GarageBand 11 Power!: The Comprehensive Recording and Podcasting Guide

GarageBandR

’11

Power!: The

Comprehensive

Recording and

Podcasting Guide

Todd Howard

Course Technology PTR

A part of Cengage Learning

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GarageBand® ’11 Power!: The

Comprehensive Recording and

Podcasting Guide

Todd Howard

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Technology PTR: Stacy L. Hiquet

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For Jude

Acknowledgments

Writing a book is a fascinating and exciting endeavor and also a painful, arduous, detail-oriented

process. Without my masters, muses, and maestros at my side, on my shoulder, and perpetually in

my memory and imagination, I would most certainly be a flailing crazy person, bouncing willy￾nilly from one creative enterprise to the next without any solid sense of my ability to draw each

project to conclusion. The physical anchors and spiritual breezes that my family, friends, gurus,

mentors, and colleagues provide for me—in specific ways many of them might not even be aware

of—are in fact both the cornerstones and the tethers-released of my day-to-day thoughts and feel￾ings. I want to thank them all deeply. It is this power of my community that propels me toward

anything I set my heart on and my mind to. Without that fuel, I’d be pushing an awfully heavy load

up the hill in a rickety old wagon with square wheels. I’d get there, but it would most certainly take

several more lifetimes.

I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my family for their loving support of my many

creative endeavors over the years and for helping to cultivate a place for me to learn, grow, and

express myself: Erika Stone; Paul Howard; Sandi, Jack, Jon, and Lane Rossi; Jesse, Kate, Bailey,

and Chloe Howard; Peter, Heidi, Nick, and Peter Howard; Leanne Joyce, Jim, Debbie, and Justin

Noel Stone; my “Grampa Norm,” Norman Johnson; and of course . . . Betty Graybelle and Hugo

Long.

Special thanks to my incredibly supportive and inspirational family of friends—I am truly blessed

to have a list this long: Eric Tully and Liz Pachuilo; Don and Kirsten Gunn; Karmen Buttler; Paul

Westfall; Jim Vasquenza; Glen and Sue Nelson; Tina Peterson; Jeff and Keith Palmer; Christopher

Eddy; Michele Goodson; Jesse Moore and Patty Foley; Aaron and Laura Murray; Samantha Libby;

Stuart Baker; Hugh Sutton; Angela Cardinali; Sarah and Jason McNair; Caroline Collins; Michael

Card; Kathy O’Mara; Clark Semon; Libbie Pike; Lisa Hill and Jed Gramlin; Deidre, Najla, and

Nevin Nassar; Jim Parr; Tim Van Ness and Eve Capkanis; Edward Cating; Lindsay Brandon

Hunter and Chris Guilmet; Bill and Mary Beth Bonnell; Ally LaRoche; and the members of

TheBrethren of Khadgar.

A big tip of the hat and a thunderous B[sus2 chord on a 13-foot grand piano with the damper pedal

down hard to all of my musical cohorts for keeping me honest and for years of musical sweet spots

all too encouraging of my busy melodic bass lines and vocal harmonies: Jesse, Dad, Mom, Don,

Karmen, Tom, Phil, Glen-e-bones, Sue, Christopher, Jimmy V, Guy Leon, Jammer, Dennis, Peter,

Heidi, Nick, Bill, and Ally.

The most special thanks I can give to my mom, Sandi Rossi, for teaching me about harmony—in

music and in life—is by living it. It’s far too difficult to immortalize a thank you to a mother as

inspirational, caring, loving, and supportive as you are like this, in a book’s acknowledgments, but

let me say that I think about all that you’ve done for me every day of my life, and I feel so much

gratitude for the relationship we have. You are the truest of blessings and the purest of hearts, and

it’s so nice to know that we understand music in so much the same way.

A huge hug and banner-wave to my dad, Paul Howard, for helping with the definitions of the

major and minor scales in this book and for a lifetime of musical inspiration and encouragement.

From the ukulele, to the acme bass, to the Ibanez, to the Taylor six-string, and most recently to the

Bodhra´n, he has always endeavored not only to keep me in good instruments, but also to keep me

listening to music in the joyous, fan-like way that he adopted as a teenager while watching the

Beatles on Ed Sullivan. I have to say there’s nothing quite like leaning in to sing a tenor vocal

part on a full-tilt rendition of a song you love and looking slightly to your right and seeing your

pop’s face right there, singing the lead part and wailing away on that six-string rhythm.

iv

Last but not-on-your-life least, I would like to sincerely thank Orren Merton, my acquisitions edi￾tor, for giving me the opportunity to write this book and to continue to revise it. Heaps of gratitude

(that’s three milkshakes and counting!) go to Cathleen Small, my talented and tireless editor, who

has been there for me every step of the way. Appreciation and thanks also go to Marc Schonbrun,

my technical editor, for his astute comments and peanut-butter-and-butter wit, and to Gene Redd￾ing for proofreading the manuscript. I can’t thank the four of them enough for their immense help

in bringing this book to fruition. I could not have done it without their knowledge, understanding,

and professionalism.

