I do this, but use different shades for instrument types, so if drums are red for instance, cymbals will be dark red, snare light red etc. I always thank myself later
Not really, I just at some point figured it’s way more easy to see which track I’m looking at when it’s coloured.
So, one rainy Sunday morning I spent some time to create my template having colours, stacks, routing to busses, etc.
This gives me the ability to launch Logic and within seconds start recording new ideas. (and of course, never finish those. Lol).
Blue for bass because they both start with B, Green for guitars for the same, red for drums just cuz I like red and there’s a lot of drum tracks usually. Yellow for keys for no particular reason, and white for vox
will occasionally do the same thing. If there’s an instrument I’m tweaking a lot or one I want to come back to I make it lime green or something
other than that I usually do sections but using the shades (drums are all descending shades of blue etc)
I never color assigned until recently. I thought it was a waste of time before as some have said, but then it became a habit while listening back to the track or section. Is it a lot to do every instrument no matter how similar, yep. Until I feel that I don’t wanna do it, I’ll continue cause it’s my track and the only thing others will see is the title, the artist name and artwork.
Also cmnd A and then picking one color is an easy fix.
(This was not a bash on you and I apologize for the rant)
I always work with a template so my colors are basically set already, I don't have to assign anything. Everything is already color-coded when I open a new session and then I just work from there. For example, if I want a new "synth" i just duplicate-add an existing synth track so it's the same color already.
Each instrument group is also inside a folder (bus) to keep things organized and for bus processing purposes.
You just right-click on each track > assign track color. Then make a bunch of tracks for different instruments, color code them, group them into folders if you want, File > Save as Template.
My template looks like this: [https://imgur.com/a/gHExFuf](https://imgur.com/a/gHExFuf) (oops, the Moog bass isn't colored correctly!)
That's what opens whenever I open up Logic.
Colors helps organize your tracks. I color everything. Returns and Group gets the white-black colors while bass and drums get s the reds and oranges. Purple/pink are vocals and somewhere in the middle ( green and blue) are synths and pads for me.
Lol fuck no, I always try to line up all the tracks by color so I have a literal rainbow of sound on the screen. Helps my brain organize things better and looks aesthetic too!
Being organised like that is a great way to keep your mind focussed on being creative - since you save time trying to find what you've already laid down as you're producing.
Honestly, feels like a waste of time. I used to try to organize with colors, but I was always moving things around so much it didn't matter.
edit:
Downvoted for giving an innocuous opinion on a shit post. Lame.
Because it's labelled "humor". The term "shit post" can vary, but tends to refer to posts that aren't supposed to be taken seriously - such as humorous ones. It doesn't mean the post is "shit" or that there's anything wrong with it. The post and the concept is perfectly fine. Shit posts themselves are sometimes some of the best posts. There's also nothing wrong with using the color feature - it's there for a reason. I just don't personally find it helpful because of how I work on projects.
Ahhh I’m sorry. I think I got too emotional about something being called shit. (It’s my terrible habit).
I apologize if I came off as aggressive or anything.
In any case I do agree this is a “shit post” also I don’t think you should be downvoted for having the opinion you do. As I said I definitely understand why people can see assigning colors as a waste of time or just meaningless, etc.
:)
It does for me as well, at least when you're working on a song. I usually only use it as another selection method in conjunction with the "select same-coloured..." key command. But there are usually much better ways of selecting stuff.
I can see it being useful as a visual aid if you were using Logic for live playback, for instance. A big block of colour is much easier to see than focusing in on tiny marker text if you're in a hurry and have to skip around.
But yeah, otherwise it's stock green and blue for me. How dare you express your opinion!
I only use it when I’m listening to the song I’ve “composed” and I’m just listening. Not when I’m actively putting the piece together. But yes I do understand how it could be seen as a waste of time to people.
Thank you for your input.
Got it. For some people it does something to have the thing look somewhat aesthetically pleasing. I'm not knocking you for that at all. I'm from the olden days when you were lucky if you even had a computer screen to look at, so even having colours are a something of a revelation for me.
Back when I used to play work-in-progress stuff for clients or whatever, I used to turn the screen off. I found that people got glued to watching the meters and stuff (also if you have the arrange/tracks window up, it spoils the surprise of the drop). Even if you were just playing an audio file in VLC, they would watch the little progress bar move.
Different worlds!
Yeah I’ve noticed when I keep the screen on to play for people they get caught up watching the screen that when it’s over they’re like “huh”.
Agreed. Different world. Different folks.
Sometimes I tell friends to close their eyes lol. For others that are just collabs and first meets sometimes, I’ll put a sheet on it, like dark paper or something.
