Episode 44: Logic Pro Launch Pad: From Setup to Song

Justin Launches Logic Pro Launch Pad: From Setup to Song

The focus of this episode is Justin’s new beginner course, “Logic Pro Launchpad: From Setup to Song,” created over about a year and a half and finished with help from Rich as an accountability partner. Justin explains the course is for absolute beginners and covers setting up Logic Pro, recording and editing audio and MIDI, using built-in instruments, plugins, and loops, plus simple mixing and mastering, culminating in creating and exporting a complete song. He shares his history with Logic (initially disliking it in college, later returning via podcast editing) and why he prefers it for stability, built-in tools, intuitive workflow, and cost. He highlights Apple Loops (drag-and-drop tempo/key matching) and the power of virtual instruments, including using a MIDI controller or computer keyboard. Justin describes challenges in course creation, including planning, shooting/editing, reshoots, and updating content after a Logic Pro update. The course is available via manmaderandom.com and logicprolaunchpad.com, will be live when the episode airs, and is structured in short video segments; Justin also offers one-on-one coaching.

00:00 Welcome to Face Your Ears + Studio Updates
01:12 Justin’s New Releases: Depeche Mode Tribute & Same, Not Same
02:35 YouTube Channel Check-In (Clips, Faces, and Sharing)
03:16 The Big Announcement: Logic Pro Launchpad Course Is Finished
05:09 What the Course Covers: Setup to Song for Absolute Beginners
07:30 Justin’s Logic Pro Origin Story (and Why He Came Back)
09:12 Why Choose Logic Pro? Stability, Tools, and Value
11:22 Course Sneak Peek: Apple Loops Magic (Tempo/Key Matching)
13:08 Beginner Mind-Blowers: Virtual Instruments & Musical Typing
15:58 What Justin Learned Building the Course (and the Logic Update Curveball)
18:32 Where to Get It + Final Recap and Course Format
21:12 Wrap-Up: Thanks for Listening

Logic Pro Launch Pad: From Setup to Song: www.logicprolaunchpad.com 

The Lovely Dark | Strange Love: A Tribute to Depeche Mode: https://open.spotify.com/album/4PUuOEjsdnyVDmGHzZLJK5?si=sxC0kuB_SoSliTkLVGoRIg

Same Not Same | Let Go to Live: https://open.spotify.com/album/1JZhBKIQE00xUmg87yqnmO?si=ux56ThJzQ7OFWrxZdZtQ0g 

For Production Services, Coaching and Lessons, visit:

www.rjbmusicproduction.com

For help prepping your songs/voice for the studio:

www.bozicvoicestudio.com

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Transcript

Rich 0:06

Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of the Face Your Ears podcast. My name's Rich Bozi, and I'm joined here today with Justin. Hola from the state up above. don't know, there's no down under phrase for, uh,

Justin (2) 0:25

The mitten state. the mitten state. Yes, I hail from the Mitten State. Hi everybody. Hey Rich. How are you doing?

Rich 0:32

I'm doing great Things have been very productive in the studio lately. I've had a band, recently that I've been working on finishing up their album, a band called Star Drop.

Justin (2) 0:43

Ah, yes. Big fan of Star Drop. They're awesome.

Rich 0:46

It's Japanese anime inspired original music for this album.

Justin (2) 0:53

Yes. we were recently working on some vocal editing for them. That was a lot of fun. Very cool stuff.

Rich 1:00

RJB music production is in full force on this, project,

Justin (2) 1:05

Yeah. I've been prepping for some other recording sessions coming up. I've been working on some of my own music. How about you? Oh man. A lot of irons in the fire. I guess. I have a collaboration project coming out with a friend of ours, John Hildreth, who goes by the Lovely Dark, which is a project he has for darker, more goth inspired, industrial adjacent kind of music, and he and I came together. And actually over the past couple of years.

Justin 1:41

We've been working on a collection of Depeche Mode covers. We're calling it Strange Love at Tribute to Depeche Mode. And that should be out now, when you're listening to this podcast, hopefully it's out now. We can include a link to it. if we hit any snags or anything, that's why you may not see the link to it, but if it gets released without any issue, we'll include the link to it and you can check it out. other than that, I have been working on some music with another project of mine, called Same, not same. My friend Jay, and I have this project, which is a. straightforward industrial music kind of project, And we have our first single of the year coming out. hopefully that too should be out by the time you're listening to this, dear listener. we'll include a link to that as well. so yeah, all kinds of fun stuff. And then I've got some other stuff too that is still cooking but not yet released, so yeah, I've been busy in the studio.

Rich 2:36

Excellent, So Justin, how is our YouTube channel

Justin 2:38

YouTube channel is growing. We are continuing to add clips up there, so if you like to listen to this podcast, but have wondered what do these guys look like? I wanna put a name to a face.

