How to Record Audio in Logic Pro: Complete Setup
Set up an audio device and track, choose the right input and monitoring path, capture a clean region, and diagnose the first recording when it fails.
How to record audio in Logic Pro, in one sentence: choose the correct input device, create an Audio track, select the matching mono or stereo input, arm the track, set the interface gain, pick one monitoring path, and press R. Stop with the Space bar and Logic should leave a new audio region behind, with a visible waveform sitting on the track.
That’s the short version. What trips people up is that three separate controls are in play: Record Enable makes a track eligible to capture, Input Monitoring lets you hear the incoming signal through Logic, and the Record command starts the transport recording. Treat them as one button and you end up hearing a microphone without recording it—or recording a clean file while hearing nothing.
Checked August 10, 2026: the menu paths, control names, and interface screenshots below were verified against Apple’s current Logic Pro for Mac 12.3 recording guide. The workflow covers audio from a microphone, electric guitar or bass, hardware synth, mixer, USB microphone, or the Mac’s built-in microphone. MIDI recording runs down a separate signal path.
The complete recording path in nine steps
- Connect the microphone, instrument, or line source and plug in headphones.
- Choose the correct Input Device and Output Device in Logic Pro > Settings > Audio > Devices.
- Set the project sample rate and choose the recording file type and bit depth before tracking.
- Create an Audio track and choose Mic or Line, or Guitar or Bass.
- Select the mono input or stereo input pair that matches the physical connection.
- Turn on Record Enable for the track that should capture audio.
- Choose either direct hardware monitoring or Logic Pro software monitoring.
- Set the interface or preamp gain so the strongest performance stays below clipping.
- Place the playhead, set a count-in if needed, press R to record, and press Space to stop.
If the input meter never moves, stop here and use the Logic Pro recording diagnostic. Pressing Record again and again won’t repair a disconnected device, the wrong input, denied microphone permission, or a silent preamp.
Connect the source before configuring Logic
A microphone normally lands on a microphone preamp in an audio interface. An electric guitar or bass wants an instrument or Hi-Z input. A hardware synth, mixer, or external preamp usually sends line level. Do not feed a speaker output into an interface input, and do not assume every combination jack detects the source type automatically.
If a condenser microphone requires phantom power, confirm that the microphone and connected equipment are designed for it before switching the interface’s 48 V supply on. Turn monitor volume down before you change any connections. For a vocal-specific room, microphone, headphone, take, and comp workflow, move on to recording vocals in Logic Pro once the general signal path works.
Wear wired headphones while overdubbing. Speakers can spill the backing track into an open microphone, and they can tip into feedback when the microphone signal is monitored through those same speakers. Bluetooth headphones add another delay that Logic’s I/O buffer cannot remove; Apple counts wireless output among the sources of input-monitoring latency.
Choose the input and output devices
Open Logic Pro > Settings > Audio > Devices. Core Audio has to be enabled. Pick the interface, USB microphone, or built-in microphone under Input Device, then pick whatever feeds your headphones or monitors under Output Device.
Apple’s Audio Devices reference notes that the selected devices are stored with the project. That’s why a project opened on another Mac can ask for a replacement device even though Logic itself launches normally.
If the device is missing from the menu, check its cable and power, plug it in directly rather than through an unreliable hub, install only the current manufacturer driver when one is required, and confirm that macOS can see it in Audio MIDI Setup. The full audio-interface detection guide covers driver, permission, Core Audio, and aggregate-device failures without mixing them into the basic recording steps.
Check microphone permission and Mic Mode
If Logic can’t reach the selected input, its Devices pane can show an Allow Access button that opens macOS Privacy & Security > Microphone. Change the permission there, then restart Logic Pro as the pane instructs.
Check the orange microphone indicator in the macOS menu bar too. Apple warns that Voice Isolation can degrade recording input and puts up an alert when it’s active. Stay on Standard Mic Mode unless filtering the live input is a deliberate choice you’ve auditioned.
Set the recording format before the session
Decide the project sample rate before you record. Apple recommends against changing it after audio has been recorded or imported, because files that no longer match can play at the wrong speed or pitch. In File > Project Settings > Audio, 44.1 kHz is a common music delivery rate, while 48 kHz is the usual starting point for work tied to video. A client, broadcast specification, or existing session may call for something else.
Then open Logic Pro > Settings > Recording. The current Recording pane offers AIFF, WAVE (BWF), or CAF and 16-bit, 24-bit, or 32-bit-float recording. Apple describes WAVE (BWF) as the most compatible file type, AIFF as Mac-oriented, and CAF as the one for exceptionally long continuous recordings.
For bit depth, match what the audio device actually supplies. Apple calls 24-bit the most commonly used option and says it is enough for acoustic recording with proper external gain staging. The current Recording settings documentation also supports 32-bit float, but do not read that as permission to overload the interface. Floating-point headroom inside the file cannot reconstruct distortion that already happened in the microphone, preamp, analog stage, or converter before Logic ever received the signal.
