How to Successfully Edit Drums With Flex Time

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Logic's Flex Time is fantastic for editing drums - if you know the right steps to get going! Nail a tight drum performance with this step-by-step checklist for using Flex for Editing Drums.

[@AscendingFromAshes]

Hey Dave from AFA, great video! Might be worth noting that when editing the placement of transient markers you can simply move to next transient by clicking option+left arrow in order to speed up the process ;)

[@gustavopeters227]

I've watched this video for every song that I do drums on, and it always teaches me something new, by far one of the most helpful videos of yours I've come across.

[@drumshackabilene]

I really love when voices are recorded and compressed so tightly I can hear the spit rolling around on there tongue. It's like your speaking softly into my ear drum

[@bryceng3092]

Your stuff has pretty much single handedly convinced me to put the work into making the switch from PT, and I'm confident that I can do that now with your videos! Thanks for the great content.

[@timoheinrich8763]

This is the most valuable channel on Yt that I've found. Thank you so much. I've learned tons in the last weeks watching your vids. And I'm using Logic now for almost 10 years.

[@bagoodale]

I have went through so many flex tutorials with no luck, this was finally the exception. Thank you so much!

[@WhyLogicProRules]

I'm so glad this tutorial was able to help you Brandon! Thanks for watching :)

[@graysonwilson-cacciapalle7989]

First drum editing video that I’ve actually understood, you break it down so well!

[@sunnymittal1906]

You are a god send :) I just started recording last year and all my friends hate logic cause they're clowns but your vids have helped me push my productions light years ahead of theirs, and they've been doing it for 5-10 years. Never stop making these!

[@LionelCartwright]

You have a gift For translating complex features into comprehendible steps. Appreciate what you do.

[@chrisslooter2825]

Dude, this what was I was exactly trying to do. Perfect summary. Thanks.

[@davetherave6661]

wow! should have waaay more views, this was super helpful and informative, thanks so much!

[@WhyLogicProRules]

You bet Dave! Thanks for the kind words :)

[@dnadeau819]

Wow this answered all my questions. Thanks

[@o.b.v.i.u.s]

yet another first-class Logic Pro vid from this youtube instructor... THANKS!

[@WhyLogicProRules]

I really appreciate the kind words. Thank you!

[@SambodhiPrem]

Very helpful explanation! Thank you!

[@ReactarooSkidoo]

Best video for drum editing in Logic, really well done, and now I am editing as I type this.

[@WhyLogicProRules]

Thanks so much Reactaroo! Glad to know I'm on the right path :)

[@swaggyg4mer238]

Great job! Very useful tutorial.

[@CardenasBlack]

Cracking video mate. Helped me a lot with my university course. 👍🏾

[@phestudiosja]

Very nice! We use audition to edit it's not able to quantize/flextime but it does snap to grid. For some cases instead of stretching (which can result in artifacts), you can take a portion of the transient (the majority) slice it and put it at the correct time forward/backward then slide other pieces the clip to lock into it so it sounds more natural. (Hope it makes sense)

[@tythesoundguy]

Already changed a part of my flex editing workflow 10/10

[@joemillo]

Damn Bro, that's some great information. Thank you for sharing.

[@volumeaccessmusiccenter8468]

very helpful indeed... thank you very much!

[@lpokiiim]

Great help. Thank you.

[@mrmichaeltsilva]

With regards to he mentioned having artifacts when editing drums that are way off. You have more wiggle room if you record at higher sample rates. Regardless of how you feel about if you can hear the difference between sample rates, you have more information to work with while editing drums. You can always swap it to 44.1 after you are done with edits. I ran all my projects at 44.1 for 10 years. I just started recording drums at 96 and there was a definite improvement on the artifacts. Something to try at least. Thanks for the info! I've edited drums in logic since the function became available and had no idea that there was another option to the zero point crossing feature other than just doing it manually. Thanks again.

