dividends while working
inside the box. Streamlining your
plug-in menu in your DAW will have
the same effect, and who doesn’t want
their favourite EQ just a click away.

2 Home Studio Magazine


Manager (by going to Logic Pro
X>Preferences>Plug-In Manager) we
will see a list of every Audio Unit on
our system in the main window, and
then categories and Manufacturers in
the left side bar.
Before we delve into putting the
Plug-ins into order, let’s talk about
disabling plug-ins. There are times
where there are plug-in demos have
expired, or there is a certain plug that
you just don’t use. All you need to
do is locate the plug-in, highlight the
ones you wish to remove and uncheck
the ‘use’ box on the far right of the
screen. This will stop the plug-in
coming up in any of the insert menus.
This can speed up your game because
it means you won’t be scrolling past
effects and instruments that you
know you won’t be using. Go through
all of your plug-ins and remove
everything you know you won’t, or
more importantly cannot use, such as
expired demos.
The second step is to create your
own insert menu hierarchy. While
this may sound a little daunting, it is
actually very simple. First of all, lets
create some extra categories for our
menu. This is as simple as clicking the
small + button next to the categories
heading. This will create a new folder,
that you can rename as you please.
For this example, I added a couple of
new folders such as Channel Strips.
You can also rename existing folders
by double-clicking on their names.
Quick Tips: Logic Pro X
This new workflow will take a little
bit of practice to get used to, and I
can guarantee that you will still use
your old workflow by accident while
transitioning, but once you get your
head around it, the new speed of
your workflow will be thnking you a
million times over.
Come back next Issue for another
edition of Quick Tips, where we be
looking at creating Faux Harmonies
using Melodyne.
By default, the new folders are added
to the bottom of the list, but you
can create your own order by simply
clicking and dragging the folders into
a new order. I personally like mine in
alphabetical order, but with EQ and
Compression at the top of the list,
because they will be used most.
Now that we have all of our folders
it is time to start filling them. It is as
simple as selecting a manufacturer,
selecting the plug-in and dragging it
to the folder you wish it to be in. If
you accidently pop a plug-in into the
wrong folder, removing it is as simple
as going into the folder, right clicking
the plug-in and selecting remove.
I would also like to add that you do
not need to put every single plug-in
you have at your disposal into the
folders. All plug-ins will still be listed
under their manufacturers in the
lower part of the insert menu.
Once we have filled all of our folders,
close the window and select an insert
point to see the newly formed plug-in
menu. As you can see if I select our
newly created Channel Strip folder
you can see that the 3rd party plug-
ins new show up under their ‘type’
heading, instead of being organized
by manufacturer.
Issue 1 May 2018 3
Review
FABFILTER PRO-Q 2
EQUALIZER PLUG-IN
£134
www.fabfilter.com
Review by Elizabeth Turner
When FabFilter first released their
Pro-Q equalizer I was very impressed.
It quickly became one of my go-to
EQs, and I have probably used it
on at least 90% of all my projects
since. All across the board it was an
incredibly useful tool, that was most
definitely worth the asking price. But
how do you build on a truly fantastic
product? Well FabFilter found a way.
The Pro-Q 2 equalizer is available for
in 64-bit and 32-bit modes for both
Windows (XP or higher for 32-bit
4 Home Studio Magazine
and Vista or higher for 64-bit) and
Mac OSX (10.6 or higher), and is
available for VST, VST3, AAX, Audio
Unit and RTAS (32-bit only), so can
work in pretty much any DAW you
can throw it at.
Much of the Pro-Q 2 is identical
to its predecessor, such as double
clicking the display to create a new
band of EQ, with a floating control
panel appearing below it. You get all
the controls you would expect from
a digital EQ including Frequency
selection, Gain and Q settings, as well
as the ability to choose different curve
shapes, including but not limited
to Bell, Shelf (both High and Low),
Notch and Band Pass to name only
a few. We also get the slope control,
which allows us to change the dB/
octave of the filter slope. Version
2 of the Pro-Q adds a few options
here, whereas the original allows for
between 12 and 48 dB/octave slopes,
version 2 adds 72 and 96 dB/octave
slopes for more options. If using the
Pro-Q 2 on a stereo source we also
have the option to work on just the
Left, the right or both at the same
time. We can also switch the EQ into
Mid/Side mode, for just effecting
the sides, or the center channel.
In total the Pro-Q 2 allows for 24
bands of EQ, with each being able
to cut or boost a mighty 30dB. Each
band allows you to solo so that you
can sweep frequencies a little more
surgically than some other EQs.
Another feature we get added in
version 2 is a Piano Roll display,
that when engaged activates a piano
roll, which shows each EQ band

