Getting Started
Welcome to the official training course for GarageBand, Apple’s totally redesigned and more-powerful-than-ever music recording and arrangement software. This book is for everyone from the beginner just curious about music creation to the seasoned professional who happens to be new to GarageBand. Even if you have been using the previous versions of GarageBand for years, this book is packed with all-new projects and features that you’ll want to learn.
Leave all apprehension behind. This isn’t a manual that goes step-by-step through every button, instrument, and preference. Nor is it a cursory tour that detours at will through GarageBand with no particular direction in mind. Rather it is a guided, in-depth, hands-on workshop to immerse you in GarageBand and many of the application’s exciting and powerful recording, arranging, music-making, fixing, mixing, and sharing tools.
You don’t need a background in music or any musical instruments or equipment other than a Mac. However, if you happen to have some instruments around, you’ll be invited to play and record them. And for those of you who have always dreamed of learning to play piano or guitar, Bonus Lesson 1, “Learning to Play Piano and Guitar with GarageBand,” walks you through GarageBand’s first learn-to-play lesson.
There is also a bonus GarageBand for iOS overview lesson that shows you how to create projects, change instruments, record, add loops, mix, save, and share your GarageBand for iOS projects via iCloud. You can find both bonus lessons online on the same page as the lesson files.
What GarageBand Does for You
Recording, arranging, and sharing original music were once daunting and costly endeavors that required a lot of money, time, and resources to accomplish.
GarageBand allows you to create music your way, at your own pace, giving you all of the tools you need to accomplish your finished song with no time pressure, budget restraints, or critics to hinder your progress. Best of all, GarageBand offers tools for fixing timing, pitch, and groove to improve your recorded performances.
With GarageBand and your Mac, you have a fully functioning recording studio and music workshop. How is it a workshop? Because you can also learn to play piano or guitar, design and build your own electric guitar amp and pedalboard with stompboxes, and create customized effects. Using GarageBand as a recording studio, you can attach a MIDI keyboard to play and record MIDI Software Instruments—or simply play your computer keyboard with Musical Typing. You can connect an electric guitar or bass directly through the Audio-in port or through a third-party audio interface depending on your Mac inputs and configuration. Or you can use the built-in mic on your Mac to record your instrument or vocals. Regardless of the input, once you record your tracks you can easily edit your recordings, add effects, and arrange and mix your music. If you like writing songs, you can just record your rough tracks and use the handy Note Pad to jot notes or lyrics. There’s even a dictation feature so you can speak your lyrics and they will be typed for you.
You may already use your Mac for communication with friends and family through email and to collect and organize your photo and movie memories with iPhoto and iMovie. Chances are iTunes already holds and organizes all your favorite songs. Why not add a playlist of your own original music? With GarageBand on your Mac, you can fulfill your musical aspirations as well and share the finished songs to iTunes, iCloud, or even the world through SoundCloud.
This book isn’t about learning software and memorizing shortcuts, menus, and buttons. It’s about creating music, working with music, building music, and making all types of music sound great. As you explore different projects ranging from a little dog-walking ditty (recorded on an iPhone while walking a dog—really) to a recording session with a professional guitarist, to creating a loopy ringtone, you’ll end up learning the shortcuts and software along the way.
The Methodology
This book emphasizes hands-on training. Each exercise is designed to help you learn the application inside and out, starting with the basic interface and moving on to advanced music editing, arranging, and mixing techniques. If you are new to GarageBand, it would be helpful for you to start at the beginning and progress through each lesson in order, since each lesson builds on information learned in previous ones. If you are already familiar with GarageBand, you can start with any section and focus on that topic. However, since GarageBand has been totally redesigned, even the seasoned GarageBand users will discover new features and insights in the earliest lessons.
The projects you’ll work with were carefully designed as practical exercises. They aren’t big-budget music recordings to show off the software. These are real-life examples, created with real people and no additional budget to demonstrate some of the range of projects you can do yourself with GarageBand.
GarageBand Course Structure
Each of the nine lessons in this book focuses on a different aspect of creating projects with GarageBand. Each lesson expands on the basic concepts of the program, giving you the tools to use GarageBand for your own projects.
The lessons in this book can be informally divided into seven sections:
Lessons 1–2: Learning the interface and working in the timeline.
