Apple's Logic Pro 9 seems poised to become the defacto music production standard DAW software much as Pro Tools HD already has. Currently many producers compose or "program" music within Logic due to its amazingly musical workflow but prefer to do final mixes using Pro Tools HD because of its incredible mixing and editing powers. With the newest Logic 9 version and Pro Tools 8 HD, the race to the best "all in one" system is on.

Logic Pro 9 Audio and Music Production is a complete tutorial that will update (remind) existing users of the many new features, additional content (samples) and instruments now integrated into this program. I liked that in chapter 2 the book gets immediately to the "meat and potatoes" of Logic--the interface: the Arrange Window, Editing areas, mixer, and Inspector areas. A complete understanding and facility of these sections is the key to using Logic most efficaciously.

The book devotes chapter 3 on interfacing the software and Mac computer to your studio and there is a long chapter on starting a project. You'll see how to configure USB and Firewire interfaces, hard drives, MIDI gear, DigiDesign hardware, essential audio gear like mics, speakers and headphones, and external control surfaces. Most of this information is usually learned from imposing on your expert friends or the hard way: trial and error and misspent money.

Another long chapter is devoted to audio regions and editing. Again concepts are important to understand if you want to amaze your friends, clients, or songwriting partners. You'll learn: snapping audio to tempos grids; quantizing and chopping audio; drum replacement; working with loops and tons more. Chapter 6 and 7 cover creative sound design using MIDI sequencing and using virtual instruments. There are also chapters on mixing, mastering and dealing with multimedia files.