Live performances have become increasingly demanding as audiences seek to hear the same rocking sound that they heard on the album. Sometimes that sound is crafted in the studio with lots of plugins, and that makes it difficult to recreate that sound in a live setting. If you are a Logic user, then you can easily port your channel strip settings over to MainStage and get that studio quality sound during our performances as well.
For those that are not familiar with MainStage, it is a live performance software that is based off Logic. It shares the same underlying software structure, but is represented in a manner that is more suitable for live performance. It allows you to quickly switch between presets, and build complex performance setups.
Step 1. Consolidate the Plugins on the Channel Strip
The first step is to consolidate the effects on to a single channel strip. If you used AUX sends to add effects like reverb and delays, you can move them on to the channel itself as most plugins in Logic come with a wet/dry mix parameter.
Placing everything on the channel strip will make it easier to recall the sound in MainStage, since you do not need to recall the AUX channels. You can copy the plugin from the AUX channel and place it on the channel strip insert.
Tweak the wet/dry mix to get the sound right.
Step 2. Save the Channel Strip as a Channel Strip Preset
Once the channel strip is finalised, you are ready to export the channel strip setting. Save the channel strip setting as a new preset. It should default to your channel strip settings folder.
You should have two folders within it, one for instruments and one for tracks. You can also create folders within those two folders to organise your presets.
Step 3. Create a New Channel Strip in MainStage
Now that you have exported your channel strip from Logic, you are ready to import it into MainStage. If you do not have a track ready for importing your channel strip settings, you will need to create one.
If you are importing a software instrument channel strip setting, you should create a new software instrument track. If you are importing an audio track channel strip setting, you should create a new audio track.
Step 4. Recall Your Channel Strip Setting in MainStage
On your new track, right-click the Channel Strips setting button, and you should be able to locate your preset from the contextual menu. User-created presets have their own individual section on the contextual menu.
You can also access your channel strips setting preset from the channel strip library tab of the Channel Strips inspector. If you really get into organising your sounds with a ton of folders, the channel strip library tab will really help you dig through those folders quickly.
You can now easily integrate the sounds on your album into your live performing rig, and sound just as good as the album at every show. The integration and sharing of built-in plugins between Logic and MainStage allows your channel strip settings to be compatible with each other.
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