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2. Creating a more cohesive beat in Logic

1 Create a new project, set its tempo to 140bpm and put Kick.wav, Snare.wav, Rim shot.wav and Hats.wav on audio tracks, turning each one down to -6dB to prevent clipping. Set up a loop around them. These sounds are pretty upfront, but with some processing we can make them sound more chilled while still retaining their solidity.

2 Let’s start with the hi-hats, which are very loud and bright. Activate the Channel EQ on the hats channel and click the Analyzer button to see what we’re working with. There’s too much energy in the highs, so activate the high-cut filter and set it to 11.2kHz to get rid of them.

3 Set one of the bell bands’ Q parameters to 0.10, and use it to take out 1.5dB at 9.6kHz. This smooths the high end out a little. Activate the low-cut filter and bring it up to 500Hz to ensure that nothing slips through below the hi-hat’s fundamental frequency.

4 After the Channel EQ, add an Enveloper effect from the Dynamics section. Bring the Gain fader on the right-hand side of the plugin all the way down to -100% to tidy up the hi-hat’s tail. This tightens up the beat and will make it easier to add other elements when you’ve finished working on the drums.

5 Next, add the Ensemble effect from the Modulation folder. This chorus-style effect gives the hats a more natural sound and some stereo width, but the effect is quite strong at the default setting, so turn the Mix fader down to 10% to ease it off a little.

6 Another useful effect for giving hi-hats a natural feel is delay. Add the Stereo Delay effect from the Delay folder. The default setting’s synced delays give the hats a funkier feel, but again, the effect is a little too intense, so turn the Left and Right Output Mix faders down to 10%. (Audio: Hat delay)

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Now turn your attention to the kick channel. The kick is good and weighty, but it’s unlikely we’ll need all that beef in our final mix. To make it less booming, use a Channel EQ on the kick track to apply a low cut at 65Hz. This helps makes the beat feel skippier and more flowing. Turn the kick track down to -8dB. (Audio: EQed kick)

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The default reverb is OK for the kind of sound we’re after, but load in the better Midnight Hall from the Medium folder. Set the Size to 93% and the Wet level down to -9.6dB for a more restrained but still lively rimshot reverb sound. Set the Bus 1 level on the rimshot sound to -10dB. (Audio: Send reverb)

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Set the send amount to 0dB, and do the same on the snare channel. Set Aux 2’s Output to No Out. This silences the channel, but we can still use it as a sidechain input source. Now add a Compressor effect from the Dynamics folder on Aux 1, placing it after the Space Designer.

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A big part of the dubstep sound is the big, reverbed snare. In Logic’s mixer, set the Sends slot on the rimshot track to Bus»Bus 1. This automatically creates a bus channel called Aux 1 for us. Add the Space Designer effect from the Reverb folder as an insert on Aux 1.

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This sounds decent enough, but the reverb has the undesirable side effect of clogging up the mix. We can solve this problem with a little sidechain compression. First, set up a bus to serve as a dedicated sidechain input channel. Set the kick channel’s Send routing to Bus»Bus 2.

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Set the Compressor’s Side Chain input to Bus 2. When the beat plays, you’ll see the Gain Reduction meter bounce along with the kick and snare. Turn Auto Gain mode Off, and lower the Compressor Threshold fader down to -32dB.

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The rimshot is dominating the mix a little, so turn it down to -9dB. Let’s make the snare more obvious in the mix with some transient tweaking. Add a Compressor on the snare channel. We’re going to use this effect to make the snare’s dynamics more pronounced. Turn the Attack up to 170ms.

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You can see that the level peaks slightly lower now. Turn the Compressor Gain up to 1dB to get a level that’s roughly on par with the perceived volume of the sound before we compressed it. The peak level is very slightly higher, but this doesn’t matter too much as the snare’s now-louder attack only peaks at this higher level for a short amount of time, and won’t be affected too negatively by a master limiter, clipper or saturator.

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This is a long Attack time, which means that the transients at the very start of the snare will be unaffected by the compression. However, the later part of the sound will be reduced in volume, making the transients sound relatively louder. Set the Auto Gain mode to Off, and turn the Compressor Threshold down to -28dB.

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Solo the snare track and toggle the Compressor’s power button on and off to compare the original and processed sounds. It’s a matter of personal taste as to whether the increase in peak level is worth the trade-off in headroom to get a punchier-sounding attack. (Audio: Snare attack.wav)