Acknowledgments v

About the Author

Todd Howard is an accomplished songwriter, musician, and performer and is the bassist/vocalist

in the acoustic American roots quartet Last Fair Deal. Todd co-produced the band’s most recent

album, True Tales, which he also mixed using Logic Pro. In addition, Todd is the bass player in the

family-friendly rock band Spaghetti Cake, and he has written and recorded original music with

Seattle-based drummer, producer, engineer, and lyricist Don Gunn for more than 20 years. He

has written and performed in acoustic-fourpiece-turned-acoustic-duo Mobile Home with his

brother, Jesse P. Howard, since the early ’90s. He was also a member of the bands Gaillion and

Caribou, and to this day, his very first band, High Adventure, still writes, records, and performs.

Todd is founder and principal of Howard Digital Media, a Massachusetts-based creative media

development company. The company works in the fields of film and video production, DVD

authoring, website design and development, music composition and audio production, and creative

Mac software training. He has conducted training seminars and one-on-one instruction on Mac OS

X, Final Cut Pro and DVD Studio Pro, GarageBand, iLife, Logic, and Photoshop, as well as

HTML/CSS and principles of website design. Also an independent filmmaker, Todd was the pro￾ducer and co-editor of the feature film The Trouble with Boys and Girls, which was written,

directed, and co-edited by his brother, Jesse. After the film’s premiere screening, Scott Foundas

of LA Weekly called the film “the most engaging, endearing film” in competition at the 2003

Dances with Films festival.

In 2011, Todd authored and produced a video-based web training series on Corel Painter 11,

which was released on the Corel Corporation’s own Facebook page. In addition to creating a

graphic design and animation training podcast series for Adobe in 2007, Todd was also the author

and instructor on four DVD-based training titles in the Digital Media Training Series produced by

Magnet Media (creators of Zoom In Online) and released between 2006 and 2008: Inside Mac OS

X: 10.4 Tiger, Inside iLife ’06, Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 Jumpstart, and Mac OS X: 10.5 Leopard

Jumpstart. The Inside Mac OS X: 10.4 Tiger training title garnered Todd a 2006 Videographer

Award of Distinction. He also served as tech/film/music blogger for Zoom In Online during most

of 2007/2008. He first became a published author in 1999, with Who’s Afraid of HTML?, pub￾lished by Morgan Kaufmann. GarageBand ’11 Power! is the third edition of his second book.

Todd currently lives in the Berkshires of northwestern Massachusetts with his wife, Erika, his son,

Jude, and two cats, Betty and Hugo. He enjoys film, playing music, cooking, astronomy, history,

video games, words, late-night conversation, and spending extended time with his family.

vi

Contents

Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv

Chapter 1

Software Installation and Getting Connected 1

System Requirements.......................................................................................................... 1

Software....................................................................................................................... 1

Hardware..................................................................................................................... 2

GarageBand Installation..................................................................................................... 4

Connection Protocols ......................................................................................................... 6

USB (Universal Serial Bus)............................................................................................ 6

FireWire (IEEE 1394)................................................................................................... 6

MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface)................................................................ 8

Audio Line In............................................................................................................... 9

Bringing It All Together ............................................................................................... 9

System Preferences: Sound................................................................................................ 12

Sound Effects ............................................................................................................. 14

Output ....................................................................................................................... 15

Input .......................................................................................................................... 15

Let’s Get Started! ............................................................................................................. 17

Chapter 2

Choosing Your Project Type 19

The Project Chooser......................................................................................................... 19

New Project ............................................................................................................... 20

Creating Your Own New Project Templates.............................................................. 28

Learn to Play.............................................................................................................. 29

Lesson Store: Basic Lessons........................................................................................ 31

Lesson Store: Artist Lessons ....................................................................................... 34

Magic GarageBand..................................................................................................... 38

iPhone Ringtone......................................................................................................... 39

Recent Projects........................................................................................................... 41

Open an Existing File................................................................................................. 42

Quit ........................................................................................................................... 42

An In-Depth Look at Project Types in GarageBand ......................................................... 43

