Hi, I am Rasheeq Rayhan from Dhaka, Bangladesh. This lesson is for week 2 of

Introduction To Music Production at Coursera.org. I will be teaching how to prepare

a project in DAW (Logic Pro) using the project checklist.

The gears I will be using for this demonstration are:

• A MacBook Pro computer

• Logic Pro software

There are a wide variety of technical specifications that need to be configured

before you start working in your DAW (Digital Audio Workstation). Here is a

preproduction checklist of the things:

1. Proper Project Name and Location

2. Digital Audio Preferences

a. Sample Rate

b. Bit depth

3. Recording File Type

4. Hardware Settings

a. Configure Audio Interface

b. System Preferences

5. Buffer Size

When you open Logic Pro you will see a menu

from where you can choose a template. For the

purpose of this demonstration let’s choose “Empty

Project”.

After this you will be asked to create a new track.

Select “Audio” and hit “create”.

1. Proper Project Name and Location:

After creating a project it is very important to name your file well. Have a fixed

folder on your computer where you can store all of your projects (the default location is

Macintosh HD/User/Music/Logic). By this you will know where things are going and it will

be easy to back up.

To save your project go to

File> Save. Name the project and

save it. I have named it as “Project

Coursera” and saved it in the

default location.

Note:

As you work with DAW, you are not creating a single file, but a folder that includes

DAW’s proprietary files, collection of assets. So, inside the folder there will be the

project file and next to that will be a folder structure that holds all of the assets.

Remember that the project is not just an individual file, but the whole project folder. So,

you need to keep the whole file structure together.

One of the worst things you can do is save a project folder inside a project folder.

The DAW will have a hard time knowing which audio files are associated with the

project file. Be very careful while creating a new project folder, put it in a new location,

and name it well because you can face severe file management issue if you are not.

2. Digital Audio Preferences:

The digital audio preferences include setting up the sample-rate and bit-depth. It

may be done in the driver for interface or in the DAW.

We know sound is pressure variations in the air that is continually variable. It is not

discrete steps, but constant. Computer cannot understand that kind of information. It

works in binary language where things are represented in 1s and 0s. Therefore, there is

a process to go from the continually variable sound into the stream of 1s and 0s, which

is called “sampling”.

When we represent sound in digital audio, there are a couple of standards. CD

standard is a 16-bit word. It is

known as “bit-depth” or

“wordlength”. But in the studio we

tend to use a higher bit-depth (24-

bit). As it is related to amplitude

the higher bit-depth gives a wider

dynamic range and you can record

at such a high value. So, it is really

recommended to record at 24-bit.

Go to Preferences> Audio and

select 24-bit recording.

The other property is the

“sample-rate”. While converting from analog-to-digital you are making many

measurements per second, each of them has a specific bit depth; how often we do the

measurements is known as “sample-rate”. Generally, we have to measure 40,000 times

per second to be able to accurately represent the continuously variable signal in the air

as a digital representation. The higher the sample rate is, the higher is the frequency

that can be represented accurately in the digital domain. The CD standard sample-rate

is 44,1000 hertz. There are some benefits to go to a little higher sample-rate. So, in the

studio we use 48,000 hertz. Set this from File> Project Settings> Audio.

3. Recording File Type:

Use the highest possible quality of audio files. It will create larger files but you can

manipulate the audio files more. You

have to use a loss-less type of file,

which is a “wav” or “aiff” file. Choose

“recording file type” from Preferences>

Audio. Choose Broadcast WAVE (BWF)

if possible.

One other parameter you have to

adjust is if it is an “interleaved” or “non-

interleaved” file. Interleaved is a single

file that includes both the left and right

audio channels while non-interleaved

file saves a separate audio file for left and a separate one for right. Use interleaved files

from right at the beginning of the process.

4. Hardware Settings:

Make sure your DAW is configured to work with your audio interface. Go to

Preferences> Audio and choose your interface as input, output device.

5. Buffer Size:

Instead of sending out all the samples exactly in time the computer collects a queue

of samples that it can be ready to throw out to the digital to analogue converter at any

point. That amount of samples at a time is called “buffer”.

Setting up buffer size provides a trade-off. If you have a larger buffer size, you can

use more plugins, synthesizers, and the computer can run a little more efficiently. But

there will be a delay when recording. The lower is the buffer size, the less the latency.

So, during the production, recording, tracking the instruments use a low buffer size

(128 samples). During the mixing and editing process turn that up to 1024 samples.

Go to Preferences> Audio to set the buffer size.

I hope you enjoyed the lesson as much as I enjoyed making it. If you have any

questions do not hesitate to discuss with me so we can learn together! Thank you for

critiquing. Also, if you want to know more about my music, please visit my YouTube

channel. J

https://www.youtube.com/user/FrenzyPhrenesis

Regards, Take Care and Happy Learning!

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