Working with Multiple Control Points in the Timeline
In Lesson 7, you added control points to the Volume and Pan curves to dynamically change the volume and pan levels of a song. Adjusting control points can be a tedious job, especially if you have a lot of points that you need to raise or lower one at a time. Let's look at a few techniques to select a group of control points and move them together.
1. | Open 9-1 SciFiShow located in Lesson_09 in your Lessons folder. |
2. | Move the playhead to the beginning of the 10th measure. |
3. | Play the song from the 10th to the 15th measure and listen to the volume level of the Falling Star track.I think the Falling Star track sounds too low (quiet) in the mix. |
4. | Click the Volume slider on the Falling Star track and try to raise the volume of the track.The Volume slider doesn't respond, which means the track has active control points in the Volume curve. |
5. | Press A to show the Volume curve for the selected track.Notice the control points that have already been placed on the Falling Star Volume curve. These points were set to fade in and out the first region and also fade in the second region.[View full size image]![]() |
6. | Click-drag your pointer from right to left starting above the last control point in the Falling Star Volume curve. Drag the pointer toward the left all the way to the beginning of the track to select all of the points, including the first control point. Release the mouse.![]() |
7. | Click-drag the last control point in the track to the gray line that marks the default volume level (0.0 dB).![]() |
8. | Click anywhere in the empty Volume curve area to deselect the control points.Click-dragging works great to select control points that are next to one another. What if you want to select random control points that aren't contiguous? You can select multiple, noncontiguous control points by Shift-clicking only the points you want. |
9. | Shift-click the four lowest points in the Volume curve. (Don't forget the first point in the track.)The points look larger and are outlined with a darker color when they have been selected. |
10. | Click-drag one of the selected points downward to the lowest position (144.0 dB) on the Volume curve.![]() |
11. | Listen to the song again from the 10th to the 17th measures.Your Volume curve looks great but doesn't sound very good. I liked the track better without any control points. Fortunately, GarageBand makes it really easy to change your mind. To delete control points, you simply select them all and press Delete.And what's the easiest way to select all of the control points on a track? You can select all of the control points in a track by clicking the Volume curve's header.[View full size image]![]() |
12. | Click the Volume curve header on the Falling Star track to select all the control points.Now you can delete them by pressing the Delete key. |
13. | Press Delete to delete all of the control points in the track. |
14. | Click the Track Curve On/Off button to turn off the Volume curve and return control of the track to the Volume slider.![]() |
15. | Press A to hide the Volume curve, or click the triangle next to the Lock button on the track header. |
16. | Option-click the Volume slider to return it to the default position, if it is not already there. |
Remember: