INSIDE LOOK AT LOGIC EXPRESS

In case you don't know about Logic Express, imagine grids going across and down your computer screen. You pull a "loop," which is a piece of music that may last 4 or 6 or 8 seconds, onto the grid, and as you activate the progam a bar moves across the screen and the loops play.

The Logic Express mixer window in front and the arrange window with loops behind — as seen on my home computer. (My screen isn't really that small!) See larger screen shots of new interface.

THE TRICK IS ...

1. Don't let any loop play too long. Maybe twice in a row at most! 2. You must pick various loops that play well in sequence (across the grid). 3. You must pick various loops that work well playing together (stacked up and down the grid). 4. Have a sense of starting slow and building up toward the end. Pacing. Intensity. Silence. Don't be afraid of the silence! 5. Create and repeat certain themes as you go. 6. Plan on spending about 2 hours production time for every minute of music. 7. Brew a fresh pot of coffee before you begin step one. 8. Don't be surprised if you end up using literally hundreds of tiny 8-note loops to fill out two or three minutes of music.
9. Be prepared to rewrite loops drastically!

If you're not totally anal, don't even think about learning Logic Express. The difference between GarageBand and Logic is the difference between a Coolpix and a Nikon D200, between a Tracfone and an iPhone. Logic Pro is at the top of the heap.

SOME ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE PROCESS

It helps that I love working on my Mac and that I play guitar, bass and keyboard ... and that I played in a rock group all through high school and part of college ... and that I must have attended nearly 1,000 practice sessions and played almost 300 jobs at clubs, pubs, proms and lounges. That's many thousands of hours obsessing over music!

It also helps that I have, since high school, enjoyed crazy things like playing the first 20 seconds of "Purple Haze" for three straight hours, guitar in hand, to teach myself the solo. Or like sitting at the piano for hours trying to learn — by ear, of course — Joni Mitchell's "River" or "Real Good for Free." Or like sitting at the computer four straight hours (until 4 a.m.) working on the music for the Dale and Gus fashion show presentation. I think that sort of insane mentality is just right for digital music creation.

The task here — and it takes about two or three hours to get 1 minute of finished music — is a process of selection and arrangement, of knowing what to put where. And when. When to stack up the sounds. And when to string them out. When to add some drama. When to let the bottom fall out. Where to leave a hole. And how to come back from a crushing silence. Putting some sort of shape to the thing. Keeping it moving forward, somehow familiar but also fresh. And going back to the beginning to find the end. What a lovely puzzle it is!

It took me a while, but I think I finally get it: Any musical instrument is nothing but a machine for making music. So I just treat Logic Express the same way I used to treat my 1954 Les Paul guitar — I fool around until I get the sounds I want. The main difference is that Logic gives you infinitely more choices than any single instrument ever imagined, even a symphony orchestra.

WHAT’S A “GOOD” SONG?

We could say that a good song is one that wins an Oscar. Or one that captures the attention of a lot of people. Or one that tops a list of classic tunes.

“Over the Rainbow” does all that. And it also became Judy Garland’s theme after she sang it in “The Wizard of Oz.”

So the song was an obvious classic and loved by all from the start, right? Ha!

Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg wrote the music for “The Wizard of Oz” but felt they needed a special song for Garland. They were stumped. Nothing seemed to work. On his way to the movies Arlen got the melody for “Over the Rainbow” and jotted it down by the side of the road. But when he played it to his song-writing partner, Harburg didn’t like it.

They went round and round until Harburg called in his old friend Ira Gershwin, who generally didn't like ballads. But he liked the song, so Harburg went ahead and wrote some lyrics. But when Louis B. Mayer saw the movie preview, he had the song removed. Too operatic! Too slow! Sung in a barnyard! Wrecks the pacing of the movie! The next preview, sans “Rainbow,” aroused the ire of executive producer Arthur Freed, who got so annoyed and lobbied so hard that the song was reinstated just to shut him up.

“Over the Rainbow” not only won the Oscar, it currently sits atop the "Songs of the Century" list and American Film Institute's "100 Years, 100 Songs."

What’s a good song? If you think you know for sure, get into the music and movie business: your fortune awaits!