The BEST Way to Edit Guitar DI (No Flex Time) - Logic Pro X Tutorial

This video shows you how to edit guitar and bass DI's, and why you shouldn't use Flex Time (or any kind of audio stretching in general).
00:00 Intro
00:52 Why I avoid using Flex Time or stretching to edit guitar DI's
01:24 Set up
02:49 Quick overview of the demo session
03:18 How to edit guitar DI's without Flex Time
05:14 Why you shouldn't have Snap enabled for this
05:33 How to fix artifacts from editing
Read the written tutorial: www.jameszproductions.com/pro...
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[@JamesZhan]

🔥JUST IN: Logic Pro has just been updated with a SLIP TOOL! FINALLY! You can now just use the slip tool instead of the workaround I show in this video (though if you still prefer this method, that's fine too!).

[@BrennanWolf]

Which method do you prefer? I haven’t tried the slip tool yet

[@hlrossato]

It'd be awesome to see a video where you go through the slip tool in Logic :)

[@adamjames9587]

Awesome man, thank you!

[@griiseknoen]

Very helpful. Thank you!

[@dannysoletmusic]

Thank you so much, workflow is so much faster now!

[@chubbychicks2030]

Thank u so much. This was the video I was searching for.

[@danielluczak4695]

LMFAOOOO that freakin intro tho i legit died, we need more humor like this in tutorials

[@maximilianogomezpena]

BEST VIDEO EVER! Thanks.💕

[@jimbotski]

Awesome vid thanks

[@babawawayoyo]

This is so helpful--thanks so much!

[@JamesZhan]

You are very welcome!

[@baseballstud9121]

Moral of the story, Logic needs a slip editing function for the mouse!

[@MrFlacko777]

You the mann thanks 👍

[@KushDonkey]

Consider trying the Marque Tool which separates and isolates the section you are editing from the rest of your performance. With a single Scissor edit, everything to the right of the edit is moving when you time correct. Anything you played correctly will now be out of sync. Your original Left and Right performance is continually being pulled out of sync and moved around. Single Scissor edits will force you to edit most of the performance, if not all, and take away any feel between the takes captured during recording. The Marque Tool also works in Quick Swipe mode so you can move small sections or a single note around before you consolidate.

[@kenisinoregon]

Nice edit at 1:36 haha Great video James! You earned a sub! These kinds of videos will help me with my covers 👍

[@JamesZhan]

Haha glad you spotted that edit 😂 And I’m glad you find the video to be helpful!

[@babawawayoyo]

@@JamesZhan Yes, I loved that too haha

[@blazelandproductions]

I use Cubase and Logic Pro x. I love to edit midi drums in Cubase much easier to work in the editor I feel than logic. I hate logic ‘s midi editor. However, I’m way too familiar with logic so I track guitars in it and I want to learn to tighten up. I was watching Joey Sturgis on Cubase but he goes really fast with the slip editing. So I googled this today and found you. This is great information Im very happy to find this, and now knowing I can do this in logic because I think it would be easier for me. Great tutorial thanks again!

[@Byron101_]

Former hardcore Logic user. Now on Cubase 12 - and very happy. Logic has NO MACROS!, no plugin search function, there is a latency bug over busses and sidechains, and I hate the oldschool unflexible mixer in Logic... Cubase ist wayyy better in this and Midi editing is so fast and has much more options. And Cubase has the best daw mixer in the world, I must say. Highly recommend for pro musicians.

[@babawawayoyo]

1:34: starting with key command set-up (No overlap and X-Fade)

[@hlrossato]

I really like this video and editing this way. I just found out that Logic has slip mode. I'm curious to see if you have used that and still prefer this method. Thanks a lot!

[@mylo9753]

great tutorial and also lmao the drag queen picture for aa millisecond 🤣

[@hunterwalleymusic]

thanks for the tutorial! will definitely be using this but definitely will not be having a good time while doing it due to quad tracked guitars 😂

[@4trackbeats650]

hey bro.. good job with explaining the video👌it definitely helped to solve one of my problems I've been having... I have one more problem and I thought I could ask you... I played a solo and my guitar was sadly a little off tune.. only a little bit 😭 all the timing and stuff was ok and was wondering if there was a fix for it by some how editing it to be in tune... I use logic iswell

[@JamesZhan]

You can use Flex Pitch to adjust the pitch of audio regions. Check Apple's official guide here: support.apple.com/kb/PH13088?locale=en_US&viewlocale=en_US

[@696kir]

Thanks man! It was very useful! I've found out about flex time editing recently but I noticed too that it somehow destructs audio. Have no idea what is flex time (polyphonic mode) design for. I thought that I could finally edit my guitars in a few clicks... fat chance haha

[@JamesZhan]

Yeah, some people say they can't hear the artifacts-for clean or crunch guitars, the artifacts are probably inaudible, but once you are dealing with high gain guitars, because the signals get amplified so much, the artifacts also get amplified. I find that sometimes it's not even "artifacts." It's just a lacking in clarity, depth or dynamics after stretching, and unless you compare to the original, you might just think you just need to find a better tone. According to the Logic manual, the polyphonic mode is "recommended for complex polyphonic material and is good for all kinds of chords-such as guitar, piano, and choir-and also complex mixes." I think by "guitar," it is referring to acoustic guitar or wet guitar but not guitar DIs.

