How I make Ambient Drones - Logic Pro X Ambient Tips and Processing

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Today I am hoping to demystify and show how I typically process my ambient guitar videos. Ultimately, it is a matter of creating a drone or sequence of drone pads and mixing them to duck out of the way when my main guitar is swelling with side-chain compression.
Let me know if you have any questions!

[@paulwhitesos]

It can also help to use very slow tremolo or automation to constantly shift the balance of the drone layers. You can hear many examples of this type of treatment in the music by Cydonia Collective,

[@leneu.studio]

i just heard you say the first 3 words and I just have a good feeling about you and what you are doing!

[@GregAllison]

Thank you for the kind words!

[@yamilmsilva]

I got so relax !!!! ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤I LOVE IT !!!!

[@GregAllison]

Glad you enjoyed!

[@Tjhanson27]

Thank you for making this, very helpful!

[@GregAllison]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!

[@RobiTheophilus]

This is awesome!

[@ChrisHaugenChannel]

Thanks for sharing your tips. Very cool.

[@gotube22e]

This is so good! Id love another ambient music video. Thank you my friend.

[@GregAllison]

Thanks! I’ll be making more of these types of videos here soon.

[@barrywalker1809]

Thank you for this! Liked and Subscribed

[@DEADCRAB]

Great video, what interface are you using to record your guitar?

[@GregAllison]

Thank! I use a Scarlet 2i2 (2nd gen) USB interface.

[@poobens]

Absolute gold. Thank you so much for this. Got a sub from me for sure! I make wood flutes and perform with them and would like to start adding ambient sounds to my shows. This is perfect and very inspiring. Thanks again.

[@ser.oido.s]

Many thanks man, very helpful!

[@blk8834]

This is an incredibly inspiring work process, thank you!!

[@Heliosphere-88]

giving me some old scool Eno Vibes

[@GregAllison]

Such a legend.

[@jling66]

Super helpful! I now finally have a better idea of what sidechain compression does! Very curious about your guitar pedal setup and chain. Maybe you have another video on that.

[@GregAllison]

Hi John! I would love to get another pedalboard video up since I’ve made some recent changes. Be on the lookout for that video soon!

[@prarydog66]

@@GregAllison thanks! Also, just realized you are from KC, go Chiefs! I lived there from 86-88 and 93-2000.

[@GregAllison]

How ‘bout those Chiefs!

[@groomy88]

Outstanding!

[@GregAllison]

Thanks Scott!

[@ElliotAtkins]

Great video. Thank you. 😊

[@accentontheoff]

That was superb. Could you also recommend a default Logic alternative to the Valhalla Shimmer.

[@ChrisSendrey]

Dying to know myself.

[@barrywalker1809]

The Eventide plugins are amazing, and they frequently have sales on them

[@accentontheoff]

@@barrywalker1809 Yeah I guess there are no real free alternatives.

[@stephenmcgrathbass]

That was great. TY

[@GregAllison]

Thanks Stephen!

[@adikeys]

Gratitude 🙏

[@davidrona]

very cool man. thanks...stealing it ;)

[@MrYodaone902]

Nice, why not have the shimmers on a send though?

[@GregAllison]

Great question! When mixing a project, I will set up my reverbs on sends, but when just doing a sound design project like this, I always just slap a reverb on the channel strip of the track I’m working on. Especially if I bounce in place, the concern of stressing out my cpu from having a dozen+ reverb plugins is minimized because I just delete the reverb plugins after bouncing.

[@jimrogers7425]

Thanks for this. What kind of volume pedal are you using? Seeing what you do gives me more ideas for my own work. Happy New Year! Subscribed!!

[@GregAllison]

Hi! I appreciate it! I used an Ernie Ball VP Jr.

