GarageBand Guide: Merging Audio Clips and Manipulating Audio Effects

Welcome! The topic for this activity is: merging multiple audio clips and manipulating audio effects. Under this topic, we'll do three subtasks - merge two audio clips on the same track, pan the audio all the way to the right, and turn on reverb. And for this, we are working with a GarageBand project that has a single audio track. The track has two audio clips - one between 0 to 4 seconds, and the other between 4 to 18 seconds.


Subtask 1: Merging Multiple Audio Clips

The first subtask is to merge all the audio clips on the track. To do that, follow these steps:

  1. Press the Up arrow to make sure the track is selected.
  2. Press Command-A to select all the audio clips on this track.
  3. Now, press Command-J, which is the keyboard shortcut for merging audio regions. If it works, Voiceover will say “join regions notes”.
  4. We’ve completed the first subtask!

Subtask 2: Panning Audio to the Right

Now, let’s play with some audio effects. For the second subtask, we will pan the audio track to the right. This means, if you wear a headphone, it would seem like the sound is coming entirely from your right-hand side. To do that, follow these steps:

  1. Use Control-Option-Right Arrow to go to the “Tracks” area. Interact with “Tracks” by pressing control-option-shift-down arrow.
  2. Inside “Tracks”, there will be five items. Using Control-Option-Right arrow, Navigate to the fourth item called “Tracks Header”.
  3. Interact with “Tracks Header” by pressing Control-Option-Shift-Down arrow - and you should hear VoiceOver say, “in tracks header. Track 1 - rice.”
  4. Interact with “Track 1, Rice” by pressing Control-Option-Shift-Down arrow. Inside, use Control-Option-Right arrow to navigate to the last item called “Pan 0”. This is the panning knob.
  5. Interact with the panning knob using Control-Option-Shift-Down arrow. Then keep pressing Control-Option-Right arrow, until it says “63 of 63, right channel pan.”
  6. If you can’t go farther than 63, then you have successfully panned the audio all the way to the right.
  7. We’ve completed the second subtask!

Subtask 3: Applying Reverb

Now, for the third subtask, let’s add another effect called the reverb - which gives your audio a fuller and richer vibe. To find the reverb effect and turn it on, follow these steps:

  1. Bring up the item chooser by pressing Control-Option-I. Type “master” using your keyboard to narrow down the list of items. Choose “Master Reverb” from the remaining options and press Enter.
  2. Now you will have the text label of "Master Reverb" selected - the actual master reverb checkbox is on its left. So, press Control-Option-Left once - to find “Master Reverb, checkbox”, which is currently unchecked.
  3. Press Control-Option-Space once - to turn on the “Master Reverb.”

Great! We’ve completed all the subtasks of this activity. Now you know how to merge audio clips and apply some effects. Goodbye!