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WELCOME
You’ve probably got hold of this ebook from TheGaragebandGuide.com, or perhaps a
friend has passed it along to you. Either way, I'm glad you’re here.

If you are familiar with my website, you’ll know that I’m not a professional sound
engineer and that I don’t make a living by producing, mixing or mastering music.

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I have been a musician for longer than I care to remember and a decade ago ago was
introduced to a weird and wonderful piece of software by my then girlfriend (now
Wife)! called GarageBand.

I took to it immediately and haven’t looked back since..

Years later, I’ve set out to create this quick start guide so that you can bypass much of
the trial and error I went through and get right to the exciting part - laying down that
guitar solo, recording your podcast, soundtracking your short film or whatever
awesome project you plan to use GarageBand for...

Shall we?

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FIRST STEPS
On Launching GarageBand, you’ll be greeted with this screen:

Let’s look at the annotated icons more closely:

1. New Project as you might imagine, allows you to open a new

GarageBand project.

2. The recent projects tab stores the last 8 GarageBand projects you’ve
used.

3. Leads to the basic instrument lessons that come bundled with

GarageBand.

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4. Whisks you away to the Apple Lesson Store where you can access free lessons
for guitar and piano.

5. Project templates allow you to open GarageBand with certain instruments or

features already selected.

While these can create a good starting point and a handy shortcut
depending on your intentions, for now just double click on ‘Empty Project’ in the
New Project tab.

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Once you’ve selected ‘Empty Project’ the GarageBand project window will
open and immediately prompt you to create a Track.

Let’s look at our options:

1. Selecting this will create a new Software instrument track – allowing

you to play and record the huge number of virtual instruments and
sounds GarageBand has up it’s sleeve!

2. This will create a new Real Instrument track where you can record
vocals or an instrument through the in built microphone or an attached
input.

3. Clicking here will open an electric guitar or bass amplifier track.

Specifically designed for the recording and production of electric
guitars and bass.

4. One of GarageBand’s most exciting features, ‘Drummer’ automatically

plays a dynamic drum pattern that you can tweak and mould to fit your
project.

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A great place to start with our first track would be with a beat.
A drum or percussion loop will give us a foundation to work from and something
to play along with or sing along to.

The easiest way to do this is to utilize GarageBand’s built in rhythm maker:

Drummer.

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DRUMMER
One of GarageBand’s key features, Drummer allows you choose from a massive
number of drum kit presets and styles that will be played by your very own virtual
drummer.

You can dynamically tweak your Drummer’s playing style, which parts of the kit they
play, how simple or complex their performance is and much more.

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 Kyle is GarageBand’s default drummer.

There are lots of other Drummers

available in a variety of different and
varied genres.

At the time of publication you can

choose from 33 Drummers and 91
different kits for them to play.

Once you’ve selected ‘Drummer’ as your track, the GarageBand project

window will open, with all the Drummer controls ready and waiting for you to
dive in.

Let’s find our way around...

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1. The Library Pane shows you the different Drummers available to you and the
genres they play in. You can also select what kit they will play their pattern on
in the ‘Sounds’ menu. We’ll stick with Kyle and his SoCal kit for now.

2. The workspace is where you’ll do your recording, editing and arranging of

audio regions for all track types. You’ll notice 8 bars of Drummer
regions already loaded up for you.

3. The Drummer Editor is where you can modify your Drummer’s behaviour
by choosing presets and fiddling with individual settings.

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Here’s the Drummer editor in more detail:

1. Here you can select different presets that dramatically alter the way your
Drummer will play.

2. The X/Y pad lets you control the dynamics of your Drummer regions. Drag
the Puck all the way up for a loud, in your face sound or put it between two
sections for a mix of styles.

3. In this window you can fine tune individual parts of the Drummer’s
performance.

A. Here you can choose whether to include a variety of kit-specific percussion

sounds in your Drummer track. You can also increase or decrease the
volume of each.
B. You can select different sections of the kit to include them in your drum
pattern, or deselect them to mute. You can control the volume of the
sections here too.

4. Use this dial to increase or decrease the number and length of fills your
Drummer will perform. You can click the lock to prevent changes when
switching to a new Drummer.

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5. Use the Swing dial to add a swing flavour and tighten or loosen the feel of
your Drummer’s performance. You can click the lock to prevent changes when
switching to a new Drummer.

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 4

ADDING LOOPS
Now that we have our drum track in place, let’s look at how to add Loops to our
project.

In the top right corner of the GarageBand Project Window, you’ll see two icons:

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The Icon on the left opens a handy notepad.

The icon on the right opens the Loop Browser.

We need the loop browser:

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You can use the loop browser’s filtering capabilities to single out a particular
instrument, genre or mood.

From here, you can choose a category and preview individual loops by simply
clicking them.

There are a huge number of samples from many genres that come packaged
with GarageBand. The possibilities for experimentation are practically endless.

When you’ve found a sample that you like, hold down your mouse button
or trackpad and drag it across to the other side of the GarageBand window (it’s
helpfully signposted ‘drag apple loops here’).

