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Hi all y'all!Yep, it's me. Again! I'm typing this as fast as possible before leaving for class.Here's the situation. I've got this great music bed but it's too loud. When I try to record to it, I max out the apogee jes trying to hear myself. I know there's a way to turn down the music so I don't max the mic but for the life of me, I've tried every combo of words in the help section and nothin's givin' me the answer. Anyone know how to turn down an entire track? Tried crossfading but it's an imported file and for some reason it won't let me. Also, I'm tired of latency issues. How can I consolidate the track ala PT so there're no gaps between vox bits and it all lays down perfectly when the cowriter receives it?If the dang manual came in book form, I could jes spend hours paging through it. As it is, I'm jes dumb as a post cuz I can't figure out how to ask it for the right answers. Thanks so much, guys. I really appreciate any info you can give me. The cowriter awaits and this is a problem I'm sure to run into again. I appreciate it!

Hi squidsI'm not sure that I understand your problem. You say that you have a music bed but it is too loud. Are you trying to "record to it" onto the same track with a mic run through an apogee audio interface? Check your track mixer. You should be able to just click on the track that your music bed is recorded onto then pull down the volume control on the channel strip. You then assign your output from the audio interface to a different track. Eg. Click on audio 1 in the left side of your arrange window. It will turn light grey to show it's selected. Import your music bed to audio 1. Be sure to select stereo at the bottom of the channel strip if your music bed is stereo. It's the button to the left of the REC button. Next, click on Audio 2 so it is highlighted then assign the track to the right input channel. If you have assigned your mic to output one of the Apogee, then assign the channel to input 1. (the bar just below I/O on the channel strip). Once this is done, you can either control the volume of each channel from the arrange window by clicking on the appropriate track to highlight it, then using the slider in the channel strip, or open a track mixer so you can see all tracks at once. You also may want to check the status of the output 1/2 channel strip of the mixer to make sure the sum of your tracks isn't to loud. Always be aware of signal flow. Make sure your output from your Apogee isn't clipping and that each subsequent stage is below 0 dB. Open a compressor on the track you've assigned to the mic if you need to reign in the signal at all.I'm not sure about your latency problem. Are you referring to a problem with the mic not sounding in sync with the music bed while you are recording? You need to pull down the fader on the channel strip when the mic track is in record mode or you get this weird chorus/ echo sound. You can hear your self with headphones. I don't have an Apogee interface, but I assume it has a head phone jack?I'm also not sure what you mean by consolidating the track so there are no gaps between the vox bits. Have you done multiple takes onto a single track, or do you mean that you have several takes on separate tracks and want to put the good parts together into one unified track while leaving out the bad parts? If the latter is the case, you need to bounce the whole thing after you have mixed it. Please understand that I have no idea where you are at with your experience with Logic. I hope I haven't stated the obvious and insulted you. I have Logic 7 and assume that the basic features are the same if you have Logic 8. Good luck!Mewman

Mewman! Very happy to see you and thanks so much for responding and with such detail. I'm printing this thing out and taping it to my desk. I've got Logic express but the principle applies. The latency problem is more of sending something to someone; I've had problems with the vox not lining up where it should when it gets there. Sending them a bounced cut of the vox and the mix together gives them an idea but I dislike someone else placing my phrasing, know what I mean? So my problem was.....how to make sure the vox track would exactly line up at zero when it gets there and how to make sure there're no gaps between vox bits on the track besides jes hitting record between them and filling in the blank spots. I don't record the entire thing in one sit down; I tend to sing a bit, hit stop, think a bit, sing a bit farther down the track, etc, leaving these gaps between the vox bits. In a real studio, I'd jes sing through the entire thing and that would take care of it but I'd already done my homework before I got there. Now I'm doing it on the fly so there's a bit of stopping/starting. I'd assumed that to fill in the 'blanks' between where I sing was a consolidation situation ala ProTools, where you consolidate the track and voila, any gaps between vox takes would be auto filled in. Does that make sense to you? Obviously, I haven't really had to do much mixing or anything with logic (which is new to me) since my cowriters like to take care of that and I'm all good with their skills. The volume situation mentioned above was an unusual problem because everyone's tracks have been sent to me at a reduced level therefore no clipping, etc. I was sorta stumped and when I asked the help menu for some enlightenment, it jes kept sending me to these unhelpful areas (not like they really were, I read them and was educated, yay! But it wasn't solving my problem).I appreciate any info and again, I'm printing this out. Sorry to be such a rookie.

Hi squidsOk, I think I understand what you meant by consolidating your voice parts. If express is like Logic 7, there is a "glue" tool in the tool panel. Rubber band the entire track to high light all the separate snippets then click on the track with the glue tool. This should create one long track with all the separate vox parts preserved in their original positions. The track will now align with the same starting point as any other track you've created. I hope this helps.Mewman

Dear mewman:Will you marry me?Thanks so much!!!Grateful squids