You don’t always need expensive gear and plug-ins, or years of experience to get your mixes sounding polished and professional! Whether you’re cooking up your first track, or killing the game as a seasoned producer, BandLab effects like Visual EQ and Multi-band Comp can give you powerful sound design and mixing control – all built into Studio.
Now, we’re expanding your mixing toolkit with a fresh selection of free and Membership-exclusive effects to help you achieve that studio-quality finish. Need punchier drums, smoother mixes, or creative textures? These audio effects will streamline your workflow and get you to your final sound faster.
Skip ahead:
How to find the BandLab Effects library in Studio
Step 1 – Create a vocal or instrumental track in Studio
Get a new track going in Studio! Record your vocals, or lay down an instrumental using 436+ free Virtual Instruments. You can even hum a tune and turn it into editable MIDI using our Audio-to-MIDI AI tool.
Step 2 – Open the Effects library
Tap on a track and select +Fx to open up the Effects library! Then, just pick out an effect you want to apply.
Explore an expanding list of free and exclusive BandLab effects
1. Visual EQ
Exclusive | Only available on mobile
Frequencies shape the way sounds sit in a mix – too much low-end can make your vocals muddy, while harsh highs can make them piercing. Visual EQ helps you balance your sound with real-time visual feedback, letting you cut, boost, and shape frequencies with precision.
Fine-tune your mix using three bands and seven curves, all while seeing exactly how your adjustments impact the overall sound.
Shape your sound with these controls!
Pro tip – Make your vocals pop with these simple EQ moves! Cut out muddy lows by selecting the Highpass curve and setting Band 1’s cutoff at 100 Hz. Add warmth by switching to Peaking, moving Band 2 to 200 – 400 Hz, and gently boosting the gain. For extra clarity, push Band 3’s frequency to 6.4 kHz and raise the gain.
Psst! Peep this vocal EQ cheatsheet from our guide on Visual EQ!
2. One Knobs
Exclusive
This latest addition to BandLab’s effects library is a serious time saver. With One Knobs, you can dial in the impact of a complex effects chain – think EQ, compression, reverb, and beyond – in seconds. Choose from 8 options (with more coming soon).
- Brighter: Boosts highs and preserves natural tone
- Echo: Cleans delay for space and presence
- Punchy: Tightens sound and adds energy and clarity
- Room: Creates natural reverb for space and clarity
- Toasty: Brings warmth and character with subtle tape-style saturation
- Bassy: Enhances low and low-mid frequencies for fuller body and warmth
- Leveller: Evens out vocal dynamics with medium compression
- Dirty: Adds bold, overdriven saturation for a gritty, edgy sound
Just apply the effect on your track and turn the knob until your vocals sound just right. No need to mess with multiple menus, parameters, and settings.
3. Vocal Verb
Exclusive
Vocals sounding a little flat or lifeless? Vocal Verb adds clean, uncolored reverb while keeping your voice clear and present. Turn on ducking, and the reverb pulls back whenever you sing, letting your vocals shine while still filling the space around them.
Shape your sound with these controls!
Pro tip – Use Vocal Verb when your vocals feel too close or “dry” in the mix. Set Mix to around 30% to blend your vocal into the track, Reflect to about 22% for subtle presence, and enable Ducking so your words stay clear. Set the Threshold to –23.0 dB and the Amount to 54% to keep your vocal upfront while the reverb sits neatly underneath.
4. Shimmer
Exclusive
Make your vocals or instrumentals dreamier with Shimmer. This effect adds a light and spacious echo that gently trails off, giving your voice a smooth, floating quality. Perfect for adding a magical glow to your hooks, harmonies, and layers.
Shape your sound with these controls!
Pro tip – Use Shimmer when you want your vocals to feel airy and lifted. Start with Mix at 40% for a light blend, Modulation at 50% for gentle movement, Tail at 70% for a long, lush decay, and Diffusion at 80% for smooth, cloud-like reflections. Push Mix and Tail higher for atmospheric sections, or pull them back for more intimate moments.
5. Bit Bandit
Free
If you’re chasing the lofi warmth of vintage samplers, or the gritty charm of old-school digital gear, this free effect delivers! Apply Bit Bandit on drums for punchy, lofi crunch; synths and keys for a degraded, retro feel; and vocals to bring out a robotic, telephone-like tone.
Want even more nostalgia? Slap this audio effect on your whole track for that classic old cassette tape or radio broadcast vibe.
Shape your sound with these controls!
Pro tip – Use Bit Bandit to dirty up your drum sounds, and lock in that perfect retro edge! Adjust the bit depth to add crispy, crushed textures, and tweak the sample rate to add distinct lofi charm.
6. Clean Limiter
Exclusive
Struggling to get your mix loud without introducing unwanted distortion and clipping? Clean Limiter, a highly-requested addition to our BandLab effects lineup, helps you achieve that perfect balance of power and clarity!
This transparent peak limiter smooths out volume spikes, and keeps your sound punchy and clear without crushing your dynamics. Apply it to vocals, drums, synths, or full tracks to control peaks, balance your mix, and achieve a polished, professional finish.
Shape your sound with these controls!
Pro tip – Before mastering your song for release, run your final mix through Clean Limiter to smooth out peaks, enhance clarity, and keep your track punchy and balanced.
7. Gater
Exclusive
Looking to inject some serious energy into your mix? Gater is your go-to effect for chopping, stuttering, and glitching up your audio in creative ways. This exclusive BandLab effect rapidly turns your sound on and off, creating a rhythmic pulse that can add intensity, groove, or a futuristic edge to your tracks.
Shape your sound with these controls!
Pro tip – Take your drums and synth loops to the next level with Gater! Set Time to 1/8 or 1/16 for a bouncy, head-nodding effect, then tweak Depth to find the perfect balance between presence and silence.
8. Shaper
Exclusive
If your drums lack punch, or your synths are fading too quickly, Shaper is the perfect fix. This effect gives you more control over how your sounds hit and fade. Use it to craft hard-hitting drums with extra snap, longer, atmospheric synths, and smooth, extended reverb tails.
Shape your sound with these controls!
Pro tip – Want your drums to cut through the mix? Boost Transient for extra punch on snares and kicks, or raise Sustain for a thicker, weightier sound.
9. Multi-Band Comp
Exclusive
Mixing a song can get messy fast – imagine boomy kicks, muddy guitars, and sharp cymbals all fighting for space. With Multi-Band Comp, you can control each frequency range separately. Tighten up the lows, tame harsh mids, or add shine to the highs without over-compressing your entire track. The result? A balanced mix that doesn’t sound squashed.
Shape your sound with these controls!
Pro tip – Got a muddy guitar tone? Try setting Band 2 from 150 to 600 Hz, then solo it to pinpoint problem areas. Apply gentle compression to clean up the low-mids and remove unwanted clutter. Your guitar track will instantly sound clearer and more defined!
Try all 9 effects with your 3-day free trial, and start shaping cohesive and balanced mixes with efficiency! Plus, keep an eye on this page because more free and exclusive BandLab effects are dropping soon. Discover more tools and dive deep into how to use BandLab here.
