Logic Pro X - Filter Sweeps with Automation Video Lecture | Logic Pro X: A Practical Hands-on Course - Music

hello this is music tech help guy and
welcome to this video tutorial in Logic
Pro 10 on how to use filters creatively
so I'm going to show you guys how to
write in filter automation to create
sort of gradual changes and dynamics and
your synthesizers as well as how to use
filters in a way so you can maybe create
something that's a little bit more
dynamic like pull the high end now pull
the low end out to not just change the
song from a like a chord standpoint but
actually change it from like a tonal
standpoint from a textural standpoint so
let me play this track I've got here
you'll probably recognize it because
it's the basis for the intro music I
currently have
all right so when this pulsing synth
comes in it just sort of immediately
comes in full brightness it doesn't
really have like a like a noticeable
like filter sweep on it now we could do
a filter sweep from within the es2
instrument but I want the sweep to sort
of come after all the effects that I
have on this instruments channel so what
I'm going to do is I'm going to add the
channel EQ to write to the track the
last thing in line now what I'm going to
do is I'm going to turn on my high-pass
or my low pass filter rather remember
that a high-pass filter is a filter that
allows highs but cuts lows a low pass
filter like this one is one that allows
lows but cuts highs so we're allowing
the lows through but cutting the high so
let's start maybe down here somewhere
about 300 Hertz let's maybe make the
slope a little bit more a little less
gradual let's do that just that sounds
like by itself
okay so we don't want it to be like that
forever we wanted to sort want this this
this pulsing sound this sort of it grow
and evolve and so we're going to do is
we're going to take this this value
right here this is the the cutoff
frequency where I take that cutoff
frequency and we're going to use
automation to sweep it upward so let's
go back to about 300 where we were
before
I'm going to bring up automation on this
track make sure that we are in read mode
and under the automation options we're
going to go to that channel EQ it's the
the last EQ and line there there was
another one up there but that was that's
that's this one so they are in order
here and we're going to choose the they
call it high cut but it's really a
low-pass filter but we'll say high cut
frequency and we'll see that our
starting frequency is 305 Hertz and
we'll click somewhere just to create a
little automation point click over here
to create another one and we will pull
this up to full range a to hide
automation I'm going to pull up the
channel EQ one more time just you can
see this happening let's see if this
sounds like now if you don't want it to
sort of move that fast if you want this
sort of like stay filtered in the
beginning and like do more movement at
the end what you can do is you can grab
your automation curve tool and you can
create sort of like a exponential or
logarithmic shape and there's also a
different s-curve shapes as well but I'm
going to try this one I want to see more
growth at the end and at the beginning
all right and then for the middle
section here I'm going to play with the
filter a bit more so I'm just going to
create an automation point just this
sort of like a couple automation points
is sort of like a pivot point if you
will and at the very beginning here I'm
going to drop this down to 300 like we
did before 305 here we go if I can get
it right on 305 there we go and then I'm
going to do the same thing here I'm
going to create sort of like this arcing
filter sweep for this whole section so
let's see if this sounds like
okay so on this one instead of having it
just the filter just sort of fade in
let's make the filter fade in but let's
also make it fade down so let's make it
start a full range and then we'll arc it
down sort of quickly so we'll do
something like like that
I'm just going to try pulling this over
a bit more suit that sounds like there
we go now another thing I want to do is
for this middle section just because
it's not really like the drop beat it's
sort of like maybe like a verse or
something maybe some vocals are going to
go over this so I want the drums to be a
little bit more tame here one thing we
can do is we can use a filter to to tame
up the drums here currently I have all
the drums on a track stack so I'm just
going to hide the track stack and throw
it up top here and then what I'll do is
on the track stack I will add our
channel EQ again and this time just for
this little verse section I'm going to
maybe pull out some of the high end just
so it's not so it's not so in-your-face
so we're talking about bar 31 through it
looks like bar 46 and what we're going
to do with our channel EQ is we are
going to first I'm gonna get rid of all
these other bands here turn those off
and then I'm going to turn on the
low-pass filter and pull down our cutoff
