GarageBand Working with an Audio Project
Intro to Garageband
Choosing the Project Type
The Project Chooser
- Appears when you open GarageBand
- Shows all of your personal projects
- Shows the various Project Types
The Project Types
- Appears on left column of Project Chooser
- New Project
- Learn to Play
- Lesson Store
- Recent
New Project
- Presents Eight Possibilities for project creation
- Keyboard Collection
- Amp Collection
- Voice
- Ringtone
- Hip Hop
- Electronic
- Songwriter
- Empty Project
Keyboard Collection
- The project type you would want to choose if you are only using your computer, a MIDI keyboard, and GarageBand to record
- 15 keyboard tracks are automatically set up
- 15 custom keyboard patches are preset for quick access
Amp Collection
- Selecting the Guitar Amplifier icon from the New Project window creates a GarageBand project that is ready to receive an electric guitar signal to begin recording
- 15 guitar tracks are automatically set up
- 15 custom amp varieties are preset for quick access
- Guitar effects stompboxes are also ready for use
Voice
- Selecting the Voice icon from the New Project window creates a GarageBand project with 10 preset vocal tracks:
- Narration Vocal
- Bright Vocal
- Classical Vocal
- Fuzz Vocal
- Dance Vocal
- Megaphone Vocal
- Telephone Vocal
- Helium Vocal
- Monster Vocal
- Robot Vocal
- All tracks are configured to use custom vocal effects settings
- These effects pre-sets are just starting places that can be customized to your liking
Ringtone
- Selecting Ringtone from the New Project window creates a GarageBand project with a single audio track
- You can create a custom Ringtone by simply importing or dragging any audio file into the the track's timeline
- You can then edit the audio any way you would like before selecting Share menu and "Send Ringtone to iTunes"
iPhone Ringtone
- An audio file that is 40 seconds or shorter
- Can be exported to iTunes
- Can be uploaded to any iPhone as a custom ringtone
- Major difference between this project type is that the Cycle function is automatically turned on (more on this later)
Hip Hop
- Selecting Hip Hop from the New Project window creates a GarageBand project with 7 tracks
- Each track has custom Hip Hop specific synth patches for easy access and quick start to recording Hip Hop music styles
Electronic
- Selecting Electronic from the New Project window creates a GarageBand project with 9 tracks
- Each track has custom Electronic specific synth patches for easy access and quick start to recording Electronic music styles
Songwriter
- Selecting Songwriter from the New Project window creates a GarageBand project with 6 preset tracks
- Each track has preset patches that are specific easy access and quick start to recording mainstream music
- Virtual Drummer
- Vocal
- Acoustic Guitar
- Electric Guitar
- Bass
- Piano
Virtual Drummer
- The Virtual Drummer is a great concept employed by many modern DAWs today
- You can select from Rock, Alternative, Songwriter, and R&B styles of drumming
- Each style has a genre specific sounding drum kit, and employees genre specific beats
- Each style has customizable presets with beats that are easy to manipulate
Empty Project
- Selecting Empty Project from the New Project window creates a GarageBand project with a single track with the Classic Electric Piano patch
- You can easily change the patch to another sound by selecting the new patch from the Library on the left-hand side
- You can also add New Tracks by selecting the + sign above the existing track
Learn to Play
Interactive
Guided by Visual Cues and Keyboard Layouts
- Private Lessons for piano and guitar that are:
Interactive
Guided by Visual Cues and Keyboard Layouts
- Many preloaded lessons
- Lesson Store allows you to download more free lessons as well as interactive video-based artists lessons for $4.99 each
Tempo, Signature, and Key
Tempo
Signature
Key
Tempo
- The speed or pace of the song in beats per minute (bpm)
- Set the tempo by dragging the Tempo Slider left or right or by typing in a specific bpm
- Default Tempo is always 120bpm
Signature
- Although Signature can refer to either the time signature or key signature, Garageband's use of signature refers to Time Signature
- Usually written in fraction form
- Examples: 4/4, 3/4, 2/4, 6/8, etc.
- Top number = Number of beats per measure
- Bottom number = The kind of note that is counted as one beat
- Choose the time signature by using the drop down arrow and selecting the type you want
- Default Signature is 4/4
Key
- A specific scale that defines the tonality of a song
- Setting the Key in GarageBand is important if you are using any Apple Loops (Blue Loops) as they are actual recorded audio and cannot be changed like MIDI (Green) loops
- Choose the key signature by using the drop down arrow and selecting the key you want as well as major or minor modes