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 Apple's GarageBand is a great piece of software for making music. Its not a pro-application though and wont interface with all sorts of fancy real time control devices. Anyway, if you are using software that came free with your Mac you probably are not investing thousands in outboard control gear anyways. That means that when it comes to making dub, you just cant have the same feeling as when you are working in a studio with a mixing desk.

Doing dub in the studio can be all about the experience of mixing in real time, kicking in your favorite echo or reverb at just the right moment at just the right depth, muting out channels to make space for your sound or bringing them back in when the listener doesn't expect it. If you are that kind of dubber you are going to have to get used to planning out your mix and working with a track system that only lets you apply effects to whole tracks not certain measures. You can do volume adjustment points to mute out a sound or fade it back in, but the controls are a lot less intuitive or precise than a set of faders which respond to your touch. It is possible to produce different kinds of dub sounds in GarageBand though, but it is going to require a few tips and tricks.

This tutorial is not about just making roots sound or techno sound or any other style. It just serves to focus on a few techniques to get your dub going. Whether you work with software instruments or loops or both, these tips should help you along.

1 Tools of the trade
  • Sound Editors (just a few)
    • QuickTime Pro
      Not free, not complex but it will save to the 44.1Khz AIFF file format that GarageBand likes and you may already have it.
    • Apple Soundtrack Loop Utility
      Free, not really an editor, but a great tool for transforming WAVs or any other sounds that the system can play into AppleLoops.
    • Audacity
      Free, some interesting features, expandable with VST plugins, can export to AIFF for easy use in GB.
    • Bias Peak
      Not free, but a "lite" version is bundled with "Toast & Jam" the popular CD/DVD burning software from Roxio. I have it but have not used it. Send in your comments if you like.
  • AU plugins
    Audio Units are OSX's native format for software effects and instruments. They can be installed in the Library/Audio/Plugins/Components/ folder under your home folder or /Library/Audio/Plugins/Components (from the top of your hard drive) and GB will recognize them. There are hundreds of free, cheap or expensive AU plugins out there. Google is your friend here, but I'll point you to a few free ones I use.

2 Build your basic track before you break it down

First of all this is a good idea since a lot of the process of dubbing is naturally destructive and you might want go back to the original. When you are happy with the basic track, save it and then do a Save As before you start to cut it up. To me, dub is always a modification of something even if the original is never heard. You might do things differently.

On to the next part.