Music Project ............................................................................................................. 44

vii

Podcast....................................................................................................................... 47

Magic GarageBand..................................................................................................... 48

What’s Next? ................................................................................................................... 51

Chapter 3

GarageBand Preferences and the User Interface 53

GarageBand’s Preferences Window .................................................................................. 53

Preferences: General ................................................................................................... 53

Preferences: Audio/MIDI............................................................................................ 58

Preferences: Loops...................................................................................................... 60

Preferences: Advanced................................................................................................ 62

Preferences: My Info .................................................................................................. 64

The GarageBand ’11 Menus............................................................................................. 65

The GarageBand Menu .............................................................................................. 65

The File Menu............................................................................................................ 67

The Edit Menu........................................................................................................... 68

The Track Menu ........................................................................................................ 70

The Control Menu ..................................................................................................... 72

The Share Menu......................................................................................................... 74

The Window Menu.................................................................................................... 75

The Help Menu.......................................................................................................... 76

The GarageBand ’11 Application Interface....................................................................... 77

The Timeline.............................................................................................................. 77

The Transport Controls ............................................................................................. 78

The Editor.................................................................................................................. 81

The Loop Browser ..................................................................................................... 82

The Track Info Panel ................................................................................................. 82

The Media Browser: Audio ........................................................................................ 83

The Media Browser: Photos ....................................................................................... 84

The Media Browser: Movies ...................................................................................... 84

The LCD Display....................................................................................................... 85

Let’s Make Tracks ........................................................................................................... 91

Chapter 4

Working with Tracks 93

What Is a Track? ............................................................................................................. 93

Real Instrument Tracks and Software Instrument Tracks................................................. 95

Creating and Naming New Tracks................................................................................... 96

Creating a New Track................................................................................................ 96

Editing a Track’s Name ............................................................................................. 99

Duplicating and Deleting Tracks.................................................................................... 101

Duplicating a Track ................................................................................................. 101

Deleting a Track ...................................................................................................... 102

Reordering Your Tracks................................................................................................. 102

viii GarageBand ’11 Power!

Working in the Timeline ................................................................................................ 103

Playback Control ..................................................................................................... 103

The Playhead and the Timeline Grid........................................................................ 104

Scrolling and Zooming............................................................................................. 107

Trimming and Looping Audio.................................................................................. 107

Tracks and Track Mixer Controls.................................................................................. 112

Track Volume and the LED Level/Clipping Indicators............................................. 114

Panning .................................................................................................................... 115

Enable Recording ..................................................................................................... 115

Mute ........................................................................................................................ 115

Solo.......................................................................................................................... 115

Lock......................................................................................................................... 116

View/Hide Track Automation .................................................................................. 116

The Master Track .................................................................................................... 118

The Ducking Function.............................................................................................. 118

Groove Matching ........................................................................................................... 119

Track Info...................................................................................................................... 120

It’s Time to Do Some Recording.................................................................................... 121

Chapter 5

Recording and Editing Real Instruments and

Electric Guitar Tracks 123

Check Those Sound Prefs!.............................................................................................. 123

System Preferences Check......................................................................................... 124

GarageBand Preferences Audio/MIDI Check............................................................ 124

Setting Up the Input Source, Monitor, and Recording Level .......................................... 125

Input Source............................................................................................................. 126

Monitor ................................................................................................................... 126

Monitoring and the Metronome............................................................................... 128

Recording Level ....................................................................................................... 129

Effects ............................................................................................................................ 129

Electric Guitar Amps...................................................................................................... 137

Electric Guitar Stompbox Effects ................................................................................... 142

Phase Tripper (Phaser) ............................................................................................. 142

Vintage Drive (Overdrive)........................................................................................ 142

Grinder (Distortion) ................................................................................................. 143

Fuzz Machine (Fuzz) ................................................................................................ 143

Retro Chorus (Chorus)............................................................................................. 144

Robo Flanger (Flanger) ............................................................................................ 144

The Vibe (Vibrato)................................................................................................... 145

Auto-Funk (Filter) .................................................................................................... 145

Blue Echo (Delay) .................................................................................................... 146

Squash Compressor (Sustain) ................................................................................... 146

Hi-Drive Treble Boost (Distortion)........................................................................... 147

Contents ix

Rawk! Distortion (Overdrive) .................................................................................. 147

Heavenly Chorus (Chorus)....................................................................................... 148

Modern Wah (Wah-Wah Pedal)............................................................................... 148

Candy Fuzz (Fuzz) ................................................................................................... 149