Rich 2:55

Do so at your own risk

Justin 2:56

proceed with caution, but, yeah, you can check us out on YouTube. we've got a link to that in our show notes. If you wanna check us out on YouTube, it's kind of a fun way to engage with the podcast. share it with your friends, of course. And, you can learn more about us through our YouTube channel. So check it out. It is on the rise.

Rich 3:15

Awesome. So Justin, the day has come, you have a

Justin 3:20

Yes.

Rich 3:20

us.

Justin 3:21

Yes. I feel like, this has been quite a journey. I feel like we should be, hearing some trumpets blaring right now, the fanfare. and yeah, I've been working on this project, which is called Logic Pro Launch Pad for, gosh, it feels like about a year and a half I initially had this idea to create a course for Logic Pro. And it's funny actually. Picked up a course on how to create a course, which is a very meta kind of thing, but it helped me think about and frame how to approach it. the funny thing is, I had created a lot of, collateral for the course, like an outline and some scripts And so I had everything built out and then admittedly I kind of fell off. The wayside and, and sort of stalled at that part where it's like, okay, now you have to actually shoot it. I paused took a break and I think maybe I just got intimidated. I don't know. But, I bounced back and. the end of 2025 really dug in, and started to shoot it and edit it and put it all together. you know, in our, previous episode we talked about the accountability buddy concept and, that was a huge thing. thank you again, rich for helping me get it across the finish line. so, yeah.

Rich 4:44

It was great to see the inner workings of how this all comes together. You're so organized about stuff too, and I appreciate that. was

Justin 4:52

Thank you.

Rich 4:53

pretty easy to get in there and over things.

Justin 4:56

thank you.

Rich 4:57

I'm excited for you. This is a big deal. People, I have some questions for you. I'm going to

Justin 5:04

Lay it on me

Rich 5:05

I'm gonna pretend like I don't know anything about this course here.

Justin 5:08

please. Yes,

Rich 5:09

you tell us, Justin, what do you cover in this course

Justin 5:12

What does this course cover?

Rich 5:14

in general?

Justin 5:16

This course covers? well, let me read the description of the course. Let's start there. Why not? I have it. Let's read it. So Logic Pro Launchpad from setup to song. It is designed for absolute beginners who wanna make music without feeling lost or overwhelmed. this hands-on course guides you through setting up Logic Pro, recording and editing audio and midi, using built-in instruments, plugins, and loops, and shaping your track with simple mixing and mastering techniques. Everything is taught step by step and culminates in a project where you apply your skills by creating a song from start to finish. By the end, you won't just understand Logic Pro. You'll have a completed export ready song you can share proudly, along with the foundational skills and confidence to keep creating, exploring, and producing more music in logic pro no prior experiences required, just curiosity and a desire to create.

Rich 6:07

Oh, that's great.

Justin 6:09

So gives you a general. Description about what it covers. I mean, logic is so vast. Like we, you and I have talked about this a lot, I'm still learning things about logic, Pro

Rich 6:20

Yeah, there's always something

Justin 6:21

You know, it's this vast cavern or universe is probably a better word of audio and music tools and editing, approaches and techniques. it's pretty extraordinary. that's kind of, why I created the course because it is this vast universe, it can seem overwhelming and intimidating. So this course, you know, as that description kind of intimated at. It's kind of designed to help people get over that intimidating, hump and get into it

Rich 6:48

So, you would say it is designed for beginners, for people just walking into logic.

Justin 6:54

A hundred percent. A hundred percent. I absolutely had in mind somebody who was not tech savvy at all. That hadn't really used a digital audio workstation before, and so this is definitely designed for somebody who is brand new. they don't really have a lot of. Prior experience, if any, regarding recording music technology. So, I wanted to make something that approaches that person where they're at and make them feel welcome and excited. And inspired.

Rich 7:29

Good. So for this course, I would assume, came from your trials and tribulations

Justin 7:35

Yeah.

Rich 7:36

logic through the years was there anything that even existed like this, or how did you learn how to use logic? in the beginning?

Justin 7:43

I actually first started using Logic when I was in college and it was before Apple owned it, I think it was E Imagine or iMagic, something like that, some German company, that, that had it. So back then, their big claim to fame, was that they did surround mixing. nobody had really done that yet. So we're talking like 2000.

Rich 8:03

what?

Justin 8:03

Yeah. Like 2001, 2002. And it was a big deal. I remember using Logic then and absolutely hating it. It wasn't Apple's Logic Pro like we know now, but, I didn't like it. And so truth be told, it turns me off to Logic for a long time. and then I. Funny enough, what got me back into Logic was editing a podcast I was doing for work. I was creating a podcast with a couple colleagues, and I used Logic Pro. For the podcast editing. that re acclimatized me to Logic Pro and made me realize like, oh, wait a minute, there's something here. This is actually a pretty cool environment. at the time when I was doing that podcast, my mainstay app, was Ableton Live, and so I was using that. A hundred percent for music production. that was maybe 15, so a little over 10 years ago. And, and so, I just, over the years became more and more acclimated to Logic Pro and just really started to prefer it. now it's a hundred percent my mainstay music production tool. I absolutely love it.

