You don t have to be a musician to make music with GarageBand. GarageBand includes short pieces of pre-recorded music called loops. Loops contain musical patterns that can be combined and repeated seamlessly. The loops included with GarageBand feature all kinds of different instruments and musical styles. You can arrange loops with different instruments to create just the right combination of sounds. So you can combine, arrange and extend loops to make your own song. GarageBand Window 1
A B C D E F G H I J Track Headers Track Mixer Timeline Zoom Slider Add Track Button Loop Browser & Editor Buttons Transport Controls Time Display/ Instrument Tuner Master volume slider & level meters Track info & Media browser buttons The instrument icon and name are shown at the left of each track s header. Click the name to type a new track name. Click the Record Enable button (with the red circle) to turn on the track for recording. Click the Mute button (with the speaker icon) to silence the track. Click the Solo button (with the headphone icon) to hear the track by itself. Click the Lock Track button to lock the track. Click the triangle to show the track s volume curve. Drag the pan dial to adjust the position of the track (the left to-right placement in the stereo field). Drag the volume slider to adjust the track s volume. Contains the tracks where you record Real and Software instruments, add loops, and arrange regions. Also includes the beat ruler, which you use to move the playhead and align items in the timeline with beats and measures. Drag the zoom slider to zoom for a closer view of part of the timeline, or to zoom out to see more of the timeline. Click to add a track below the existing tracks in the timeline. Click to open the loop browser or the editor. Click the Record button to start recording. Click the Play button to start or stop the project playing. Click the Go to Beginning, Rewind, or Fast Forward buttons to move the playhead to different parts of the project. Click the Cycle button to turn the cycle region on or off. The time display shows the playhead s position in musical time (measures, beats, ticks) or absolute time (hours, minutes, seconds, fractions). Drag or double click the numerals to enter a new playhead position. The right side of the time display shows the project s tempo. Press and hold the tempo, then drag the slider to set a new tempo. Drag the volume slider to adjust the project s master output volume level. Click to open the Track info pane or the Media browser. 2
Part 1: Making Your First Song with GarageBand Creating Your GarageBand Project With GarageBand, you can create your own music, whether or not you play an instrument. Use your imagination to choose, combine and arrange prerecorded pieces of music called loops to make your own composition. GarageBand includes a loop browser that lets you try out, or "audition," loops and a timeline where you can arrange loops into a song. Try out the loops included with GarageBand 1. Open GarageBand and click New Music Project. 2. In the window that appears, select a tempo and key for your song, and then click Create. The GarageBand window opens and a track is created for you that uses the Grand Piano Software Instrument. 3. In the lower-left corner, click the Loop Browser button. 4. Click a category. Notice that some of the other categories are unavailable. 5. Click another category and notice the list of loops in the audition window is shorter and includes loops that match the criteria for both of the categories you selected. 6. Select a loop to audition it. Notice that each loop includes information about its key, tempo, and length. Starting Your Song with a Beat Rhythm is the backbone of your song, so it s a good idea to start by picking a drum part. You ll be able to hear the rhythm clearly, which will make it easier to choose appropriate accompaniment. You can choose from dozens of different drum loops for your song. It s a great way to get your musical ideas flowing and to start building a rhythmic framework for the rest of your song. 3
Add a drum track to your first mix GarageBand 3 Tutorial 1. In GarageBand, click the Loop Browser button to open the Loop Browser. 2. Click the All Drums category to show the available drum loops. 3. Click a drum loop to audition it. 4. When you find a loop you want to use, drag the loop to the timeline under the Grand Piano track. Notice that a new track is created with this loop. 5. Click the Play button in the track controls to play your loop. Auditioning More Musicians To round out your rhythm section, bring in a bass player. Adding bass provides a tonal element to the rhythm of your song. You can let your drum loop play while you audition bass players for your band. You don t have to worry about the tempo or the key of the loops they automatically play back at the same tempo and in the same key of your song. Audition other loops for your mix 1. In GarageBand, click the Cycle button to turn on cycling. A yellow bar appears above the track editor showing the portion of the song that will be cycled. 2. Click Play. Your drum pattern will play repeatedly until you stop it. 3. In the loop browser, click Reset. Notice that the categories you selected previously are deselected. 4. Click the Bass category. 5. Audition a bass loop for your song by clicking a bass loop that interests you. The loop plays in time with your drum loop, even if you select a bass loop with a different tempo than your song. 6. When you find the loop you want, drag it to the track editor under your drum track. A new track is created with your bass loop, and your drum and bass loops play together. Building Your Song Over Time Now that you ve set up a groove with your rhythm section, you ll want it to last longer than a few measures. For example, you might want your song to be the same length as an imovie project or iphoto slideshow you made. You can stretch your loops to any length you want in the timeline. 4