quantized to musical note. This can
be quite useful for applications where
a specific note in your track is a little
more prominent that others.
One last major control we have is
the phase mode, of which there are
three; Zero Latency Mode, Natural
Phase Mode and Linear Phase Mode.
Zero Latency Mode is pretty self-
explanatory, as is the Linear Phase
mode, but let us take a look at the
new Natural Phase Mode, which as
the name suggests has a more natural
feel to the sound, but nothing that I
personal would necessarily choose
over the Zero Latency Mode that is
set as default. Some however will find
this more useful than I.
Going right along the bottom we
have the controls for the in-built
spectral analyzer, which allows you
to monitor Pre, Post, Both or the Side
Chain Input, as well as edit the range,
resolution and tilt of the analyzer, all
pretty useful in surgical processes.
We also last, but by no means least
have an output gain knob, which
ranges from – infinity dB to +36,
which is very useful for correct gain-
staging of the plug-in. This Output
section also features an Auto-gain
setting, a phase invert button, and a
global bypass button for the entire
plug-in.
The Pro-Q 2 also has a number of key
features that are ‘under the hood’ so
to speak and the first is simply highly
improved CPU Optimization, that
FabFilter claim to be twice as efficient
as the original. I put this to the test
and opening up a multitrack I am
working on and popped an instance
of the EQ on each of my tracks with
all 24 bands engaged. Did my iMac
struggle, not in the slightest and
showed CPU usage of approximately
10-15%.
Review
The second new Under-the-hood
feature is the absolutely incredible
Spectrum Grab. Which allows you to
hover your mouse over the spectral
analyzer, and after a few sections grab
the peaks and troughs and reposition
them, which automatically creates the
EQ to match your selection. This is
a very smart little feature and allows
you to quickly see a problem and deal
with it. And you can still go in a play
around a little more with the settings
to further tailor that EQ band, which
can really lead to some impressive
results.
The Pro-Q 2 also features EQ Match,
which can take the frequency
character of a side chain input and
impart it on your track. This can
work really well in a number of
applications, such as trying to make
one track sound more like another
or could probably be even to create
space for tracks, by matching the EQ
and then subtly flipping all the boosts
Issue 1 May 2018 5
Review
to cuts to create room (I still need to
play around with that theory.)
I have left my favourite feature of the
Pro-Q 2 until last, and to many this
will be a very minor improvement,
but the GUI comes in 5 different
sizes; Small, Medium, Large, Extra
Large and finally Full Screen mode
(Medium as default). While this may
not sound like much, in use it has a
fair bit of utility, and I just wish that
more Plug-In companies would look
6 Home Studio Magazine
at being able to resize the GUI as and for a new EQ, then not only is this
when you needed too. one truly incredible, you won’t need
to remortgage the house to get it.
A final word I honest found no fault with this
incredible processor. Head over to
FabFilter’s website for a 30-day trial, I
As I previously mentioned the
FabFilter Pro-Q was an absolute would put money on you loving it.
favourite of mine, and I didn’t think
it would ever be surpassed. Turns
out I was wrong. The Pro-Q 2 goes
above and beyond what any digital
EQ should, and I know my mixes
will benefit. If you are in the market
 Review

AKG D5
DYNAMIC MICROPHONE
£79
www.akg.com
Review by Jack Baker

When it comes to handheld

vocal microphones the market has a
plethora of options available to you.
Most obviously gravitate towards the
ever reliable industry standard, the
Shure SM58. But what if there was a
‘better’ option out there?

The AKG D5 is a super cardioid mic,

that offers a tight pick-up pattern, a
decent frequency response, and heaps
of clarity to boot.
In the Box we find the Microphone
itself, a microphone stand clip and
a fabric case for storing the micro-
phone. Which for a microphone at
this price point is exactly what we
would expect.
First impressions of the microphone
recorded with the D5, that would
were that it felt solid in the hand, and
For our test we stood the D5 against probably suite most vocalist. Obvi-
the build quality is fantastic, made
the Shure SM58 to see how it help ously both microphones were lacking
from a die-cast metal housing. The
up against the industry workhorse. in the top-end somewhat, but this
grille covering the diaphragm seemed
We set our vocalist up in the ‘control is just the nature of dynamic micro-
very hardy and wasn’t in any way
room’ area of our home studio to phones, and was the case with both
pliable when removed, being made
record some scratch vocal tracks. the D5 and the SM58.
of a mesh of spring-steel. Also, as
you imagine the inside of the grille
One of the first things to note, is just
is covered with an integrated pop-
how good the D5 is at rejecting audio Should I buy the AKG D5?
filter and wind shield to keep down
off-axis. While this is obviously more
plosives and wind noise. One other
of a needed feature in live sound, to If you want a good, solid microphone
smart piece of technology is the dual
combat feedback, it will allow you that works wells in live and studio
internal capsule shock-mount which
to record a vocalist in the control applications straight off the bat, then
is said to cut down on handling noise.
room, even when you are monitoring yes. It stands up solidly against and
This microphone would most
(which we did in our test.) industry standard and (at the time of
definitely survive the rigors of both
writing) can be picked up for about
live and studio use, and all the
The D5 sounded great, and in certain £30 less. Obviously the D5 wont suite
travelling in between.
areas did feel superior to the SM58, every vocalist, and some will prefer
The D5 features a promising
and in others felt pretty similar. One the SM58 or another similar hand-
frequency response that features a
thing I did find was that the D5 cut held dynamic, but I feel like this isn’t
roll-off at the low end, and small
through the mix more, and there a purchase you would regret.
peaks around the 2 and 5 kHz regions
was a richness to the sound that was
that allow the vocals to cut through a
missing from the 58. There was also a
little better.
slightly clearer overall to the track

Issue 1 May 2018 7