In this thread, the subject of Garage Band comes up. I’ve been through the tutorials, and I still can’t imagine how I would use it. I don’t record separate tracks. I did once with a four track, but I’m more of a get together and play around with friends type of musician now. Even if I did record tracks, I can’t imagine ever wanting to rearrange them. I would have recorded the tracks exactly where they belonged in the piece, and putting them someplace else wouldn’t even make sense. I certainly can’t imagine using any of the prerecorded stuff they offer. The computer generated instruments can’t possibly be any good can they? How do you even record stuff on your Mac? None of my microphones, pickups or keyboard has a jack that would fit. The Microphone in the computer itself can’t be that good.
What am I missing about this thing? Does anybody have any good examples of stuff they’ve made with Garage Band?
I’m guessing you are asking from a professional perspective and I can’t address that but as an music hobbyist I find it a lot of fun. I would be happy to let you hear a song I wrote using the “instruments” that came with my iBook but I don’t know how to upload or link.
Oh no, I’m not remotely professional. I’m just a hobbyist. The stuff I write would no doubt serve as an emetic. I just don’t even know how I would use it as an amateur.
I have never used Garage Band, so I was waiting to see if someone who had responded. Maybe this bump will remind them. That said, I have used multi-track recording software for home use and can think of plenty of reasons why you might want it.
You can certainly play through a song live and record it, but even a hobbyist might want to record each track separately. For a simple song, an individual might record a main guitar track, a vocal track, and a lead guitar track. A vocal track might sound better if you sing while standing whereas you might need to sit to play the guitar.
If the song has difficult parts and you make mistakes, you could keep recording the whole thing over and over. Or with recording software you can overdub and fix up the errors.
Recording software has audio effects too. You might want to apply these to the vocals or lead. Furthermore, you might want to apply these to a dry track (one without effects) so that you can experiment and find the best settings to use.
In your case, it sounds like you record as a band live; you mic everyone up and then press record. Even with this method, you might want each mic to go to a separate track so that you can adjust the levels independently and get a better mix.
Regarding hooking up your gear to your Mac: You are correct, you cannot plug them in directly. You will need a device that converts the mic or instrument to an input that your Mac can use. This device will convert both the electrical signal as well as the physical connector. There are plenty of options here and you might already have some gear that can do this (for instance a headphone jack on a multi-effects processor). If you want more info about this, let me know and I will expand it.
They’re decent enough, but I’m not so hot on them. If you get some third-party soft-synths, they can be downright awesome. Some of the third-party software pianos and vintage synths/organs sound pretty incredible.
You get an adapter of some sort.
Basically, you use Garage Band in the same way you would any multi-track recording software. Even if you record everything at once, you can go in after the fact, tweak individual track levels, effects (including equalization, reverb, compression), panning, etc. Basically, it’s a consumer-level version of multitrack recording software.
Oh no, I don’t record anything anymore. I had a great time after college with loads of expendable income, a small amount of talent, and a bag of weed. It was the best time of my life, but all things must come to pass. I’m just now starting to get back into music with a couple of people from church. We basically just get together once a month, pull out a sheet of music and say go. I also work on peices to preform before the congregation, but it’s all just in fun and for fun. If Garage Band is really as great as some people have said though, I’d love to play around with a new toy.
If you want to record your band live on more than two tracks at once, you’d need a USB or firewire audio interface. This is true for any program, not just garageband. How many tracks you can record at once depends on your system. Garageband can handle as many as 8 at once (which I don’t think is much by today’s standards). Or, you could mix the band live down to stereo and record through the stereo mic input using an adapter. If your mixer has a tape out, you can just use an RCA to stereo miniplug adapter.
Once you get the basic tracks on board you can overdub the vocals, guitar, etc. just like any other multitrack. Apply some effects, mix it down to stereo, do a little mastering, export it to .wav or mp3 and it’s hitsville, baby!
If you’re new to recording on a computer, the learning curve is a little steep, but once you get it down it’s a wonderful thing and the only thing you have to worry about is how soon can you get a better computer.
If I haven’t made myself clear enough, there is no band. It’s just me. I play with a few people occasionally, but it’s just for kicks, and there is a wide range of talent. I’m interested in what Garage Band can do because I like musical toys. I once again have some expendable income, occasional free time, and a small amount of talent.
Can you give me some specific guitar to USB/firewire equipment that I need to interface? I might have a little fun from time to time.
Also, as I said, if you have a guitar multi-effects processor with a headphones jack, you can use that to connect to the audio-in of your Mac. A portable effects device like a Rockman has a headphones jack. There are also some small dangle-like devices that convert instrument-level (your guitar) to line-level (your Mac).
If your Mac does not have an audio-in, UncleRojelio links to a product that can create one via USB.