Lesson 3: Working with pre-recorded Apple Loops and arranging music
Lessons 4–7: Recording, editing, and adding effects to different types of instruments and tracks, including MIDI Software Instruments, vocal audio tracks, electric guitar, and drum and percussion tracks
Lesson 8: Mixing and adding EQ effects to complete a project
Lesson 9: Sharing your finished projects
Bonus Lesson 1: Learning to Play Piano and Guitar with GarageBand
Bonus Lesson 2: Working with GarageBand for iOS—an overview of recording, playing, and sharing music on your iOS device
System Requirements
This book was written using GarageBand 10 on OS X Mavericks. However, the project files and lessons are compatible with both Mavericks and Yosemite operating systems for the Mac. If you have an older version of GarageBand, you will need to upgrade to the current GarageBand version to follow along with every lesson. At the time of this printing, the GarageBand software is free with any new Macintosh computer and OS X Mavericks.
The free version of GarageBand includes one Drummer, 50 Software Instrument sounds, and 500 loops. There is an optional one-time GarageBand in-app purchase that includes an additional 17 drummers, 150 software instrument sounds, and 1,500 loops.
The step-through exercises in this book do not require the purchased upgrade. The system used to create the projects in this book was fully loaded with the in-app purchase so the screenshots may not always match your screen.
Occasionally, there will be a bonus exercise, or a sample of a finished version of a song where I took advantage of the additional sounds and loops. You will be advised in those cases that if you have the additional download installed, you can open up a sample project to see and hear my final version of the project. In some cases, such as the electric guitar recording session project in Lesson 6, there will be two versions of the project. One version will include the drummer track that the guitarist used for his actual recording. The other version will include the default drummer track that does not require the in-app purchase. Regardless, both versions of the project will follow the identical steps and include the identical regions.
Before you begin the lessons in this book, you should have a working knowledge of your Mac, OS X, your iPhone or iPad, and iOS 7. You don’t need to be an expert, but you do need to know how to use the mouse and standard menus. Those of you with GarageBand for iOS who wish go through Bonus Lesson 2 should have a basic knowledge of how to use your iPhone or iPad and how to use an iOS 7 touch screen.
What do you need to know about your Mac before starting? It would be helpful if you are comfortable with opening, saving, and closing apps and files on the Mac, as well as how to tap, swipe, and click your mouse or trackpad. You will need a working understanding of how OS X organizes files on your computer. If you need to review any of these techniques, see the printed or online documentation that came with your device.
Copying the GarageBand Lesson Files
The Apple Pro Training Series: GarageBand lesson files must be downloaded to your Mac in order to complete the lessons in this book. After you save the files to your hard disk, each lesson will instruct you in their use.
To download these files, you must have your book’s access code, which is provided on a card in the back of the printed editions of this book and on the “Where Are the Lesson Files?” page in electronic editions.
For complete download instructions, see “Downloading GarageBand Projects for This Book” in Lesson 1.
Resources
Apple Pro Training Series: GarageBand is not intended to be a comprehensive reference manual, nor does it replace the documentation that comes with the application. Rather, the book is designed to be used in conjunction with other comprehensive reference guides. These resources include:
The companion Peachpit website: As GarageBand is updated, Peachpit may choose to update lessons as necessary. Please check www.peachpit.com/aptsgb.
The Apple website: www.apple.com
The Reference Guide: Accessed through the GarageBand Help menu, the Reference Guide contains a complete description of all features.
Apple Pro Training Series: iPhoto (Peachpit, 2014), by Dion Scoppettuolo, is an excellent companion to this book. Learn how to use iPhoto to enhance your photos, create slideshows, and print keepsake photo books on both Mac OS X and iOS.
Apple Pro Training Series: iMovie (Peachpit, 2014), also by Dion Scoppettuolo, is an excellent companion to this book. Learn how to use iMovie to create first-class movies, advanced slideshows, and fun movie trailers on both OS X and iOS.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the following individuals for their contributions of media used throughout the book:
Casey Brassard, for playing along with his guitar in the “Learning to Play Piano and Guitar with GarageBand” and “Working with GarageBand for iOS” bonus lessons.
Tina Sacco, for her award-winning poems “Life’s Flower” and “Groundhog Day,” as well as her spoken voice reading of her work.
Chad Waronicki, for his electric guitar riffs and expertise.
Lauren Diaz and Brooke Bingham, for letting us record and use their award-winning hip-hop dance, as well as choreographer William Blair and Tonya Matheny for her support and use of the Ready Set Dance studio.
Kathryn Perez, for her wah-vocal and kazoo recordings used in the recording electric guitar without a guitar section.
Klark Perez, for editing the Lexie walking and RSD The Step Off video clips used in this book.
Ben Estes, for his insights and suggestions as well as the Follow and Groove Track demo projects.
Colby Stiltz, for his hip-hop tempo tips and tricks.
The amazing Peachpit team: Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen, Liz Welch, Nancy Peterson, Darren Meiss, and Kim Wimpsett, for their input and efforts in crafting this book.