[@696kir]

​@@JamesZhan You're absolutely right! Thanks again for that tips.

[@JamesZhan]

@@696kir you are very welcome!

[@fabiancsorba3932]

Have you tried the "Rhythmic" option in flex time? I also started with the polyphonic mode, but realized that it makes weird things to the transients. However, with the Rhythmic mode, I can make fairly huge edits, and I don't really notice any distracting artifacts even after reamping with ultra-high gain amps

[@alexhek]

@@fabiancsorba3932 same here, I’m using the rhythmic mode for breakdowns and it sounds spot on to me

[@XiyuYang]

1:36 Nice drag :D

[@baalstoneofficial748]

When I trim region start to previous region, there is just a flat line without audio before the pickattack :/ can someone help please?

[@kevinlong4657]

Neat technique/workaround .. I'm really struggling to make the switch to Logic from REAPER which really excels at these sort of tasks ..

[@JamesZhan]

Switching DAW is never easy! I think the key thing is to not keep fixating on what Reaper can do that Logic can't. Every DAW has its strengths and weaknesses.

[@MartinArchea]

How is the switch working out so far? I am also looking to switch to Logic from Reaper, but editing worries me.

[@TheLopsidedobject]

Great video! Does this cause problems for take folders? I've been trying to edit the way i do in pro tools and couldn't figure it out. This is a step closer

[@JamesZhan]

Hmm I have actually never tried editing guitars while doing this kind of editing. I always consolidate the takes before doing editing. I would imagine it would message up the take folders if you are splitting and moving it like that. But don't take my word for it. Give it a test yourself!

[@voodoochili12]

Good question - I'm always confused about the functionality of editing comped takes, as opposed to the underlying tracks

[@Go_Casey_Go]

Any advice for how hot to record the DI or if you should strummer harder or softer? Sometimes I feel like I have a hard time seeing where the pick attack is (especially with more open strumming rather than rhythmic palm mutes) and I end up making it sound weird.

[@JamesZhan]

There's no definitive rule on how hard you should strum. I mean strumming a guitar is a performance so you might need to strum harder or softer depending on what the music is trying to convey. Regarding how hot to record, I always recommend setting the input to just below clipping when you strum the guitar hard, to maximize the signal to noise ratio.

[@MartinArchea]

Great tutorial, thank you! Do you know if it is possible to create automatic crossfade of the same size for each region at once? I suppose you just select all regions and then drag at once? I am going to swap to Logic from Reaper soon and the editing is the only thing that currently worries me :)

[@greghillmusic]

Well you could make all these edits, then at the end, select all and drag one crossfade in, and the rest will get crossfades of same length. Or us inspector to type a fade in, out, and then a crossfade; that should also batch fade for ya.

[@MartinArchea]

@@greghillmusic Thanks!

[@dreamsaremaps]

There’s also an assignable keyboard shortcut for adding fade i\o on selected regions; just search the keyboard shortcut setting window for fade.

[@clocks8137]

everytime you make an edit you should be cutting the to next transient as well so your not continuously sliding the entire track back and forth

[@YeahButStilll]

Yeah, I noticed that too. The marquee tool makes this much easier by allowing you to make both cuts simultaneously. Other than that, this seems like a super efficient technique!

[@clocks8137]

@@YeahButStilll yeah man its pretty standard guitar editing

[@fundough721]

I’m having trouble with parts that are late. I cut it and drag it to the left but it doesn’t blend into the next part properly , instead there’s the vertical line from where I cut and it doesn’t go away. Sometimes you can hear a slight skip or noise because there’s a slight gap between it and then I’m also left with a bunch of cuts on my track. It’s weird because it wasn’t like this before and now it’s doing this all of a sudden. Any help would be appreciated.

[@JamesZhan]

If the transition doesn't sound good, try doing the split at slightly different areas and moving again; that sometimes solves the transition problem for me. If that doesn't work, try doing a crossfade. Most of the time that will solve the problem too. If that STILL doesn't work, you might have to resort to flextime. Also, always play with the rest of the instruments. A lot of small artifacts in the transition are absolutely inaudible when the guitars are in the mix!

