How to Crop Audio in GarageBand
GarageBand, a consumer-level digital audio creation and editing application by Apple, contains most of the basic audio-editing tools found in more advanced applications, including the ability to remove sections from, or "crop," audio recordings. Cropping is useful for cutting excess silence at the beginning or end of a track, for example, or for cutting out unwanted sounds or passages when mixing. There are two methods for cropping audio in GarageBand, each applicable to particular situations.
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Instructions
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Using the Crop Pointer
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1
Open GarageBand and load the project containing tracks you want to crop in the project selection dialog. GarageBand will load the project and display the tracks it contains in its default arrangement view.
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2
Highlight the track containing the audio region you want to crop by clicking on its track header. This will make the track GarageBand's active focus.
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3
Hover the mouse cursor over the lower right or left end of the audio region you want to crop. The cursor will change to the "crop pointer." Click-hold and drag to the right or left to shorten the audio region. This is the most imprecise method of cropping in GarageBand, but is useful for cutting out long silences, or other unwanted information, at the beginning or end of a track.
Using the Audio Region Editor
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Double-click the audio region you want to crop. GarageBand's "Audio Region Editor" will appear at the bottom of the screen and display a detailed close-up of the audio region's waveform. The peaks in the waveform correspond to the louder parts of the region; the valleys correspond to the quieter parts.
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Hover the mouse cursor over the lower half of the waveform. The cursor will change to a precision selection cursor resembling a cross. This cursor is used to precisely highlight small sections of audio for cropping or other editing procedures.
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6
Click-hold on the waveform at the point where the section you want to crop begins.
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Drag the cursor slowly to the right. This will create a dark gray highlighted section within the audio region. The highlighting can be adjusted as precisely as you like by dragging slowly left or right. Continue holding down the mouse button as you drag. When you are happy with the way the highlighting encompasses the section you want to crop, release the mouse button.
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8
Open the "Edit" menu and choose "Cut." The highlighted section will be removed, leaving a blank space on the track. If you are not happy with the result, choose "Undo" from the "Edit" menu and try again.
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