Closing a project

When you’re ready to close your project, choose File Close Project. If you’ve made any changes since you last saved your project, Logic Pro asks if you want to save the project. If you don’t want to keep those changes, select Don’t Save from the Save dialog.

Don’t confuse the Close Project command with the Close command. Both are on the File menu. The Close command simply closes the currently focused window. However, if your project has only one window open, which is often the case, using the Close command will also close your current project.

Naming and renaming a project

It’s a good idea to have a naming convention and stick with it. When I’m saving a project that doesn’t yet have a title, my file-naming convention is to use the date, key signature, harmonic mode, and tempo, followed by any

other useful descriptors such as the musical genre, song section, and version numbers. For example:

2014-01-01 C Mixolydian 120bpm funk verse 1

Naming your file this way enables you to match projects based on mode and tempo. If you eventually come up with a title for your project, use the Save As command (described earlier) or just rename the project file in Finder. Or you can use the Rename function by choosing File Project Management Rename.

Augmenting Your Project

Projects are so basic to your workflow that you may take them for granted after a while. But you can do several cool things at the project level that will make your time with Logic Pro more productive.

Saving time with project templates

When you create a project (see earlier in this chapter), you see Project Chooser, where you can begin a project from a premade template. These default templates are excellent starting places. You can also create your own project templates.

Logic Pro X also creates project backups every time you save your project. As long as you have Show Advanced Tools selected in the Advanced Preferences pane (see Chapter 1), you can revert to an earlier saved version of your project. Every time you save your project, a backup is made. You can revert to these backups by choosing File Revert To. A list of your time-stamped project backups allows you to go back in time to a previously saved project. This feature saves you when you try things out that you don’t like or make mistakes while working.

Create options with project alternatives

You can create alternative projects within a project. This feature saves you from creating new projects or copies of projects every time you want to try something new. The downside of creating copies of projects is that if you don’t do it properly and you delete audio from one project that’s being used in another project, you might lose that file in the first project. If everything is self-contained, you can try things out until your mad genius is content. Also, if you create two projects and want to A/B them, switching back and forth means all the plug-ins have to be reloaded each time, which can take enough time that your ear can’t tell the difference between the two.

To create a project alternative, choose File Alternatives New Alternative. You can rename and remove the alternatives by choosing File Alternatives Edit Alternative. As shown in Figure 2-4, each project alternative is time-stamped, which helps you know which project is the most recent and which is the original.

Figure 2-4:

Rename and remove project alternatives.

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Following are some examples of project alternatives you might want to try:

\\Arrangements: Create project alternatives with different lengths for

advertising, such as 10, 15, 30, and 60 seconds. Create an alternative with a short intro geared towards music industry professionals. Or try different instrumentations. Or if your band has a prima donna who needs to be louder than everyone else, let that band member hear

the louder version while the rest of the band hears the version you so expertly crafted. Or perhaps you want to hear how the project would sound with a song section in a different place.

\\Singers: A secret in the song-pitching business is that female listeners

often prefer to hear a male singer on a demo. With project alternatives, you can record a female singer on the version you want the public to hear but record a male singer when sending the demo to potential clients or artists.

\\Mixes: You can create a project alternative with a loud vocal and one

with a soft vocal. Or create an alternative without the vocal, in case the singer needs to perform the song to a backing track. (See Chapter 19 for information on the different alternate mixes you should produce.)

Customizing Your Project Settings

Similar to the Logic Pro X Preferences, your project has its global settings that you can adjust. You get to the project settings shown in Figure 2-5 by choosing File Project Settings.

Figure 2-5:

Set global settings for your project.

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Here’s a description of the Preferences panes you can choose at the top of the Project Settings window:

\\General: Set the grid to display bars and beats or time. Selecting bars

and beats stores tempo information in the audio files you create. Storing the tempo in files is useful if you’ll use the assets in other projects that recognize the data. Using the Time setting also changes the primary ruler to display time instead of bars and beats.

\\Synchronization: Sync your project to an external device or control

your project from an external device.

\\Metronome: This window is where you control the internal metronome

sound generator, uniquely called Klopfgeist. You can also control an external click via MIDI if you prefer to use a different sound. When you don’t want to hear the metronome while recording, select Only During Count-In, which is useful when the sound gets in the way of the prerecorded media you’re listening to.

\\Recording: Adjust the number of bars or seconds that play before you

begin recording. The MIDI settings give you several options for recordings that overlap. You can create take folders, join the regions, or create new tracks. (These settings are covered in depth in Chapter 7.) You can also set the audio recording path in this window.

\\Tuning: If you play with a lot of live instruments, such as piano, you

might need to detune the software instruments that accompany the acoustic instruments to make their pitch match. You can also experiment with several alternate scale types, though most people stick with Equal Tempered.

\\Audio: The sample rate is important to set here — 44.1 kHz is common

for CD quality audio, and 44.8 kHz is common for video projects. (Sample rates are described in detail in Chapter 5.) You can adjust the automatic management and naming of channel strips. If you plan on mixing in surround sound, you can choose your surround format. You can adjust the Pan Law, which helps compensate for the fact that sounds get louder if they’re in both speakers equally.

\\MIDI: The Input Filter tab on this Preferences pane gives you some

useful options if your external MIDI device is sending a lot of extra data that you don’t need. For example, aftertouch (pressure applied to a keyboard key while it is being held down) and system exclusive data can add a lot of data, and if you’re not using those features, turning them off makes editing in the list editor much easier because it’s not filled with extraneous data.

\\Score: If the MIDI tracks in your project will be printed for musicians to

play, you can adjust the settings here. This pane has many settings, and most are for professional notation. If you plan on printing a lead sheet, quick parts, or guitar tablature, you may need to check out these settings. Otherwise, the default settings are often all you need.

\\Movie: If you import a movie into your project to compose a film score,

Movie Start is a useful setting because movies don’t often start at 0. You can also adjust the volume if it’s getting in the way of your work, and you can have the movie follow the tempo.

\\Assets: When you select every option in this pane, all your assets are

copied (not moved, but copied) into the project folder or package. Selecting every option is the safest way to go because all your assets are in one place, but you might not want to go this route if you’re concerned about your hard drive space.

Figure 2-7:

The track import view of the all files browser.

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The Import Project Settings button gives you the same dialog as File Project Settings Import Project Settings does. As you can see, you can import information into your current project in several ways.

Another way to get to the projects import function is to use the all files browser and navigate to a Logic project. Choose View Show Browsers or press the F key. Click the All Files tab of the browser, select the project from which you want to import, and double-click the project or click the Import button at the bottom of the browser. The browser displays the track import view, and you can choose what you would like to import into your current project.

Export your project for collaboration

You might want to export your project for several reasons. Perhaps you want to collaborate with other artists or you want to work on your project in a different software application. You can also export portions of your project for use in other projects. To export regions, MIDI selections, tracks, and the entire project, begin by choosing File Export.