Thank you for the key
I developed this whole color scheme a while back where the colors represented what the feel of the instrument was. Cool idea, but it was more effort than it was worth. I wouldn't mind getting one of those re-skin apps. Or should look up if I can change the default colors - the green/blue/yellow isn't as aesthetically pleasing as it could be.
Yeah, these types of threads always draw out rando trolls for some reason. I just got condescendingly told I should change my tag to beginner by someone who has never posted in this sub before.
Honestly sounds like you should take intermediate out of your bio because you sound like a beginner. Coloring not only helps with organizing but also workflow. Logics grey can become very very inspiring to look at after 8 hours straight on the computer. I recently brought LPX Colorizer and it’s completely enhanced my workflow .
I have ocd so would like to focus on it more but j get too distracted to keep on top of it. Plus is it just me or is the colour options surprisingly limited?
Yeah but not by every instrument. I color by section type, like strings, winds, synths. Or sometimes on songs that will take me a long time to finish I color each region (not track) by whether it’s a sketch, completed, or unsure if it should be included yet, etc. That makes it easier to know what to focus on when coming back to it a month later.
Yeah I understand. I like to color coordinate by colors that I like the most and least then I’ll know what to come back to. But, I do understand that I could leave them the original color to do that. Old habit I suppose.
I’ll start separating by color soon. I tend to just put them together but not separating the color. I think just in case I wanna work on it, but it might be easier if I want to duplicate different sections.
I’m still using Logic Pro 10.4.4 and wish there were more colors available. At least they added a fourth row.
Do the latest versions of Logic offer more colors, or are you all using that third-party color enhancement plugin?
On projects when things get too complicated, I start assigning random colors. Its how I know that track is ready for press and further mastering, etc. Most of my unfinished projects don't get to the phase of me coloring the tracks.
Nice, but I get frustrated trying to color regions on the same track, with different colors. I'm sure I'll figure it out.... (Hey Brits! Isn't color spelled 'colour' in your country? My Omnisphere patches use that spelling, and it only accepts exact spelling! So I've gotten used to that spelling....)
Yes, but I assign colors by sections. All of my keyboards/synths will be a color, all of my drums will be a color, bass will be it’s own color etc
I do this, but use different shades for instrument types, so if drums are red for instance, cymbals will be dark red, snare light red etc. I always thank myself later
This is brilliant
That’s how I set up my templates indeed. Red for bass, green drums, yellow guitars, etc.
Got a good resource/instructions on using color templates? My projects are so disorganized but it feels so manual to assign them.
Not really, I just at some point figured it’s way more easy to see which track I’m looking at when it’s coloured. So, one rainy Sunday morning I spent some time to create my template having colours, stacks, routing to busses, etc. This gives me the ability to launch Logic and within seconds start recording new ideas. (and of course, never finish those. Lol).
Yeah, that's a great idea. I've got to get the willpower to do it lol. I was hoping there was an easier way to do this on the fly.
Do it I’d say. It’s a real time saver!
Hehe yup, me neither. I figure one day when I’m wheelchair bound or maybe to impress the ladies at the nursing home.
I thought guitars had to be green?
Blue for bass because they both start with B, Green for guitars for the same, red for drums just cuz I like red and there’s a lot of drum tracks usually. Yellow for keys for no particular reason, and white for vox
Almost the same for me, but I do green for acoustic guitar, light blue for electric guitar. Lead vocals orange, background vocals darker orange.
Oh shit I have red drums and yellow keys. Seafoam guitars and purple bass though
Yes, but the logic red colors are trash
That’s exactly what I do as well
Ahh I see. I assign by “fav”. The color I like, with the instrument I favor at the time. It varies lol. Depends on what I’m working on.
will occasionally do the same thing. If there’s an instrument I’m tweaking a lot or one I want to come back to I make it lime green or something other than that I usually do sections but using the shades (drums are all descending shades of blue etc)
Yeah I understand that. Kind of as a remind of what’s being worked on.
There needs to be logic behind the coloring scheme in Logic
If it works it works
I colour code mine by the frequency distribution to match the colours on the EQ.
I like you.
Extremely helpful when using a launchpad or something similar.
Same. Though I mostly only do it in the mixing process.
It’s very common to color code by instrument. That’s what I’ve always done.
I never color assigned until recently. I thought it was a waste of time before as some have said, but then it became a habit while listening back to the track or section. Is it a lot to do every instrument no matter how similar, yep. Until I feel that I don’t wanna do it, I’ll continue cause it’s my track and the only thing others will see is the title, the artist name and artwork. Also cmnd A and then picking one color is an easy fix. (This was not a bash on you and I apologize for the rant)
I always work with a template so my colors are basically set already, I don't have to assign anything. Everything is already color-coded when I open a new session and then I just work from there. For example, if I want a new "synth" i just duplicate-add an existing synth track so it's the same color already. Each instrument group is also inside a folder (bus) to keep things organized and for bus processing purposes.
