How To Cut In Logic Pro | 3 Easy Methods

Apple’s Logic Pro offers a vast array of tools that musicians and producers use to create professional music. If you’re new to the world of music production, using a professional digital audio workstation (DAW) such as Logic might be overwhelming at first. Trust me, I’ve been there!

One of the first and most fundamental things you should learn is cutting regions. Whether you’re working with MIDI or audio tracks, you’ll find yourself having to slice different segments quite frequently. Therefore, it is critical to find a way to execute this task that fits within your workflow.

In this post, I show you the main three ways you can cut a region in two in Logic Pro.

Splitting MIDI And Audio Regions In Logic Pro

By default, Logic assigns the pointer tool to your click, allowing you to select, move, copy, and resize regions across the grid. (If you enable Logic’s complete features, you’ll also have access to a secondary click tool that you can use by holding “COMMAND” on your keyboard.)

You can change your click tools from the top-center of Logic’s main workspace. Among the available options, selecting the scissors tool allows you to chop regions with a simple click.

The scissors tool can come in very handy if you want to cut multiple areas quickly. Another way to split regions in Logic is by control-clicking on a region to open the options menu.

•  Control-click on a MIDI or audio region and hover your pointer on “Split.”
•  Select “Split at Playhead.”

Lastly, my favorite way to do it is by using Logic’s dedicated key command, which is “COMMAND + T.”

Using key commands is an excellent way to save time and make your workflow significantly more efficient. In another post, I have listed 20 essential shortcuts and key commands Logic Pro users must learn.

Tip: capturing vocals that sound clear and crisp is not an easy task. The four sections to consider when working on vocals are tone, recording, plugins, and mixing. By taking proper measures toward capturing and processing audio, you can make vocals sound professional.

Adding Final Touches

When splitting audio regions, unwanted pops and harsh sounds might show up at the beginning and the end of our sliced region. Even if you don’t hear it much, it is always a safer bet to add subtle fades when chopping an audio region.

One of the methods to achieve this is by changing one of your mouse/trackpad clicks to a fade tool and dragging your pointer on the part you want to add a fade.

I can’t stress enough how critical it is to add fades. A common mistake among new producers is that they just put audio files together without fading the tracks. Click here to learn more about different ways to add fades in Logic Pro.

Tip: when working with MIDI, press “E” on your keyboard to open the piano roll editor window to make surgical adjustments to each of your notes. Moreover, you can use the built-in humanizer tool to make your MIDI regions sound more natural in Logic Pro.

Finding your way among the long list of tools and features within Logic Pro can be intimidating at first, but don’t worry! I’m here to help. If you’re more of a visual learner, head over to my YouTube channel for more tutorials. I have tons of videos covering Logic-related topics for beginners and advanced producers.

For more lessons on production, mixing, mastering, and songwriting, check out my Free 6 Pillars To Learn Logic Pro Faster guidebook.