Customer Reviews

Logic Pro 8: Audio and Music Production

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Well, I just moved to the US and therefore my English is not that good but this book has a lot of color pictures explaining everything very good. I had absolutely no problem following through and it was easy to learn things very quick.

I can only RECOMMEND this book - if you want to improve on your Logic skills.

So far I haven't even touched the DVD coming with the book but already have increased my working flow by at least 50%.

I would never give this book away anymore - or at least not as long as I don't know everything by heart ;-).

I record and edit my music on a regular basis. It's not an easy task sometimes and having a detailed manual such as this to help me along and to learn new and fascinating practical applications is wonderful. If you are a user of Logic Pro 8, I really can't see how you could not want this book. It delves deeply into facets of music editing that I find remarkable.

It's very readable in that the jargon is not like that of a Standard Operating Procedure Manual in which one can get lost in the technicality of what is being said. Music editing all boils down to working with tracks of recorded music. No stone is left unturned (that I can find) when it comes to track manipulation and the procedures are written in plain English. For an example, the paragraph on page 60 under the heading, "4.4 An Introduction to the Audio Mixer" says:

"Although we don't need to go too deeply int mixing at this point, it is well worth introducing the concept of the audio mixer, mainly as an alternative way of looking at the tracks you've created for your project. While the track lanes of the arrange area work horizontally, the mixer area shows us our current project in the the form of a traditional vertical mixer, with each track represented as a different channel strip. You can open the mixer at any point using either the mixer tab at the bottom of Logic's arrangement window or from the keyboard shortcut X."

And a nice picture of what is being discussed is given on the next page showing the horizontal track lanes above the vertical traditional mixer board. Many pictures of what you will see on the computer screen while using this program are given. I like that a lot because I need to literally see what it is talking about. And music editing is a very visual procedure as well as aural.

I can't say enough good things about this book. Again, it's very detailed but not to the point of boredom, I can't think of an area of music editing that's not well covered in this book, the color pictures are extremely useful, and it has a whole area of score manipulation (for those who read standard notation) which is fascinating. Definitely the book to have if you work with the this program. Too bad though it's all Macintosh based and not available for Windows user. That's the only reason I give this 4 rather than 5 stars. Also, there are typos and some grammatically incorrect sentences, but the information is still quite clear.

I'm more than half-way through this book and must say it offers a lot of helpful insight but no real in depth exercises to apply anything you've learned; you have to kind of do that on your own. The book comes with a CD with source files that you can use for your own exercises, or you can just record from scratch. There are a lot of typos, but nothing too awful; you get the point as you read.

I like that the book points out shortcut keys for various tools, screens, etc.; I am personally a big fan of shortcuts in any application.

If you are just starting out with Logic, and starting out with a home studio/small project studio, this is a great book. It helps to point out different pieces of hardware you can add on to your studio (audio interfaces, control units, monitors, etc.) on a good-better-best type scale, so you can research and do price comparisons to see if they are things you would like to have in your studio.

In short, this book is more of a "bible"; it's nice to have nearby so you can look things up for those "how do I do that again?" moments. It is in complete color which is very nice. I wouldn't recommend it if you are looking for something with tutorials and exercises.

My next purchase will be "Apple Pro Training: Logic Express and Logic Pro"; it seems to offer a more tutorial based training to really apply what you are learning.

I am not the brightest bulb in the box when it comes to some software. I struggle and struggle to learn to use it, and sometimes...I end up giving up, as the software isn't just user friendly in a way that works with me. This book helps cut through some of the confusion and aggravation that accompanies trying to learn new software that isn't necessarily all that user friendly. It's not perfect, but it beats the heck out of throwing your computer out the window in sheer aggravation too.

Logic Pro 8: Audio and Music Production is a fine reference for Logic Studio. It goes into detail on just about every aspect of music production in terms even a novice can understand. It's organized in a systematic and logical order and is easy to read. It's chock full of tips and tricks you won't find in the Logic manual. I have several books on Logic Studio but this one is the one I come back to time and again.

Highly recommended

This is an excellent book for anyone using Logic Pro recording. It goes through with step by step instructions and good illustrations for set up, recording and editing. A must for any Logic Pro user.

Logic Pro 8 is a very intense and lengthy manual, which provides a wealth of information for the novice and expert.

Excellent, easy to follow details on how to set-up, create and maximize your recording studio. Everything is clearly defined; from set-up, recording, editing, and even production.

Essentially, this is the current bible of logic pro recording.

The cd included is loaded with easy to follow tutorials, which are worth their weight in gold.

If you're using Logic Pro 8, without this book, you're missing out on alot of valuable information.

Way back in the old days, there was huge market for third-party software manuals, largely because I think people were running 'borrowed' copies of software and did not own the manuals. Of course, these days, barely any software comes with manuals, so books like this are in the arms race to become THE manual for all legitimately owned software.

Unlike Logic's instructional PDFs (which aren't that bad), this book takes an understandable and methodical approach to real-world tasks within Logic. It does so in a way I like to call 'progressive disclosure'... never overwhelming you with facts you don't need, and presenting tasks sequentially so that the use of the program makes sense. The color illustrations are great, something that is sadly lacking from so many manuals.

From noobies to intermediates, this book is a welcome introduction to the world of Logic. There are other books out there that deal with more advanced concepts that the super-pros will probably appreciate more than this one. But if getting your head around basic recording, intermediate manipulation and mixing concepts is what you need, then this book will serve you well.

There seem to be two main books on Logic available, this one, and the one by Apple Press. They are both good (I have them both) but they have a pretty different approach. This one breaks down the tool into sections and describes how to do various things (editing, recording, virtual instruments, mastering etc). It's pretty detailed with nice photos and all that. very useful. The Apple one though is much more of a tutorial. You go step by step through the various parts of Logic, using sound files on the provided disk and learning in much more of a "hands on" way.

Which book you like will depend on which way you prefer to learn, or whether you are looking to learn the basics or have more of a reference book. As I said, where I am (very much a noob) I prefer the hands-on tutorial approach, but this book certainly has a lot of merit too.

Of course Logic Pro 9 is now available, but for those of us still using Logic Pro 8, this book is a great reference.

There are helpful walkthroughs that will be of use to even seasoned Logic users. Plus, there are enough best practice tips that its worth extends beyond its particular version.

Although Apple is good about supplying printed manuals, I often find it handy to have a really good guide book on hand, if for no other reason than to give alternate explanations of the occasional tricky maneuver. Although rare, there are times when a particular task just isn't explained very well, and in those cases, Cousins and Hepworth-Sawyer do a nice job explaining in more detail.

Overall, highly recommended!