A track will be automatically created for your loop; a Software

Instrument, Audio or Drummer track, depending on the type of loop.
Drag the loop to the beginning of the track and release the mouse
button/trackpad.

You can then play the loop by hitting the space bar. You may notice a ‘tick tick’
noise that plays in time with your track. This is the metronome. It is on by
default. It’s a good tool for keeping in time - especially when recording
instruments without a drum loop.

You can turn it off by clicking the metronome button at the top of the screen.

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You can change the length of your chosen loop by hovering your cursor
over the edge.

Two contextual icons will pop up; the top one allows you to click and drag your
loop to whatever length you desire (essentially ‘looping your loop’). The other
lets you reduce the length of it, or extend a loop you have cut or resized
previously.

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 5

RECORD USING AUDIO TRACKS

Whether you are looking to record vocals or an acoustic instrument, you can achieve
great results instantly using GarageBand and the built in mic that’s standard on all
Macs.

To locate the built in mic on your Mac, refer to the user manual. Alternatively, you
may want to hook up an external microphone for superior sound quality.

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First, we’ll need to create a track to record onto.

Hit the ‘Plus’ (+) icon in the top left of the Project Window. The Track Select
Screen will pop up.

This time, choose the Microphone image under the Audio heading.

Before we start recording, now would be a good time to take a closer look at
the Track Header.

1. Track Name - click here to change the name of your track. Great for
keeping things organised in larger projects.

2. Mute - click this button to toggle the track’s volume on and off.

3. Solo - click to hear this track’s audio on its own.

4. Monitor - Click this to hear your microphone or instrument as you record.

5. The volume slider - it doubles as the level indicator. Green is good, yellow
is ok. Red is bad. If you’re slipping into the red, turn the volume down.

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6. The panning wheel - While holding the mouse/trackpad button, move the
track’s audio left or right in the stereo image. This is a great way of keeping
instruments and sounds separate from each other.

Remember the Library pane? Go ahead and open it up again by clicking the
drawer icon in the top left corner of the project window.

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Each track type has different presets and effects available. Here’s how the
Audio Track Library pane looks:

Selecting different patches will change the way your audio sounds. There are
a lot of patches to choose from, but if you want to get your sound just right
(or just like to fiddle with stuff - like me) you can dive into the guts of your
audio with Smart Controls.

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SMART CONTROLS
As well as each track type having an individual selection of Patches, they also
have their own suite of specific effects, which GarageBand calls Smart
Controls.

So, if we have ‘Voice’ selected in the Library pane and hit the dial button in the
top left corner of the project window...

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...the Smart Controls specifically for vocal patches will open.

If you were to do the same with an Electric Guitar and Bass Patch selected,
you’d get the Smart Controls specifically for those instruments. (usually a
close recreation of a famous amplifier).

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You can also adjust the equalisation of your track using Smart Controls. Is that
bass line so deep it’s shaking the tiles off your roof? Or maybe you’re struggling
with a wailing guitar solo so screechy it’s setting your teeth on
edge?

This will help...

At the top of the Smart Controls window you can choose between ‘Controls’
and ‘EQ’

Choosing EQ will (funnily enough) open the Equalisation window..

From here you can isolate and adjust separate frequencies by clicking and
dragging the EQ points.

At any point you can hit the ‘Compare’ button at the top of the Smart Controls
window to listen to the saved version of the settings for that patch alongside
your own and hear how they affect the sound.

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Select ‘Master’ to open up Smart Controls that affect the sound of the
entire project.

This also changes the Library pane to include master effect patches that you can
use to add the finishing touch to your latest chart topper.

A newer addition to GarageBand, the Transform pad gives you a unique way to
control the many synth sounds available via a Software Instrument track.

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HIT RECORD
You can begin recording straight away by clicking the red record button at the top of
the GarageBand window, but there are a few features that will make life easier if you
take the time to set them up beforehand.

First, you can set up an automated count in that will count in 1 bar before the
point you’ve selected to record from. Simply hit the count in button at the
top of the Workspace...

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I always use this feature. I find it helps to have that little of extra time to
prepare.

You can also set up a cycle region, which will repeat a section of the project
that you have defined:

Select the cycle region button to open the resizable cycle region above the
timeline window.

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Then, manually adjust the size of the cycle region by dragging the edges and
move it all by dragging it from the middle.

The playhead will play from the left hand side of the playhead to the right, then
jump back to the start of the cycle region.

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STAY IN TUNE!
When recording live instruments it’s important to ensure everything is in tune.

Luckily GarageBand comes with a built in tuner.

Click the Tuning Fork button at the top of the GarageBand window to open it up.

Make sure you play a single note only, as the tuner cannot ‘hear’ chords.

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SOFTWARE INSTRUMENTS
To record on a Software Instrument track, hit the ‘Plus’ (+) button in the top left of the
GarageBand Window.

The Track Select Screen will pop up - select the piano icon.

