Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Computer
Display
Monitor Speakers
(Fostex)
Apple
Mac Mini
Line 6
MIDI Keyboard
Apple
Keyboard
Apple
Mouse
To Create a radio advert you will need to use a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). The programme
we used for this project was Logic Express 9.
Equipment:
Logic
Logic Express 9 is a Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) sequencer and Digital Audio
Workstation (DAW) Software which allows you to sequence instruments, sounds and recordings,
edit vocals, mix different instruments so that you have a balanced piece of music when it is
completed, as well as automation and Quantising.
During the creation of a radio advert you will use these tools to create an instrumental and a
recording of a vocal so that it will sound professional when it is completed. The tools/features in
Logic Express 9 allow you to create an audio product to a professional standard making sure
everything is in time (Quantising)
off while the microphone is on & you are recording to avoid feedback. This will allow to create a
clear sounding vocal for your radio advert.
The Inspector
The Inspector element is a feature within Logic that allows you to pan an individual audio channel/
software instrument channel, adjust the volume using a fader and allows you to add inserts onto an
individual track. The inserts are a helpful tool allowing you to edit an individual track without
affecting other tracks. For example as it is a radio advert the audience will need to be able to
clearly hear the vocals. To allow this, you can add an insert in the inspector element such as
adding Channel EQ, Compression and Sample Delay to make the vocals stand out meaning you
can hear them clearly.
On the inspector there are two buttons, one with an M and one with an S, that allow you to mute
or solo an individual track. This is helpful as you may want to listen to vocals separately when
listening for any mistakes the vocalist may have made. There is also a pan/balance knob which
allows you to pan an individual track in the right or left channel.
You might also want to use the inspector element in Logic to EQ your drums or bass if the kick is
too punchy or the speakers are struggling with the amount of bass. If you insert a Channel EQ
setting, you can EQ the selected instrument until you are happy with the final result. You can
remove these inserts at any time or bypass them to compare the difference before and after the
insert is/was applied.
Quantising
Quantising is the process of editing notes if there are any mistakes to make sure the notes are in
time with the tempo of the track. This means that any MIDI notes will fit the track and not sound out
of place because they are out of time. Quantising means that there are no imperfections in what
you are making. This process means that the notes conform to a grid. Logic moves each note to
the closest point on the grid.
We did not have to use this feature when making our radio advert because we used the pencil tool,
as mentioned in the previous section, to draw electronic notes in and we worked out the timing
ourselves. This is more complicated and could be less accurate than using quantisation so I would
suggest using the quantisation method instead.
Automation
Automation is the process of creating a setting in Logic to
automatically make a change to any selected track without you
personally having to touch the programme. You can use automation
to fade in and fade out any particular sounds at any point that you
want it to using Logic as well as bypassing Channel EQs and
Panning at certain points.
You may want to use automation to automatically fade out certain
things if they cut off at the end so that it sounds smoother within the
mix. For example this is what we did while creating our radio advert
when we added a sound effect and it cut off at the end so we used
automation.
Piano Roll
The piano roll is a common feature used frequently by music producers to make changes to MIDI
notes, draw in and erase notes using the tool box. In the piano roll there is a full scale piano which
means you can easily locate where the notes are. It is helpful to people without great keyboard/
piano knowledge as in Logic it shows you where each C note is located.
During the creation of our radio advert, we used the piano roll frequently to accurately create a
drum beat, guitar & piano melody in separate tracks. We made sure this was in time by using the
grid pattern within the piano roll.
Evaluation
To evaluate, I think we were set this task because we were using Logic which meant we were
getting used to the software while working on a project. I also think we were set this task because it
is what we may get asked to do in the workplace if we were working for a company and it is
realistic to the industry.
I believe this task was successful because the final product we made was produced to a
professional standard using many different techniques to create a radio advert. I believe we added
the correct inserts to improve the sound of the drums, the bass and the vocals creating a balanced
mixed for all three versions of the radio advert.
The Logic skills I think I need to improve on is the use of more tools in the tool box such as the
velocity and quantisation tools. I could also improve on my use of the MIDI keyboard to record
notes within Logic instead of drawing notes in using the pencil tool.