Logic Pro Tip – Color Your Regions
As you begin a project it can be very easy, in your rush of inspiration, to overlook the importance of labeling your regions. Â At first it might not seem important; you know everything that is in your arrangement. Â The next day or week, however, as your work grows and that handful of regions becomes hundreds, it will become harder and harder to navigate your project without labels that make sense.
You can:
- assign labels to regions
- assign colors to regions or tracks
- assign notes to tracks
- assign markers to particular ranges of you project.
Today, I am going to discuss assigning colors. Â You can assign colors to tracks or individual regions. Â By default, any new region will take the color assigned to the track.
There is no right way to determine what regions get what colors. Â I give bass regions dark colors. Â I give yellows to the wind instruments — the higher the range, the lighter the color. Â I give earth tone reds to the strings. Â The colors you assign with depend on your needs and taste.
You might also assign colors based on the purpose of the regions — regions of red go with the fight scene, for instance.
How to define a track’s default color
A track’s color determines the default color of any new region created in that track.
To see the tracks’ default colors, right-click in any Track Header, and the following menu pops up.
Select “Configure Track Header,” and the following Track Header Configuration options pane appears. Â At the bottom of the Track Header Configuration box you will see a check box labelled “Track Color Bars.” Â Selecting this box will cause thin color bars to display at the right edge of the Track Header.
The color bars indicated by the red circle and arrow are the tracks’ default colors.
How to Change a Track’s or Region’s Color
Changing a track’s color is easy, but not obvious.
Check the box next to “Track Color Bars” and click “Done.”
Select “View” from the Arrange Area menu bar. Â Down at the very bottom is the menu item “colors.”
Select “Colors” from the “View” menu, and the color pallet appears.
The color palette is floating; you can put it wherever you want. Â When the palette is open, changing the color of a track or region is very simple.
- Select the track or region whose color you want to change.
- Select the new color you want from the color palette.