How do I blend tracks or slowly turn down sound effects (aka mix) tracks in GarageBand for Mac os X?

Question

If you have one track that's got say, a beach sound effect, and a second track that's got some trancey beat, how in Garage Band 3, would you gradually turn down the beach sound effect, so the trancey one can take over? bad example I know, but it gets my point across, lol :P

Answer 1

In GarageBand, you can easily fade tracks by adding and adjusting Volume Automation Points. In the image reference below, Let's imagine that the Grand Piano track is your beach sound effect, and the Pop Organ track is the trancy beat. Currently, the two tracks will play simultaneously. If for example, you wanted to fade out the beach sound effect at a certain point in your song to enable the trancy beat to become more prominent, here are the steps you would take:
Image reference: http://www.designisillegal.com/answers/garageband.jpg

1. Click on the Volume Pan button on the Grand Piano track to reveal the volume pan area.

2. The line depicting the tracks volume goes straight across the length of your song. Decide where you want the fade to begin and click on the line to add a volume automation point. Add a second volume automation point where you want the fade to end, but this time drag it downwards to its lowest position. The sloping effect that's created illustrates the reduction in volume over time. You can adjust the distance between the start and end automation points; The further away the points are from each other, the longer the fade will take.

If you now play your song, both tracks will start playing together, but the beach sound effect will fade out at the designated points.

Answer 2

I don't use Garageband much either, but create a "keyframe" at point A and another at point B, and set them differently. As your playhead advances through the track, it will gradually move from setting A to setting B, thus becoming louder or softer. This can be set in Volume Envelope within the specified track.

Answer 3

I don't know the answer to this; I don't use Garageband much. I don't intend to drive away traffic from this site, but you probrably have better luck posting Apple forums. Apple.com> Support> Discussions. I may not link because it is against the community guidelines.