GarageBand: Your Laptop of the Pops
You don't need to be a musician to use iPod's new virtual studio GarageBand.
It would be possible to construct a song entirely out of the hundreds of loops carried in the software (plus more add-ons called Jam Packs).
This is just what its designers, Apple intended - a music making program for the masses.
GarageBand comes cheap as part of its home media package, iLife, which costs just £55.
At that price, it would have to be terrible not to represent value for money.
The right keys From the main editing screen, open the 'Loop Browser' window and scroll through a long list of drum loops until you find one that sounds about right.
Then click and drag the loop from the browser into the editor and it becomes a little 'sound wave' pattern sitting in what is now your drum track.
Dragging on the right side of the wave duplicates it until you have about three minutes of a drumbeat.
That's it, and you'll be surprised at how easy it is.
Set up your guitar by plugging the lead into the audio input of the Mac and play the guitar part over the drums.
To record, one click creates a 'real instrument' track and away you go.
Again, simple, although the guitar needs a pre-amp to get a strong signal, which your own mixer can supply.
Next, set up a microphone (you need a decent mic) and record your vocal tones on to a second 'real instrument' track.
Now you have three tracks: drums, guitar and vocals.
To record a bassline, use a synthesizer to make a digital, or MIDI, track (which GarageBand simply calls a 'software instrument' track).
Compatible synths can cost less than £100.
Select a bass effect from the program and a monstrous sub-bass sound should come out whenever you hit a key.
As you re-play the song, bang along on the synth until you get an idea for the bass, and you'll realise that this is great fun.
It gets only better when you search for a horn-section effect and laying down a brass riff on the synth will bring your opus to life.
Having such fun, not only because GarageBand is easy to use, but also its digital instruments sound convincingly real.
The program is so powerful that you can edit and add new effects in real time, as the song is playing.
In the mix Now for the downside, GarageBand is so enormous that it will take every ounce out of your machine.
Mixing is notoriously difficult for anyone who isn't a studio engineer but GarageBand supplies simple-to-use panning, reverb and equaliser functions.
Better engineers would probably miss more finite controls.
GarageBand is a fun, surprisingly versatile package and, of course, great value for money.
Then again, it has to be cheap as you need to buy a top-of-the-range Mac to get the most out of it.
GarageBand is also ideal for making your own podcasts.
Podcasting Tips 1.
Like the best books, start with compelling sentences to build an appetite.
2.
Use a good title so people know what to find.
3.
Listen to your favourite podcasts and work out what makes them great.
4.
Don't 'read' the material, 'tell' the story.
5.
Judge the duration and content well.
Who will listen, why and where?
It would be possible to construct a song entirely out of the hundreds of loops carried in the software (plus more add-ons called Jam Packs).
This is just what its designers, Apple intended - a music making program for the masses.
GarageBand comes cheap as part of its home media package, iLife, which costs just £55.
At that price, it would have to be terrible not to represent value for money.
The right keys From the main editing screen, open the 'Loop Browser' window and scroll through a long list of drum loops until you find one that sounds about right.
Then click and drag the loop from the browser into the editor and it becomes a little 'sound wave' pattern sitting in what is now your drum track.
Dragging on the right side of the wave duplicates it until you have about three minutes of a drumbeat.
That's it, and you'll be surprised at how easy it is.
Set up your guitar by plugging the lead into the audio input of the Mac and play the guitar part over the drums.
To record, one click creates a 'real instrument' track and away you go.
Again, simple, although the guitar needs a pre-amp to get a strong signal, which your own mixer can supply.
Next, set up a microphone (you need a decent mic) and record your vocal tones on to a second 'real instrument' track.
Now you have three tracks: drums, guitar and vocals.
To record a bassline, use a synthesizer to make a digital, or MIDI, track (which GarageBand simply calls a 'software instrument' track).
Compatible synths can cost less than £100.
Select a bass effect from the program and a monstrous sub-bass sound should come out whenever you hit a key.
As you re-play the song, bang along on the synth until you get an idea for the bass, and you'll realise that this is great fun.
It gets only better when you search for a horn-section effect and laying down a brass riff on the synth will bring your opus to life.
Having such fun, not only because GarageBand is easy to use, but also its digital instruments sound convincingly real.
The program is so powerful that you can edit and add new effects in real time, as the song is playing.
In the mix Now for the downside, GarageBand is so enormous that it will take every ounce out of your machine.
Mixing is notoriously difficult for anyone who isn't a studio engineer but GarageBand supplies simple-to-use panning, reverb and equaliser functions.
Better engineers would probably miss more finite controls.
GarageBand is a fun, surprisingly versatile package and, of course, great value for money.
Then again, it has to be cheap as you need to buy a top-of-the-range Mac to get the most out of it.
GarageBand is also ideal for making your own podcasts.
Podcasting Tips 1.
Like the best books, start with compelling sentences to build an appetite.
2.
Use a good title so people know what to find.
3.
Listen to your favourite podcasts and work out what makes them great.
4.
Don't 'read' the material, 'tell' the story.
5.
Judge the duration and content well.
Who will listen, why and where?
Source...