Create the right kind of audio track
Press Option-Command-N or click the Add Tracks button. Choose Audio, then Mic or Line for a microphone, preamp, mixer, or line source, or Guitar or Bass when you want Logic’s guitar/bass patch path. Open Details, choose the input and output, and click Create. Apple’s current Create Tracks guide also lets you turn on Input Monitoring and Record Enable before the track exists.
Choose mono for one source, stereo for a real pair
A single microphone, one guitar cable, one bass DI, or one mono line output should normally feed a mono track from the matching input number. If the microphone is plugged into interface Input 1, choose Input 1—not Input 1–2. Pick a stereo pair for one mono cable and the signal can land on only one side of the recording.
Choose stereo when the source genuinely sends a left/right pair: a stereo keyboard output, a stereo mixer bus, a two-microphone stereo technique, or a stereo hardware processor. Work out which physical jack is left and which is right before you record. Nudging a channel strip’s pan or balance does not convert a one-sided stereo recording into a correctly captured stereo source.
Record Enable, Input Monitoring, and Record are different
| Control | What it actually does |
|---|---|
| Record Enable (R on the track) | Makes that audio track ready to capture its selected input. |
| Input Monitoring (I on the track) | Lets you hear the incoming signal through Logic when software monitoring is active. |
| Transport Record / keyboard R | Starts recording on every eligible record-enabled track. |
Apple says the Input Monitoring button can stay on before, during, and after ordinary recording. Its input-monitoring reference also makes an important exception: when punch recording, use Auto Input Monitoring rather than building the workflow around the track’s I button. The dedicated punch-in guide in this series handles that behavior in full.
Set recording gain at the interface, not with the track fader
Play or sing the loudest part you expect to perform and watch both the interface and Logic input meter. Ride the interface’s input gain or external preamp until the signal sits comfortably above the noise floor and the strongest peaks stay below clipping. Leave margin for the take to come in louder than the rehearsal.
No single peak value fits a quiet ribbon microphone, an active bass, a hot hardware synth, and a drum close mic all at once. A useful recording level is clean, stable, and leaves headroom. Chasing a magic number can do more harm than listening to the source and watching for overloads.
The track fader changes the level going to your monitoring mix; it does not turn down the signal being written from the selected hardware input. If the input clips, lower the interface/preamp gain. If the performer’s headphones are too loud but the recorded level is healthy, lower the monitor path instead. The broader Logic Pro gain-staging guide follows the signal after capture into editing, plug-ins, buses, and Stereo Out.
Choose one monitoring path
You can hear the source through the audio interface before it reaches Logic, or route it through Logic and back out to the headphones. Both are valid. Using both by accident is what creates a doubled, hollow, or flanged sound.
| Monitoring route | Use it when |
|---|---|
| Direct / hardware monitoring | You need the lowest practical delay and do not need to hear Logic plug-ins on the live source. Turn Logic software monitoring off to avoid doubling. |
| Logic software monitoring | You need to hear Amp Designer, reverb, pitch processing, or a Logic headphone mix while performing. Turn Input Monitoring on and keep the software path stable. |
For software monitoring, lower I/O Buffer Size until the delay feels workable, then stop before the project starts throwing clicks, pops, crackles, or overloads. Apple’s rule is the sensible one: use the lowest buffer the current Mac, driver, device, and session can run cleanly. A larger buffer eases CPU pressure during mixing; it is not a moral upgrade or downgrade.
If plug-ins on tracks, auxes, or Stereo Out add delay, turn on Low Latency Mode for tracking or bypass the heavy path for now. Low Latency Mode may disable sends or latency-producing plug-ins, so make sure the performer still gets the cue mix they need. For the full cause-by-cause workflow, use How to Fix Latency in Logic Pro.
Record and verify the first pass
- Move the playhead to the intended start position.
- Turn the metronome and count-in on only if they help the performance.
- Confirm the correct track is record-enabled and its input meter responds.
- Press R or click the transport Record button.
- Perform while watching for clipping, not while trying to mix the track.
- Press the Space bar to stop.
- Turn Input Monitoring off if it prevents a clean playback comparison.
- Play the region from before its start and listen through the same output path.
Do not judge only by the size of the waveform. Listen for clipping, room noise, electrical hum, the wrong input channel, one-sided stereo, latency between the performance and backing track, and stray processing in the monitor path. Zooming the waveform display makes a region look larger without changing the audio at all.
Rename the track and region while their purpose is still obvious. Save the project and confirm that project assets are landing where you expect. Logic also lists the new recording in the Project Audio Browser. Before a long session or destructive editing, use a recoverable project alternative or the Logic Pro backup workflow.