frequency and shelf a bit and by the way
it's not a requirement to pull the other
bands out it's just a habit of mine let
me just zoom in here a bit and then what
I'll do is we will pull up automation on
this track let's view the channel EQ we
use the high cut frequency and right
here right where those drums start I'm
going to create two points and right
where the drums are just to sort of come
back into the little drop B I'm going to
make it a little longer
just a little more gradual here then I'm
going to grab this little middle line
and pull straight down now the other
sections here I want these to be full
range so I don't want to pull those down
there you go
so let's suit that sounds like it's
probably a bit too much let's pull it up
and you can hear the reverb in the
background is getting it's it's the
reverb sounding weird because the reverb
is full range but the the drums aren't
actually full range kind of like that
little sweep there
let me try that again right here it's
sort of like a musical effect let's see
how long did that go for it was roughly
until I tell you what let's snap our
automation just choose snap automation
and then I can actually snap these
points directly to the gridlines
although I have to have my grid set to
something other than a bar will say
division there we go
it's kind of a cool that's kind of a
cool little effect let's let's do that
I'm going to use my automation select
tool grab just that and I'm going to
hold option and drag this over there we
go
I'm going to do that every four bars
just there's like a musical effect and
I'm just going to snap make sure the
automation points are actually snapped
to the grid like they're supposed to be
listens a little off here we go and the
last one now this has got sort of the
scoop in it a little rise in it rather I
should call it I don't know if that's
what I want but we'll try it out let me
try the automation curve tool and pull
these down a bit
let me emulate that over here as well
with this rise here there we go let's
give this a shot
it's kind of a cool effect the only
thing I don't like about it is that the
some of the drums like the the high hats
and the ride and the snare that's the
brighter instruments they just don't
they sound kind of weird the kick sounds
cool with it what I'm going to do to
compensate for that is I'm going to
blend a dry signal of the bright
instruments with the the filtered signal
on the the drum bus or the drum stack so
I'm going to do is I'm going to create
an aux track or a send off of all these
four instruments I'll make it go to bus
five pull it up just a little bit and
I'll take the aux track that I created
over here and I'll call this drums dry
this is just going to be to preserve the
high end a little bit during that
section we just solo these out what I'm
doing these is I'm going to make them
pre-fader and the reason I'm doing that
so I can listen to the docs track
separately even with all these muted or
even with all those solo not soloed I
should say so yeah here's just our dry
signal that's just to preserve some of
the high-end that the filter is taking
out a little bit more gradually alright
so let's listen that one more time we
just hear that sounds like with
everything in
cool likewise you could try this with
high-pass filters as well to cut the
low-end out if you wanted to make
something sound a little scoop their
little filtered sounding you know for
instance if I wanted my my second verse
or something over here to sound like it
was really sort of filtered in the high
end and didn't have any base and then
then you want the base to sort of drop
for like an effect we could do that
let's actually try that on the the
second one here on our soft pulse synth
donut we automated Dru and all that
high-end automation let's draw in some
low-end automation too so let's turn on
the high-pass filter this time which
they're going to call it the loaf cut
frequency there you go and let's try to
gradually cut out the low-end now now
you don't want these to get too close to
each other because then you end up
having them cross each other and then
you've basically cancelled out most your
signal I just want to sort of scoop out
the low-end toward the tail end of this
section so that when the bass hits it's
really really intentional sounding
all right so I hope you guys enjoyed
this video this is something I do a lot
with instruments just to give them some
dynamics that maybe just playing with
the notes can't do or playing with
volume can't do you play with the
filters to make things warm or make
things brighter make things darker
around or whatever sort of tone you're
looking for and it sort of affects that
the texture and the timbre of the song
rather than just focusing so much on
notes and beats and chords and things
like that now we can focus on texture
and Tambor some other you know some
other ideas that a lot of song writers
forget about when they compose so again
I hope you enjoyed the video if you
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