To answer your question: my favorite effect Is definitely whammy used as an octaver. Nothing competes with the way it makes a high guitar lead cut through the mix. It usually makes you rethink your melodies, but the thickness it adds on those otherwise wimpy notes is worth every second. Good tutorial! I especially noticed the impact of the slapjack delay on main vox.
it's amazing how much space these tips are making in the mix already! I've been following these steps with the mix for the past couple weeks practicing for my college audition and it's been a huge help
@@TheBandGuide I basically have to supply 3 mixes to get into a higher production course, 1 has to be an electronic song, 1 has to be a full band session and 1 an original composition so this track is really helping me plan out the full band mix 😁
My mixes are sounding so much better thanks to all your help! My favourite plugin currently is the Klanghelm IVGI2 you recommended in one of your other videos. I love the warmth it brings to the overall mix and giving the kick drum more character by adding a touch of drive.
Wow thank you! I just did a few videos all about electric guitars. I’d love to hear your thoughts and any gaps I could cover from those in future videos!
@@TheBandGuide hey man thanks..i saw those videos..they are amazing. i hope you cover some stuff on instrumental tracks where guitar on any sort of instruments get the lead rather than vocal..also how to produce good tracks from the software instruments in garageband.. love from Bangladesh
Great video. Gonna go back and watch all the other steps too. Been bummed out because I’ve felt my songs aren’t wide enough & just kinda muddy, and this helped a lot. You give the best explanations I’ve come across & you’re clearly very talented at this! Subscribed for sure.
@@TheBandGuide Oh yeah. I am a huge Bowie fan and the song Heroes is in my opinion the finest pop/rock song ever. Just pure magic perfection. And Colorful Bass can make a lot of sounds get a "Heroes-feel".
Hi Colin, could you explain a bit more how to put for example reverb on the different channels, you went into Fast Forward but I did not understand it yet, thanks.
Hi Colin! Loving the videos btw :) just curious. I can only use Gb drums just now for my demos as I don't have access to a kit and be able to record a full kit also. GB drums however already have some form of reverb on the if you listen to them. Would it sound weird if I added the room reverb sound onto them as well as my real audio files?
so making a separate track for just reverb or delay and then blending it in is called "parallel reverb" or "parallel effects" right? And what's the advantage to doing it this way instead of just adding the effects the track itself? Could this overload GarageBand with too much going on? Also, if I upgrade to Logic Pro X, will I still do it this way, or is the process different? Any answers to this will be much appreciated!
Hey Colin. That was super helpful. But wouldn't it make more sense to compress after adding effects? Like if we add a reverb that makes our vocals sound bigger, wouldn't we want to control / compress some of that big vocal sound with a compressor after the reverb in the plugin chain?
That's a great question! I could see a situation where this would be helpful but generally what you are actually doing is compressing the dynamics of the vocal so they never get too loud or too quiet. Also- if you are using the "sends" (master reverb, master echo, ambience, reverb) then putting a compressor on after you have sent the audio still won't be compressing the reverb sound. If you haven't already- definitely check out this video I did on signal flow: th-cam.com/video/ngHVXPukDec/w-d-xo.html
Hi Colin! I get confused by the difference between master reverb and small hall reverb. I see that you set small hall reverb in the beginning of the video when you did your overheads. But then when you get down to the vocals you changed it to master reverb. So why don’t you use small hall for your vocals? And when you changed it from small hall to Master reverb, did that not mess up anything that you did on your overheads? Are these two things completely separate, small hall and master reverb? I get confused with the reverb in garageband. I guess I was thinking that because it’s on the master tab that you had to use the same kind throughout your whole song on each track. I hope this question makes sense. I’m even confused about how to ask it 😂😂
Hey Kim- I think I get it! The small reverb is a room reverb that’s really shorts and helps instruments feel like they are in one space. In this video I am using a little bit of that on most of my tracks (except bass and kick drum) and saving the master reverb to be tailored to the lead vocal. Over time I’ve realized the small reverb isn’t necessarily available on a lot of tracks (for example any midi drum track can’t use it) but they can ALL use the master reverb. So recently I’ve been setting the master reverb preset to “Ambience” and using that across instruments and then doubling the lead vocal and creating a parallel vocal reverb track (same approach as the slap delay but with a reverb plugin at the end of the plugin chain) I hope that makes sense and helps!
