RECORDING September 2022 - 40

The Latest in
Logic Pro
By Paul Vnuk Jr.
In light of our discussion with composer Ramin Djawadi, and his use of Apple Logic
Pro as his one and only composing, scoring and recording platform, we thought it
would be a great opportunity to check in with the Logic team. Our goal is to find out
what the current version of the program has to offer for recording musicians, with
special emphasis on the latest advancements and integration of spatial audio.
Normally, we would look at a program such as Logic Pro in the context of a review.
Please note this is not a review, but rather, the information here comes from a discussion
between Xander Soren (Director of Music Apps Product Marketing at Apple), David Earl
(Logic Pro Product Marketing Manager) and myself.
The first thing I learned was, in addition to Ramin, the list of GRAMMY Award-winning
artists using Logic includes Harry Styles, Megan Thee Stallion, Kanye West, Dua Lipa,
Beck and a growing roster of others. Multi-instrumentalist Jacob Collier has been using
the program since he was 11 years old, similar to Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas
who started with GarageBand before graduating to the expanded Logic feature-set.
Xander told me a great story of how Billie and her brother collaborated with Hans
Zimmer on the Oscar-winning song " No Time To Die " from the recent James Bond film
of the same name. The duo recorded the vocals with a handheld mic into Logic on their
tour bus using one of the bunks for isolation.
Composer Ramin Djawadi
While other companies need to scramble
with Mac OS updates and, most significantly,
the multi-year rollout of the M1
chip architecture, this is less of a problem
for Logic users for obvious reasons.
Give Me Some Space
The Star of the Apple Audio
Ecosystem
For the record, I am a total Apple disciple
(multiple Mac computers, iPads,
iPhone 13 Pro Max, AirPods Pro, Apple
Watch, two Apple TV devices, Final Cut
Pro and my whole house is automated
with Apple HomeKit), and yet I am just
now starting to dip my toe into Logic.
I will admit part of the draw comes
down to the seamless integration with
the Apple OS and ecosystem. If you like
the Mac OS way of doing things, Logic
Pro is kind of a no-brainer, especially
when one can start with GarageBand
for free and then upgrade to Logic for
$200. When one considers all of the
included plugins, synths, samplers and
sounds, that's a bargain.
40 RECORDING September 2022
It's made even sweeter when you realize
that so far, that's the total required cost. Historically
each new update has been free for
all users. This is in stark comparison with the
subscription models and paid update cycles
of most other DAWs. I am not sure this will
always be the case, but it's a pretty stellar
deal for now. Plus, most other DAWs are
two to five times this price for their top-tier
Pro offerings. Logic Pro is now on 10.7.4,
and according to Xander, there have been
around 38 free updates/releases since the
release of Logic Pro 10.0 in 2013.
It's also good to keep in mind that Logic
is not some new, wet-behind-the-ears,
add-on program. It carries a pedigree
of more than three decades and usually
battles it out neck and neck in the category
of top 3-5 DAWs.
The biggest new set of features in Logic
Pro center on Spatial Audio with Dolby
Atmos, including 7.1.4 mixing, processing,
effects and authoring. While many
competing DAWs are also starting to offer
similar features, what sets the Logic offerings
apart is the tight integration of the
Dolby Atmos tools in Logic, which also
offers a great way to hear how a Dolby
Atmos mix is going to translate in Apple
Music. This means that with Logic Pro
and a Mac running macOS Monterey,
you can begin to work in and author Spatial
Audio files, even if you do not have a
multi-channel/Atmos speaker set up. I am
told all you need is a set of headphones.
If you use a set of AirPods Pro or AirPods
Max, you can also take advantage of the
dynamic head tracking as well. Logic will
even take a finished traditional stereo or
5.1 sessions and break them out into a
handy spatial audio template, objects
and all, from which you can start mixing.

RECORDING September 2022

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