Too much bass - what can I do?

Question

Level 1

20 points

Too much bass - what can I do?

I am recording my guitar via an iMic in GarageBand. Even after adjusting the tone controls on my guitar (Stratocaster) and controls on my amp, I get way more bass sound than I want.

All notes played on the low E and A strings sound extremely "bassy". I am looking for more clear, clean sounding notes in the lower ranges.

Is there any control in GB that lets you lessen the bass? I see that under "equalizer" there are controls to "add bass" make bass stronger, but only one called "reduce bass boom", which doesn't seem to do much.

It is so bad, that I find myself avoiding playing on the low E and A strings, which is pretty limiting.

Anything I can do to get clearer, less bassy input? Is there something more suitable than the iMic as an input device that I should try? I'm on an older G4 that does not have a built in mic, thus the need for the iMic.

PowerMac G4 dual 867

Posted on Jul 31, 2007 12:43 PM

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Answer 1

Jul 31, 2007 12:47 PM in response to Rob Jones7

Are you using any of the guitar presets, or do you listen to the dry sound?

Also, the EQ presets are just presets, click on the pencil to adjust it as you like it (it has bass, treble and a parametric mid-range ruler).

Also, there's a graphic EQ with up to 31 bands that you can use to lower every band down to 0. (You can select it as an additional effect, in the AU section.)

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Answer 2

Rob Jones7 Author

Level 1

20 points

Jul 31, 2007 12:56 PM in response to Christoph Drösser

"Are you using any of the guitar presets, or do you listen to the dry sound?

I seldom use the guitar presets, although I will not say 'never'.

Also, the EQ presets are just presets, click on the pencil to adjust it as you like it (it has bass, treble and a parametric mid-range ruler).

Thanks, I didn't know about the pencil adjustment, and that does improve things a lot.

Also, there's a graphic EQ with up to 31 bands that you can use to lower every band down to 0. (You can select it as an additional effect, in the AU section.)"

Where is the AU section and the graphic EQ? That also sounds like it can get me where I need to be.

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Answer 3

Rob Jones7 Author

Level 1

20 points

Jul 31, 2007 1:00 PM in response to Rob Jones7

(Sorry...my post above does not contain my additional questions...don;t know what happened).

"Are you using any of the guitar presets, or do you listen to the dry sound?

-I seldom use the guitar presets, although I will not say 'never'.

Also, the EQ presets are just presets, click on the pencil to adjust it as you like it (it has bass, treble and a parametric mid-range ruler).

-Thanks, I didn't know about the pencil adjustment, and that does improve things a lot.

Also, there's a graphic EQ with up to 31 bands that you can use to lower every band down to 0. (You can select it as an additional effect, in the AU section.)"

-Where is the AU section and the graphic EQ? That also sounds like it can get me where I need to be.

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Answer 4

Jul 31, 2007 1:17 PM in response to Rob Jones7

Use one of the free effects slots, right above the Equalizer. When you click it, you get to choose between a lot of effects from 2 sections, "Garageband Effects" and "Audio Units". One of the Audio Units is AUGraphicEQ. Again, click the pencil icon, and you get the bands - you can choose between 10 or 31 bands.

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Answer 5

Rob Jones7 Author

Level 1

20 points

Jul 31, 2007 1:59 PM in response to Christoph Drösser

Thanks a lot for your help, Christopher.

I think I can iron out my bass difficulties with the info you have provided!

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