Logic Pro mix analysis — find what's wrong and how to fix it

Drop a bounce from Logic Pro and Unveil tells you why it isn't sounding pro yet — loudness, dynamics, tonal balance, phase, and frequency conflicts — then gives you fixes written for Logic Pro's own stock plugins. No third-party plugins to buy — just a free account to try it.

Reading Logic's level meters

Logic's channel strips show peak level in dBFS next to each fader, with a numeric peak readout that holds the highest value until you click it. The Stereo Output channel at the end of the chain is where you judge the final level. Logic's summing is floating point, so a Stereo Output reading above 0 dB will not distort inside the project, but the bounce file and your audio interface still have a hard ceiling at 0 dBFS.

That peak readout is a sample-peak measurement. For a true-peak view you need a metering plug-in with oversampling, and your mix should keep a margin below 0 so that inter-sample peaks do not pass 0 dBTP when the file is converted to AAC or MP3. About -1 dBTP is a safe ceiling for a final master.

Click the peak readout on the Stereo Output to reset it before every playback pass. Otherwise a single stray transient from earlier in the session can leave you worrying about a problem that no longer exists.

Using Logic's metering plug-ins properly

Logic ships with a Level Meter that gives peak and RMS-style readings with adjustable scale, and a Loudness Meter that measures in LUFS. Put the Loudness Meter on the Stereo Output, post everything, and play the whole song once from the start; integrated loudness is an average across the program, so a 20-second loop tells you nothing about the finished figure.

Compare the reading with the reference you care about: roughly -14 LUFS for Spotify and YouTube, roughly -16 LUFS for Apple Music. A track mastered at -9 LUFS integrated will simply be turned down by about 5 dB on a -14 LUFS platform, which means the extra limiting bought no loudness and cost dynamics. Many modern releases land between -9 and -12 LUFS by choice, and the point of the meter is to make that choice knowingly.

The loudness range value on the same meter is worth reading. A pop mix with a range of 3 to 6 LU is consistently loud; a figure under 2 suggests the song has been squashed flat.

Channel EQ, Compressor and Multipressor in practice

Channel EQ is Logic's everyday equalizer: eight bands, high-pass and low-pass filters, and a built-in analyzer you can toggle with the Analyzer button. Its Gain and Q values are straightforward, and because it is lightweight you can use it on every track. For surgical or mastering-style work where phase shift matters, Logic also provides a Linear Phase EQ, at the cost of latency.

Compressor offers several circuit models (including Platinum Digital, Studio VCA and Studio FET, and vintage styles). Platinum Digital is the clean choice; the Studio VCA is a good bus glue; the FET model is aggressive and works well on drums and vocals you want to push forward. Multipressor is a four-band compressor suited to problem areas, such as a boomy low end that gets louder only on certain notes, which a static EQ would handle poorly.

Adaptive Limiter is the finisher: set the Out Ceiling to -1.0 dB, drive the Gain slider only until you hear punch begin to dull, and use its gain-reduction display to confirm you are not working it constantly. Recent versions of Logic also include a Mastering Assistant on the Stereo Output; treat what it proposes as a starting point to check against your own meters, not as a verdict.

Bouncing: settings that matter

Use File, then Bounce, then Project or Section. In the dialog, pick PCM and WAV or AIFF. Choose 24-bit for a mix going to mastering; choose 16-bit only for a final delivery that specifically needs it, and in that case enable dithering in the dialog, which Logic offers for the bit-depth reduction.

• Set Normalize to Off. Overload Protection Only is a gentler alternative, but if you are comparing numbers between bounces you want an untouched file.
• Make sure the bounce range covers the whole song, including reverb and delay tails. Set the end marker a few bars after the last note.
• If your Stereo Output has a limiter or a mastering plug-in, decide whether the bounce is a mix or a master. A pre-master should bounce with those bypassed.
• Leave the sample rate at the project rate unless a distributor demands otherwise.
• Do not bounce in a way that includes unwanted plug-in oversampling or latency compensation changes that differ from your playback settings; export and play back the file to confirm it sounds the same.

Worked fix: low-mid mud around 300 Hz

A common finding in Logic projects built from loop libraries and layered synths is excess energy in the low-mid region (250 to 800 Hz). Say the analysis shows low-mids about 4 dB above the target while the mid region is correct, and the mix sounds boxy or cloudy.

1. Identify the culprits: solo guitars, synth pads and the vocal separately and watch the Channel EQ analyzer. Layered pads are the most frequent cause.
2. On the worst offender, open Channel EQ and use one of the parametric bands with Gain around -3 dB, frequency 300 Hz and a Q of about 1.0.
3. Sweep the frequency between 220 and 400 Hz while looping a dense section until the sound opens up, then settle there.
4. If several tracks share the problem, route them to a summing stack, a bus, and place a single Channel EQ on it with a -2 dB cut at 300 Hz and a wide Q near 0.7. This is often more transparent than six separate cuts.
5. Insert a Loudness Meter and Level Meter on the Stereo Output, loop the chorus, and compare before and after at the same listening level.

Where Logic users go wrong

• Bouncing with Normalize on after the loudness work is done, quietly undoing the headroom you set.
• Judging loudness from the Stereo Output fader. Fader position says nothing about LUFS; use the Loudness Meter.
• Stacking Adaptive Limiter on the Stereo Output while also leaving a limiter on a submix, which doubles the gain reduction without anyone noticing.
• Using Alchemy and other loud instrument patches at high velocity with plug-in saturation, producing clipping before the Channel EQ even sees the signal. Check the instrument channel's own meter.
• Trusting the pan law without checking Project Settings, so a mono-compatibility check that sounds fine in stereo drops in level when summed.

Short checklist

Measure the bounced file once more, since that is the version people will actually hear.

• Stereo Output peak reset and checked on a full pass.
• Loudness Meter read over the entire song, not a loop.
• Out Ceiling at -1.0 dB on the limiter for finals.
• Normalize off; 24-bit for mastering, dither on if reducing to 16-bit.
• Mono-fold test: switch to mono on the output and confirm bass and lead vocal do not collapse.

What you get

• A 0–100 mix score with a per-metric breakdown (LUFS, true peak, dynamic range, stereo, tonal balance).
• Time-localized frequency conflicts — the exact moment and band where elements collide.
• Step-by-step fixes using Channel EQ, Compressor, and Multipressor — e.g. a corrective Channel EQ node at the flagged frequency.
• Genre-aware targets so a trap bounce isn't judged against an acoustic record.

Questions

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