Sequencing Systems and

Techniques!

Above you can see an illustrated drawing of the connections inside of a college midi room, there
are many different types of cables which setup certain equipment and without them the studio
would not function. Its critical to know all the sorts of cables used in professional work spaces so
that if you are ever faced with setting up gear then you know what connects where and how, this
would be a very useful thing to know and thats what im going to be explaining now. Using the
Legend on the picture i will explain what each piece of equipment does, how it is used, how it is
connected and what other connections it may have or be used for. All of these devices apart from
the mouse, keyboard and microphone are all
connected to the mains so keep that in mind when
setting up or using a Midi room. !

1. As you can see in the diagram the first number is in

fact the studio monitors which in the case of the MIDI
rooms are active monitors meaning there is no need
for a power amp as they are not passive and have a
built in power supply. They are connected to the MIDI
Keyboard through a cable called a Jack Cable. Jack
Cables are used for things such as guitars and studio
monitors. They are also known as Quarter inch cables.!

2. Number 2 is the computer which in this

case is a Mac Mini. This Apple Macintosh
computer is the central hub of the whole
setup and it is where all the needed DAWs
such as Logic are found and it is also where
the Midi Keyboard and peripherals are
inputted. This Particular computer has a
HDMI port which is great for connecting
monitors and TVs to your system which is
the connection we mainly use at college.
There are also other ports on the device such
as Ethernet, Headphones and Microphone
ports and Firewire.!

3. This is the Computer screen and its

connected to the mac via a HDMI lead, the
monitor is how we actually see our projects
and although it is overlooked in many setups
its always good to have a decent monitor with
a HDMI port as this provides better quality but
VGA is sufficient but however can not be used
with newer Macintoshes. !

4.This is the Midi Keyboard and in the MIDI

rooms in college this is were all the recordings
are processed through, usually when recording
in studios you will have a separate recording
device known as a Audio
Interface however in the MIDI
rooms these are built into the
MIDI keyboards. They provide
connections for the studio
monitors, Microphones,
Guitars and any other form of
recordable instruments such
as Turntables. As you can see
in the surrounding pictures it
has many inputs like just
mentioned including XLR, Line
in and USB. The Midi
Keyboard connects to the mac
by the USB whereas the
monitors connect through a
line output. Microphones are connected via XLR and this device provides phantom power for
condenser microphones which basically means you can use much more sensitive microphones
which pickup a wider frequency range, these condenser microphones are great for acoustic
recordings.!

5.Is the Microphone. In The Midi Rooms there are mainly condenser microphones which are used
mainly for vocal recordings for coursework. As previously mentioned they connect via XLR into the
microphones input in the MIDI Keyboard. You can view the input levels via the gages on the MIDi
Keyboard this is a handy feature and comes in useful like other controls on the MIDI Keyboard. !

6&7. Are the Keyboard and mouse which are self explanatory they are used for operating the
computer and are connected to the Mac via USB like the MIDI Keyboard. !

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Starting from scratch this is how you setup a Midi Room and its equipment. Firstly you will need to
plug in the computer to the socket and put the screen onto the desk and connect it to the
macintosh though HDMI making sure that you have also plugged in the screen to the wall socket.
Next you should plug in the computers mouse and keyboard into the computer via the USB ports.
Then you should set the MIDI Keyboard onto the desk and connect it again to the computer via
USB making sure you have plugged it into the wall. Next plug in your monitors via the line outputs
of the MIDI Keyboard with a Jack lead making sure that they are also both plugged into the socket.!
Then you should plug the Microphone into the MIDI Keyboard via the Microphone or XLR input of
the Keyboard. Once you have done that turn everything on starting with the Monitors and speakers
,switch on the mac and launch logic!!

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Recording, Editing and Mixing in Logic!

Recording!
To put an idea thats in your head down and make it an actual real project you'll need to record it
into logic. There are many ways in which to record into Logic and even more tools and
manipulation techniques to get the sounds you want. In logic there are 3 main ways to record these
different ways are: !

-Audio !
-Software Instruments!
-External Midi!

Audio !
Audio Recording is one of the main parts in Logic and
it allows you to record real life instruments such as
your own guitar and drum set via microphones or
Direct Input. To Record via microphones you need an
audio interface connected to your computer and an
XLR cable plugged into your chosen microphone
which is going to the audio interface. This allows you
to record your chosen instrument. There are a number
of basic settings when creating tracks in Logic which
you can see in the screenshot to the right.!

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You can see that you can select the number of tracks
you want to create, this is especially useful for multi
track recordings. You can also select the format of the
track, whether you want it to be a Mono, Stereo or
Surround track for different types of microphones. You
can also select what inputs and outputs it uses and
you can select whether to arm the track and if you
want input monitoring on your selected track. However
you dont have to use microphones for this audio
channel, you could always record via Direct Input (or
DI). You can do this by using a jack cable into your
chosen instrument such as guitar and record your it
into logic. !

