Working with the Track Mixer

The first step to mixing a song in GarageBand is a basic understanding of the Track Mixer.

The Track Mixer is located between the track header and the Timeline. You can hide or show the Track Mixer by clicking the triangle next to the word "Tracks" at the top of the window.

1.	Locate the triangle next to the word "Tracks" at the top of the window.
2.	Click the triangle to show the Track Mixer. The Track Mixer appears between the track headers and the Timeline. The Track Mixer contains three separate tools: the Volume slider, the Pan wheel, and the Level meters.

Let's start with the Volume slider.

Adjusting Levels with the Volume Slider

The Volume slider allows you to adjust the volume levels for an individual track. The overall goal is to blend the different levels of all the tracks so that all the instruments can be heard, but the emphasis is on the right tracks.

By default, the Volume slider is set to 0 dB (decibels) for all tracks. You click-drag the slider to the right to raise the volume level and to the left to lower the volume level. You can adjust the volume for an individual track while the playhead is static or while you are playing the song.

Let's start by adjusting the volume level on the first Drum Kit track. There are three different Drum Kit tracks. You'll be starting on the highest one. You'll need to solo the track so you can hear the level change without the other tracks.

1.	Click the highest Drum Kit track to select it in the Timeline. The track turns brighter green to indicate it has been selected.
2.	Press S or click the Solo button to solo the track.
3.	Click-drag the Volume slider all the way to the left. The slider turns blue when you click it to indicate it has been selected. The track is silent when the Volume slider is in the far-left position. Next, you'll raise the volume while the track is playing.
4.	Press the Home key, and then press the spacebar to start playback at the beginning of the song.
5.	Click-drag the Volume slider to the right to raise the volume level while the track is playing.
6.	Release the slider when you think you've reached a good volume level.

How do you know if you're volume level is good? You can look at the Level meters.

Using the Level Meters

The Level meters use colored bars to visually represent the volume level for the track.

The lower the volume, the shorter the solid colored bars. If the color is green, the level is within a safe range and isn't too loud. If the color turns from green to yellow, that means cautionyour sound is bordering on being too loud. If it turns red, you need to stop and turn the volume down immediately. The two circles at the end of the Level meters are the clipping indicators. Clipping means your music is not only too loud, but it could be distorted.

The Level meters in GarageBand are "sticky," which means a single line of the colored bar will stick to the highest position on the meter while the average levels continue to change. The average volume level is marked by the solid colored bar, and the peaks are marked with the vertical line.

Let's create a cycle region and take a look at the Level meters in action.

1.	Press the left arrow to move your playhead back to the beginning of the Timeline. You may have to press it several times, depending on the current playhead position.
2.	Press C to open the cycle region.
3.	Click-drag the ends of the yellow cycle region bar to resize the cycle region until it is approximately the length of the first region in the selected track.
4.	Press the spacebar to play the drum region.
5.	As the region plays, watch the average levels and the peak levels in the meter. If any of the levels in the meter turn yellow or red, lower the volume for the track. You'll know your level is acceptable when the average and peaks are within the green "safe" region of the meter. Keep in mind that you can use the Level meters to see the levels, but the only way to make sure the levels are right for the song is to hear the track with the rest of the song.

Using the Pan Wheel

The Pan wheel controls the left-to-right placement of a track within the stereo field. The "Pan" in Pan wheel stands for "panoramic." A panoramic photograph is an image that includes your full visual spectrum from the far left to the far right. In other words, it's everything you can see without turning your head. A stereo field is everything you can hear from the far left to the far right, without turning your head.

Imagine a panoramic photograph of the Rocky Mountains with a train cutting through the far-left side of the image. Visually, you place the train on the left side of your field of view. You would also place the sound of the train on the far-left side of the stereo field.

By default, all of the tracks in GarageBand start with the pan position set to the center. With center pan position, the sound is heard equally out of both speakersit sounds like it is directly in front of you in the center of the audio space.

To adjust the pan position of a track, click the small white dots on the Pan wheel. Let's adjust the pan position of the selected track.

This exercise works best if you are listening through headphones, so take a minute and put on your headset before you start. Make sure your headphones have the right speaker (R) on the right ear and the left speaker (L) on the left ear.

1.	Click the dot next to the L on the lower-left side of the Pan wheel to change the pan position to the far left of the stereo field.
2.	Press the spacebar to listen to the cycle region. Notice that the drums sound like they are coming from the far left. Note If you hear the drums coming from the far right, you probably have your headphones on backwards.
3.	Click the dot next to the R on the lower-right side of the Pan wheel to change the pan position to the far right of the stereo field. Notice that the sound of the drums jumps to the far-right side.
4.	Click the dot on the middle-right side between the center position and the far-right position. If the Pan wheel were a clock, the dot would be at 2:00. Notice that the drums still sound like they are on the right, but closer to the middle of the stereo field.
5.	Press the spacebar to stop playback.
6.	Press C to close the cycle region.
7.	Press S to unsolo the track.

Resetting the Volume and Pan Controls

If you want to quickly reset the volume or pan controls to the default position, all you need to do is Option-click the control.

Let's reset the levels for the selected track.

1.	Option-click the Pan wheel to reset the track's pan position to center. The Pan wheel resets to the default center position.
2.	Option-click the Volume slider to reset it to the default position.

Now that you have a better understanding of the Track Mixer and how to use it, let's start mixing the song.