Tutorial Title: Making Your First Song with GarageBand

Topic Title: Introduction

You don’t have to be a musician to make music with GarageBand. GarageBand includes short pieces of pre-recorded music called loops. Loops contain musical patterns that can be combined and repeated seamlessly.
 
The loops included with GarageBand, or the additional JamPacks, feature all kinds of different instruments and musical styles. You can arrange loops that feature different instruments to play just the right combination of sounds. So you can combine, arrange, and extend loops to make your own song.

Topic Title: Creating Your GarageBand Project

With GarageBand, you can create your own music, whether or not you play an instrument. Use your imagination to choose, combine, and arrange prerecorded pieces of music called loops to make your own composition.
 
GarageBand includes a loop browser that lets you try out, or “audition,” loops and a track editor so you can arrange those loops into a song.

Step-by-Step Section: Creating Your GarageBand Project

Explore the GarageBand loops
1: Open GarageBand.
2: In the window that appears, you can select a tempo, time signature and key for your song. Give your song a name and then click Create.
3: A track is created for you that uses the Grand Piano software instrument.
4: In the lower-left corner, click the Loop Browser button.
5: Click a category. Notice that some categories are unavailable.
6: Click another category and notice the list of loops in the audition window changes, and includes loops that meet the criteria for both of the categories you selected.
7: Click the icon to the left of a loop name to audition a loop. Notice that each loop includes information about its key, tempo, and length.

Tips Section: Creating Your GarageBand Project

Add more loops with Jam Packs

If you want even more loops to choose from, you can purchase additional Jam Packs. Installing the Jam Packs adds thousands of loops and more software instruments, effects and guitar amp simulations to GarageBand.

Display loops in column view

You can view the loop categories in button view or column view. Click the column button in the lower-left corner to show loops in column view.

Choose which loops are displayed

If you have additional Jam Packs installed in GarageBand you can select which set of loops you want to display in the loop browser. Just click the Loops pop-up menu at the top of the loop browser and then choose the group you want to display.

Topic Title: Starting Your Song with a Beat

Rhythm is the backbone of your song, so it’s a good idea to start by picking a drum part. You’ll be able to hear the rhythm clearly, which will make it easier to choose appropriate accompaniment.
 
You can choose from dozens of different drum loops for your song. It’s a great way to get your musical ideas flowing, and to start building a rhythmic framework for the rest of your song.

Step-by-Step Section: Starting Your Song with a Beat

Add a drum track to your first mix
1: In GarageBand, click the Loop Browser button.
2: Click the Drums category to show the available drum loops.
3: Click the icon to the left of some drum loops to audition them.
4: When you find a loop you want to use, drag the loop to the timeline under the Grand Piano track. Notice that a new track is created that uses this loop.
5: Click the Play button in the track controls to play your loop.

Tips Section: Starting Your Song with a Beat

Software and Real Instrument loops

Real Instrument loops use real, recorded audio and appear in blue. Software Instrument loops appear in green and use a technology called Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI). MIDI separates information about which notes are played from the instrument used to play them—a MIDI file is kind of a like a player piano roll. You can change the pitch and tempo of both kinds of loops, but you can make even more modifications to Software Instrument loops. For example, you can change the instrument on a Software Instrument loop from a piano to a guitar, and even add or delete notes.

Search for specific loops

You can use the search field at the bottom of the loop browser to search for specific loops. For example, if you enter “80” in the search field, you’ll find all the 80s loops, no matter which category they are located in.

Resize the loop browser to see more categories

In button view, you can drag the border area above the loop browser upward to show more category buttons.

View only loops that fit with your song

You can set the loop browser to display only loops that match the scale of your song. For example, from the Scale pop-up menu at the bottom of the loops browser you can choose only loops that work with minor keys.

Set the loops you use most as Favorites

Once you get into using the GarageBand loops you’ll find you like some more than others. You can set these as Favorites so they are easy to find. Just select a loop you like in the loop browser, and then click its Fav checkbox to the far right of the loop browser. You can set as many loops as you’d like to be your favorites. You’ll find them all by clicking the Favorites button in the upper-left of the loop browser in button view. If you’re in column view, the Favorites category will appear in your list of loops.

Reorganize loops in button view

You can change the order of how the categories of loops appear in the loop browser. In button view, simply drag a button to another location and it will swap positions with the button you drag it to. This way you can place the buttons for the loops you like the most next to each other. If you want to reset the position of the buttons, just go to the GarageBand menu and choose Preferences. In the General tab, click the Reset button in the Keyword Layout section.

Arrange loops by Tempo, Key or Beats

If you want to view loops in ascending order of tempo, just click the Tempo column heading in the right section of the loop browser to arrange them in order by tempo. You can organize by Key or Beats just by clicking their headings.

