Setting a Tempo

Ever since our ancestors learned to beat sticks on logs to make rhythms, music has had tempo. Tempo gives music its pace and is in part responsible for the way the music feels. Songs using a fast tempo, such as jungle, samba, or hard house, have a certain sense of urgency not found in music of a slower tempo like jazz, trip-hop, or deep house.

Tempo is measured in beats per minute (bpm). Sometimes you'll set the tempo based on the style of music or mood you're trying to create, while other times you'll choose a bpm that matches the tempo of the samples or drum loops you intend to use. In any case, Logic's metronome clicks along to the bpm you set for your song, and Arrange window Audio Regions snap to a grid with the timing determined by the song's tempo, so setting the tempo is one of the first things you'll do when creating a new song.

1.	Play the song. A quick glance at the Transport panel's Tempo display shows that the song plays at 120 bpm. Let's take a moment to experiment with bpm settings and see how they affect the sound of the song.
2.	Double-click the Tempo display. A text box appears.
3.	Type in 60, and press Return. The song plays at half speed.
4.	Click and hold the Transport's Tempo display (on the numbers before the decimal point) and drag up slowly, until the tempo reaches 110. The song changes tempo in real time, which can make it a lot easier to find that perfect bpm. TIP Dragging the Tempo display before the decimal point adjusts the bpm in whole beats, while dragging behind the decimal adjusts the bpm in partial beats.
5.	Press the spacebar to stop playback.