[@WhyLogicProRules]

I love this! Thanks mrmichaeltsilva :) The only caveat is if your system can handle recording at higher sample rates. I'll be sure to test this out.

[@mattcoen]

Great video! Thanks

[@TheStateOfMotion]

Very good lesson! 👌

[@regsounds22]

such a good video thank you so much!

[@andytheproducer_]

One of the best videos I've seen for editing, thank you!

[@WhyLogicProRules]

Humbled to hear that Andrew, thank you!

[@ShaneMcCosky45]

Love this video!!

[@thomasjunaedi6714]

Absolute lifesaver. Cheers bro!

[@WhyLogicProRules]

You bet Thomas! Thanks for watching :)

[@felixlecouey3563]

EXCELLENT tutorial

[@WailGuitar]

Awesome vid!

[@gnogtr]

And don't forget you can always set the quantize percent down. One of the drummers I work with is beyond phenomenal and I still quantize his kick/snare, but I do it around 70% so it still retains that "human" quality.

[@hezekiahpedro6596]

instaBlaster...

[@NominalTopic]

Your drummer may be a nice guy, but if he sucks, not even Logic Pro can help!😂 Another stellar video! Thank you so much.

[@MrMojo777]

Hi Chris, thanks this is an awesome tutorial mate!! Would you do your Kick-Snr-OH phase an mic time alignment before this process so Logic has an easier task to do ? I use Waves In-Phase plugin.

[@MrGroovehound]

You very quickly jumped from editing the transient markers on the bass drum and moved to the snare so fast I didn’t know how you switched to the snare. It seemed like a shortcut, could you please tell me how you did that, I’m stuck on that part?

[@mikeymaldo15]

This video is fantastic and has been a huge help, great stuff. Would anyone know if there’s a way to save the manual transient markers you create? I spent about an hour yesterday getting the markers in the right spot, saved and closed the session for them all to be gone when I reopened this morning. Would I need to keep the session open on my computer all the way until I finish flex editing to avoid this? Thanks!!

[@KarlstadDrums]

Great tutorial! Would this work if I only want to quantize the kick and snare in only a certain fill where itis slightly after the klick in for example?

[@tnt767]

so helpful thank you

[@WhyLogicProRules]

You bet Static City! thanks for watching :)

[@julianofalconery2177]

Hello. Good morning. Thanks for the video. Do you think the Slice method is the best for quantizing drums?

[@sunnymittal1906]

Regarding your beef with flex (transient markers in the wrong place), I came across something similar where quantization gets thrown off when the region being quantized doesn't start right on a grid marker. I'll be trying some flex stuff tonight but I wonder if that's the case here (?). Worth exploring, perhaps.

[@Ezralipp]

Thanks Chris. Is it possible to move multiple transients at once in a group rather than only individual transients to maintain the relationship between the beats? For instance if there is a snare roll that is in sync with itself but just a little ahead of the grid can you move the whole roll over at once?

[@FINKAMUSIK]

Nice video! Why are there pops and clicks after bouncing when the kick transients are not at zero crossing?

[@danny_HP]

Great video! However, like you said, has some limitations. I have a drummer who does double bass type stuff and will flange the down beat with the snare and the bass at the same time, which makes it almost impossible to edit in this situation.

[@Alienor-music]

Great video, thanks! There's a question: how do you manage to move one note at a time only? When I try moving a note the whole region behind and before moves, not only the note I want to. Got Snap to Smart and everything else looks like in your video.

[@drummingCRI]

Same Problem here!

[@Flippy2good]

Thanks!

[@WhyLogicProRules]

Thank you!

[@hexed4496]

I’ve been working on flex timing drums for a few different songs, and I feel I’ve got to a point where I’d consider them done. After going through this process, would I then move on to solving phase issues?

[@TheHypnoticJerks]

After you make all your Flex edits do you do a final bip to those tracks (to maybe save on CPU) or do you must hide/turn off Flex mode?