Extend your rhythm section loops 1. Hold down the Shift key and click your drum loop, and then click the bass loop. 2. Position the cursor in the upper-right corner of one of the loops until the looping icon appears. 3. Drag the loops to play for 16 measures (until you see the number 17 in the timeline ruler). Notice that the loop duration is marked by a bubble shape for each loop. 4. Click the Cycle button to turn off cycling. 5. Click the Play button to hear your song. 6. Click Tempo and use the slider to hear your mix at different tempos. Introducing Melody Once you ve set up your foundation, you can add melodic elements to really make your song come alive. Melody is what makes a song a song it s the part you hum to yourself. Audition other instruments while you cycle the rhythm section of your song. Try the loop categories of single instruments for distinctively melodic loops. Add melodic elements to your song 1. Click the Cycle button and then click the Play button to play back your drum and bass loops repeatedly. 2. In the loop browser, click Reset. 3. Click the Guitar category, and then click Single. 4. Click a guitar loop to audition it. 5. When you find a guitar loop you like, drag it to the track editor to create a new track with that loop. 6. Drag the cycle indicator to play the portion of the song that includes all three loops. 7. Click Reset. 8. Click the Piano category and audition piano loops with your mix. 9. Drag the piano loop you want to the track editor under your guitar track to create a piano track. Creating Drama with Call and Response The essence of music is interaction. You can add tension to your song and create the impression of musicians playing together by playing different melodic loops one after another. This is known as "call and response." You can stretch your melodic loops to match the song length and then divide them into separate regions. You can cut and paste these regions to create the effect that the loops are answering each other. 5
Offset the melodic loops from each other to add tension 1. Hold down the Shift key and click the guitar loop, and then click the piano loop. 2. Position the pointer in the upper-right corner of one of the loops and drag the loops out 16 measures. 3. With the guitar and piano loops both selected, drag the playhead to the beginning of measure 5. 4. From the Edit menu, choose Split. Notice that both the loops are now labeled separately before and after the position of the playhead. 5. Drag the playhead to the beginning of measure 9, and then choose Split from the Edit menu. 6. Click outside the guitar and piano loops to deselect them. 7. Click the first segment of the guitar loop and then choose Cut from the Edit menu. 8. Click the second segment of the piano loop and then choose Cut from the Edit menu. 9. Play your song and notice how the piano and guitar loops respond to each other. Setting the Tone for Your Song with an Introduction A good song needs an introduction to set the mood before it gets going. An introduction also creates anticipation and gives the listener a chance to tune in before the main part of the song starts. You can create a simple introduction for your song by letting the drums play alone for a couple measures before the rest of the song starts. Create an introduction for your song 1. Drag the zoom slider (located below the track headers) to the left until you can see the beginning and end of every loop in your song. 2. Hold down the Shift key and click the bass, guitar, and piano loops. 3. Drag the loops two measures to the right. 4. Click the top-right corner of the drum loop and stretch it to line up with the end of the other tracks. 5. Click Play to hear your introduction. Adding Interest with Key Changes You can give a sense of movement and progression to your song by changing the key. When you first set up your GarageBand project you choose a key signature, which determines the root note of your song. 6
You can create a key change in your song by changing the Master Pitch and all the tracks in your song will be changed. This is called transposing. Change the key of a section of your song 1. Listen to your song and determine where you want a key change, and move the playhead to the beginning of that measure. 2. Go to the Track menu and choose Show Master Track. Notice the new track that appears at the bottom of the track editor. 3. Select Master Pitch from the pop-up menu in the Master Track header. Notice the line that appears at the "0" point in the track. 4. Click to add a marker to the Master Pitch line at the playhead. 5. Drag the marker up to +7. 6. Click to add a second marker where you would like the key to change back. 7. Drag the second marker down to 0. 8. Click Play to hear your song. Ending Your Song with a Fadeout When it s time for your song to end, you don t want to just stop it abruptly. With GarageBand, you can create a fadeout to let your song end gradually. A fadeout indicates your song is ending and makes it possible to transition smoothly to another song. Gradually fade out your song 1. From the Track menu, choose Show Master Track. A new track appears. 2. Select the Master Volume option. Notice the volume curve in the timeline is enabled. 3. Click the volume curve at the point in your song that you want to start the fadeout. Notice that a circle appears in the volume curve. 4. Click the volume curve at the end of the song and drag it down. 5. Click Play to hear your song with the fadeout. Exporting Your Song to itunes When your song is finished, you can export it to itunes so you can listen to it on your ipod or use it with your imovie projects, your iphoto slideshows, or with your idvd project. GarageBand automatically puts your song in your itunes music library, where you re listed as the artist. 7
