- 1. Built-In Voice Settings
- 2. Narration or Natural Vocal Mic Settings
- 3. Your Recording Setup
- Is GarageBand good for voice over?
- What sample rate should I use for voice over?
3 Best GarageBand Settings for Voice Over
GarageBand is very user-friendly, which makes it a top choice for people who are just learning how to make podcasts or record vocals. And while the process for recording is easy, dialing in the best settings for your voice overs takes a little extra effort and knowledge.
It’s important to note that even though you can record your voice directly through your Mac or iPhone, you won’t be able to get super high-quality tracks without using a decent microphone. If you want to seriously do podcasts or something similar, you should get a good mic.
Here are some of the best settings and features on GarageBand to help you make great voice overs:
1. Built-In Voice Settings
When you open up the GarageBand app, you have the option of choosing an empty project or using one of the settings built into it. For voice overs, choose the Voice option from GarageBand for Mac or the Voice button from the Audio Recorder option in GarageBand for iPhone.
By choosing these options, you’ll have tracks already set up to record good vocals. This streamlines the process and helps your capture clear audio. You can do this by hand, but utilizing the established settings will get you pointed in the right direction.
2. Narration or Natural Vocal Mic Settings
In GarageBand for Mac, you’ll see several different options appear when you choose the Voice setting. The best options to go with for voice overs are the Narration or Natural vocal mic settings.
These mic settings have a more neutral EQ that works better for voice over projects. You might eventually want to put effects on some voice overs, but that’s a pretty rare thing to do for the average situation.
You can always experiment with things here, but I wouldn’t go with any heavily processed vocal effects such as the Robot Vocal or Telephone Vocal options. It’s just not a commonly used aspect of recording voice over style projects.
3. Your Recording Setup
Another factor that will heavily play into how good a voice sounds when recording a voice over in GarageBand is your recording setup. If you use a proper microphone rather than the built-in option on your computer or phone, you’ll see better results.
Similar to a microphone, you also want to think about the room in which you are recording. If you are in a large room, you might get some natural reverb or slapback, which isn’t ideal for voice over. You want a pretty neutral-sounding room here.
How to Record Voice Over in GarageBand
Recording a voice over in GarageBand is relatively simple, especially if you are already familiar with using the app. You simply need to make a vocal track go alongside any other music, sounds, or effects you already have.
You can do this by opening up a new or existing project in GarageBand. If it’s a new project, add whatever music or tracks you want to do the voice over to first. Then you can record your voice over on top of it.
All you need to do for that is to hit the record button on the vocal track and then lay down all of your voice over material. Keep in mind you’ll need a pair of headphones to record a voice over without the noise from the other track bleeding into the recording.
If you already have an existing project, you can simply add another track using the + button you’ll see on the upper-left side of the window. Then select the proper microphone setting that you want to use.
After you have the tracks dialed in, you simply hit record and lay down your voice over track. You can edit things as needed from there or do several takes until you get the best track you are after.
How Do I Make My Voice Sound Better in GarageBand?
There are two different ways you can think about making your voice sound better in GarageBand – by changing things inside the app itself or by using external equipment to improve the sound.
Within the app itself, you’ll want to play around with the EQ settings on the microphone you choose. You can adjust things like Reverb and Compression until you start to get a sound you like. You can also tweak the high or low end of the audio file itself.
External equipment such as good microphones and even a preamp will really up your game when it comes to making your voice sound better in GarageBand or any other audio recording program you use.
Also, warm up your voice before you start to record. There are a ton of different methods and exercises for vocal warm-ups. Some of these seem pretty weird, but when your voice is warmed up, it will sound much better while you’re recording.
Best GarageBand Settings for Podcast
The best GarageBand settings for a podcast are essentially the same as for a voice over. You’ll want to use a neutral or narration microphone setting and think about the type of room you are recording in.
If you use an actual microphone rather than the one built-in to the computer or iPhone, you will get much better sound quality. And you can also focus on adjusting the EQ or reverb to get a more neutral tone for a podcast.
Ultimately, recording for a podcast is not nearly as complicated as recording an entire musical album or even a track. There are fewer factors to consider. But you still need to pay attention to a few details to get the best recording possible.
FAQs
Here are a few quick answers to some of the most frequently asked questions relating to the best GarageBand settings for voice over.
Is GarageBand good for voice over?
GarageBand can be a good option for voice over projects. It is especially good for anyone who is just learning how to record because of its easy-to-use interface and intuitive controls. If you have an external microphone, you will get better voice over recordings.
What sample rate should I use for voice over?
A 48 kHz sample rate is pretty much the standard for voice over purposes. There aren’t really any reasons why you would want to choose anything different than this, and it should be the standard sample rate within most recording platforms.
Final Thoughts
By paying attention to the settings and tips in this post, you’ll be able to make pretty solid voice overs right in GarageBand. Whether you are making your first podcast or just exploring what the app can do, these settings should help you out quite a bit.
Do you have any good settings for voice overs that I didn’t mention here? What are they, and how do you use them to help your recordings in GarageBand? Let me know in the comments below.
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Ste7en Foster
Hey. I lived in recording studios for 16 years producing english language versions of Japanese anime and I had mixers, engineers, etc. do all this shit for me. Now I’m on my own learning at my own moronic level and I feel like such a fool. So I was very happy when google turned me onto your post. Thank you so much. I know you may not know it and people are terrible about saying thank you (but oh how we’re super vocal about complaining) but you’re helping so many people, I wanted to tell you thank you. For myself and the legion out there who you’ve saved their asses too. That’s all! Just wanted to say thank you for sharing your knowledge with those of us plebes. You’re awesome. Reply
Donovan Sharpe
Thanks for reaching out and for the kind words, it’s much appreciated! I’m always thrilled to know I’m helping others figure out how to make and record better music. We are all constantly learning, just at different levels. Good luck with expanding your recording and mixing skills. Daily improvements start to stack up quickly. Reply