Change loop settings

If you hold down the Control key while you click a loop button you can change its Genre, the Instruments that are included with it, or even its Descriptor, which appears as the button’s name.

Topic Title: Auditioning More Musicians

To round out your rhythm section, bring in a bass player. Adding bass provides a tonal element to the rhythm of your song.
 
You can let your drum loop play while you audition bass players for your band. You don’t have to worry about the tempo or the key of the loops—they automatically play back in the tempo and key of your song.

Step-by-Step Section: Auditioning More Musicians

Audition other loops for your mix
1: In GarageBand, click the Cycle button to turn on cycling. A yellow bar appears above the timeline showing the portion of the song that will be cycled.
2: Click Play. Your drum pattern will play repeatedly until you stop it.
3: In the loop browser, click Reset. Notice that the categories you selected previously are deselected.
4: Click the Bass category.
5: Audition bass loops for your song by clicking the icon to the left of the bass loops that interest you. The loops play in time with your drum loop, even if you select a bass loop with a different tempo than your song.
6: When you find the loop you want, drag it to the timeline under your drum track. A new track is created with your bass loop. And now you can hear your drum and bass loops play together.

Tips Section: Auditioning More Musicians

Adjust the volume of your drum track if you want to hear the bass more clearly

One of the advantages of using GarageBand’s tracks is that you can control the volume of each individual track. If you want to hear more bass and less drums, you can simply lower the volume of the drums with the volume slider on the drum track.

Adjust the volume of the loop you’re auditioning with the volume slider in the loop browser

You can change the volume of the loop you’re auditioning independently from the rest of your song. Just use the volume slider in the loop browser to change the volume so you can hear every part clearly.

Quickly turn cycling on or off with the C key

You can turn cycling on or off right from the keyboard by pressing the C key. With cycling off, you’ll hear your whole song from start to finish.

Change loop length to match up your parts

The loops included with GarageBand have different lengths. You can use different length loops together in your song by stretching the loops in the timeline.

Mute or Solo a track to hear just the parts you want

You can mute a track by clicking the speaker icon in the track heading. This is a great way to turn off just one track so you can hear the rest of your song more clearly. You can solo a track by clicking the headphone icon. This will mute the volume on all other tracks so you hear just that one track.

Hide the Mixer to see more of your track

If you want to see more of your track’s note information, and less header, you can click the left-facing triangle in the Tracks column to hide the Mixer. To view Mixer information again, just click the right-facing triangle to make it visible again.

Managing CPU performance

The loops in GarageBand are excellent audio quality. The Real Instrument (blue) loops have been optimized so they are CPU efficient. If you use a lot of Software Instrument (green) loops and add lots of effects and other parameters, this can impact your CPU performance. You can hold down the option key while you drag a green loop from the loop browser to a track in the timeline editor to convert it to a blue loop that plays the exact same thing, but more efficiently because it is rendered. Green loops give you more flexibility but are computationally intensive. Blue loops reside in RAM, so they are more efficient but less flexible.

Topic Title: Building Your Song Over Time

Now that you’ve set up a groove with your rhythm section, you’ll want it to last longer than a few measures. For example, you might want your song to be the same length as an iMovie project or iPhoto slideshow you made.
 
You can stretch your loops to any length you want in the timeline.

Step-by-Step Section: Building Your Song Over Time

Extend your rhythm section loops
1: Hold down the Shift key and click your drum loop, and then click the bass loop.
2: Position the cursor in the upper-right corner of one of the loops until the looping icon appears.
3: Drag the loops to play for 16 measures (until the number 17 in the timeline ruler). Notice that the loop duration is marked by a rounded corners for each loop.
4: Click the Cycle button to turn off cycling.
5: Click the Play button to hear your song.

Tips Section: Building Your Song Over Time

Zoom the timeline to see your whole song

You can use the zoom slider below the track headers to see more of your song when you’re trying to decide how long to make your song.

Quickly change tempo with the tempo slider

You can experiment with the tempo of your song with the tempo slider. Click the tempo in the control window and then drag the slider up or down to increase or decrease the tempo while your song is playing back.

Switch the beat ruler between beats and time

Sometimes you may want to view the beat ruler in seconds, for example if you’re trying to make a song that’s a specific length. Other times you may want to view it in beats, so you can organize your loops relative to one another and keep them within the rhythmic structure of your song. In the control window click the clock icon to view absolute time, or click the note icon to view musical time.

Drag the playhead to any point you want to listen to

In addition to using the transport controls, you can drag the playhead to any part of your song for fast and precise alignment of loops or playback.