Me too, At first I thought the options at 02:08 were only Master Echo and Master Reverb, but they are four settings- those two and one for the Ambience Dial and one for the Reverb dial that were being used on the individual tracks. Aha!
Hey Colin! So, I can only see your master echo at the bottom left of your screen and I can’t see your master reverb, so, on tracks like your snare verb and your vocal slap, do you also have master reverb on those? I’m thinking no, that’d probably be too much, but just want to be sure. Thank you! Edit: I think I just realized that since my drums are midi and I did a rooms track and a snare verb that I probably don’t need more reverb on the drum tracks 🤔
Hey Kim! Great question, as always. You’re exactly right- I don’t have any master reverb on those effects tracks. With the drums, it depends on the overall energy of the song. Sometimes a small amount of reverb being sent to the master reverb can be nice, but often if it’s a long reverb it could be too much. I wish the midi drums allowed for the 2 other reverb sends that are built in on an audio track (ambience and reverb)
When you add reverb or delay to a track directly you can throw off the volume of it. By using a parallel track I don’t risk throwing it off and I have more control over that track if I want to EQ the reverb or automate it up or down.
‼️ Download the free 6-Step Checklist here: www.thebandguide.com/6stepPROmix ‼️
To answer your question: my favorite effect Is definitely whammy used as an octaver. Nothing competes with the way it makes a high guitar lead cut through the mix. It usually makes you rethink your melodies, but the thickness it adds on those otherwise wimpy notes is worth every second.
Good tutorial! I especially noticed the impact of the slapjack delay on main vox.
it's amazing how much space these tips are making in the mix already! I've been following these steps with the mix for the past couple weeks practicing for my college audition and it's been a huge help
That’s awesome! What kind of audition is it??
@@TheBandGuide I basically have to supply 3 mixes to get into a higher production course, 1 has to be an electronic song, 1 has to be a full band session and 1 an original composition so this track is really helping me plan out the full band mix 😁
That’s awesome! Good luck, man. You got this!
Delay and reverb. Can't live without them :)
Agreed!
My mixes are sounding so much better thanks to all your help! My favourite plugin currently is the Klanghelm IVGI2 you recommended in one of your other videos. I love the warmth it brings to the overall mix and giving the kick drum more character by adding a touch of drive.
Yessss. A great plugin!
Super super helpful tips. Thank you so much.
your content deserves more views man. So amazing. make something on mixing electric guitar solos
Wow thank you! I just did a few videos all about electric guitars. I’d love to hear your thoughts and any gaps I could cover from those in future videos!
@@TheBandGuide hey man thanks..i saw those videos..they are amazing. i hope you cover some stuff on instrumental tracks where guitar on any sort of instruments get the lead rather than vocal..also how to produce good tracks from the software instruments in garageband.. love from Bangladesh
Thank you. Was very informative.
Great video. Gonna go back and watch all the other steps too. Been bummed out because I’ve felt my songs aren’t wide enough & just kinda muddy, and this helped a lot. You give the best explanations I’ve come across & you’re clearly very talented at this! Subscribed for sure.
Thanks so much, Hugh! That means so much 🙌🏼
Sincerely appreciate the videos and information. Thanks! ✨🕯️✨
You’re very welcome!
Subtlety adds up. love it bro. These are great tips and insights.
🙌🏼 thank you!
Thanks Colin, the acoustic stereo trick is really effective, sounds great
Thanks, John! I love that trick. Super helpful. You can use it for background vocals too!
Thanks for the tutorials. They answered all my questions about balancing and dynamics in mixing!
Great to hear! 🙌🏼
Omg 😳 So many great tips here!
Glad you like them! Which are you most excited to use?
@@TheBandGuide the vocal reverb trick had made my new track a gazillion times better. Definitely will sure it with you this week!
@@CameronPriceJ Awesome!
Colorful Bass on GB! I used that effect way too much. And rarely have it been a good move. But still... Always return to it.
There must be something you like about it if you keep going back to it!
@@TheBandGuide Oh yeah. I am a huge Bowie fan and the song Heroes is in my opinion the finest pop/rock song ever. Just pure magic perfection. And Colorful Bass can make a lot of sounds get a "Heroes-feel".
