Garage Band

Garage Band Tips

Garage Band 3
There have been some changes in the new version. I will go into some new discoveries and demonstrate how to do some of the most basic things.

New Music Project: Getting Started
1. Name new Project and select where you would like to save.
2. Remove Piano: Click “Red JellyBean” on piano keyboard, and select the piano from the track listing. Press Apple and Delete to remove the track.
3. Adding New Basic Tracks: Track> New Basic Track
4. Turn off Metronome: (this feature can be distracting) Control> Metronome or “Apple U”

Creating Tracks Using Loops:
Loops: Press the “Eye” at the bottom of the window to show Loops.
Hidden Loops: Place mouse near record button. A hand will appear, click and pull up.

Resetting Loops: Students will find that as they select more instruments in loops more options are grayed out. To access all loops again, hit the reset button.
Favorites: Favorites can be selected by clicking the small box on the right of the actual loop.
Sound Effects: (In Garage Band 3)
Sound effects such as animal noises and jingles can be accessed by pressing the “Podcast Symbol” in the lower right corner of the screen. It is at the far bottom next to the music note.

Creating Your Track:
Adding Loops: Select and add loops by dragging them to the track listing. You may add loops into a “New Basic Track” or on their own. Simply Drag and Drop them in place.
Moving Loops: Once added, loops can be moved freely within Garage Band by dragging and dropping them into the desired location.
Lengthening and Shortening Loops: To lengthen a sound clip, hover mouse over the right end of the clip, a small circular arrow will appear. When you see this curly arrow, click and pull the clip to your desired length.
Shortening Clips: Using the same method, find the end of your clip. This time you will look for a vertical line with an arrow. Use this tool to push your clip to a shorter length.
Deleting Loops: Select and delete unwanted sounds.
Deleting Whole Tracks: Select track> Apple/Delete

Recording:
To Begin Recording: Have a new Basic Track available. Select the small record button on the track you wish to record in and click the large Red Record Button below the track window to begin. Press the record button again to stop.

Adjusting Volume:
To Adjust Individual Track Volume: Press small triangle on individual track. This will show a horizontal row with a line following the length of the track. Click on the line to create sound markers. These markers can be pulled up or down to increase or decrease volume. This is useful when fading out sounds or creating solos.
Master Track Volume: Adjusting for the entire project.
If you are wanting to adjust all track volumes at once, this is what you need. To access Master Track: Track>Master Track (Apple B) Again you can create markers to raise or lower volume on all tracks at once.
Muting: (To hear individual tracks or not be disturbed while Recording)
Muting a Track: On the individual Track> second button on left, next to small record button.
This icon looks like the Muting Function on your keyboard. When selected it will show bright blue.
Solo Function: (Head Phone Icon)
This function allows you to hear only the selected track and mutes all others. This is the Head phone icon in the track window, next to the muting function. It will glow orange when in use.
Locking Function: (For large projects)
Locking your track prevents any changes from being made as well as freeing up ram by sending the information to the hard drive. If you see a message saying that your project cannot play because it is too large, try locking the tracks.

Exporting
Exporting to iTunes:
Save changes, then go to Share> Send to iTunes. This will create an Aiff file in itunes.
Transferring to MP3 Format: (For CD’s and Projects)
Once in iTunes> Select new song> Advanced> Convert selection to MP3
Note: If you do not see this option: open itunes> Preferences> Advanced> Importing> Select MP3 encoding. It will work from then on.