Undo changes

Whenever you work on creative projects you’re bound to make something you don’t like. You can Undo as many steps as you’d like to take your project back to where you liked it. Simply choose Undo from the Edit menu.

Resize the GarageBand window

To make the best use of your display area, you can drag the lower-right corner of the GarageBand window, or click the green window control to enlarge the GarageBand window to better fit your display.

Topic Title: Introducing Melody

Once you’ve set up your foundation, you can add melodic elements to really make your song come alive. Melody is what makes a song a song—it’s the part you hum to yourself.
 
Audition other instruments while you cycle the rhythm section of your song. Try the loop categories of single instruments for distinctively melodic loops.

Step-by-Step Section: Introducing Melody

Add melodic elements to your song
1: Click the Cycle button and then click the Play button to play back your drum and bass loops repeatedly.
2: In the loop browser, click Reset.
3: Click the Guitars category, and then click Single.
4: Click the icon to the left of a guitar loop to audition it.
5: When you find a guitar loop you like, drag it to the timeline to create a new track with that loop.
6: Drag the cycle indicator to play the portion of the song that includes all three loops.
7: Click Reset.
8: Click the Piano category and audition piano loops with your mix.
9: Drag the piano loop you want to the timeline under your guitar track to create a piano track.

Tips Section: Introducing Melody

Try the Single loop categories first

When you’re trying to choose a melodic element, you might want to start by auditioning loops in the Single category. These loops feature music played by a single instrument in which the melody can be heard clearly.

Lock a track

To prevent unintended changes to a track, click the lock icon in the track heading. This renders the track to your computer’s hard disk and can reduce the processing power required to play your track. If you want to make changes later, you can unlock the track, make the changes, then lock the track again.

Topic Title: Creating Drama with Call and Response

The essence of music is interaction. You can add tension to your song and create the impression of musicians playing together by playing different melodic loops one after another. This is known as “call and response.”
 
You can stretch your melodic loops to match the song length, and then divide them into separate regions. You can cut and paste these regions to create the effect that the loops are answering each other.

Step-by-Step Section: Creating Drama with Call and Response

Offset the melodic loops to add tension
1: Hold down the Shift key and click the guitar loop, and then click the piano loop.
2: Position the pointer in the upper-right corner of one of the loops and drag the loops out 16 measures.
3: With the guitar and piano loops both selected, drag the playhead to the beginning of measure 5.
4: From the Edit menu, choose Split. Notice that both the loops are now labeled separately before and after the position of the playhead.
5: Drag the playhead to the beginning of measure 9, and then choose Split from the Edit menu.
6: Click outside the guitar and piano loops to deselect them.
7: Click the first segment of the guitar loop and then choose Cut from the Edit menu.
8: Click the second segment of the piano loop and then choose Cut from the Edit menu.
9: Play your song and notice how the piano and guitar loops respond to each other.

Tips Section: Creating Drama with Call and Response

Try different loops that feature the same instrument

You can create the sense that your loops are building a larger piece of music by placing in sequence loops that use the same instrument.

Topic Title: Setting the Tone for Your Song with an Introduction

A good song needs an introduction to set the mood before it gets going. An introduction also creates anticipation, and gives the listener a chance to tune in before the main part of the song starts.
 
You can create a simple introduction for your song by letting just the drums play for a couple measures before the rest of the song starts.

Step-by-Step Section: Setting the Tone for Your Song with an Introduction

Create an introduction for your song
1: Drag the zoom slider (located below the track headers) to the left until you can see the beginning and end of every loop in your song.
2: Hold down the Shift key and click the bass, guitar, and piano loops.
3: Drag the loops two measures to the right.
4: Click the top-right corner of the drum loop and stretch it to line up with the end of the other tracks.
5: Click Play to hear your introduction.

Tips Section: Setting the Tone for Your Song with an Introduction

Remove a section in the middle of a song

Choose Split from the Edit menu to create regions in loops that you can move around or remove. Remove regions from all but one track to break down your song, and leave just one instrument playing for a while.

Join two sections together

Choose Join from the Edit menu to join multiple regions into a single region. To be joined, the regions must be adjacent to each other and on the same track, with no space between them.

Topic Title: Adding Interest with Key Changes

You can give a sense of movement and progression to your song by changing the key. When you first set up your GarageBand project you choose a key signature, which determines the root note of your song.
 
You can create a key change in your song by changing the Master Pitch and all the tracks in your song will be changed. This is called transposing.