[@voodoochili12]

How often do you find yourself editing a single set of tracks like this? Isn't a more likely scenario that you have multiple takes that have been comped together? Can you perform this same level of editing on a take folder?

[@swaysilvermusic8856]

Hey man! In the new Logic 10.5 update there seems to be a bug? or I don't what it is but when editing in Slice Mode, playheads multiply sometimes even x6! I know if you select the playhead at the bottom, then it will automatically create to more playheads (one in front and one in the back). But on this new update, even if you want to quantize a playhead and you select it at the top the playheads multiply. Do you know if there's a fix? Thnks.

[@zafush]

Is there a way to automate the repetitive task (Next Transient= Option and Right Arrow and it comes to the top of the Transient and a mouse Click) to ensure that "Snap Edit to Zero Crossings" works after detecting the Transients?

[@rollomaughfling380]

Have they fixed the zero-crossing problem by now, Chris?

[@vhollund]

You forgot an important feature The quantization % can be set to fx 75% so that only big flams are quantized

[@Fudgepuddlez]

I'm really confused, when I start to make the edits and listen back to it, the overheads sound super wide. Its so hard to explain but does anyone know what is going on?

[@OneLickLess]

I edited all of the transients as instructed in this video, but then once I turn on Flex, it appears as though all of my work becomes undone. None of my transients are snapped into the zero crossing, so I can't move them without breaking up the snare or kick hits. I also have all kinds of snare transients on my bass drum track. Is this happening to anyone else? This seems like a great way to edit drums if I can just get Logic to work correctly.

[@JpDubbed]

This video was super helpful! I do have a few questions though if you have the time cause this is a long comment 😅 Preface: I just got Logic Pro 10.0.0. Very new to drum editing. Was using Reaper(free) before just to make a click track and simply recorded the best I could to the click. I get my recordings mixed by someone, so as of right now I only really "need" to learn to 1. Create a Tempo-mapped click track for the song I'm covering and 2. Edit my drum recordings so they're perfectly in time with the click track and the song I'm covering. Then, it'll get sent out to my mixing guy. **I record with 8 mics into a Tascam Interface. 5:55 - I did a test record of a song to practice my editing, edited a bit of the drums using Slicing Flex markers with the tracks Grouped. Then when I clicked the "Detect Transients" option in the Tom track it showed me "Really delete manually edited transient markers?" - So, I guess I have to use this feature before touching the tracks with flex markers? It didn't show this for the other tracks. So, could I just add every flex marker for every hit in the song on 1 drum track? Ex: I just use the bass drum track to add Flex markers for the bass, snare, toms, ride, etc and move those around for everything?? 7:35 Yeah, someone told me 80% of the time Logics Flex markers are accurate, but to double-check everything because sometimes it's off. I was recommended to use Polyphonic Flex editing instead of Slicing because I'm only editing drums. BUT, the person that told me this also uses his electronic kit for samples, and I think he just replaces his drum recordings with those samples. Thoughts? Will this work for me? 🤔

[@WhyLogicProRules]

Hey Wunderlich Drums, thanks for the comment! Definitely use Slicing for drums. That's it's sole purpose is for :) When Detecting transients, you want to make sure that your Group is turned off. If you can upgrade to 10.4.2, I highly suggest doing that. Or at least to 10.4! Smart Tempo makes beat-mapping SUPER easy. Way better than manually Tempo-mapping.

[@JpDubbed]

@@WhyLogicProRules And Smart Tempo will allow me to drop in a song file and have Logic create a tempo map for the song easily? I won't have to make tempo markers by hand or?