Rich 9:12

That leads to my next question. Why should we use logic?

Justin 9:17

I'm biased. Obviously. I have a strong preference towards logic.

Rich 9:22

Logic over all the other ones?

Justin 9:24

Yeah, I have experienced using other ones like, uh, Ableton Live, like I mentioned, Propellerheads reason, and don't get me wrong, I still love those. I think the reason I prefer logic is it's stability. it's built by Apple. for the Mac. so you get a really good performance out of it. the built-in tools are exceptional. I think they rival any of the other ones out there. you get a robust set of tools. I find it intuitive to navigate and create music The cost is amazing. So it's 1 99 or now Apple has this creator studio service where you can sign up for like 12 or$13 a month if you're into subscriptions it's a bundle of creative apps. like video images and stuff. it also includes Logic Pro. So if you could benefit from that, it's even cheaper at, 13 bucks a month from a cost perspective, it's wild. Um,

Rich 10:20

bucks,

Justin 10:21

yeah.

Rich 10:21

I bought it years ago when I got my. iMac I can't believe, all of the mileage I've got out of it and the updates keep coming

Justin 10:31

Mm-hmm.

Rich 10:32

It's a good deal when you think about it.

Justin 10:34

Yeah. the tools that you get, like the instruments, the plugins for mixing and mastering and creative, effects are incredible. it works seamlessly with third party plugins and so forth. So if you're using other third party samplers or synthesizers or plugins for mixing and mastering it, works with all of those and. I love the interface. I think it's intuitive, it looks great. It's easy to navigate. So yeah, I mean, I could gush on and on and on about it, but compared to other apps, it's a little more approachable and intuitive overall. it lends itself well to people that are less technically inclined and allows them to. start producing and making music quickly and easily.

Rich 11:20

That's great. Speaking of that, can you, Give us a little sample of something specific in the course that you cover that you think is a really cool little tidbit Just give us a little taste.

Justin 11:33

One of the things that's really great about Logic is it comes with something called Apple Loops. these are loops provided by Apple that are anything from drums to bass, to vocals, to guitar, to synthesizers, you name it. There's tens of thousands of these These are all free. They all come with logic, but what makes'em kind of magical is that you can drag and drop them into whatever project you're working on, and it'll automatically match the tempo and the key signature of the project So if you find a cool guitar lick or a really funky bass line that you like, you don't have to worry about its tempo or key signature, you can just drag and drop it and boom. it'll match up to your project. I talk about this in the course and how to really take advantage of the Apple Loops browser built into Logic Pro to help you navigate through these literally tens of thousands of loops. That can seem overwhelming and intimidating, but what I do in the course is break it down, make it more manageable, and help the learner identify. The, the loops they're looking for and the style and the genre and the instrument and the, you know, tempo key and all of those different elements. Apple makes it really easy to find that needle in a haystack of all of these Apple loops. So that's just one snippet of the course that I'm really excited for people to experience because there is so much to be had with Apple loops.

Rich 13:07

Excellent. can you tell us what is something about logic that a new wouldn't know about? I.

Justin 13:14

I think the Apple loops would be one thing for somebody who's really new. there's plenty of other examples. I am a staunch advocate and supporter of virtual instruments. I don't think new people to this world understand the immense power of a virtual instrument. The concept of it is earth shattering to me. I think like it's just amazing. So like your computer is the equivalent of like this. Gigantic ginormous studio filled with synthesizers and pianos and any instrument you can imagine. logic has all of that built in. there's no need anymore for you to go out and buy a whole bunch of keyboards and synthesizers to get the sound you're looking for to find that perfect piano sound. logic actually has a studio piano built in That sounds. Exceptional.

Rich 14:07

Mm-hmm.

Justin 14:08

it allows you to have everything from that basement, church piano,

Rich 14:12

Mm-hmm.

Justin 14:13

of honky talk sound to a gorgeous grand piano found in an opera house. You know, I mean, it's incredible. And so it also allows you to have an instrument that spans across any genre. There's no limit on genre. So I think sometimes people think like, oh. The virtual instruments there, those are kind of like stuffy, like strings and pianos and like brass and stuff. But I make hip hop or I make techno or something like that. It's like, there's something for everybody with virtual instruments, whether you're making more traditional rock music or classical music. they have those instruments. Or if you're making weird experimental electronic music, like I tend to do. there's amazing instruments available to you, and all you really need to take advantage of it is a basic USB, midi keyboard controller. Or you can actually even use your, computer keyboard. if you're stuck on an airplane with a laptop, you can actually use your computer keyboard to use what's called musical typing.

