Logic Pro: Sequenced Parallel Distortion

This week, I’m going to take you inside the world of ‘tension underscore’; a popular musical genre for Directors and Editors making TV shows, when something musically dark and propulsive can be useful, helping to drive a scene. There are lots of ways in which you can go beyond the obvious when it comes to making sounds like this. I’m going to ‘sequence’ a Parallel Distortion channel, by which I mean that I’m going to create a Distortion pattern which isn’t static or fixed to the Bassline feeding it, but which is Gated, Filtered, Panned and Automated to snake its way in and out of the mix. Undulating effects like this extend into many other musical genres and can really add layers of sophistication to your tracks.

00:00 What is Tension Underscore?
01:58 Bassline into AutoFilter Envelope
02:51 Setting up Candy Fuzz Parallel Distortion
04:20 Klopfgeist 16th-note sequence
06:45 Sending Klopfgeist to Candy Fuzz Noise Gate
09:25 Understanding Noise Gate - Distortion
10:25 Automating Noise Gate Release Time
12:00 AutoFiltering the Distortion
15:49 EQ’ing and Auto-Panning the Auxiliary channel
17:32 Introducing other Track elements
19:03 Summary