[@WhyLogicProRules]

@@JpDubbed Correct! Smart Tempo can analyze the tempo of any audio file, and produce a beatmap automagically :)

[@JpDubbed]

@@WhyLogicProRules even if the song file has more than one tempo or even 3 or 4 different tempos? ..I'll have to look into this lol

[@JpDubbed]

@@WhyLogicProRules Ok, so, you convinced me. I got Logic Pro 10.4.2. So I think I just need to use ADAPT Smart Tempo mode for what I need - just dropping in an audio file of a song and having Logic automatically create a tempo map for it. Since you read about me needing to do just 2 things really for my drum covers: 1. Create a tempo map. 2. Edit the drum tracks to be in time to the click... Is there a faster way of editing all of this instead of by hand using flex markers? I don't mind it, but if there's a faster way that produces the same results I'd love to hear it 😲 Thanks in advanced 💪 Edit: Hmmm, just tried Adapt smart tempo mode, it was aligned to start with then fell out of line with the song, not sure why. Maybe I have to use Auto mode? 🤔

[@passionoflovers]

How do you successfully deal with a kick and snare being too close together, and when you move them away to their correct spots on the grit, the OH and room mics sounds glitchy and warped? Is it just crossfades to blend the seems?

[@tomallonsmusicalcreation1111]

Hi 👋 How do i change gain of individual drum hits while I edit ?

[@BenvanGeest]

I'm sure this will work for most 4/4 time signatures, but I have found that if you're using a shuffle groove for instance or a 6/8 groove, this doesn't work. As soon as I select the flex-time tool, everything gets shifted and this is BEFORE I'm editing anything at all. So, it seems like Logic is having trouble with songs written in anything other than 4/4 time. This is quite annoying as most of my tracks are outside of the conventional 4/4 time signatures.

[@ShaneMcCosky45]

Should I start with “the busiest section” of the song, or is it okay to start at the very beginning of the song?

[@DeadlyRythmnStudio]

Thank you! this is my first time editing drums in logic and i wasted the last 2 weeks doing it wrong

[@tommyburgurson4082]

I spent months 🥲

[@TheMottsAustin]

Is it better to strip silence before using Flex Time on drums or after?

[@brandonlopez714]

Sounds Kushy

[@liquidvic]

Could you sort out the timing of a drum track for me? I'm happy to pay a reasonable amount.

[@jamesryan955]

There is something very off with the flex algorithm. I can make the exact same edits manually and it won't produce nearly as many artifacts as flex. I agree that the solution is a better drummer.

[@michaeltownsly1493]

Totally agree. I've tried flex time many many times, hoping that with each update it will get good enough to where I can use it. But no, way too many artefacts and phase distortions for my liking.

[@TheMirolab]

I've never had good luck with Slicing mode..... it leaves weird little gaps of silence in areas that are stretched. I end up using Polyphonic and suffer with some phasey sounds, or creatively editing & crossfading the regions manually. But slicing mode has never worked well for me.

[@sejuyz]

I know what you mean and the way to fix it is to replicate what beat detective does on Pro Tools. Here´s a video that explains that: kzbin.info/www/bejne/m6Sso4OjjLCampI

[@mxfxdlg]

Ok, I’ve applied flextime/editing to a six channel drum recording. But when I “save” it, then turn off the flex feature. The edit disappears and the transients snap right back to their original places. How can continue with flex edited tracks, without having to keep flex on and continuously using all that processing power?

[@donratto]

Pretty sure you have to bounce in place. It doesn't always sound good to me though (I'm still experimenting with all this having a real drummer for the first time) so I tend to solo the drum bus and bounce a mix as a wav and then just drag it back into the project. I turn off the original drum tracks and just keep them hidden in the project in case they're needed later... this is also handy for parallel processing if you want to duplicate the drums and add comp or distortion or whatever.

[@BenvanGeest]

This is a very useful video, but I'm afraid it doesn't work when you have time/tempo changes in your project. I just edited the drums using your way and as soon as I hit the 'slicing' method everything goes totally out of sync. At least, I think it has to do with tempo changes, because I can't come up with any other logical reason for it. Thanks anyway for the video as it seems to work for a lot of other guys perfectly.

[@november-7]

Did you try to do a tempo list in logic ?

[@nu-metalcircus6832]

Having the same problem. Ever figure this out?

