Since the early `80s, the Midi Protocols enabled
keyboard players to change
the pitch, speed, and amplitude of note data
after the performance has been recorded.
Digital audio technology has finally caught
up to the point where we can now
perform similar edits on recordings of live
instruments like vocals and guitar.
Logic Pro's method for performing these functions
is called Flex editing.
Now while it's similar to functionality referred
to as 'elastic audio' in other
applications, Logic Pro's implementation of
the Flex toolset provides some unique
and efficient ways to work with audio.
Let's dive right in.
There are two ways to work with the flex system:
using the Flex tool, or the Flex view.
The Flex tool is perfect for quick tweaks
to your audio, while you'll want to
activate the Flex View for more extensive
editing.
In this lesson, we'll start by looking at
the Flex tool.
Here we'll take a look at shifting a Guitar's
tab that was recorded ahead of the beat.
In the Crash Chords track, Ctrl+Option+Drag
to zoom around bars 21 to 26.
You can clearly see that at bar 23, the guitarist
was a little over eager to hit
the note, early by almost a quarter beat.
To access the Flex tool, press the Escape
key to bring up the tool pop up menu.
Select the Flex tool from the list, or press
the keyboard shortcut R.
Now, click down anywhere on the audio region
we're editing to trigger the Flex tool.
Before you can use the Flex tool for editing,
Logic needs to analyze the audio
waveform for transients.
Transients are beats, or significant changes
in amplitude, that logic detects
in order to separate your audio into editable
sections.
Just so you know, this doesn't cut your audio
up, although you can do that too.
More on that in a moment.
It simply creates markers for the Flex tool
to use.
To get started, you need to choose a Flex
mode.
If it's a percussive track, choose rhythmical
slicing.
Slicing will actually slice the audio into
regions based on the transients.
If it's a solo instrument like a trumpet,
lead guitar, or vocal, choose Monophonic.
Although be careful with lead guitars, because
often they'll have multiple notes.
And if it's an instrument playing chords,
such as the rhythm guitar we are
working with here now, here we'll choose Polyphonic
and click OK.
If you look in the Inspector right now, you'll
see additional
Quantization Options.
We'll cover the Quantization of audio in a
later lesson.
Now, position the Flex tool over the portion
of audio you want to move,
in this case the tab portion of the guitar
just before by 23, and drag to the right.
Notice how the tail of the previous chord
moves as you drag, but the start of
the previous chord stays put.
So does the start of the chord following the
one we are adjusting.
That's because they are anchored by their
own transients.
Line the start of the chord up with the start
of bar 23, and release the mouse.
And that's all there is to it.
Play it back to review.
We'll solo it first.
(Guitar notes)
And we can now hear that the guitar chord
starts right up bar 23.
Let's have a quick look at one other handy
feature of the Flex tool.
We'll Ctrl+Option+Click to zoom out.
And look at the situation where you want to
move a whole phrase of audio around.
In the past you'd slice up the audio, then
move one of the new smaller regions around.
Instead, select the Marquee tool.
Then drag through the section of audio you
want to move.
Switch back to the Flex tool, and drag to
reposition.
What's great about this, beyond the fact that
you don't have to spend all the
time removing silent sections of the audio
region, is that the waveforms never cut.
So you don't have to worry about clicks and
pops created from nonzero point crossings.
Now as we mentioned at the start of this lesson,
the flex tool is useful for
quick tweaks like this one, but for more complex
editing you'll want to
switch to the Flex View.
In the Flex View, you can actually see the
transient markers that Logic Pro
created during the initial analysis, and add
your own.
We'll take a look at the Flex View in the
next lesson.