Software Instrument tracks have their own library tab with tons of patches and sounds
to try out.

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They also come with a full compliment of Smart Controls for you to get
familiar with.

There are several ways to play and record Software Instruments in

GarageBand.

There are countless keyboards and Midi controllers that you can connect to your
Mac.

It is also entirely possible to use the keys of your Mac itself to play and
record using Software Instruments.

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MUSICAL TYPING
GarageBand’s Musical Typing feature makes playing and recording virtual
instruments with your typing keyboard a breeze.

Simply select: Window > Musical Typing

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The middle keys of the keyboard correspond to the ‘white’ keys on a music
keyboard. The W E T Y U O and P keys correspond to the ‘black’ keys.

1. These buttons toggle between Musical typing and the onscreen

keyboard

2. Manually shift up or down an octave by clicking the mini keyboard

3. Add or decrease the amount of pitch bend on the instrument. Press 1 to

lower the pitch bend and press 2 to raise the pitch of the notes.

4. Increase or decrease the level of modulation on the instrument. Press 4

through 8 to increase the amount. Press 3 to turn it off.

5. Toggle the sustain effect on/off.

6. Increase/decrease the octave by one.

7. Increase or decrease the velocity of the instrument.

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Perhaps less useful for recording on the fly, you can still create melodies and
tunes using the on screen keyboard.

To make the On Screen Keyboard magically appear, select:

Window > Show Keyboard

Finding your way around it is pretty simple.

1. Toggle between Keyboard and musical typing.

2. Manually move up or down octaves.

3. Click on the arrows to move up or down an octave.

You can also resize the keyboard by dragging the corners.

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THE TRACK EDITOR

The track editor allows you to view and adjust a track at an almost microscopic level.

There are slight differences between the Audio Track and Software Instrument
editors, though both are fantastic tools for making timing edits, correcting minor
mistakes and applying tuning effects.

We’ll look at the Audio Track editor first – both versions can be accessed by

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clicking the scissors icon at the top left hand corner of the GarageBand
window.

You can select whole tracks, regions or selections of tracks to work on. To
manually ‘cut’ a recorded waveform, move the playhead to the point at which
you want the first separation to be and click CMND + T.

Then move the play head to the point at which you want the second
separation to be and repeat. Then just click the separated section to highlight
it. Any changes made in the editor will now only apply to this section.

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1. Click here to apply all the settings you’re about to fiddle with to the
entire track.

2. Click here to have any changes only apply to a selected region. Settings options
may change if you choose to edit a single region.

3. Pitch Correction allows you to adjust the tuning of the notes in your
track. Especially useful for tightening up the tuning of a vocal recording,
you can adjust the level of automatic tuning using the slider.
20-40% gives a subtle result, tidying up a few stray notes while higher
values give more dramatic corrections, sacrificing natural sounding
performances for almost robotic sounding pitch perfection.

You can achieve a close approximation to the now ubiquitous ‘T-Pain

effect’ by dragging the slider to 100%.
Checking the box limit to key means the corrected notes will only
adhere to the predetermined key of the project.

4. You can use these controls to affect the Pitch correction effect and enable Flex.
Time, an advanced editing tool that allows you to fine tune the timing of your
recorded audio.

5. Zoom slider – Use this to zoom in and out of the waveform.

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Now, let’s look at the Software Instrument Track Editor.

Although very similar to the Audio Track Editor, there are a few very important
differences:

1. Allows you to switch between the piano roll view, which displays the
notes next to a vertical piano keyboard and the score view, which
displays the notes in full musical notation.

2. You can choose whether to have your adjustments effect the selected
region or just the selected notes. Perfect for fine tuning the velocity of
those snare hits!

3. Use the quantize drop-down menu to tighten up the timing of your

performance. Adjust the strength of the applied quantization with the slider.

4. Zoom slider – Use this to zoom in and out of the window.

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OUTRO
Congratulations! If you’ve made it to this point you really are amazing!

I know I've given you a lot to think about in this ebook, but you now have the
knowledge to really start getting the most out of GarageBand.

All that remains for me to say is...

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 THANK YOU!
If you’re ready to keep learning, make sure to subscribe to The GarageBand
Guide YouTube channel by clicking or tapping ‘subscribe’ below!

Subscribe
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Finally, if you found this guide useful, consider supporting The GarageBand
Guide by buying me a coffee!

Buy Patrick a Coffee

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 © Patrick Baird 2021
The information contained in this guide is for informational purposes only.
No part of this publication shall be reproduced, transmitted, or sold in whole or in part
in any form, without the prior written consent of the author. All trademarks and
registered trademarks appearing in this guide are the property of their respective owners.
Users of this guide are advised to do their own due diligence when it comes to
making business decisions and all information, products, services that have been
provided should be independently verified by your own qualified professionals. By
reading this guide, you agree that myself and my company is not responsible for any
successes or failures regarding any business or professional decisions relating to
any information presented in this guide. Images used via creative commons and fair use. GarageBand
is owned in whole by Apple™

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