Budget mixing in Garageband

Essentially a lite version of Logic, Garageband has all you need to record and mix a superb demo…

> Step by step 3. Using Garageband for mixing

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In Garageband you can use AU plugins to bring your track up to considerable quality. Click on an individual track’s Controls page to dial in your choice of AU plugins. There’s no centralised Mix window but balancing, effect application and equalisation is straightforward. 2

For our lead vocal, we click on the EQ window to tailor our vocal’s frequency as with Logic. Press A to show automation. Here you can apply all-important volume control to a rough take, ironing out the louder parts of the vocal and boosting those quieter parts. 3

Garageband’s onboard Compressor is fairly solid, and allows you to precisely adjust its ratio, attack, gain and threshold. For our track we compress an occasionally over-distorted vocal, and add some make-up gain to cover it. 4

Aside from vocals, Garageband presents a hefty amount of finelytuned presets for guitars and bass, and heaps of virtual instruments. Panning two guitars left and right (at -30/+30) gives stereo breadth to our chord sequence. 5

Layering in a bed of electronic noise (scaled by our modulation wheel), as well as a track of melodic synth lead and an ethereal choir, pads out the demo. Using Garageband’s Master Reverb options allows its sound to permeate more broadly. 6

Good mixing ensures that each part of the song fits. Stereo panning, and volume adjustment is key, and is seen in Garageband’s left-hand track display which allows for delicate finetuning. The ability to use your plugin collection is another boon.