- Editing Basics: Cut, Copy, and Paste
- Filtering and Advanced Effects
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Filtering and Advanced Effects
Unlike stand-alone sound editing programs, filtering and other advanced audio effects in GarageBand can only be applied to an entire track and not to a specific region or sound event. Some changes to tuning can be made to regions of material recorded directly into GarageBand, but not to imported audio files. To access the host of digital effects that are available, double-click on a track name at the left of the main track pane to bring up the track info window. This is shown in Figure 3.
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This track info is for an audio track with no digital effects on it. The most basic digital effects, echo and reverb, can be easily altered using the relevant sliders at the bottom of the window. Gate and Compressor can also be altered in this window, if you use the check box to enable them. (These are advanced settings akin to filters.)
From the Track Info window, you can easily access an equalizer. If you check the box next to Equalizer, you can then select from a long drop-down menu of prefab filter settings that are labeled according to what they do, such as Add Brightness or Stronger Bass. If you are experienced in setting equalization on your stereo or iTunes player, leave the drop-box on manual, click the little pencil icon, and equalize away. The preset options are fairly effective and you can always click the pencil icon to see the exact settings and change specific values if you need to.
The two remaining drop-down menus, labeled None, contain digital effects (which I'll discuss in a moment), and more advanced filters. The lower half of the menu, Audio Unit Effects, contains more filter interfaces than the GarageBand Effects"] have part of the menu, so expert users should look there for all of their specific frequency filtering needs.
Finally, we come to the sexiest part of audio editing—advanced digital effects. In the upper pane of the Track Info window for an audio track, you will see a list of instrument groups. Each category contains various preset sound processors, each of which contain filters, digital delays, distortion, and so on that can make the audio file sound like, for example, an Arena Rock guitar. Some of these presets are more effective than others, depending on the content of your audio file. For example, none of the Band Instruments do much for prerecorded music other than change the timbre a little bit. But some, like Arena Rock, are pretty drastic.
So, what if you want to add your own effects? That's when you go back to those None drop-down menus, but this time, look at the upper GarageBand Effects section. Each effect has different options to set with the second drop-down menu. You can also leave the second drop-down on Manual and click the pencil icon to bring up a dialogue box with several sliders. These sliders let you alter various values that will change exactly how the effect changes the sound of your track. Again, remember that effects are applied to the whole track, so be sure to only put the material you want the effect to be applied to on the appropriate track. The best way to learn about what settings are best and which effects actually achieve the sound you want is to experiment. Once you have an idea of the sound you want, try every effect that seems like it might be of help until you get it right. The sliders and settings are not as exact and detailed as you would find on a more professional grade sound editor or sequencer. However, the plain language options will make it easy to create the sound you want.
At this point, I hope you have a new understanding of audio files, how they work, and how you can mold them to fit your musical or logistical needs using only the software that Apple gave you (or that you bought from Apple separately in order to upgrade). Remember that no change is permanent until you save your file, so you can experiment incessantly! You'll quickly find that you are even more creative than you thought and that being detail-oriented really can be an asset and not just a euphemism.
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