Export your song to itunes 1. From the Share menu, choose Send Song to itunes. 2. Notice that itunes opens and starts playing your song. 3. You can now listen to your song in itunes, transfer it to your ipod, or use it with your slideshows like any other song in your itunes library. Part 2: Capturing Your Own Performance Playing a Software Instrument with Your Song After you ve experimented with loops and created a song, you can attach a USB or MIDI keyboard and play along. It s a great way to work on your timing and playing with an accompaniment adds a personal touch that makes music come alive. Best of all, you can make your keyboard sound like any one of the software instruments included with GarageBand. It s almost like having a grand piano, Hammond organ, or even a horn section all inside your computer. Connect a keyboard to your computer and play along with your song 1. Connect a MIDI or USB keyboard to your computer. Install any driver software that came with the keyboard. For MIDI keyboards, you ll need to attach a MIDI interface to your computer first. 2. In GarageBand, choose New Track from the Track menu. 3. In the New Track sheet, choose the Software Instrument option and then click Create. 4. In the Track Info pane, select an instrument type and instrument. 5. Play your keyboard to hear the software instrument you selected. 6. Click the Play button to hear the other instruments in your song as you practice. Playing Guitar with Your Song With GarageBand, you can plug an electric guitar into your Mac and play along with your song. It s a great way to practice your timing, work on playing in different keys and develop new ideas. And you don t need to carry around different amplifiers to get just the right sound. Choose an amp simulation to make your guitar sound like the British Invasion, Arena Rock, or Classic Jazz. 8
Play your guitar with your GarageBand song 1. Connect your guitar to your computer by attaching a 1/4-inch to 1/8-inch adapter cable to the end of your guitar cable and connecting the adapter to the audio input on your computer. 2. In GarageBand, choose New Track from the Track menu. 3. Choose the Real Instrument option and click Create. 4. In the Track Info pane, select Guitars in the left column, select the type of guitar sound in the right column. 5. Select the Monitor On option and then play your guitar. You ll hear it through your Mac. 6. Click the Play button to hear the other instruments in your song as you practice. Recording Software Instrument Tracks When you ve come up with the perfect musical riff, you can record it and make it a permanent part of your song. Best of all, you can hear how everything sounds together as you re playing and recording. When you re done, you can listen to everything together and decide if you want to save it, or try another take. Don t worry about small timing errors; you can fix them in the track editor without recording again, or set up GarageBand to correct your timing errors automatically. Record a software instrument track 1. Click the track header of the software instrument track you want to record. 2. Click the Record button (the round one with a red circle). Your song will play and anything you play on the keyboard will be recorded. Notice that a new region appears as you play. 3. When you re finished with the part you want to record, click the Play button to stop recording. Making Changes to Software Instrument Tracks With software instruments, the information about how the music is played is separate from the sounds the instruments make. This means you can edit the notes you played in the same way you edit a word processing document. Or, you can keep the notes you played, but change their sound. For example, you might like how you played a keyboard solo, but you really want an organ that sounds funkier. Just change the software instrument for the track and you ll keep your great solo, but with a differentsounding instrument. 9
Change the instrument used for a software instrument track 1. Double-click the track header of the software instrument track you want to change. 2. Click a different instrument and instrument type from the Track Info pane. 3. Close the Track Info pane. 4. Play your song and notice that the track plays with the same notes but a different instrument. Recording Real Instrument Tracks When you ve practiced a part and you re sure you ve got it down, you can record what you play while you listen to the rest of your song. When you re done, you can hear how it all sounds together and decide if you want to make any changes. It s easy to rerecord the whole part or just change the parts you don t like. Record your real instrument track 1. Click the track header of the real instrument track you want to record to select it. 2. Click the Record button (the round one with a red circle). Your song will play and anything you play will be recorded. Notice that a new region appears as you play. 3. When you re finished with the part you want to record, click the play button to stop recording. Making Changes to Real Instrument Tracks Whether you re jamming with your band, or your GarageBand tracks, you can t expect every note to be perfect. When you record regions that have the right feel but not the right timing or tuning, you can make changes to perfect your performance. With GarageBand your Real Instrument tracks are flexible. You can alter the timing or tuning of any single-note region (a melody or bass line for example) so it fits perfectly with the rest of your song. Enhance the tuning of your Real Instrument track 1. In the timeline, select the Real Instrument track you want to enhance. 2. Drag the Enhance Tuning slider right to increase the amount of tuning changes. To limit tuning enhancement to the song s key, select the "Limit to key" checkbox. 10