[@RayBadham]

Hi James, I thought you would need to cross-fade at every cut you make. Wouldn't there be risk of popping if you don't cross-fade?

[@greghillmusic]

He shows the crossfading in this video.

[@henrikduende]

But draging Will move the entire track, how do you solve that? Edit one bad note and the tight ones be out of sync. Do you cut up the entire track first??

[@JamesZhan]

No, you make a cut at the beginning of the note and at the beginning of the next note that you won't move, then you move the problematic note in time, select the next region, and the command "Trim Region Start to Previous Region" to close the gap.

[@saltwaterfishing-pangingisda]

Can this software reverb?? A guitar

[@GarrettProductions534]

I wanna extend some more exsperience and try this. But first how do I reset my key commands after changing them? And I can’t think I would remember what was what with all the settings if I cannot just reset all.

[@JamesZhan]

Logic allows you to have different key command presets. You can duplicate your current ones as a preset, and that will allow you to go back to it any time you want!

[@firmans12]

Anybody knows what's the key command for reaper? Im new to edit guitar, its easier on palm mute. Do i have to cut at each note or can i use dynamic split? And then quantize it but after using dynamic split and quantize it i find the notes isnt right And if i edit the notes manually by dragging each transient i find that it doesn't sounds right on time, isn't if you drag and key command in reaper, the pick attack is happened before so the notes isnt really on the grid?

[@JamesZhan]

If you are using REAPER, you should take advantage of REAPER's capability to slip the audio waveform within an audio region (or "media item" in REAPER's language). I have an older video where I showed how I edit guitar DIs in REAPER: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rYXZZJqsqrqYhtk

[@brandofrompinebox]

Is there a setting that needs to be active for the trim region to start/end shortcuts to work properly? Every time I use the key command for an early note I’ve moved forward in the track, the section replaced is dead air.

[@JamesZhan]

Hmm not really. Make sure you use the right key commands. I remember seeing a few that had similar wording. If you can confirm you were using the correct key commands, let me know and perhaps we can start a PM and I can help you troubleshoot!

[@lucasurner6363]

@@JamesZhan I'm having the same problem, the section is replaced with nothing

[@JamesZhan]

That’s really bizarre. I honest don’t know what might have caused that. Are you sure there is audio content for the audio region to be extended?

[@stonewallwalker8481]

I have had this issue. I’ve edited before where the gaps filled with audio and worked perfect and I’ve also had it fill in with nothing. I’m not sure why.

[@markmiller2025]

Hey, so what do you mean by the pick attack and the transient exactly? Is the pick attack the exact moment the pick strikes the string and the transient the sound that comes after that strike? Or am I way off?

[@samzare6854]

Also would like to know the answer to this

[@JamesZhan]

The pick attack is when the waveform of a note starts, and the transient is the biggest spike.

[@JamesZhan]

@@samzare6854 The pick attack is when the waveform of a note starts, and the transient is the biggest spike.

[@Fiveash-Art]

Couldn't you just do X fades on all your cuts as long as you're still retaining that pick attack behind it?

[@ashleyfredette4237]

What does DI stand for?

[@TheMiseryguitarist]

direct input, which means the "non amplified" signal, dry as hell

[@wensmusic8636]

Bro LMAOOO @ 0:33

[@connorcronin6668]

you're a funny guy

[@JamesZhan]

Read the written tutorial here: www.jameszproductions.com/production-help/how-to-edit-guitar-amp-bass-di-in-logic-pro-x Thank you for stopping by to watch the video! ^_^

[@georgecendejas1487]

Thanks so much man, this is the best tutorial for how to do this logic. Couldn’t find anything before.

[@A9_Chord]

I sont understand why ppl want edit they're track, the track it self is good. I juts make the song sound very robotic

[@ibanezxiphos700]

I like flex time tho

[@JamesZhan]

That’s fair! I just never like it because once you have stretched the audio it’s just not the same as before. To some people the difference might not be big enough, but since I’m doing professional work, I definitely don’t want to compromise quality 👍

[@ibanezxiphos700]

What about recording at a slower tempo similar to August burns red. The audio wouldn’t be stretched that way?

[@JamesZhan]

@@ibanezxiphos700 That wouldn't help because you might need to contract the audio when editing the DI. Sometimes you need to move it forward, sometimes backward, and both alter the waveform of the audio, which is a form of "stretch." Flex Time just relies on an algorithm to keep the pitch the same, but the actual timbre of the original sound will have been altered.

[@ibanezxiphos700]

@@JamesZhan Hmm good to know. I might start to steer away from flex

[@Nadav_Zaidman]

6:23 that still isnt good... can hear the edit....

[@pablosrf3881]

whats up with the Trump drag queen at 1:36