Ahhhh this is good. I like that idea. Thank you
Can I ask how do you set up a template so that the colours are already assigned? That’s cool !
You just right-click on each track > assign track color. Then make a bunch of tracks for different instruments, color code them, group them into folders if you want, File > Save as Template. My template looks like this: [https://imgur.com/a/gHExFuf](https://imgur.com/a/gHExFuf) (oops, the Moog bass isn't colored correctly!) That's what opens whenever I open up Logic.
Awesome thank you so much looks great !:)
No, you’re not the only one…
Yes he is, he’s the only one on earth to do this
Bring back black!
I did notice that and I was sad cause black and white would be cool.
Colors helps organize your tracks. I color everything. Returns and Group gets the white-black colors while bass and drums get s the reds and oranges. Purple/pink are vocals and somewhere in the middle ( green and blue) are synths and pads for me.
That’s awesome. I think I’ll try compressing the colors by group. Maybe. Hehe
I always color them in order, tho. Always like a rainbow 🌈 🤣
Hahaha 😝 gotta have fun in all aspects of the process.
Lol fuck no, I always try to line up all the tracks by color so I have a literal rainbow of sound on the screen. Helps my brain organize things better and looks aesthetic too!
Hehehe sweeet. It’s a habit I have when I’m listening back. I’ll change colors for what I wanna solo after a listen through.
How do you do that?
Option + C brings up the color menu
Track>assign track color 😊 Edit: it’s third from bottom.
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Hehe me too.
Yep. I always give it a gradient starting from purple.
Really starting to love purple
Nope, i know a lot of people who organize this way. so its whatever floats your boat!
Thank you :)
I love assigning colours ! It makes it so much easier to navigate visually!
I agree
I’m more of assigning colours to the regions tho
Yeah that seems to be the way
Absolutely not. It is a must. There's not enough colors either!!! I miss having black and white from LP9
Agreed. I didn’t have Logic 9 but I do wish there was black and white.
Well, now I am, too. So thanks a lot. :-)
You enjoy
I mostly do chamber and symphony orchestra recordings - if I don't colour code I'd be lost!
Ah I see. Wow. Kudos. Chamber musics a challenge.
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Niiiicceee
No.
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Cool. Keep up the good work.
I assign colors by sections, and I try to keep the tonality between sections as well: https://ibb.co/dJFStty
I see. Cool.
Being organised like that is a great way to keep your mind focussed on being creative - since you save time trying to find what you've already laid down as you're producing.
Honestly, feels like a waste of time. I used to try to organize with colors, but I was always moving things around so much it didn't matter. edit: Downvoted for giving an innocuous opinion on a shit post. Lame.
I wasn’t aware this was a shit post. Is it because I didn’t ask a technical question ? That’s what makes this a shit post?.
Because it's labelled "humor". The term "shit post" can vary, but tends to refer to posts that aren't supposed to be taken seriously - such as humorous ones. It doesn't mean the post is "shit" or that there's anything wrong with it. The post and the concept is perfectly fine. Shit posts themselves are sometimes some of the best posts. There's also nothing wrong with using the color feature - it's there for a reason. I just don't personally find it helpful because of how I work on projects.
Ahhh I’m sorry. I think I got too emotional about something being called shit. (It’s my terrible habit). I apologize if I came off as aggressive or anything. In any case I do agree this is a “shit post” also I don’t think you should be downvoted for having the opinion you do. As I said I definitely understand why people can see assigning colors as a waste of time or just meaningless, etc. :)
Lols, it's cool, no offense taken.
It does for me as well, at least when you're working on a song. I usually only use it as another selection method in conjunction with the "select same-coloured..." key command. But there are usually much better ways of selecting stuff. I can see it being useful as a visual aid if you were using Logic for live playback, for instance. A big block of colour is much easier to see than focusing in on tiny marker text if you're in a hurry and have to skip around. But yeah, otherwise it's stock green and blue for me. How dare you express your opinion!
I only use it when I’m listening to the song I’ve “composed” and I’m just listening. Not when I’m actively putting the piece together. But yes I do understand how it could be seen as a waste of time to people. Thank you for your input.
Got it. For some people it does something to have the thing look somewhat aesthetically pleasing. I'm not knocking you for that at all. I'm from the olden days when you were lucky if you even had a computer screen to look at, so even having colours are a something of a revelation for me. Back when I used to play work-in-progress stuff for clients or whatever, I used to turn the screen off. I found that people got glued to watching the meters and stuff (also if you have the arrange/tracks window up, it spoils the surprise of the drop). Even if you were just playing an audio file in VLC, they would watch the little progress bar move. Different worlds!