3. Click Play to hear your track. GarageBand 3 Tutorial Recording Your Voice or an Acoustic Instrument with a Microphone Music is all about expression. And nothing is more expressive than using your own voice or playing your own acoustic instrument. With GarageBand, you can use a microphone and your Mac to record yourself singing along with your musical creation. You can use your Mac s built-in microphone, connect a microphone to the microphone port on your Mac, or use a professional microphone connected to a digital audio interface. Record your voice or acoustic instrument to a Real Instrument track 1. Click the track header of the Real Instrument track you want to record. 2. Click the Record button (the round one with a red circle). Your song will play, and anything you play or sing will be recorded. Notice that a new region appears as you play. 3. When you re finished with the part you want to record, click the play button to stop recording. Mixing Your Song When you ve chosen all the right loops and recorded your best performance, you ll want to make sure everything sounds good together. With GarageBand, you can adjust the volume levels of each track individually to make sure you can hear each piece clearly. You can also adjust how each track plays back in stereo to locate it in the stereo field. This is called "panning" (short for panoramic). Adjust the levels, panning and volume curves in your song 1. Click Play to listen to your song. 2. Adjust the track volume sliders as the song plays to set the relative levels for each track. 3. Drag the pan control to the right or left to control where each track plays in the stereo field. 4. When you re happy with your adjustments, choose Send Song to itunes from the Share menu. 11
Creating Your Own Podcast Part 3: Creating and Publishing Podcasts With GarageBand and iweb, it's simple to record podcast episodes, publish a podcast series and become your own Internet talk show host. You can even submit your podcast for listing on the itunes Music Store, so listeners can subscribe to your podcast right in itunes. When you publish a new episode, your subscribers will see it in their Podcast lists in itunes. Podcasting has all kinds of useful applications: 1. Current Events because the point of podcasting is to produce regular updates, it s perfect for sharing your opinions and ideas about what s going on in the world. 2. Class lectures Students can download lectures from classes they missed or just to review them before a test. If your lecture includes slides, include them in the podcast as artwork and synchronize them with the lecture. 3. Training after a training class, you can keep students up-to-date with new developments in the field industry, refresher exercises and real-world examples or interviews. 4. Series of Events you can create video podcasts to chronicle the games in your child s sports season, a series of recitals, or update your family on your baby s development. Planning Your Podcast Recording Session Radio and TV shows use a consistent structure, or format, to make their shows familiar and engaging. For example, a late-night TV show has a monologue, an interview, a variety segment and then another interview. A format also helps you choose and organise the material you ll cover in your podcast. Before you record your first podcast episode, decide on the structure your episodes are going to have and plan what s going into each segment. 12
Structure your podcast episode content and plan your recording session 1. Plan what you ll say in the episode intro and outro and what you want to cover in each segment. 2. Record a podcast intro that says who you are and what your podcast is about. 3. Record an episode intro that describes the topics you ll cover today. 4. Record a few informative segments. 5. Record a short "outro" to sign off at the end. 6. After you re finished recording, you can use GarageBand jingles to spice up your podcast. Try using the same jingle every episode after your podcast intro. You can also use jingles as "bumpers" between segments and again after your outro. Recording Your First Podcast Episode Even if you don t have a professional recording studio, you can use the speech enhancement and noise reduction features included with GarageBand to make sure your voice is clear and compelling. You can even give your voice a big radio sound using the built-in audio effects. It s like having your own radio engineer. It all starts with a clear orginal recording. Make some test recordings before you start rolling to ensure you get the perfect sound. Record a podcast episode in GarageBand 1. Open GarageBand and click New Podcast Episode. 2. Type a name for your podcast episode, choose a location to save it to and click Create. In the GarageBand window that appears, a Podcast Track, two vocal tracks, a Jingles track and a Radio Sounds track appear. 3. Select one of the vocal tracks to record yourself speaking. 4. Click the Record button to start rolling and speak clearly into the mic. Click the record button again to stop recording. 5. Click the Rewind button to go back to the beginning of the song. 6. Click Play to listen to your recording. Polishing the Sound of Your Podcast Episode Even the best talk show hosts make mistakes. With GarageBand, it s easy to cut out your flubs so you sound perfect and professional. You can remove pauses to improve the pace of your show and cut out coughs or annoying sounds like shuffling paper. When your interview or narration sounds just right, you can add music and sound effects to make your podcast episode sound like it was made in a professional studio. 13
