# How do YOU use Garage Band?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-use-garage-band/522585>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [December 25, 2009, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-use-garage-band/522585 "2009-12-25T22:06:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![kevlaw](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kevlaw/32/2281_2.png) [@kevlaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kevlaw)\
**Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-use-garage-band/522585/1 "2009-12-25T22:06:47Z")

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Every time I sit down to play with Garage Band to record something that I am practising, I end up recording like 12 tracks (rhythm, lead, voice, drums, bass, keyboards).

For example, yesterday: [http://www.raggedclown.com/2009/12/24/little-red-rooster/](http://www.raggedclown.com/2009/12/24/little-red-rooster/)

Does everyone do that? Or is it just me?

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**Author:** ![TNWPsycho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/47e85d/32.png) [@TNWPsycho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TNWPsycho)\
**Post date:** [December 26, 2009, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-use-garage-band/522585/2 "2009-12-26T01:04:41Z")

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Sounds about right, sometimes when i record i do 5 or 6 tracks just for drums.

I can’t seem to play a blast beat on double bass for as long as i want, so i record like 10 seconds of that and just loop it.

Sometimes i will also do multiple vocal tracks just to add depth.

Sometimes i record the room i record in just to add a little ambient, like in a live recording.

Its all about what kind of sound you want!

When i was in audio/visual school, sometimes i would see a fellow audio student working with software that had 40 tracks. I really doubt it was garage band, but some software along those lines.

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**Author:** ![Electric\_Warrior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Electric\_Warrior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electric_Warrior)\
**Post date:** [December 26, 2009, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-use-garage-band/522585/3 "2009-12-26T04:53:15Z")

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I think Garage Band has one major weakness which is that (at least as far as I can tell) you can’t have multiple loops within one track, so if I have two different loops for one instrument, even if I don’t need them to go at the same time, I have to make separate tracks! That gets them piling up quite fast. It’s also annoying that I can’t record over one track and keep the previous recording intact, so more tracks stack up for that reason, because I want polyphony.

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**Author:** ![kevlaw](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kevlaw/32/2281_2.png) [@kevlaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kevlaw)\
**Post date:** [December 26, 2009, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-use-garage-band/522585/4 "2009-12-26T19:01:51Z")

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> [@TNWPsycho](#):
>
> Sometimes i will also do multiple vocal tracks just to add depth.

Ah - I didn’t think of that…back to the recording studio!