GarageBand 4 Quick Guide for Leopard with Voiceover Volume 002
Basic Use.
Q and A
Q: Will I need any special equipment to interface with my MAC in order to use GarageBand?
A: You should have at least a 1 channel USB mixer for best results with a microphone. If you are going to become a GarageBand power user, a tactile interface can be purchased which will give you hands on many of the controls, however, much can be done from the keyboard.
Q: is GarageBand a professional recording program?
A: No, but you will find it useful for most of your light recording needs.
Q: is GarageBand fully accessible?
A: No. You will find some controls, like the pan control and some effects controls which are not fully functional. However, for the most part, I have found GarageBand very usable.
Q: Can you record multiple tracks using Voiceover?
A: Yes. You can open a new track, (see the list of commands below), move to the beginning of the song and start recording.
Q: Can you add instruments or harmony parts at a given point in a song without serious editing?
A: Yes. Set up a new track and let the song play. Just before the place where you want to add your part or new instrument press record and then press record again when you are finished.
Q: How do you name or label a track?
A: When you are working on a new track, at the bottom of the screen is a save instrument button, press this button and the program will ask you for the name of the instrument. At this point you can give your track a name.
Q: If I want to do some work with a track, how can I select it and tell that I am on the track that I wish to work with?
A: You can select the track that you want to work with by doing the following. Move to the scroll area. Voiceover does not tell you so, but, this is where the tracks are located. Select a higher track with up arrow and a lower track with down arrow. You can check your selection, if you have named your track by moving to the right with VO keys-right arrow where you should find the name of your track and double check by soloing the track with s and then s again to go back to full song.
Q: How is a song mastered?
A: Your song is mastered when you send it to iTunes under the Share menu.
Q: Can you record a podcast with GarageBand?
A: Yes. See the section below on podcasting.
You will find a list of keyboard commands at the end of this guide.
First of all, let me say that we will be dealing with the basics. There is so much to learn in this program and the tendency is to jump ahead to the things that are the most interesting to you, but, it is really necessary to get the basics first.
We will be talking first of all about recording with a microphone, or local recording. You can use the microphone in your Mac if your Mac is so equipped, if you are just experimenting, but for best results a USB mixer or interface with a microphone is suggested.
With those few words of introduction, lets begin.
Open GarageBand.
You will be presented with an opening screen which we will not talk about at this time. Most of the things you will want to do will be done from the Keyboard.
Now, start a new project with command-n.
You will be asked to give your project a name, where to save your new project.
OK, these next few things are important. You should make these next few choices with thought in mind that you may want to add a drum track, or some other loop later.
Next you will be asked to set the tempo, using a horizontal slide bar. You can choose the tempo by listening to the metronome, (see the list of keyboard commands at the bottom of this guide).
Next is a popup button which will ask you for time signature, the default is 4/4.
Next is a text box which will allow you to enter the number of beats per minute, the default is 120.
Next is a popup button which will allow you to choose the key, the default is C.
Next is a popup button which will allow you to choose major, or minor, the default is major.
Next is cancel, or create buttons. Once you have pressed create, you will need to give the file several seconds to create and the screen to form.
Now you will be presented with another screen.
When the screen comes up and your project is created, you may hear Voiceover say, Grand piano, close button.
You can press the close button with VO keys-space bar.
Now you can create a new track, (see the list of commands below). You will be presented with another screen which will ask you if you want a software track, or, a real instrument track. For our purposes here, select, real instrument track and press create. This will also take some seconds, depending on the speed of your computer. Now you are ready to go to work.
There many things to explore. If you have a microphone ready and you wish to do so, press record to start recording, then press record again when you are finished.
Go to "begining of song" and press it with VO keys-space bar, wait a few seconds, then press play to hear your recording.
Creating a Podcast
Much of understanding the podcast screen has been done in understanding the music recording screen. Please review the information above
When you open GarageBand, the screen will present you with a number of things you might want to do with GarageBand. With VO keys-right arrow, arrow over to (Create new podcast episode button) and vo keys-spacebar on that button.
The podcast screen will present you with some tracks which have been created for you, or, a template. You can use any or all of these tracks, or create your own.
You will find tracks for jingles, male and female voices with special presets and so on.
Stingers, jingles and sound effects are recorded on separate tracks from the voice tracks.
You can use these already created tracks or create others.
You will find quite a selection of stingers and jingles which you may want to use at the beginning, or, the end of your podcast, or, between sections of your podcast. You will find sound effects that you may want to use in your podcast as well.
When your podcast is finished, you can send it to iTunes from the Share menu.
Keyboard Commands
Record, r
Stop recording, Space bar
Lock your track, l
This prevents you from accidentally recording on your track. To take the lock off, press l again.
Go to the beginning of the song, or, your recording, z or enter
Rewind, or move forward in small sections,
left, or, right arrow keys
Rewind, or move forward in greater sections, command-option-left, or, right arrow keys
Play, space bar
New project, Command-n
Open, command-o if you have an existing project, start typing the name of it.
New track, command-option-n
New Basic track, command-shift-n
Delete track, command-delete
Show track mixer, command-y
Show track info, command-i.
Show arrange track, command-shift-a
Show master track, command-b
Show Podcast track, command-shift-b
Show Movie track, command-option-b
Duplicate track, command-d
Metronome, command-u
Count in, command-shift-u
Snap to grid, command-g
Show alignment guide, command-shift-g
Ducking, Command-shift-r
Show loop browser, command-l
Show media browser, command-r
Show editor, Command-e
Keith Reedy: wa9dro@joink.com
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