You should be using EQ to make your vocal track cut through the mix, not extra volume!

Gain: You might need to boost the Gain by 2 – 4dB here, making sure not to have them overpowering the rest of the project. The aim here is not to squash or really even bring the Vocals to the front of the mix – they’re designed to simply catch the occasional loud changes in frequency (or ‘transients’). Quick reminder you can find GarageBand’s ‘advanced’ Compressor in the SmartControl’s ‘Plugins’ menu. It might be a better idea to make use of GarageBand’s more advanced built in compressor for your vocal tracks – the extra control and flexibility available to you can really help your vocals sound more professional. For more noticeable results, Cranking that wee dial almost the full way round (4 o’clock position) was required.

There’s not much in the way of ‘fine tuning’ available on GarageBand’s default compressor and I find that you have to be quite heavy handed with it to get any half decent sounds.įor lighter compression I found turning it to just over half way (the 1 o’clock position) was sufficient. Remember, these settings are meant as starting points for you to work from, not precise instructions for you to follow – taking the time to experiment with what sounds right for your project is key here… If you plan to use GarageBand’s built in Compressor for your Vocals, you can try out these simple variations to see what sounds good for you. What do YOU think it needs? What is it lacking? It’s particularly important to know what the purpose of adding Compression to your Vocal actually IS – so before diving in and cranking it up, take the time to listen through your ‘dry’, untouched track a few times… I won’t lie – learning to mix your Vocals in context with the rest of your project isn’t always easy or fun, but working this way will not only improve the quality of your projects, it’l l make you better at producing and mixing in the long run!Īpplying Compression to a Vocal track is a tricky business.

While it might seem easier at first to solo that Vocal track and work on mixing it without any other instruments or sounds in the way, you’ll undoubtedly run into trouble when you move on to the rest of the tracks in your project. This will make it 100 times easier when it comes time to ‘place’ them in your overall mix. Instead, keep your Vocals in mind as you Compress, EQ and Pan etc. I realize that might sound a little strange, what with this being the first of the four instrument specific guides, but trust me – leaving off fiddling with your vocal tracks till the end of the mixing process will save you time and frustration…

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