Killed it bro
🙌🏼 thank you!
Hi Colin, could you explain a bit more how to put for example reverb on the different channels, you went into Fast Forward but I did not understand it yet, thanks.
Fantastic and very useful!
Glad it was helpful!
Hi Colin! Loving the videos btw :) just curious. I can only use Gb drums just now for my demos as I don't have access to a kit and be able to record a full kit also. GB drums however already have some form of reverb on the if you listen to them. Would it sound weird if I added the room reverb sound onto them as well as my real audio files?
so making a separate track for just reverb or delay and then blending it in is called "parallel reverb" or "parallel effects" right? And what's the advantage to doing it this way instead of just adding the effects the track itself? Could this overload GarageBand with too much going on? Also, if I upgrade to Logic Pro X, will I still do it this way, or is the process different? Any answers to this will be much appreciated!
Hey Colin. That was super helpful. But wouldn't it make more sense to compress after adding effects? Like if we add a reverb that makes our vocals sound bigger, wouldn't we want to control / compress some of that big vocal sound with a compressor after the reverb in the plugin chain?
That's a great question! I could see a situation where this would be helpful but generally what you are actually doing is compressing the dynamics of the vocal so they never get too loud or too quiet. Also- if you are using the "sends" (master reverb, master echo, ambience, reverb) then putting a compressor on after you have sent the audio still won't be compressing the reverb sound. If you haven't already- definitely check out this video I did on signal flow: th-cam.com/video/ngHVXPukDec/w-d-xo.html
@@TheBandGuide got it!
Hi Colin! I get confused by the difference between master reverb and small hall reverb. I see that you set small hall reverb in the beginning of the video when you did your overheads. But then when you get down to the vocals you changed it to master reverb. So why don’t you use small hall for your vocals? And when you changed it from small hall to Master reverb, did that not mess up anything that you did on your overheads? Are these two things completely separate, small hall and master reverb? I get confused with the reverb in garageband. I guess I was thinking that because it’s on the master tab that you had to use the same kind throughout your whole song on each track. I hope this question makes sense. I’m even confused about how to ask it 😂😂
Hey Kim- I think I get it! The small reverb is a room reverb that’s really shorts and helps instruments feel like they are in one space. In this video I am using a little bit of that on most of my tracks (except bass and kick drum) and saving the master reverb to be tailored to the lead vocal.
Over time I’ve realized the small reverb isn’t necessarily available on a lot of tracks (for example any midi drum track can’t use it) but they can ALL use the master reverb. So recently I’ve been setting the master reverb preset to “Ambience” and using that across instruments and then doubling the lead vocal and creating a parallel vocal reverb track (same approach as the slap delay but with a reverb plugin at the end of the plugin chain)
I hope that makes sense and helps!
Me too, At first I thought the options at 02:08 were only Master Echo and Master Reverb, but they are four settings- those two and one for the Ambience Dial and one for the Reverb dial that were being used on the individual tracks. Aha!
@@TheBandGuide What plug-in do you use? Perhaps Platinum Verb?
Hey Colin! So, I can only see your master echo at the bottom left of your screen and I can’t see your master reverb, so, on tracks like your snare verb and your vocal slap, do you also have master reverb on those? I’m thinking no, that’d probably be too much, but just want to be sure. Thank you!
Edit: I think I just realized that since my drums are midi and I did a rooms track and a snare verb that I probably don’t need more reverb on the drum tracks 🤔
Hey Kim! Great question, as always. You’re exactly right- I don’t have any master reverb on those effects tracks.
With the drums, it depends on the overall energy of the song. Sometimes a small amount of reverb being sent to the master reverb can be nice, but often if it’s a long reverb it could be too much. I wish the midi drums allowed for the 2 other reverb sends that are built in on an audio track (ambience and reverb)
Are the master echo & master reverb similar like the sends effect on logic pro x?
They are exactly that! I did a video explaining this side of things in GB... th-cam.com/video/ngHVXPukDec/w-d-xo.html
I'm not clear why you copy the snare drum and add the reverb to the copy instead of just adding it to the main snare drum track?
When you add reverb or delay to a track directly you can throw off the volume of it. By using a parallel track I don’t risk throwing it off and I have more control over that track if I want to EQ the reverb or automate it up or down.