If the first recording fails
| Symptom | Fastest useful check |
|---|---|
| No input meter movement | Confirm microphone permission, Input Device, physical cable/input, source type, interface gain, and the track’s selected input. |
| Input Monitoring button is missing | Check the channel strip Input slot. Apple hides the I button when the track is set to No Input. |
| Meter moves but no sound is heard | Check Output Device, headphones, software monitoring, Input Monitoring, and whether direct monitoring is the intended route. |
| You hear the source but no region appears | Monitoring is working, but the track may not be record-enabled or the transport may not be recording. |
| Signal is doubled, hollow, or echoing | Choose direct monitoring or software monitoring instead of hearing both paths together. |
| Performance feels late | Use wired headphones, lower the I/O buffer, remove latency-heavy plug-ins, or switch to direct monitoring. |
| Recording is too quiet | Raise hardware/preamp gain if the source and device allow it; the Logic track fader does not change capture level. |
| Recording is distorted | Lower gain at the earliest overloaded stage. Turning down the Logic fader after capture does not repair analog or converter clipping. |
| Audio plays at the wrong speed or pitch | Check whether the file, project, and device sample rates match before changing anything else. |
Go deeper only where the symptom points. Reach for the dedicated guides on no recorded audio, a quiet microphone, an interface missing from Logic, or no playback sound. That beats changing every Audio setting at once and losing the original cause.
Decide what the next pass should create
Before recording over the same passage, open Logic Pro > Settings > Recording and check Overlapping Track Recordings: Audio. Depending on the Cycle On/Cycle Off choice, Logic can build a take folder, start a new track, mute overlaps, or reach for a track alternative. “Record over it” is not one fixed behavior.
Use a take folder when you want several performances of the same passage and plan to audition or comp them. Use punch recording when one defined section needs replacing while the surrounding performance stays intact. Those are separate editing decisions, which is why this guide stops after a verified first region instead of burying comping and punch workflows inside the setup.
Final recording checklist
- The source is connected to the correct physical input and the input type matches the source.
- Logic has microphone permission and Mic Mode is not unexpectedly filtering the input.
- Input Device and Output Device are correct in Audio Devices settings.
- The project sample rate was chosen before recording.
- File type and bit depth match the session and audio device.
- The track is Audio, not MIDI, Pattern, or Session Player.
- A single source uses a mono input; a true left/right source uses a stereo pair.
- The intended track is record-enabled.
- Direct monitoring and software monitoring are not accidentally doubled.
- Hardware gain leaves headroom on the strongest performance.
- The software-monitoring buffer is low enough to play comfortably and high enough to remain clean.
- A stopped test pass leaves a playable audio region and the project is saved.
The Logic Pro recording and editing hub connects this setup to takes, comping, MIDI, timing repair, and delivery. It sits inside the broader Logic Pro Tutorials path; if you are starting a whole session rather than adding one audio track, the first-project tutorial gives the larger order.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need an audio interface to record in Logic Pro?
No. Logic Pro can record a compatible USB microphone or the Mac’s built-in microphone. An audio interface is the practical route for XLR microphones, guitar or bass inputs, line sources, better headphone routing, and multiple inputs.
What is the difference between Record Enable and Input Monitoring?
Record Enable makes the track eligible to capture its selected input. Input Monitoring lets you hear the incoming signal through Logic when software monitoring is active. The transport Record command starts the actual recording.
Should I record a microphone or guitar in mono or stereo?
Use mono for one microphone, one guitar cable, one bass DI, or one mono line output. Use stereo only when the source provides a genuine left and right pair, such as a stereo keyboard, mixer bus, or two-microphone stereo setup.
Why can I hear my microphone but Logic Pro records no waveform?
Input monitoring can work even when the track is not record-enabled. Confirm the correct audio track and input, turn on its Record Enable button, then press the transport Record command. If the meter never moves, diagnose the device and input first.
What I/O buffer size should I use for recording?
Use the lowest buffer the current Mac, interface driver, and project can run without clicks, pops, crackles, or overloads. Smaller buffers reduce software-monitoring delay; larger buffers reduce processor pressure. Direct monitoring makes the Logic buffer less important to what the performer hears.
Should I record at 24-bit or 32-bit float in Logic Pro?
Match the audio device’s supported bit depth. Apple describes 24-bit as the common recording choice. Logic also supports 32-bit float, but extra file headroom does not restore distortion created in the microphone, preamp, analog input, or converter before the signal reached Logic.
Does the Logic Pro track fader change recording level?
No. The track fader changes the monitoring and mix level, not the hardware input level written to the audio file. Adjust capture level with the interface gain, microphone preamp, instrument output, or other upstream hardware.
Where does Logic Pro save recorded audio?
The recording appears as a region in the project and as an audio file in the Project Audio Browser. Its storage location depends on the project and asset settings, so save the project deliberately and verify the asset location before a long session.
