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Working With GarageBand 08 GarageBand is a unique piece of software that allows the user to create their own music that can be added to slideshows, movies, DVD’s, WebPages, or burned to an audio CD. It is also the software used to create Podcasts. Anything created in GarageBand can be sent to iTunes or iWeb.

Starting a GarageBand Project

1. Open GarageBand and select New Music Project or New Podcast Episode. For this exercise,

select New Podcast Episode.

2. The project is opened with a Podcast track, a male and female vocal track, and jingles track and a radio sounds track. It looks like this:

3. If you’d like to simplify the screen to get started, click the Media Browser button to close it.

Media Browser button

4. Click the Track Editor button to close it.

Track Editor button

5. Your screen now looks like the following diagram.

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6. Lets take a closer look at the Tracks and Mixer columns in the upper left corner. The Podcast track is where images will be added for an enhanced Podcast.

7. The tracks in the Tracks column contain the same buttons. Hold the cursor over any of the tools in these two columns to find out what they are.

• When a track is selected the red record button should light up to indicate it’s enabled for recording. This is not the button to start recording.

• The Speaker is actually a Mute button. Click that and the track won’t be played.

• The headphones button is used to Solo a track. Click it if you only want to hear that one track.

• The lock button will prevent a track from being changed.

• The down arrow opens up the View / Hide Automation for the track. This is where you can add individual adjustments to the sound level as well as the track pan. New to this version of GarageBand is the ability to add automations to each track.

8. The tools in the Mixer column are as follows:

• The yellow arrow indicates that Ducking is in effect. This means that when there is audio on this track any others will quiet down. Ducking can be adjusted very easily in this version. Use the GarageBand help to find out how.

• The Set Track Pan control (circle) allows you to determine which speaker this track is broadcast through. (L or R)

• The track volume level meter indicates when the sound is in a safe (green) zone.

• The volume slider allows you to adjust the volume for the entire track.

Recording Voice in GarageBand

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1. Click either the male or female vocal track then click the record button (red circle) on the bottom of the screen, to the left of the Play button to begin recording.

2. Read a script, story new article or poem.

3. Click the record button again to stop or use the spacebar to stop.

Adding Music Loops to a Podcast

1. Add a jingle from the Loops Browser on the bottom of the screen. Click the “eye ball” to open the loop browser.

2. Select Jingles in the first column, Choose All Effects in the second column and click a music loop in the third column to hear a preview.

3. Click to select a loop and drag it into the Jingle track to add it to the project.

Adding Images to a Podcast

1. To add images or a movie to your Podcast, click the Media Browser button.

2. Within the Media Browser, select the Photos tab. Select the album with the project images.

3. Select and drag an image into the Podcast track, being careful to place it so it is timed with the audio.

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4. If you place the playhead where you want the image, you can use the red line to help you place the image.

5. After adding a couple images, preview the Podcast to make sure the sound matches the images.

6. To Preview, click, the Information Button next to the Media Browser.

The Preview window opens.

Edit ing Images in GarageBand

If the images you add to a Podcast aren’t square, GarageBand will use the middle portion of the graphic. It’s easy to specify which portion of an image is featured.

1. Click the Media Browser icon to close it.

2. Double-click an image in the Podcast track. The Track Editor opens.

3. Notice the image you double-clicked is highlighted in the Track Editor. There is also a check mark in the box labeled Display Artwork. Every time you dropped an image into the Podcast track, this box was checked.

4. Double-Click the image that is highlighted in the Artwork column. It appears in the Artwork Editor.

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5. Use the slider to zoom in or out on the image. Drag the image to one side or the other. When it’s positioned to your liking click “Set. The image appears in the Artwork column with the portion you chose.

6. Continue editing the images in the Artwork column. When finished, choose one image to add to the Episode Artwork well. Any image that is added here will appear as the preview icon for your Podcast when it is published on the web or sent to iTunes.

Adding Chapter Markers and URLs to a Podcast

When you add Chapter Markers to a Podcast, they allow the viewer to jump ahead to a specific point in the Podcast.

1. Enter a label in the Chapter Title column for each section you want to have as a Chapter Marker.

2. Each time a label is entered in that column it becomes a Chapter title and a yellow diamond appears at the beginning of the time code in the Time column. These same diamonds appear above the Podcast Track to indicate where Chapter Markers have been placed.

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3. To enter a URL link in a Podcast type the name you want to appear on the slide in the URL Title column. Enter the entire URL in the URL column.

4. The link is live as soon as it’s entered, so preview the Podcast and test out the link.

Transforming the Voice on a Vocal Track

1. Select the vocal track you wish to change.

2. Click to open the Information window. (The letter “i” next to the Media Browser button.)

3. Click the Reveal button (triangle) next to the word Details.

4. In the pull down menu that says None, select Vocal Transformer.

5. To the right of that menu where it says Manual, select the way you want the voice transformed. In the above example the track will be changed from Female to Male.

6. Play the track. The entire track will now sound like a male voice.

7. When the project is finished, to publish within the classroom, send it to iTunes. Select Send Podcast to iTunes from the Share menu.

