L E S S O N

A S S I G N M E N T

Demonstrate an EQ plugin to function as a mixing console using

GarageBand
coursera.org

Hi fellow reader
I am John Soulakellis from Greece Athens. This presentation is for the course of Introduction to Music Production from coursera.org I will cover the topic of Demonstrate the configuring of an EQ plugin using GarageBand
Thank you, for having the time to read my assignment

The Role
EQ is very important in a mix. Even a small format mixing board has an EQ section in every single channel strip. We use it on an instrument for corrective use, where we get rid of unwanted information on the signal or creative use, where the goal is to adjust the focus of the listener by making the instrument sound brighter.

Most Common Uses

Corrective
Remove Noise Remove Rumble

Creative
High Pass Filter Low Pass Filter High Shelving Filter Low Shelving Filter Mid-Range Parametric Filter

DEMONSTRATE EQ PLUGIN USING GARAGEBAND

WEEK 5 ASSIGNMENT

Open or create a Project

Open GarageBand Application and choose the project you want to open or create a new one. If you dont know how to do that I have demonstrated this in weeks 2 assignment Create a project in a DAW using GarageBand. If you want to know how to create a new project in Garage Band link is provided at the last page of this assignment

Main Screen
After we open our project we can see the picture below. If we create a new one we wont see sample tracks on left section, it will be just empty.

DEMONSTRATE EQ PLUGIN USING GARAGEBAND

WEEK 5 ASSIGNMENT

Choose Track
Select Track to add effect
At At the left side of main screen in GarageBand select the sample track you want to add the effect by clicking on it.

Select Preset Effect

At the top right corner select the Real Instrument Tab and click Browse (for adding effects from a preset list of ready configured effect so you dont have to make a lot of adjustments) or click the Edit Tab if you want manual selection. In the effects middle section we can see three disabled effects for the current track Noise Gate, Compressor, Visual EQ and two enabled effects for Master output. The last two will be added to all tracks in our project and adds the desirable effect in Master Output signal. We can change them or edit them in the Master Track Tab on the top right tab. The only thing to mention is that changing the value of master effects, affects only the current track but we save time if we simply want to use the same effect over and over. Disabled effect switch is in grey color . Enabled effect switch is in light blue.

DEMONSTRATE EQ PLUGIN USING GARAGEBAND

WEEK 5 ASSIGNMENT

Adding Effect to Track

If we hover the cursor over an empty cell and click on it we can select an effect from the list below. By default GarageBand have a Noise Gate Effect in first position that is non-interchangeable if we have a guitar track.

From the drop down list we select from the Audio Unit Effects section the AUFilter if we want to add a single channel strip for the current track.

If we press on the icon of the effect above then the EQ window opens

DEMONSTRATE EQ PLUGIN USING GARAGEBAND

WEEK 5 ASSIGNMENT

Compare a mixing console

To configure the EQ plugin the same way a large format mixing board is configured, we have to see the EQ section on a board to get a good idea of what are the most important types of EQ and see how the developers designed them. Usage High Pass to remove the low end rumble High Shelving Filter to control the brightness and try to guide the listener to the one focal element. Mid-Range Parametric for removing unwanted resonances. It is better to cut than boost and produce unnatural sound. Low Shelving Filter emphases and gives warmth to the base.

Configure the EQ
The first step of our plugin is setting the parameters of a High pass filter. Select the first point and set it at 75Hz and select High pass from the drop down menu.

The only thing we cannot configure for this type of effect is the descent step per octave, which represents the angle of the slope. Actually it gets the job done as it is about -10 dB.
5

DEMONSTRATE EQ PLUGIN USING GARAGEBAND

WEEK 5 ASSIGNMENT

The second step is the Low Shelving filter, which has a fixed frequency at 80 Hz. Grab the second point and set it to 80 Hz. Here we can also configure the width from 0.0 to 3.0 octaves which is how much frequency range will affect

The third step is the Low mid-range filter. It will be a bell shape between 100 Hz and 2000 Hz. Select the next point and set it around 395Hz, Gain -2.0dB and Width to maximum so we can be in the frequency range we want to achieve.

The fourth step is the High mid-range filter, which is similar to previous step. It will be a bell shape between 400Hz and 8000Hz. Select the next point and set it around 2000Hz, Gain 0.56 dB and Width 3.0 octaves.

DEMONSTRATE EQ PLUGIN USING GARAGEBAND

WEEK 5 ASSIGNMENT

The next step is the High Shelving filter. Select the fifth point and set frequency at 12000Hz gain -1.0dB and type as High Self from the drop down menu.

If all steps done successfully all we have to do now is to save it like a preset so we can use it over and over in our future projects.

Save as a Preset
Finally we can save the EQ. We press manual drop down menu and select Make Preset Give a name and press Save

Press on the drop down again to double check. There we can make a duplicate or change it and save another or even delete it.

In the effects session we can see this setting now.

DEMONSTRATE EQ PLUGIN USING GARAGEBAND

WEEK 5 ASSIGNMENT

Preview Result
After adding and editing the effect we can preview to analyzer and also hear the result. I enabled Visual EQ effect so I can see how many changes I have. For example I want to enable High Pass Filter. Here the EQ is disabled and we can see that frequencies below 50 Hz exists in our signal.

The magic happens when we hit that magic button and travel us to the magical world of EQing We can clearly see in the picture and hear from our speakers that almost all of our low frequency signal is removed.
If you want to hear the sound from this week project the link is provided at the last page of this assignment.

DEMONSTRATE EQ PLUGIN USING GARAGEBAND

WEEK 5 ASSIGNMENT

Uses
High Pass to remove low end rumble and noise High Shelving to control brightness and guide the listener to the one focal element Mid-Range Parametric for removing unwanted resonances
What I learned from this weeks assignment was more technical terms, better understanding of how EQing works, effects, how to eliminate noises, a better way of using a DAW, what to check before recording, what to change, how to set it up and finally how to record it.

Thank you for your time!

PICTURES CAPTURED USING OSX BUILT IN CAPTURING FUNCTION LINKS

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QDLFzxj06zM/UWKKbOEp8I/AAAAAAAAGbA/jtjz4_eylnc/s1600/controls.png Week 2 : How to Create a Project in GarageBand http://www.slideshare.net/johnnys83/week2-assignment

Week 5 : Sound Example https://soundcloud.com/john-soulakelliss/week-5-music-production