[@production2353]

Before you start Flex or any other time-alteration, complete the following steps on all audio files: #1 Edit > Tempo > Remove Tempo Information from Audio File #2 Edit > Tempo > Write Tempo Information to Audio File

[@donniecutting]

@@production2353 This just worked for me, flexing notes in a song with tempo changes. Thank you for this comment!

[@production2353]

@@donniecutting Delighted man. It's nowhere in the official documentation. Logic has gotten so much better under Apple... except for the documentation which has just gotten worse and worse.

[@Ben_rhodesmusic]

Like this it looks really easy but my drums tracks have a lot of bleed in their tracks so for example in my snare track i have a lot of kick sound and toms as well so i tried almost everything with flex time and it never works. it's a shame because i love logic but for editing drums or bass or guitar it's always awfull...

[@WhyLogicProRules]

I feel your pain Benjamin! I've had to edit a ton of terrible drum recordings in my time with Flex Time. Not a fun experience. But it can be done! Usually it requires a tremendous amount of manual editing, as opposed to using the Quantize options in the Inspector. Another tactic is to try and get the performance "generally" in time. Instead of locking every single hit in, try locking in as few hits as you can get away with. It requires thoughtful work, but a performance can be achieved with a little work.

[@ray2958]

this might sound like a dumb question but is this technique only applicable if the drummer played to a click track?

[@CaseyJust]

I think it would be easier to edit a drummer that played to a click track because the click will be hitting as the same time as the bar markers in Logic. If the musicians didn’t play to a click I guess you could select all your tracks and then line them up to one of the bar markers in Logic. That would at least give you a starting place. Then you could the bar markers for reference while editing.

[@wstapleton8691]

It seems that Logic Pro X has been updated somehow...the "Audio File" button just doesn't exist in my version....update?

[@wstapleton8691]

Never mind, I just figured it out...turns out I had to go into preferences, advanced tools, and turn on audio editing.

[@melladys4353]

@@wstapleton8691 saved me! Thanks! haha

[@MrPukerman]

Syuper important…

[@BryceWayne]

good stuff. If I may because there's others like me who go crazy over this stuff.....maybe use a gate on your videos so its not picking up all of your swallowing and mouth noises??

[@amado5490]

Having to snap every single kick and snare hit to zero is really tedious. Not to mention if you have 2 tracks for each (: /)

[@johnk7267]

I know, how the hell can't that just be automated and done for us with the click of a button?

[@ericparkerdrums3692]

Love the video! Haha super helpful My only complaint is: can you please swallow your spit away from the microphone 😂😂😂

[@timoheinrich8763]

This is still terribly time consuming. Why does Logic not set the transient markers to zero-crossings automaticly? I really don't get it :(

[@slowpokeproductions]

Because that would arbitrarily take the "human" feel away as an option.

[@grahamtaylor6883]

Don't quantise your drummer people unless he's shit. Quantise = No groove. Even great drummers aren't sat on the grid. Only consider quantise if you're going to sync him with a loop or if he snags/jolts to try and get back with the click, then adjust that bit only. Once your drums are down and in time, turn the click off, everything from then on should play to the drum track not the click. Really useful info in this video though. However, I always find slicing mode leaves little noticeable gaps between some of the hits, so you have to decide if you can live with the phaseyness of 'rhythmic' mode or the gaps in 'slicing mode'.

[@JRCGuitarist]

Quantising doesn’t remove groove, generally. Especially, a great drummer, quantisation can’t remove groove from a great drummer. This usually depends on the type of groove you are trying to get for a particular track. If the point is to have a pushed groove or laid back groove, then it will change that groove, it won’t remove the groove. Instead it’ll give the drums a tight groove, since the it’ll snap every hit to the beat. If one doesn’t want it to be tight, then don’t quantise. Or quantise manually.

[@chrisbalocca]

im so sorry but your tongue noise on your vids are nearly unbearable. your help is appreciated though