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Cut or Boost? Cut it The less EQ boost you use, the more natural the final sound will be. The ear is much more tolerant of EQ cut than it is of boost. So if you want, say, a piano to come through better in the high end of the mix - to have more "presence" - consider a high end cut of instruments that conflict in that range instead of a piano boost. Always check the instrument sound in the context of the whole mix, and make frequent use of the by-pass check box to find the ideal setting. |
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Separating sounds Out of the way... One of the best uses of EQ is to separate two sounds that are too similar in the mix, or overlap. Make one stand out in a higher frequency band, the other in a lower. A well known example is the bottom end of the guitar - the lower strings may be in the same range as the vocals or the bass and cause confusion. Removing the lower frequencies will now make the mix a lot clearer, even if the track by itself sounds a little thin. Use the by-pass tick box a lot to get the best setting. |
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Loudness Smile It is well known that we tend to hear sounds with more high and low frequencies, and a relatively weaker mid-range, as louder. The "loudness" button on a stereo system does this. You can produce this effect in GarageBand by creating the shape of a smile on the graphic equalizer. Use this only on some of the instruments though, to preserve the contrast in the mix. GarageBand comes with a beautiful 31 band equalizer (in the Audio Units effects selection bar under the Instruments - details triangle). |
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Bass Boost Boom or bust If you need a bit more bottom end, give the bass an EQ boost around 80 Hz. GarageBand has some nice pre-sets that will do it for you, such as bass boost and stronger bass. For a more hands on and precise boost, choose an equalizer, such as the graphic equalizer. For a nice bite, boost between 600 and 800 Hz. Higher frequencies may be boosted in some cases to bring out finger and fret noises - GarageBand has a good pre-set called increase bass pluck.Always watch out for a sound that is too boomy - cut the low-mid range around 200-250 Hz to reduce boom. |
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Using the Equalizer for voices ...Some are more equal than others.... Apple has thoughtfully provided several pre-sets to make recorded voices sound just right. Use as little EQ as possible; if you find that you have tweaked the EQ settings a lot, try to go back to a flat setting for a fresh hearing (or use the checkboxes). Experiment with presets clear vocals and reduce S Use mid reduce or vocal presence if the voice is too muddy. If you find that the voice sounds great on its own but not in the mix, it is probably clashing with other instruments in the same frequency range. Solutions to that clash include:
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![]() Lester Young ![]() Gary Burton |
Other EffectsWe have looked at Compression, Reverb and Equalization in detail on these pages. Let's now have a look at GarageBand's other effects, the so-called Time-based effects. They are called time-based, because they apply changes that affect the sound over time.
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