How to Use Apple Garage Band
Garageband is an audio recording and editing application that is part of Apple's iLife suite of software products. Garageband's main purpose is to provide musicians a way to record and produce music on their personal computers. The software comes equipped with built-in instrument sounds, a number of effects, a metronome feature and editing tools. Users can also record using real instruments or load pre-existing audio tracks into Garageband for editing.
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Instructions
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How to Add a Track
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Click "Track" in the main menu.
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Select "New."
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Select either "Software Instrument Track" or "Real Instrument Track." If you are using sound generated with real instruments, then select the "Real Instrument" option. Otherwise, select the "Software Instrument" option.
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Click the "Create" button.
Selecting and Playing a Software Instrument
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Look at the right-hand side of your screen after selecting to create a software instrument track. Click on an instrument category to select. This will bring up the sub-directory of instruments within that category.
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Select an instrument from the sub-directory. For example, if you selected the "Pianos and Keyboards" category, double-click on "Grand Piano."
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Add any desired effects in the "Details" menu that automatically pops up after selecting an instrument. To select an effect, just use the drop-down menus and make a selection.
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Click "Window" in the main menu.
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Select "Musical Typing." This will bring up a picture of a computer keyboard with certain portions highlighted. Use the corresponding keyboard keys to input MIDI commands to play the software instrument.
Recording
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Click the track you wish to record.
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Click the "Record" button, which is the red button at the bottom of the screen.
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Play the instrument using musical typing.
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Click the "Record" button to stop the recording. If you wish to turn the metronome off, which is on by default, simply click "Control" in the main menu and then "Metronome."
Editing a Track
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Click on the track you wish to edit.
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Click on the button at the bottom of the screen that looks like a pair of scissors. This will open up the editing panel.
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Use your mouse to highlight portions of the track.
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Click "Edit" in the main menu. Select the type of edit you want to make. For example, you can cut or delete a portion of a track. If you want to copy this portion to another section of the track, simply position your mouse to the section you wish to insert the cut portion, click "Edit" and select "Copy."
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