Rich 15:14

Mm-hmm.

Justin 15:14

your computer to sort of musically type. virtual instruments, I could gush about them all day. Logic has built in virtual instruments that are exceptional across every genre. logic Pro has it all from instruments to mixing plugins to editing tools. it's really remarkable. for the newer person, there is this really exciting space with virtual instruments, you can. Move away from The, the idea of having to record instruments from the real world, that is absolutely possible. But there's liberation and freedom in these plugins that allow you to explore, instruments that normally you wouldn't be able to. I love that.

Rich 15:58

Justin, can you tell us what did you learn from building this course?

Justin 16:03

wow. I learned a lot. Honestly, I think one of the things I learned is how hard it is to create a course. it seems like, oh yeah, I'm just gonna like. Do a brain dump of a bunch of stuff that I know and put that together in a course and, record some videos and bing bang, boom, it's done. And, that is easier said than done.

Rich 16:25

Mm-hmm.

Justin 16:26

it was really challenging at the start to figure out okay, how do I do that brain dump first of like, what do I want to talk about? And why? So coming up with the vision and purpose of the course, then putting that together in a way where it's going to be beneficial to somebody and, and make sense to them and sort of unfold in a way where they can follow along and really gain something from the course. So that was, it was hard to put together and that was the first mountain peak and then the second mountain peak. was like, once you have that done. You have to climb the next mountain with all of the recording editing and, reshoots. Oh my gosh. one fun thing that happened is, I had the entire course shot, edited, complete, ready to go, like literally everything, ready to upload. and Logic Pro had an update announced for it. Apple announced an update for Logic Pro.

Rich 17:20

That's right.

Justin 17:21

And so I had to go back and make some tweaks and adjustments to the course to account for some of the more significant updates, in the course. it's easier said than done, I guess, to create a course, but well worth it. Oh my gosh. It was so incredibly rewarding to do it. it was also really heartening and humbling to share this course with some close friends first, just to get some initial input and feedback, and hear that they were learning some things from it. So, you know, there's always something to learn there. It, like we said earlier, that's so vast. There is so much to learn that even folks, that have been using it for a while, they could. Take this course and pick up a thing or two. So, you know, there's so much to be learned. so yeah, I think that's what I probably, learned the most is just like, how, how hard and challenging it is, but also reward. Absolutely. Like I would, absolutely encourage anybody thinking about doing this to, to do it, but just to know that like pace yourself and like plan it out, pace yourself. and, and having an accountability buddy, is great to keep you on track and focused.

Rich 18:32

so where can we find it? And it be out as of the airing of this podcast?

18:37

You will be able to find the course on my manmade random.com website. It'll be posted there, but you can more easily find it by going to logicprolaunchpad.com and we'll put that link in the show notes so you can easily click on it and check out the course. And by the time this podcast posts, the course will definitely be live. So just check out the URL again. We'll post that in the show notes. logicprolaunchpad.com is where you can find it.

Rich 19:13

That's great. Just to recap, our boy Justin here has. Completed his course Logic Pro Launchpad, and it's going to be out as of this podcast. So pick it up. I have personally had the privilege of being able to check everything out, as he was creating it. And I tell you, it's fantastic for someone who is just getting into logic. Definitely if you're a listener and you're just getting into logic, I would encourage you to pick it up. Or if you have a friend or someone. In the family that you know who wants to get into recording pick up the course for them. Justin walks you through beautifully. It's really easy to follow. It's very thorough, but not dense and boring. It's to the point, and you're gonna get the job done and get your first recording out. So Justin, thank you so much for talking with us about your course.

Justin 20:07

You're welcome. And the last couple things I wanted to say about the course is to kind of build on what you were saying. They're small chunks. The, the, they're videos and they're so, they're small chunks, so it's not like you have to watch a two hour video. I did that intentionally. so you're able to watch it in small increments and take it in gradually. something I noticed when I was. Uh, coaching people one-on-one in production and Logic Pro is that I felt this, urge to like tell them so much information. I had so much I wanted to share But, it was usually an hour long session so you can only do so much in an hour. And so that's kind of also what this course is born out of This is everything that I would want to teach somebody that I was working with one-on-one, which I still do, by the way. So if you take this course and you wanna work with me, one-on-one, you can absolutely do that as well. but yeah, this is just a way for me to, get everything out of my head that I would want to impart. On a brand new logic, pro learner and user. So check it out. Thank you so much for listening everybody, and I really hope that you check out the course and enjoy it. thanks so much, rich.

Rich 21:20

Thank you, Justin.

Justin 21:22

bye for now.