Products, services, and OS functions
may not be available in this country.
Logic Pro for Mac 12.3
Logic Pro for Mac 12.2
Logic Pro for Mac 12.0
Modifying this control will update this page automatically

Apply Spatial Playback processing to QTA files in Logic Pro for Mac

Logic Pro for Mac can apply various processes to an audio file encoded in the QuickTime Audio (QTA) format. Recording audio on an iPhone 16 Pro/Max or later creates such a file with the .qta extension. The four microphones on the iPhone capture a spherical sound field encoded into a 4-channel FOA (First Order Ambisonics) file that is used as the raw source material that Logic Pro uses to process.

When importing such a QTA file into Logic Pro, you can play it back, rendered in real time to mono, stereo, or surround (up to 7.1.4). In addition, with spoken words or vocal recordings, you can apply real-time voice enhancements, for example, separate vocals from the instruments, or separate a voice from the background sounds, such as wind, noise, or traffic. By adjusting the degree of isolation, you can lower the background or completely remove it. This is a powerful tool to also reduce or remove a bad room sound in a voice recording or remove the voice to only use the ambient sound.

Note: The minimum system requirement for Spatial Playback in Logic Pro for Mac is macOS Tahoe 26.

Import a QTA file into your project

  1. In Logic Pro, drag the QTA audio file below the last track in the Tracks area.

    A new audio track is created with that audio region, and the Input Mode of the corresponding channel strip is set to Surround, with the Output also set to Surround.

  2. When dragging a QTA file to an audio track containing mono or stereo regions, the Track Format Mismatch dialog appears. Choose to keep the track format, convert it to surround, or create a new surround track.

Logic Pro also supports QTA files created in the Voice Memos app to import layered Voice Memos recordings on separate tracks. See Add a second layer to a Voice Memos recording on iPhone.

Change the playback mode of a QTA file

  1. In Logic Pro, select the QTA audio region in the Tracks area.

  2. In the Region inspector, click the Spatial Playback disclosure triangle to show those parameters.

  3. Click the Voice Isolation checkbox to deselect it.

  4. Click the Format pop-up menu and choose one of the three playback options:

    • Mono: The Ambisonics file is played back as a mono signal, and if the channel strip output is set to stereo or surround, then the same mono signal is played through the left and right channel, or all surround channels.

    • Stereo: The Ambisonics file is played back as a stereo signal, and if the channel strip output is set to surround, then the stereo signal is played back on all the left-right pairs, for example, Lm-Rm, Ls-Rs, Lt-Rt, and so on.

    • Surround: The Ambisonics file is played back in the project surround format from Quad, up to 7.1.4.

Isolate the voice from the background during playback

  1. In Logic Pro, select the QTA audio region in the Tracks area.

  2. In the Region inspector, click the Spatial Playback disclosure triangle to show those parameters.

  3. Select the Voice Isolation checkbox.

  4. Click the Mode pop-up menu and choose one of the options:

    • All Voices: Voices are separated from the other elements in the recording.

    • Studio Voices: Separates the voices with a higher quality.

    • Remove All Voices: Only keeps the ambience or instruments and removes all voices.

  5. Drag the Ambience Removal value slider to adjust how much of the ambient sound or instruments you want to remove from the voice recording.

    This parameter is not available when the Mode parameter is set to Remove all Voices.

Download the guides:

Logic Pro User Guide: PDF

Logic Pro Instruments: PDF

Logic Pro Effects: PDF

Control Surfaces Support Guide: PDF

Morty Proxy This is a proxified and sanitized view of the page, visit original site.
Helpful?
Character limit: 250
Maximum character limit is 250.
Thanks for your feedback.
Morty Proxy This is a proxified and sanitized view of the page, visit original site.