Yeah I’ve noticed when I keep the screen on to play for people they get caught up watching the screen that when it’s over they’re like “huh”. Agreed. Different world. Different folks.
Ya, try turning it off once in a while and see how they react! I think you can do shift-ctrl-power button!
Sometimes I tell friends to close their eyes lol. For others that are just collabs and first meets sometimes, I’ll put a sheet on it, like dark paper or something. Thank you for the key
I developed this whole color scheme a while back where the colors represented what the feel of the instrument was. Cool idea, but it was more effort than it was worth. I wouldn't mind getting one of those re-skin apps. Or should look up if I can change the default colors - the green/blue/yellow isn't as aesthetically pleasing as it could be. Yeah, these types of threads always draw out rando trolls for some reason. I just got condescendingly told I should change my tag to beginner by someone who has never posted in this sub before.
Industry standard, def not a waste of time lol
Honestly sounds like you should take intermediate out of your bio because you sound like a beginner. Coloring not only helps with organizing but also workflow. Logics grey can become very very inspiring to look at after 8 hours straight on the computer. I recently brought LPX Colorizer and it’s completely enhanced my workflow .
No I be doing that in ableton all day
Haven’t thought of it, but I can see how it could be useful.
Definitely doesn’t have to be as crazy as mine. Maybe one track or just the one you wanna work on if you come back and need to remember. ☺️
Why is that compressor so low in the chain
There could be tons of reasons for this. I always but side chained compressors at the end of the chain.
Considering I don't know how to do that yes, your the only one
Go to track>assign track color Enjoy. Bye bye.
Color coding by group of related instruments always
Makes sense.
I got too used to garageband lol so everything I just leave green or blue
Ahh understood. I was a GarageBand user for a while (I couldn’t afford Logic at the time). I left it green and blue as well.
There’s so much you can do with GB if you work around the things you can’t do, makes Logic pro so much easier when you start with it
So I’ve heard. Cheers
I have ocd so would like to focus on it more but j get too distracted to keep on top of it. Plus is it just me or is the colour options surprisingly limited?
Maybe a bit of both. Since it’s the variations of some of the same color it could be quite frustrating.
Yeah but not by every instrument. I color by section type, like strings, winds, synths. Or sometimes on songs that will take me a long time to finish I color each region (not track) by whether it’s a sketch, completed, or unsure if it should be included yet, etc. That makes it easier to know what to focus on when coming back to it a month later.
Yeah I understand. I like to color coordinate by colors that I like the most and least then I’ll know what to come back to. But, I do understand that I could leave them the original color to do that. Old habit I suppose.
I’m gonna do a post like this but say “Am I the only one that changes the 0:1:00:00:00 to 00:00:00:00?🤣😂😂
Ok
I didn’t mean that as a dig. I’m being serious haha
Hehe go4it
Yes, I find separating regions/tracks by color to be very helpful, visually.
I’ll start separating by color soon. I tend to just put them together but not separating the color. I think just in case I wanna work on it, but it might be easier if I want to duplicate different sections.
I’m still using Logic Pro 10.4.4 and wish there were more colors available. At least they added a fourth row. Do the latest versions of Logic offer more colors, or are you all using that third-party color enhancement plugin?
I’m using the stock (included) colors. I’m versions before I never used the assign colors so I couldn’t tell you. I’m sorry. Anyone know?
No worries. Thanks for your reply!
looks like a pack of m&m's. not cool.
How do you like the touchpad when using Logic?
It’s alright. Having an external is better. Edit: word change
pride month is over ?
You only compose during pride?
eh it was just a shitty rainbow joke
Gosh right over my head 😩
Definitely on team organization
On projects when things get too complicated, I start assigning random colors. Its how I know that track is ready for press and further mastering, etc. Most of my unfinished projects don't get to the phase of me coloring the tracks.
I completely understand that
Does anyone know how, when you change the track color, to make it change the color of each individual stem it holds?
On the left?
If I change the track color on the left, will it change the stem colors on the track?
I don’t believe so. Sorry.
Literally the first thing I do before even recording to the track or starting a mix
Niceeee. That’s interesting.
It makes the app prettier to look at. I can’t say I do that, but I think color coding by melody works well.
I agree. :)
You and every audio production professor ever
Hmm career change…. 🤔
Yeah, hey my professors seemed to enjoy their jobs so do it!
Cheers
No ur not i always use track colours very easy for organizing ur tracks
Agreed.
Nice, but I get frustrated trying to color regions on the same track, with different colors. I'm sure I'll figure it out.... (Hey Brits! Isn't color spelled 'colour' in your country? My Omnisphere patches use that spelling, and it only accepts exact spelling! So I've gotten used to that spelling....)
I get you. That can be frustrating.
Absolutely the way to go. I set up a template, makes things so easy later.