How to reverse audio in Logic

What reversing audio in Logic means

In Logic Pro, reversing audio plays a selected audio region backwards: the original end of the sound becomes the start. That is the usual meaning of reverse in this app. Select the audio region, then turn on Reverse in the Region inspector. Playback from the start of that region should begin with what used to be the tail of the sound.

Two other operations are easy to mix up with reverse. Polarity invert, sometimes called phase reverse, flips the waveform upside down but still plays it forward in time. Swapping the left and right channels changes stereo image only. This guide covers time reverse.

What you need before you start

Open a Logic Pro project that already contains an audio region on a track. A recorded take, an imported file, or a bounced region all work. A MIDI region is not audio; bounce or convert that part to audio first if you want a backwards sound from an instrument. No input-level target applies to reverse, and meters will not tell you whether the reverse succeeded.

Reverse a region without changing the file

• Select the audio region in the Tracks area so it is highlighted.
• Show the inspector if it is hidden. It is the pane on the left of the main window.
• With the region still selected, find the region parameters in the Region inspector.
• Select the Reverse checkbox.
• Move the playhead to the start of that region and press Play.

You will know it worked if the sound now starts with the original ending, and the Reverse checkbox stays selected while that region is selected. The underlying audio file is unchanged, so other regions that use the same file keep playing forward unless you reverse those regions too.

Reverse the audio file itself

Use a file-level reverse when you want the backwards sound written into the file, for example before exporting that file or using it outside the project. Menu labels can differ between Logic Pro versions; look for Reverse in the Audio File Editor functions, not only in the region parameters.

• Select the audio region.
• Open it in the Audio File Editor.
• Choose Reverse from that editor’s Functions menu.
• Play the file in the editor from the start.

Success is the same audible check: the file now starts with the old ending. This rewrite applies to the file itself, so any other region that references the same file will also play reversed. If you need both a forward version and a reversed version, duplicate the file first, or bounce the reversed region in place to a new file and leave the original file forward.

If it still plays forward

• Confirm you selected an audio region, not a MIDI region or an empty track.
• Confirm Reverse is enabled in the Region inspector for that region.
• If you reversed in the Audio File Editor, confirm the edit was applied and that you are listening to the same file.
• Solo the track so another overlapping region is not masking the reversed clip.
• If you wanted a polarity flip instead of backwards playback, use a phase or invert control on a gain or utility plug-in on the channel strip. That will not make the sound play backwards.

What this change does not do

Reversing audio in Logic does not test a microphone, grant camera or microphone permission, or improve a video call. It also does not replace a physical backdrop, a virtual call background, or an edited still-photo background. If the region was recorded with noise or clipping, the reversed version still contains that noise or clipping, only played backwards.