8. To publish it to the web, using iWeb, select Send Podcast to iWeb, then customize your iWeb site.

Remember there is terrific help built right into the program! (Help Menu)

Adjust ing Ducking

Ducking is enabled when a Podcast project is opened. Sometimes, when loud music is placed in a project the Ducking settings need to be adjusted.

1. Select the vocal track you wish to change.

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2. Open the Information window (letter i next to the Media Browser)

3. At the bottom of the window, click the triangle next to the word Details.

4. Select Master Track at the top of the Track info window.

5. In the Effects window, under details, notice that Ducking is set to Manual. This is the default setting.

6. Click the pull down (Manual) button to see the many settings for Ducking. Choose one of these presets.

7. If you want to adjust the settings more specifically, click the edit button to the far right of the window.

8. In the window that appears, use the sliders to customize Ducking for this particular track,

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9. Use the Close button in the upper right corner to close the window.

Adjust ing Track Volume

1. Select the track you wish to adjust.

2. Click the View / Hide automation for track button (arrow pointing down). The Track Volume appears.

3. Click to place a dot on at the top of the blue volume level where you want to begin adjusting the volume

4. Place a second dot and drag the volume up or down. The diagram above shows the volume dragged down to lower it.

5. Continue to place dots and drag up or down to customize the volume settings for this track.

Creating The Audio for a Video Podcast in GarageBand

It may be preferable to create the audio for a video Podcast in GarageBand. iMovie gives you two audio tracks in addition to the audio that is attached to the video track. GarageBand provides many more audio possibilities. To create the audio portion of your video Podcast in GarageBand follow these simple steps.

1. Create the video portion of the Podcast in iMovie and save the project into the Movie folder in your Home area.

2. Open a new Podcast episode in GarageBand.

3. In the Media Browser, select Movies.

4. In the top portion of the Media Browser select the Movies folder.

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5. Find your iMovie project. Drag it onto the Podcast track in GarageBand. The following message appears.

6. Click Replace. The video is imported and placed on a Video track and the audio appears on a separate Audio track. If you don’t want any of the audio from the video it can be deleted. You could also split the track and delete any portions you don’t want.

Note: The Podcast track has disappeared. In this version of GarageBand you can have either a Podcast track with images or a Video track for movies. If you would like a mix of both video and stills this can be created in iMovie and then imported into GarageBand.

Sharing a Podcast to iTunes or iWeb

1. In this example we’ll send an enhanced Podcast to iTunes. From Share menu select Send Podcast to iTunes. This will export it in a universal format but it will only reside on your computer until you transfer it elsewhere. The following window appears allowing you to add information and to help you determine the best settings for the Podcast.

2. GarageBand will create an iTunes playlist based on what is entered in the window above. It will also add an album name. This means it would be possible to sort projects by album name in iTunes. Students would need to be instructed on what to enter in these spaces.

3. Select an AAC Encoder for compression and leave the Audio Settings as Musical Podcast. The window below Musical Podcast indicates that these settings are ideal for an enhanced Podcast.

4. Click Share. The Podcast is exported and opens on the new Playlist in iTunes.

5. Lets say you wanted to export a video Podcast to iTunes. With a Video Podcast open in GarageBand go to the Share menu and select Send Podcast to iTunes. A different set of options appears for export.

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6. The settings in the image above are specific for use on an iPod. The file will be approximately 64 MB when exported.

7. There are several other formats to choose from. You just need to know what the final usage of this Podcast will be.

8. You can’t go wrong with iPod, but the resolution is higher so the file will be larger.

9. If you want to publish a Podcast in iWeb, choose Send Podcast to iWeb from the Share menu. With an Enhanced Podcast the export choices are identical to sending to iTunes. With a Video Podcast, the following screen appears telling you it will be exported for iPod models that support video.

10. Click Share. The Podcast will be sent to iWeb where you can choose a template or add it to an existing one.

Creating Music with Magic GarageBand

You can have GarageBand automatically create a song using the “Magic GarageBand” feature. When you create a Magic GarageBand song, you can specify the genre (style) of music and the instruments in

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the song. You can preview the entire song or a snippet, and then have GarageBand create a song with the genre and instruments you choose.

1. In the GarageBand screen, click Magic GarageBand.

2. When the Magic GarageBand stage appears, click one of the genre buttons (located under the stage) to select a genre for the song.

3. To preview the song, click either Snippet or Entire Song, then click the Play button.

4. To choose different instruments to use in the song, click the Audition button. The curtain opens on the Magic GarageBand stage, showing the instruments used in the song.

5. Select one of the instruments on the stage, and then choose a different instrument from the pop-up menu that appears, or from the list below the stage.

6. Play the song with the different instrument.

7. Modify as many instruments as you’d like. Make a point to listen to each change.

8. After you’ve chosen all the instruments you want, click Play again to hear the song with the new instruments.

9. When the song is ready, click Create Project.

10. The GarageBand window appears.

11. Tracks appear in the timeline for each of the instruments in the song, with regions containing the music for each instrument.

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After you create a song using Magic GarageBand, you can edit, rearrange, and remix the song, as you can with any GarageBand project.

12. If you’d like to use your song in an iLife project, share it to iTunes. From iTunes it will be available in any of the iLife programs.