Garageband And Inteum---effects, From an almost newbie who doesn't want to overboard on effect Options

[Acousticmusician]

First of all, hi! I am an acoustic muscian who is releasing a CD mostly for fun. I have someone who will do overall mastering, but I will record it on the MAC. He said to take care of reverb and that sort of thing.

Separately i asked someone who does online masteringt to demonstrate the effect of his work. It was good, but he said he had a hell of a time because I had no compression and the voice (Aoperatic) was too loud. he also suggested a 22 bit mix down instead of 16 as in GB. I found Inteuit similar enough to GB. so I have been working with that. Both seem to have the same kind of effects. Traction looked ok, but the interface is confusing.

My main desire is to understand how effects work. I know a little goes a long way and I do not want to overdo it. Nor do I have the time to become a recording engineer. I learn mostly by trial and error, as I am the kind of person who cannot follow tect instructions well.

When I look at the list of effects, I go crazy. Where to start?????

For example--the first question is

(1) which effects to add to individual voice, guitar and organ/pian tracks and which to add to the whole mix.

(2) Then, about effects: I want to have room presence (dynamics???) and a bit of echo (not sure if it is the same as delay) and/or reverb. They seem related.

(3) COMPRESSION-RELATED

The online matering guy said
---->
(a) Try a medium attack and release, with a ratio of about 1:2.
(b) You will want to use a low threshold.
© Adjust the attack so you maintain the clarity of the vocal, and adjust the release to play with the “thickness” of the vocal

He also had trouble with the Garageband terminology. INTEUM seems to use the same effects, so hopefully you can help me make sense of it all.


INTEUM has both AU DYMANICS AND MULTIBAND COMPRESSION that talk about these...
What do I adjust o get these 3 ABC? And what constitutues medium attack and release? What is a ratio of 1:2 and how do I set that? How do you adjust an attack?

I guess I should start with presets. But even here,
it is anyone's guess what they mean--->
For example---in AU DYNAMICS Fast/Smooth Hard Light Light Gate etc
in AU MULTIBAND--Fast/Smooth Sub control Analog Gentle??



(4) ECHO EFFECT/ ROOM PRESENCE
Do I set for each track or for the overall mix? or both?

How do I make the voice track sound like I am in a nice warm room, not dead? Do I use AU MATRIX REVERB? How to set and what parameters to set???????


Likewise do I set DELAY separately for the voice to make that slight echo effect. What figures make a nice light "echo"?


Thanks

Paul





Paul


Well, have a nice day.