You can use the track editor to modify everything you record in GarageBand. The Loop Browser includes great-sounding musical jingles and sound effects to give your podcast episode the right mood. Isolate and delete a mistake you made in recording 1. Drag the playhead to a position just before the section you want to remove. 2. Go to the Edit menu and choose Split to divide the audio track into two regions. 3. Drag the playhead to a position just after the section you want to remove. 4. Choose Split. 5. Click the region that includes the mistake and then press the Delete key. 6. Drag the second region back to the first region, so what you recorded before the mistake flows smoothly into what you recorded after it. Enhancing Your Podcast Episode with Artwork and Chapters Podcasts are about more than just audio. You can also include artwork and links to websites to enrich the meaning of your content. And you can create chapters so your audience can move between the sections of your episode. You can use the ilife Media Browser in GarageBand to add your own artwork to your podcast, so it appears at exactly the right time. Add artwork and chapters to your podcast 1. If the podcast track isn t already visible, go to the Track menu and choose Show Podcast Track. 2. Drag the playhead to the place you want to mark and then click the Add Marker button. The podcast track shows the marker region you ve created. 3. Open the Media Browser and click the Photos button. 4. Drag the picture you want to add to the marker s Artwork box. When listeners hear your podcast, the artwork appears in itunes or on their ipod screens for the duration of the marker region. 5. To add a webpage link to a marked region, type the URL for the webpage in the URL field for the marker. 14
Exporting Your Podcast to iweb GarageBand 3 Tutorial Creating your first podcast episode is only the beginning. To share it with the world, you can publish it as part of a podcast series. You can export your podcast episode to iweb to publish it as part of your podcast series. Export your Podcast to iweb 1. Go to the Share menu and choose Export as Podcast. 2. Type a name for your podcast episode, choose a location to save it to and then click Export. GarageBand saves your podcast episode as an audio file. 3. In iweb, add the file to your podcast series. Importing Movies Part 4: Scoring Movies You can make great imovie projects even better when you use GarageBand to synchronize audio and music to your movie. You can use the hundreds of loops and sound effects included with GarageBand to enhance the mood or emphasize the most important moments. Use the ilife Media Browser in GarageBand to find and preview the movies your want to score, or send your movies to GarageBand right from imovie. Import a movie into a video track in GarageBand 1. Open GarageBand and click the New Video Project button in the window that appears. 2. Click the Media Browser button, and then click the Movies button. 3. Find a movie by typing its name in the search field, or scrolling through the available movies. 4. Click a movie to select it, and then click the Play button to preview it. 5. Drag the movie you want to score to the timeline. (You can also import a movie by dragging a video file from the Finder to the Timeline.) 6. Choose New Track from the Track menu to create a new Real or Software Instrument Track to add audio to your movie. 15
Viewing Movies in the Timeline While Adding Sound When you re scoring your movie, you want to be able to add sound at exactly the right moment. With GarageBand, you can watch the frames of the movie in the same timeline as your audio, so you ll know just where to add sound. You can watch the movie in the Preview pane to help you compose and you can zoom in on the timeline to place music or sound precisely. Determine the right moment for adding sound or musical emphasis to your movie 1. Click the Info button to show the Movie Preview pane. 2. Click Play and watch the movie in the Preview pane. 3. You can see the frames of your movie in the same timeline as your music. To expand or contract the timeline, drag the zoom slider located below the tracker headers. Drag left to zoom out for a wider view, or right to zoom in for a close-up view. A close-up view allows you to place sounds more precisely; a wider view allows you to see more of your project at once. 4. Drag loops from the Loop Browser to the timeline to create music, or record yourself playing an instrument in a Real Instrument track. Sharing Scored Movies When you ve finished creating the perfect soundtrack for your movie, you ll want to share it with as many people as you can. You can send your scored movie to iweb to post on the Internet, or to use it as part of a video podcast series. Or you can send the movie to idvd, so you can create a DVD that anyone can watch on a DVD player. When you finish scoring your movie, there are lots of ways to share it 1. You can send it to iweb to share it as a video podcast or blog. Go to the Share menu and choose Send Podcast to iweb. In iweb, you can publish the video as part of your webpage, blog, or video podcast series. 2. You can burn your movie to a DVD for others to watch. Go to the Share menu and choose Send to idvd. GarageBand exports the video and opens idvd so you can design the DVD experience for your video. 3. You can export the movie as a QuickTime movie to send in an email, or place on a server. Just go to the Share menu and choose Export as QuickTime Movie. Choose a location to save the movie, and click Export. 16