Recording in GarageBand .............................................................................................. 149

Undo and Re-Record...................................................................................................... 152

Experiment with Post-Processing.................................................................................... 152

Punching In.................................................................................................................... 154

Additional Tips for Punching In............................................................................... 156

Splitting a Recorded Region........................................................................................... 157

Recording Multiple Takes .............................................................................................. 160

The Step-by-Step Process of Recording Multiple Takes.................................................. 163

Give Yourself Some Breathing Room ....................................................................... 164

Select Your Take...................................................................................................... 166

Combine Different Parts of Different Takes............................................................. 166

The Power of the Editor................................................................................................. 167

Flex Time Audio Editing.......................................................................................... 168

Pitch......................................................................................................................... 172

Automatic Tuning .................................................................................................... 175

Auto Quantize and Quantize Note Timing .............................................................. 177

Next Up: Software Instruments...................................................................................... 178

Chapter 6

Recording with Software Instruments 179

Check Those MIDI Prefs!............................................................................................... 179

Create a Software Instrument Track .............................................................................. 181

Recording with Your MIDI Controller or Keyboard...................................................... 181

Let’s Record Some MIDI Data....................................................................................... 183

Using Cycle Recording and Multiple Takes to Build a Drum Beat................................. 185

Renaming a Region in the Editor................................................................................... 189

Using the Editor for Editing MIDI Information ............................................................. 189

Piano Roll and Score...................................................................................................... 191

Piano Roll View ....................................................................................................... 191

Score View ............................................................................................................... 195

Now on to Apple Loops ................................................................................................ 196

Chapter 7

Working with Apple Loops 197

What Is a Region?.......................................................................................................... 198

What Is a Loop? ............................................................................................................ 199

What Is an Apple Loop? ................................................................................................ 200

The Loop Browser ......................................................................................................... 203

The Process of Browsing Loops................................................................................ 204

Scales ....................................................................................................................... 210

Importing Loops ...................................................................................................... 211

x GarageBand ’11 Power!

Setting Loop Preferences ................................................................................................ 212

Adding Loops to the Timeline........................................................................................ 212

Moving, Looping, Splitting, and Copying Loops............................................................ 215

Swapping Apple Loops................................................................................................... 216

Editing Software Instrument Apple Loops...................................................................... 217

Saving and Browsing Favorites....................................................................................... 220

Becoming a Conductor: Magic GarageBand................................................................... 221

Chapter 8

Magic GarageBand Jam Walkthrough 223

Apple and Inspiration..................................................................................................... 223

Choosing a Song Genre.................................................................................................. 224

The Genres and Style Options in Magic GarageBand..................................................... 228

Blues ........................................................................................................................ 228

Rock ........................................................................................................................ 232

Jazz .......................................................................................................................... 235

Country.................................................................................................................... 239

Reggae ..................................................................................................................... 242

Funk......................................................................................................................... 246

Latin ........................................................................................................................ 249

Roots Rock .............................................................................................................. 253

Slow Blues................................................................................................................ 256

Auditioning a Band and Creating Your Project.............................................................. 260

Basic Blues Song Structure in Magic GarageBand .................................................... 260

Basic Rock Song Structure in Magic GarageBand .................................................... 261

Basic Jazz Song Structure in Magic GarageBand...................................................... 261

Basic Country Song Structure in Magic GarageBand................................................ 263

Basic Reggae Song Structure in Magic GarageBand ................................................. 263

Basic Funk Song Structure in Magic GarageBand .................................................... 264

Basic Latin Song Structure in Magic GarageBand .................................................... 264

Basic Roots Rock Song Structure in Magic GarageBand .......................................... 265

Basic Slow Blues Song Structure in Magic GarageBand............................................ 265

Jamming Along and Overdubbing More Parts ............................................................... 265

Open in GarageBand...................................................................................................... 268

Changing Keys and Tempos........................................................................................... 270

Constructing Your Own Arrangements .......................................................................... 271

Chapter 9

Arrangements 273

Song Form and Song Arrangement................................................................................. 273

Creating Arrangements with the Arrangement Track ..................................................... 278

Creating an Arrangement Region ............................................................................. 278

Naming an Arrangement Region.............................................................................. 279

Resizing an Arrangement Region ............................................................................. 280

Contents xi

Deleting an Arrangement Region ............................................................................. 280

Moving an Arrangement Region .............................................................................. 280

Copying an Arrangement Region ............................................................................. 281

Opening GarageBand Projects with Arrangements in Logic Pro..................................... 283

Ready to Create Your First Podcast?.............................................................................. 284

