Logic Pro Labs sessions at the Apple store.

For the last 4 weeks, I’ve spent two hours on a Tuesday evening at the Apple store, taking their ‘Logic Pro labs’ session. I wasn’t sure what to really expect. Whist I’ve been using Logic for a while now, I wouldn’t say I’m an expert, and certainly don’t know everything about it. I signed up mostly to reinforce knowledge I already had, and maybe pick up some new tricks.

Most Apple stores have a 1-hour ‘intro to Logic’ session. Back when I first bought Logic, I attended one whilst I was waiting for it to be delivered to get the basics down. The one I went to in Boston didn’t require any kind of registration, I just turned up. An hour isn’t a huge amount of time to cover a program as vast as Logic, but I picked up a lot of the basics in that short demo. I possibly would have picked up more if another attendee, a “Pro engineer” hadn’t kept stopping the instructor to explain how feature xyz works “so much simpler” in Pro-tools.

As well as the 1-hour intro mentioned above, a lot of Apple stores offer a more intensive 4-week course I mentioned above. The spaces for these classes are limited to keep the classes small (I think around 6-8 people), and hence you need to register online at Apples website. I had been trying to register since September, but the classes had always filled up until this month. I guess it may vary from city to city, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they are in just as high demand elsewhere.

Week #1:
This session was mostly used to define terminology, complete with questions like “what is a DAW”, sample rates, a runthrough of Shannon/Nyquist theorum, and then closing out with an intro to apple loops. Got to play with an Apogee Duet at least which I had been on the fence about buying for a while.

Week #2:
Focus on MIDI. Brief intro to what MIDI is. Overview of recording MIDI. Examples of using the piano roll & hyper-editor. Then a quick tour of ES1, ES2, ESX1. Very quick introduction to synthesis. Quick look at ultrabeat & using its step sequencer to output MIDI.

Week #3:
Recording audio. Comping. Quick look at effects, with a focus on compression, reverb & EQ. Examples of sidechaining. Explanation of how to use buses.

Week #4:
Mixing. Track automation.

Summary: The ‘pro’ was something of a misnomer. I learned a few tricks that I wasn’t familiar with, but a lot of time was spent going over basics. I found it useful, but left each session wanting more. For free, it’s possibly one of the best ways to get an introduction to Logic.

Apple also offer more in-depth training at a cost. An Introduction to Logic Express and Logic Pro, and Advanced Techniques in Logic Pro.

In another post I’ll cover some of the other great sources of Learning Logic that I’ve come across.

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Tags: Apple, DAW, Logic, tutorial