The next step
W
ant to hear yourself back or record
one of your own creations? Look no
further than your Mac computer.
GarageBand is a music-making
application which comes pre-installed on your
Mac as part of the iLife package. Whether you’re a
seasoned musician or someone who just wants to
have a go at making some noise, GarageBand is the
perfect place to get creative.
Technological developments have come a long
way since the days of recording music to tape.Thanks to GarageBand, you no longer need a bank
loan to be able to record a song. You don’t even
need any external equipment – computers enable
you to plug your electric piano directly into a USB
port and start recording straight away.
GarageBand has the facilities to record any
instrument, whether that’s via a microphone or
plugged straight in. If you don’t have an electric
instrument, though, GarageBand has a variety of
Software Instruments which sound just like the
real thing, whose notes can be typed in using theMusical Typing tool or clicked in using the on-
screen piano.
GarageBand is particularly good at recording
piano because you can plug straight into your Mac
as we covered on page 104 – it doesn’t travel via
any other equipment. It records you playing MIDI
signals rather than real audio (although you do have
an option to do so). This means that it’s a lot easier
to edit your tracks and change instrument sample,
although you may lose the humanity of your
recordings somewhat.Record on a Mac
Learn to record piano concertos from the comfort of your
Mac with a few simple clicks in GarageBandNavigating GarageBand The main features and tools explained
“You can plug your piano straight into your Mac”
“Take a deep
breath and click
the Record button
when you’re ready
to record your
piano track”
Go back to the start
Rather than spending a few seconds
pressing the Rewind button to go
back to the beginning of the track, just
click the icon to go straight back to
the beginning of the recording – no
waiting around requiredReady, set, record
Take a deep breath and click the
Record button when you’re ready
to record your piano track. If you’ve
set a metronome, this will ‘click’ for
four beats before GarageBand starts
recording your playing. GarageBand
will continue recording you until you
click the Stop icon or hit the space barAdd effects
GarageBand’s Inspector feature has a multitude of effects which you can
apply to your recording. These can drastically change the sound of your
recording, whether it’s by adding a touch of reverb (echo), or distortion
which turns a piano into something you might hear on a heavy metal trackSet the tempo
The Tempo tool is often used to control the overall speed of a recording
when using GarageBand’s built-in loops. However, it can also be used
to control the speed of the Metronome. Click the number and drag the
slider upwards to increase the tempo and downwards to decrease itTop tip
Learn to Play
If you’ve only recently picked
up a piano, GarageBand offers
video piano lessons which
cover the basics of playing.
Head to the ‘Learn to Play’
section to fi nd out how to
play hit songs – taught by
the artists who made
them famous.