[@MGCaverly]

Thank you for this explanation of your technique. The result is brilliant. I wonder if you have any experience with TC Electronic(guitar) pedals, and their “Toneprint” functionality? They offer some excellent options for ‘sculpting’ ambient tones. I get frustrated when I see KZbiners talking about “Ambient” tones as a means of not playing anything, but drowning it with reverb/delay/saturation. That misses the point, but this short clip is sublime. Thank you, Greg. Regards, Michael Caverly.

[@GregAllison]

Hi Michael! I haven’t had a ton of experience with TC electronic’s pedals (really, only the PolyTune). Most of my current pedalboard is Strymon and GFI Systems in the wet effect part of my chain. I can totally agree about the overemphasis on reverb and “playing the pedals” in ambient. Reverb is a part of ambient guitar tone, but not the only component by any means. I still say that tone is very much in the hands of the musician.

[@rene.rodriguez]

That was great. Liked and sub’d. Thanks!

[@GregAllison]

Thanks man. Merry Christmas!

[@rene.rodriguez]

@@GregAllison Merry Christmas to you and yours.

[@ellwood539]

That was awesome. Liked and Sub'd!

[@GregAllison]

Thanks man! Glad you enjoyed!

[@matthewmertz745]

Thanks for this :)

[@GregAllison]

You bet! Thanks for stopping by!

[@masbass1011]

Interesting. What was your guitar pedal set-up?

[@GregAllison]

Great question! At the time I made this video, I was using an Xotix SP Compressor, EHX Micro Pog, Ernie Ball Vp Jr, JHS Morning Glory, Wampler Tumnus, Strymon Timeline, Big Sky, and the Deluxe Reverb amp/cab on my Iridium.

[@fatherbear_418]

Have you ever tried to get a workflow together using the Logic Live Loops with these drone pads in pre-filled cells? Or even tried creating the pads in a real-time performative environment? I’m trying desperately to not make the jump to ableton because I just personally prefer the Logic ecosystem, but there’s just a few snags to feeling like I can perform using Logic or at least with minimal pre-setup

[@GregAllison]

Great question! I do use Ableton Session View for my live performance/tracks rig. I was actually planning on diving into Logic’s live loop with “scenes” set up for drone pads in multiple keys. If you haven’t yet, you should check out the Keith McMillen 12 Step or SoftStep. Both are fantastic midi foot controllers if you wanted to control midi scenes while your hands are busy with an instrument.

[@bxngitunes]

what software are you using to record your screen?

[@GregAllison]

Hi! I use StreamLabs OBS on a second PC with an Elgato HD60 capture card, but StreamLabs can record screen content directly on my Mac if I wanted to keep it to a single computer recording setup!

[@FilliD1]

Who'da thunk Well you I guess. That's really great. Thanks 😊 🙏

[@infinitemonkeyproject]

fuckin bob ross of ambient music

[@hexo-mobius]

Hello Where can I download Valhalla shimmer logic pro X

[@GregAllison]

Hey! Valhalla Shimmer is an amazing reverb plugin by Valhalla DSP. I’ll add the link to the plugin in the video description!

[@hexo-mobius]

@@GregAllison Thank you for you're reply. I already have Valhalla DSP but where in Valhalla DSP do I find the shimmer effect

[@GregAllison]

@hexo-mobius I hope I’m understanding your question correctly. Once you have the plugin loaded up and you see the user interface with the knobs, there are a few pitch modes: Single, Dual, rev Single, rev Dual, and bypass. Any of these pitch modes except for bypass will have an octave-reverb as long as your shift is at +12, and your feedback is above zero. Mix will allow you to set your wet/dry mix according to how much of the reverb you want in your signal.

[@hexo-mobius]

@@GregAllison Thank you so much Greg for the details. GB 🙏🏼

[@oliverbird6914]

Would you think Ableton is better at this kinda thing

[@GregAllison]

I use both programs quite a bit, but I have used Logic Pro for much longer. Logic is my first choice for recording and mixing, whereas Ableton is my favorite DAW for performing live.

[@Jowill92]

1:09 I hear Jurassic park theme

[@creepymccreepers]

Ok