Playing around with GarageBand recently, I had a metal guitar track (a software instrument, not recorded), and I wondered how to make it sound like it was palm muted.
There are many tutorials on YouTube on many GarageBand-related topics, but I couldn’t find anything on this. Finally, I stumbled across it mostly by accident, so here it is for anyone who may be having the same problem.
In short: use the “modulation” function, bringing it to a high value.
For a quick example, create a guitar track and bring up the “musical typing” tool (Cmd+K). Press 8 to set the highest level of “Modulation” and then press any note. You should hear the muffled guitar sound characteristic of palm muting. If you now press 3 to bring the “Modulation” setting back to normal and try again with a note, the string will ring unmuted.
![Musical typing tool, modulation set at highest value and pressing a low E note](/images/palm-muted-low-E.png)
Musical typing tool, modulation set at highest value and pressing a low E note
To use this in a track:
- Open the editor/piano roll (press E)
- Expand the MIDI draw (icon with three lines on the top left corner of the editor)
- Under “Controller”, select “Modulation” on the dropdown (I think it’s the default option anyway).
- And now the part that requires some patience: adjust the modulation value for the track so that it’s near the top when you want to apply palm muting, and lower when you don’t.
![Modulation adjusted at different values as the track progresses](/images/modulation-controls-to-get-palm-muting.png)
Modulation adjusted at different values as the track progresses
What does this have to do with modulation as a sound concept? Beats me. I guess GarageBand uses the function for other, misc uses where the original sense doesn’t work. I dunno, I don’t really know anything about sound engineering.