You can change the tempo in Logic Pro X by selecting the tracks you want to alter, enabling flex time, and then making adjustments in tempo in the LCD. You can also change the tempo when you first start recording rather than altering the audio files.
My name is Donovan, and I’ve been a musician and music fan my entire life. I love to write, record and produce, and I have a lot of experience working with Logic Pro X. I’m familiar with all of the tools and features of the app.
This post will show you how to change tempo in Logic Pro X. I’ll walk you through all the steps to make adjustments to the tempo in your projects and also give you a few tips on setting up the tempo before you start recording.
Let’s dig in.
Contents
Key Takeaways
- You can set a project’s tempo before you start recording by adjusting the tempo setting in the LCD from the main project window. This will let you get a click-track that you like for your project.
- You can also change the tempo of tracks after you record them by selecting all of the tracks you want to alter, enabling flex time, and then changing the tempo.
- Tempo changes can drastically alter how a song sounds and feels, so you usually want to make minor changes rather than major ones.
How to Change Tempo in Logic Pro X
Tempo is a critical aspect of every song or project you create in Logic Pro X. Setting a tempo allows you to use the metronome or click-track to help you record while also playing a big part in the feel of a song.
There are several ways to change the tempo within Logic, and I’ll walk you through them here. I’ll start with the way to change the tempo of an entire Logic project. You might want to do this when editing a song and looking for a different feel by adjusting the tempo.
The first thing you need to know when adjusting the tempo in Logic is where the tempo is displayed. If you look front and center in a Logic project, you’ll see the LCD. This contains several paraments like the tempo and key of the song.
To adjust the tempo, you can just make changes to the tempo section of the LCD. But in order for it to change the tracks in a song that you’ve already recorded, you need to know how to enable flex time to make these adjustments.
To change the tempo of all the tracks in your project by using flex time, follow these steps.
1. Open the Logic project you want to change the tempo of.
2. Select all the tracks you want to change the tempo of. You need to ensure all of the tracks are highlighted, or else the tempo change won’t affect the ones that are not.
You can select all the tracks in a project by clicking and dragging the mouse or trackpad to select them or by holding down the Shift key, clicking on the top track, and then clicking on the bottom track.
3. Click on the Flex Time icon located in the toolbar. This will display the flex options on all of the tracks.
4. Select the flex time tab in the tracks you have selected and select Monophonic.
5. Click the Flex icon in all of the tracks to turn that on.
6. Make the tempo change in the LCD by adjusting the tempo. Hold the cursor over the tempo number and then click and drag up or down to adjust the tempo. This will affect all the tracks in your project that you have selected and enabled flex time on.
How to Change Tempo in Logic Pro X without Affecting Audio
Changing a project’s tempo will affect how the audio sounds in your track. If you speed it up, it will make the audio sound higher pitched; if you lower it, it will slow things down and make everything sound low and sluggish.
But what if you want to change the tempo without affecting the audio? Well, this is sort of possible within Logic, but you must make sure that you set the tempo at the beginning of a project before recording.
Make your tempo change right away when you open up a new project. Do it before you record any parts at all. This will keep the tempo set while you record every other element and won’t affect the recorded audio later on.
If you adjust the tempo this way after you have recorded tracks, the click track won’t align with the recorded music. This will make it very difficult to lay down any additional tracks if you have the metronome turned on during recording.
You can’t really adjust the tempo without affecting the audio unless you make the changes at the beginning like this. Any adjustments to prerecorded audio will make it sound altered.
How to Add Tempo Changes in Logic Pro X
You can add tempo changes in Logic Pro X. This is similar to using other forms of automation like the volume that you might be used to. It’s a very convenient way to add tempo changes to your projects.
Follow these steps to add tempo changes in Logic Pro X.
1. Open the Logic Pro X project to which you want to apply tempo changes.
2. Click the Global Tracks button on the top of the track settings window. This will open up the tempo line where you can make automated adjustments.
3. Now you can make tempo changes by adjusting the line where you want the change to occur. Click on the tempo line in the location in the project where you want the first tempo change to occur. A dot will appear on the line.
4. Click on another point where you want the end of the tempo change to be.
5. You can drag and adjust the tempo however you want to make a tempo curve or vast change right with the project. You can add as many tempo changes as you wish using this method.
6. Position the playhead at the beginning of the project or tempo change and press Play to see how it sounds.
7. Make any additional edits as needed.
How to Change Metronome Tempo in Logic Pro X
Changing the metronome tempo in Logic Pro X is very easy. Just make sure you change the tempo before you start recording a project because the metronome follows the tempo set for the entire track.
You can change the metronome tempo the same way you change the tempo for the entire track on the LCD. Hold the cursor over the tempo numbers and then click and drag up for a faster tempo or down for a slower one.
When you hit record or play with the metronome turned on, the tempo changes will appear.
Final Thoughts
Knowing how to change the tempo can be very useful during the recording process. And it can also help you play around with the sound and feel of your projects. It’s always nice to see what a song sounds like sped up or slowed down.
There are several ways to change the tempo in Logic Pro X. Follow the instructions in the sections above, and you’ll be able to tweak your projects however you like.
Do you ever play around with different tempo settings when recording Logic Pro X projects? Let me know in the comments below.
