Burn a project to a CD or DVD in Logic Pro

In addition to bouncing a project to an audio file, if your computer has disc-burning capability you can burn the project to a CD or DVD (in DVD-Audio format). Logic Pro can directly burn Red Book audio to blank CDs or burn DVD-Audio to blank DVDs. You can bounce to one or more audio formats and burn the project to disc at the same time.

Burn the current project to a CD or DVD

In the Logic Pro Tracks area or the Mixer, make sure that the tracks you want to include are routed to the main output (Output 1-2) and are not muted.
If your project has multiple output (channel strips), you can select any of the outputs to bounce only the tracks routed to those outputs. For information about output channel strips, see Use output channel strips in Logic Pro.
Insert a recordable CD or DVD into your computer’s optical drive.
Before burning, be sure your computer supports the recordable CD or DVD you’re using.
Choose File > Bounce > Project or Section.
In the Bounce dialog, select Burn to CD/DVD as one of the destination formats in the Destination area.
Note: Selecting Burn to CD/DVD automatically disables the PCM > Surround and Split Stereo options, because CD or DVD-Audio makes use only of interleaved stereo files.
Choose one of the following options from the Mode pop-up menu:
- CDDA: Burns the project to a CD. If the selected sample rate (chosen in the PCM pane) is higher than 44.1 kHz, a copy of the bounced PCM file is created (with an automatic sample rate conversion to 44.1 kHz) before encoding. This conversion takes place because the CD Audio format (Red Book) does not support sampling rates higher than 44.1 kHz.
- DVDA: Burns the project to a DVD. Any sample rate up to 192 kHz can be used for stereo files, and up to 48 kHz for surround files.
The Media Status field shows whether or not a disc is inserted in the chosen disc burner. Make sure you insert a disc before burning.
Set burn options by selecting either of the following Mode checkboxes:
- Simulate write only: This option simulates a CD/DVD burn, but doesn’t write data to the blank media. This option can be used either alone or in conjunction with the “Write as multi-session” option (if burning a CD).
- Write as multi-session: This option is only available when CDDA is chosen in the Mode pop-up menu. This option lets you add a data session to the same CD at a later date—to add the project folder, for example.
Choose the built-in optical disc drive or another disc burner connected to your computer from the Device pop-up menu.
Choose the write speed for the disc burner from the Speed pop-up menu.
The first time you open the Speed pop-up menu, Logic Pro queries the disc burner for available speeds. This can take a few moments.
Choose a dithering algorithm from the Dithering pop-up menu. For details on dithering options, see About dithering algorithms in Logic Pro.
Note: If you attempt to switch the PCM Resolution to 16 Bit when in DVDA burn mode, DVD burning is automatically disabled (following a warning).
To limit the bounce to only part of the project, adjust the Start and End value sliders.
You can click the up and down arrows, or click one of the numerals and enter a new value.
By default, the entire project is bounced. If Cycle mode is on when you choose File > Bounce, only the part of the project section inside the cycle area is bounced. You can adjust the Start and End value sliders to change what part of the project is bounced. For more information on setting the bounce range, see Set the bounce range in Logic Pro.
Choose a normalization setting from the Normalize pop-up menu:
- Off: No normalization is applied.
- Overload Protection Only: Downward normalization takes place only for overloads (levels above 0 dB, which would lead to clipping), but no normalization takes place for lower levels.
- On: The project (incoming audio) is scanned for the highest amplitude peak, then the level is increased so that the peak is at the maximum possible level (without clipping).
Click the Bounce and Burn button.

Set the disk filename

By default, the name of the burned disk matches the selected output channel strip (Output 1-2, if the project was bounced using the File > Bounce > Project command.) When you burn a project, you can change the filename for the disk.

In the Logic Pro Bounce window, to change the filename, enter a new name in the Save As field, then click Bounce.

When you bounce to multiple destination files, all the resulting files are saved in the chosen folder. All files have the same filename, but with the appropriate file extensions (.pngff, .mp3, .m4a, and so on).

Download the guides:

Logic Pro User Guide: Apple Books | PDF

Logic Pro Instruments: Apple Books | PDF

Logic Pro Effects: Apple Books | PDF

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