Chapter 10

Podcasting 285

Creating a Podcast ......................................................................................................... 286

Creating an Episode ................................................................................................. 286

Creating a Video Podcast ......................................................................................... 287

The Media Browser’s Role ....................................................................................... 289

The Podcast Track ......................................................................................................... 290

Episode Artwork ...................................................................................................... 291

Markers: Chapters and URLs................................................................................... 292

Ducking Audio in Podcasts ............................................................................................ 293

Working with Episode Information................................................................................ 295

Exporting Your Project as a Podcast Episode................................................................. 295

Submit Your Podcast to the iTunes Podcast Directory ............................................. 296

The Nitty Gritty: Mixing and Automation..................................................................... 297

Chapter 11

Mixing and Automation 299

A Perspective on Learning to Mix.................................................................................. 299

Some Food for Thought about Mixing Audio................................................................ 300

Mixing with GarageBand............................................................................................... 303

Getting Started with Your Mix ...................................................................................... 304

No Undo with Mixing—What Gives?!..................................................................... 305

Zeroing/Flattening Out Your Levels......................................................................... 306

Your First Pass......................................................................................................... 307

Subsequent Passes and the Cycle Region.................................................................. 307

Muting and Soloing.................................................................................................. 308

Final Decisions about Software Instruments................................................................... 308

Groove Matching ........................................................................................................... 311

Using Effects and Post-Processing................................................................................... 312

Presets versus Effects................................................................................................ 312

GarageBand Effects .................................................................................................. 313

Adjusting Guitar Stompbox Effects and Guitar Amps.............................................. 323

Audio Unit (AU) Effects ........................................................................................... 324

Creating Nodes and Basic Automation........................................................................... 324

Track Volume .......................................................................................................... 326

Gradual Automation Changes over Time................................................................. 328

Deleting Nodes......................................................................................................... 328

Track Pan................................................................................................................. 329

xii GarageBand ’11 Power!

The Add Automation Menu........................................................................................... 330

Automating Effect and Instrument Parameters ......................................................... 330

Visual EQ ...................................................................................................................... 333

Master Effects ................................................................................................................ 335

Automation in the Master Track.................................................................................... 335

Automating Changes in Tempo and Pitch ...................................................................... 337

Mixing Your Own Mash-Ups ........................................................................................ 337

What’s Next: Sharing and Archiving.............................................................................. 338

Chapter 12

Sharing and Archiving Your GarageBand Projects 339

Sharing GarageBand Projects ......................................................................................... 340

The Share Menu....................................................................................................... 340

Archiving GarageBand Projects ...................................................................................... 351

Sharing GarageBand Projects with Logic Pro ................................................................. 354

Allow Yourself to Write Bad Ones................................................................................. 355

Links for the Author ...................................................................................................... 357

What’s Next: GarageBand Learn to Play Music Lessons................................................ 357

Chapter 13

GarageBand Learn to Play Music Lessons 359

Getting Started with Learn to Play................................................................................. 359

Basic Piano 1: Intro to Piano.................................................................................... 360

Basic Guitar 1: Intro to Guitar................................................................................. 361

Chord Trainer .......................................................................................................... 361

Lesson Store: Basic Lessons............................................................................................ 365

Guitar Lessons ......................................................................................................... 367

Piano Lessons........................................................................................................... 369

Learn........................................................................................................................ 372

Play.......................................................................................................................... 373

Lesson Store: Artist Lessons ........................................................................................... 378

Learn Song............................................................................................................... 380

Play Song ................................................................................................................. 381

Story ........................................................................................................................ 382

The Appendixes ............................................................................................................. 383

Appendix A

GarageBand Jam Packs 385

Installing Jam Packs ....................................................................................................... 385

Using Jam Packs............................................................................................................. 386

Troubleshooting Missing Loops ..................................................................................... 388

GarageBand Preferences File .................................................................................... 388

Default Location of Apple Loops............................................................................. 390

Contents xiii

Currently Available GarageBand Jam Packs................................................................... 390

GarageBand’s Default Library.................................................................................. 390

Jam Pack 1............................................................................................................... 391

Rhythm Section........................................................................................................ 391

Symphony Orchestra................................................................................................ 391

Remix Tools............................................................................................................. 391

World Music............................................................................................................ 392

Voices ...................................................................................................................... 392

Appendix B

GarageBand ’11 Keyboard Shortcuts 393

Keyboard Shortcut Comprehensive Reference Guide...................................................... 393

Index . ......................... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399

xiv GarageBand ’11 Power!