Ever wondered how synth music is made or looking to enhance your music production skills? In EP 157 of the Inside The Mix podcast, I dive deep into the art of creating mesmerising stutter synth effects using Logic Pro.
Join me as I guide you step-by-step through setting up a new software instrument track, programming hi-hats, and mastering sidechain techniques to achieve that iconic stutter sound. We'll explore how to seamlessly integrate these effects into your synth productions by fine-tuning parameters like the threshold and leveraging the gate function.
But we don’t stop there. Discover how to craft dynamic stutter effects with Logic Pro's step sequencer. Learn how note placement, adjusting note values to "16T," and using the repeat function can create captivating stutter sequences that make your synth tracks stand out.
Whether you're new to synth music production or looking to sharpen your Logic Pro tips, this episode is packed with expert techniques and tips to elevate your music. Tune in and transform your approach to music production, ensuring your synth sounds shine in every mix.
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Episode Transcript
You're listening to the Inside the Mix podcast
with your host, mark Matthews.
Hello and welcome to the Insidethe Mix podcast.
I'm Mark Matthews, your host,musician, producer and mix and
mastering engineer.
You've come to the right placeif you want to know more about
your favourite synth musicartists, music engineering and
production, songwriting and themusic industry.
(00:44):
I've been writing, producing,mixing and mastering music for
over 15 years and I want toshare what I've learned with you
.
Hello, folks, and welcome tothe Inside the Mix podcast.
If you are a new listener, makesure you hit follow on your
podcast player of choice and ifyou're watching this on YouTube,
make sure you hit subscribe andthat notification bell so you
get notified of any new episodes.
(01:05):
And, to the returning listenersand viewers, a big welcome back
.
So, if you've listened to anyof my productions of late
probably going back to, I thinkthe last one was December yeah,
it was December of 2023.
I like to use a stutter gateeffect on synths and I've used
the Kilohertz I think that's howit's pronounced Transgate to do
(01:28):
that, and it got me thinking.
Could I do something similar inLogic Pro using just native
plugins?
Could I use something like asidechain to create a similar
effect.
So that's what I'm going to doin this episode.
We're going to create a stuttersynth effect using sidechain in
Logic Pro.
So let's give it a go.
Here we are in the Logic Prosession, and this is the session
(01:51):
I used in episode 155, where Iwent through a ghost kick
tutorial, and what I've done isI've added a synth pad
progression here.
So it's in the key of B flatminor, 105 bpm, and I'm going to
play you the desired outcome.
So this is the synth with thestutter effect.
So that's what we're aiming forNow.
(02:30):
Admittedly, it's probably notmy final synth patch choice.
I will go in and doctor andmove it around a bit in terms of
some parameters, as it's a bittoo abrasive for my liking, but
I've made it that way.
So it's obvious.
The stutter effect is obvious.
So let's start from scratch andbuild this stutter effect.
Okay, so this is the synth padprogression without any stutter
(02:52):
effect.
So step one we are going tocreate a new software instrument
track of the type pattern, andit's going to create a sequencer
for me and I'm going to usethat to program some hi-hats.
(03:16):
Now you can pretty much use anyof these sounds, really,
because I'm going to mute theoutput, I'm going to turn off
stereo output on this and I'mgoing to set it to 32 steps and
I'm going to move that regionthere.
I'm going to drag it out so itgoes from bars one to nine.
So I've moved the sequencerregion from bars one to nine and
(03:37):
I'm just going to find a hatbecause I like to use hats in
this instance and I'm just goingto drag some notes in, just
drag them all in.
Technically you could justclick on the left here you can
select from four up into sort of64th note notes and you can
also add some fluctuations tothe timing of those notes as
(04:02):
well, with like 1t, 2t, 4t andso forth and, if I play it.
So not overly inspiring.
But what I'm going to do now isthis I'm going to go over to the
synth I've got here and I'mgoing to go to the gate and it's
enabled and I'm going tosidechain it too.
(04:22):
I'm going to find the Hi-Hat 1,so this Instrument 34.
I have hidden the other one,hence why I've got instrument 13
, 14, 15 and so forth.
So I'm going to select that oneand I'm going to just stick
with the default settings forthe gate, and if I play it now,
you should hear that stuttereffect.
It'd be really basic, okay, andwhat you can actually do is use
(04:55):
the threshold to control thesort of depth of the effect.
So I'll start to drag it tominus 50 and I'll go the other
way.
Actually, I quite like thatmore pronounced effect.
(05:23):
I'm going to leave it.
That's minus 20.
So now what I'm going to do isI'm going to play around with
the pattern and let's createsomething interesting with the
pattern here.
And you can actually in logic,in the sequencer here, if you
click the arrow facing rightnext to the name of the
instrument, you can actuallycontrol parameters here, such as
the velocity, repeat the notein the octave as well.
So in this instance I'm goingto let's just randomly remove
(05:46):
some notes and see how it sounds.
It's okay, it sounds all right,but you get the idea and you
can play around with it to comeup with the sort of sounds that
you want.
And then the cool thing aboutthe repeat at the bottom is so
(06:13):
I'm going to add a repeat.
You can just click on the notesor the sequencer I guess it's
the note and you can just dragit up or down to create repeats
on this.
So I've added four on thisparticular one here.
So let's see how that sounds.
What might help is if Iactually mute and turn off the
(06:34):
output of the hi-hat.
So let's put no output and seehow it sounds.
Now it's quite cool actually,using that repeat or the repeat
feature here.
It keeps the gate open longer.
So I mean I could do that inthe synth, I could go to the
(06:54):
gate and I could adjust the holdand the release.
But that's going to affect allof the stutter effect notes, as
it were.
So in this instance, using theactual sorry folks, using the
repeat element within the stepsequencer, I can elongate that
(07:14):
gate, the opening of the gate,which is quite cool.
So let's add another one in.
I'm going to add this one.
I'm going to put this one ateight.
I'm going to add another onehere.
So I say here I'm trying to.
I don't know where that is interms of the number of the in
the sequence.
It's toward the end, but youget the idea.
(07:40):
Let's change it.
I'm going to change it to 16Tand see how that sounds.
So this is slightly offset thenotes.
Now that will go the other way.
I probably preferred how I hadit in the beginning.
(08:01):
But you get the idea, folks, soyou can play around with the
step sequencer and create thesereally cool and interesting
patterns, and you don't reallyneed to do much with the gate
itself, other, I find, thanadjusting the threshold which is
controlling the depth of the ofthe fl of the stutter effect.
Most of it, for me, is done inthe step sequencer here, using
(08:24):
repeat and also getting rid ofsome of those actual sequence
notes.
So there you go a really quickway to create a stutter effect
using sidechain in Logic Pro.
Give it a go.
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