90 MACWORLD JANUARY 2022
PLAYLIST HOW I REMIXED LADY GAGAcreate new versions of songs by pop stars
Lady Gaga and Dua Lipa. Using
GarageBand’s Live Loops feature (fave.
co/3ExfXWB), you can manipulate and
record sounds from their tracks as well as
hundreds more to be found in the app.
The sound loops are represented visually
as circular waveforms that you can touch
or click to start and stop. You can also
tinker with sound levels, effects such as
echo and reverb, tempo, and key, as well
as connect external instruments or add
your voice to jam along.
I’m a music writer and professional DJ
(spinning as Teemoney [fave.co/3Gp4jxh])
who lives and breathes music 24/7. I hear
remixes in my head all the time and
sometimes I try to create them live on my
turntables and mixer, which has a looping
function, but I haven’t spent much time
fiddling with GarageBand. But when I
heard about the Lady Gaga collab, I
wanted to give it a shot.GAGARAGEBAND
Even with little experience, it didn’t take
long to master the intuitive controls. The
fun is in the experimentation, so head over
to the Settings menu and play around with
the tempo of the track (aka the beats per
minute), until you find what moves you most.
Try the same for the song’s key—you can
alter the notes and pitch, which can
completely change the final recording.
GarageBand has so many sounds and
loops you can listen to over your remix
and drag in the parts that you like. When I
decided to change “Free Woman” from
what feels like a
stadium festival EDM
track to an after-hours
dub, the added outside
components were a
snappy snare sound
emulating an 808 drum
machine and a disco
string instrument–
laden groove from
Mark Ronson, who
released a number of
sound tools to
GarageBand as a
companion to his newThe circular waveforms let you literally see the music as you edit
and remix it.