Software Instrument!
A software instrument track is a track which is run by
software on the computer, you dont need anything for
these types of tracks as they are all built in to Logic
however to get the best out of them you probably will
need a MIDI keyboard hooked up to your setup to
create melodies and chord progressions in this
channel. You can use plugins like the EXS24 and the
ES1 to make sounds for example in this type of track. !

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External MIDI!
External MIDI is the least relevant channel, it is mainly used for when the sounds are outside of
Logic on a different piece of equipment. This can be used for some types of older synthesisers,
analogue gear and older keyboards.!

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Editing !
When editing your recordings there are a few tips and general
things to remember to make your time on Logic easier, better
and quicker. Editing can be a difficult task and sometimes may
take hours of work to get your sounds up to the place which
you want them. You can use various tools in logic to get the to
sound like what you want and im going to explain how this can
be done.!

The first set of editing tools im going to explain are mainly for
audio tracks. When you record audio into logic you are
presented with a waveform. In Logic these are typically harder

to manipulate than MIDI tracks as they are recorded by a instrument which isn't software so they
require extra editing. You can do this by selecting your audio and clicking the sample editor button
and editing your waveform by using tools such as normalise and fade out to customise the more
basic tool settings. You can also reverse the waveform and even trim it to your desire.!

However if you need to edit your waveform because of timing reasons there is another extremely
handy tool that you can use which is called Quantisation and is done by clicking the waveform and
channel of your choice, then clicking the flex tool. Now depending on what type of instrument you
have recorded you can select one of the appropriate options. Then you can move your mouse over
to the audio clip options on the left and by choosing one of the wanted timings.!

With this Flex editor you can also speed up the audio and slice your recording to keep or discard
unwanted parts which you may not want. This Flex feature is extremely useful and come in handy
many times.For the Software instrument tracks you can edit tracks and MIDI files by using the
Piano Roll feature. This allows you to view a lll of the MIDI data in a piano form, this allows you to
edit your chord progressions and melodies correct any mistakes and in the combination with the
previous quantise tool i just showed works wonders with any MIDI file. You can edit the actual
sounds of sounds by clicking on the channel and selecting the software instrument and changing
settings. Depending on which module you have selected the controls can variate. A Module such
as the ES1 is very extensive with Wave, Envelope, Effects. Filter and detuning settings along with
many other options and if you begin to experiment you will be able to create some unique sounds.
In Logic you also have samplers such as the EXS24 which you can load samples into before hand
and then make melodies out of that chosen audio sample. You can do this by clicking edit, then
group and then load multiple samples and follow the instructions. The EXS24 also has all of the
settings that the ES1 has so you can experiment with your chosen sampled sound afterwards with
the controls.!

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Mixing !
Mixing in logic is definitely made easier by certain elements and
built in plugins. Its ease of use by simply clicking the mixer button
and getting you straight into the action is one of the best parts of
Logic in my opinion. There are several areas in Logic that you
may want to take major notice in such as the plugins section,
panning, levels and buses.!

The Plugins section is where you will find all of Logics effects,
here you can find anything from compressors to delays and
choruses. Plugins like this are great for mixing and can make your
track sound instantly better. Compressors are handy for any types
of track but especially audio tracks as they can boost the overall
level of the track and make it so that no part is louder or quitter
than the other which is great if you have recorded audio which
has a lot of volume difference. You can get creative with effects
such as reverb and delay to make a sound appear to be being
played from a distance or in a large empty space and you can
also you tools such as a noise gate to eliminate background noise
from any recordings you make. !

Panning is a big part of mixing as your songs should always have

a good but balanced stereo field and this can be achieved by
panning and the use of effects such as the multi-meter and stereo
spread. However panning in Logic is very simple and only uses
one control on the mixer for every channel which can be located
next to the volume meter and you can turn it either way, left or
right, to pan and chose how much you want to pan every
instrument by. This is a very useful tool and can make songs
sound much wider, panning is a great technique and can improve
songs dramatically if applied right. !

Levels are shown by the Volume meters seen in every track on

the mixer next to the panning controls, the visually show how loud
or quite each track is by presenting the level in decibels.!
The Meters are accurate and responsive meaning that if
something is too low or high in the mix you can see it instantly
and are able to fix it quickly. This may help you in recordings as
then you could also apply compression when needed, due to the
help of the levels presented by the meters. !

Busses are also very important and offer a way of managing your tracks more easily by putting
them into groups meaning that you can put groups of effects and panning on a particular set of
tracks and not have to apply all the same effect multiple times, you can do this by chaining the
output of the track to a chosen bus.!