Step-by-Step Section: Adding Interest with Key Changes

Change the key of a section of your song
1: Listen to your song and determine where you want a key change, and move the playhead to the beginning of that measure.
2: Go to the Track menu and choose Show Master Track. Notice the new track that appears at the bottom of the track editor.
3: Select Master Pitch from the pop-up menu in the Master Track header. Notice the line that appears at the “0” point in the track.
4: Click to add a marker to the Master Pitch line at the playhead.
5: Add another marker just to the right of the timeline so you have two markers right next to each other.
6: Drag the second marker up to +7 and move it to the left so it aligns with the playhead. This ensures your key change occurs on the beat.
7: Click Play to hear your song.

Tips Section: Adding Interest with Key Changes

Transpose part of your song up a fifth

It’s very common in many musical styles to change from the “root” key of a song, which you set up when you created your song, to the “fifth” or “dominant” key. To do this, just find the spot where you want to transpose your song, and then move the Master Pitch curve up to “+7”. Because scales use a combination of whole and half steps, but transposing uses half steps, +7 half steps will always transpose your song to the fifth note of a scale.

Transpose your entire song to fit a singer’s range

If you’ve got a great song but your lead vocalist can’t quite reach the high notes, just use the Master Pitch curve to transpose the entire song down a bit. When a song matches her range she’ll be able to give a much better performance!

Some keys are easier for instrumentalists to play

Instrumentalists sometimes find that a song is easier to play if it is in a different key. So you can use the Master Pitch curve to transpose the entire song to a key that works for your performers. Players of stringed instruments generally find fingerings and tuning to be easier in sharp keys, while woodwind and brass players often find flat keys more comfortable and in tune. Guitarists can use a capo to easily play in higher keys.

Topic Title: Ending Your Song with a Fadeout

When it’s time for your song to end, you don’t want to just stop it abruptly. With GarageBand, you can create a fadeout to let your song end gradually.
 
A fadeout indicates your song is ending and makes it possible to transition smoothly to another song.

Step-by-Step Section: Ending Your Song with a Fadeout

Gradually fade out your song
1: From the Track menu, choose Show Master Track. A new track appears.
2: Click the square next to the Master Volume pop-up menu in the Master Track header. Notice the Master Volume line appear in the track to the right.
3: Click the volume curve at the point in your song that you want to start the fadeout. Notice that a circle appears in the volume curve.
4: Click the volume curve at the end of the song and drag it down.
5: Click Play to hear your song with the fadeout.

Tips Section: Ending Your Song with a Fadeout

Fade in and out by creating control points in the volume curve

In addition to fading out your song at the end, you can set the volume to increase or decrease at any point in the recording. For example, you might want to fade in the song at the beginning. Just click the volume curve to create an insertion point, and then drag the curve up or down to increase or decrease the volume at that point in the song.

Set Volume and Pan curves on each track

Rather than control the volume and pan of all the tracks in your song, you can control each track individually. Click the down-facing triangle in the track header to reveal the Track Volume/Pan curves. Select Track Volume and then adjust the curves in the track to set the volume of the track over time. Select Track Pan to set the sound to move from stereo left to stereo right over time.

Topic Title: Exporting Your Song to iTunes

When your song is finished, you can export it to iTunes so you can listen to it on your iPod or use it with your iMovie projects, your iPhoto slideshows, or with your iDVD project.
 
GarageBand automatically puts your song in your iTunes music library, where you’re listed as the artist.

Step-by-Step Section: Exporting Your Song to iTunes

Export your song to iTunes
1: From the File menu, choose Export to iTunes. Notice that GarageBand opens iTunes.
2: Listen to your song in iTunes, on your iPod, or use it with your slideshows like any other song in your iTunes library.

Tips Section: Exporting Your Song to iTunes

Archive your project

If you want to work on your song on another Mac, you can save an archive. Just go to the File menu and choose Save as Archive. This creates a file in the GarageBand folder that contains all the loops you added to your song are saved in the song, as well as your Real and Software Instrument recordings.

Use your GarageBand songs with other iLife applications

You can use your song to play along with your iMovie, as background music for an iPhoto slideshow, or even as the menu music that plays in your iDVD project. Just export the song to iTunes and its easily available for use in the other iLife applications.

Capture effects at the end of your song by cycling extra measures

If you’re using loops that use echo or reverberation effects, they may continue to sound after the final measure of the song. When you export the song, these sounds may be cut off abruptly. To ensure that you capture everything, you can turn on cycling and then extend the cycle region a couple measures beyond the end of the song. When you export the song, the additional measures are included, and everything will fade away gently.

Change song and playlist information

To change the information that GarageBand sets for your song when you export to iTunes, go to the GarageBand menu and choose Preferences. In the window that appears, click the Export tab and enter new information in the iTunes Playlist, Composer Name, and Album Name fields.

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