Apple GarageBand Tutorial User Manual Lesson 2
2
Lesson 2:
Working With Real Instruments
If you sing or play a musical instrument, you can connect a microphone or an electric musical
instrument to your computer and record your performances in a Real Instrument track. Each
recording appears as a region in the track. You can add effects to a Real Instrument track, and
edit Real Instrument regions in the track editor.
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What You'll Need
To work with Real Instruments, you’ll need to have each of the following items on hand:
•
Enough free hard disk space to record to (stereo CD-quality recording requires about 10 MB of
disk space per minute of recording)
•
A microphone to record voices or acoustic musical instruments, or an electric musical
instrument you want to record
•
Audio cables to connect the microphone or instrument to your computer
•
Optionally, an audio interface to connect the microphone or instrument to your computer
Tutorial
Before You Begin
To make it easier to follow the lesson as you work, print the lesson before you start.
In many of the tasks shown in this lesson you need to choose menu commands. In the lessons,
and in the GarageBand Help, menu commands appear like this:
Choose Edit > Join Selected.
The first term after
terms) following the angle bracket are the items you choose from that menu.
Choose
is the name of the menu in the GarageBand menu bar. The term (or
1
Connecting Musical Instruments to Your Computer
Some microphones can be connected to your computer using the audio in port, if your
computer has one. You can also connect microphones and instruments using an audio interface.
Some audio interfaces let you connect multiple microphones or instruments to your computer
and record them on different channels. Audio interfaces are available in a variety of formats,
including USB, FireWire, PC card, and PCI formats. If you plan to use an audio interface, be sure
your computer supports the format of the interface.
You may also want to connect speakers or monitors to your computer to hear your songs play
back with greater audio quality than possible from your computer’s speaker. A variety of
monitors and speakers are available, including speakers you can connect directly to your
computer's audio out port, through a USB port, or using an audio interface.
If you connect an audio interface to your computer, you set the audio interface as the audio
input device for GarageBand. Before setting the audio input device, be sure to install any
necessary driver software for the audio interface.
To set an audio interface as the audio input device:
1
Choose GarageBand > Preferences, then click the Audio/MIDI Interfaces tab.
2
In the Audio/MIDI Interfaces pane, choose the audio interface from the Audio Input pop-up
menu.
If you connect a microphone, an instrument, or other audio device directly to your computer’s
audio-in port, you set may need to configure input settings for it in the Sound pane of your
computer’s System Preferences.
To configure input settings in System Preferences:
1
Choose System Preferences from the Apple menu, then click the button for Sound Preferences.
2
In the Sound Preferences pane, click the Input tab.
3
Select Line In from the sound input devices list, then drag the Input volume slider to set the
input level.
Adding a Real Instrument Track
To record a Real Instrument, you can add a new Real Instrument track or record on an existing
Real Instrument track.
To add a Real Instrument track:
1
Click the Add Track button, or choose Track > New Track.
2
In the New Track dialog, click the Real Instrument tab.
3
Select an instrument category from the Category list, then select an instrument from the
Instrument list.
4
Select the input format by clicking either the Mono or Stereo format button, then choose the
input channel from the Input pop-up menu.
If the instrument you are recording has a single input, choose the Mono format. If the instrument
has left and right inputs, choose the Stereo format.
2 Lesson 2: Working With Real Instruments
Getting Ready to Record
Once you have connected your instrument and added a track to record in, there are a few things
to check before you start recording:
•
Make sure the microphone or instrument is connected properly and is working.
Make sure the correct audio drivers are selected in the Audio/MIDI Interfaces pane of
•
GarageBand Preferences.
Open the Track Info window to make sure the instrument has the instrument and effects
•
settings you want, and is using the correct input channel (or pair of channels). See “Changing
Real Instrument Settings” on page 5 for more information.
•
Sing or play a few notes and watch the track's level meters in the track mixer to make sure the
track is receiving input, and isn't clipping. If the red dots at the right of the level meters (called
clipping indicators
volume.
You may want to set the song tempo and key before recording a Real Instrument. Real
•
Instrument recordings are fixed in tempo and key, unlike loops and Software Instrument
recordings, and cannot be changed after they are recorded.
Monitoring Real Instrument Input
Hearing your instrument while you play and record is called
Instrument track, you can turn on monitoring for the track in the New Track dialog. You can turn
monitoring on or off in the Track Info window.
) light up, try dragging the volume slider to the left a little to lower the input
monitoring
. When you create a Real
To turn on monitoring for a Real Instrument track:
1
Select a Real Instrument track, then click the Track Info button to open the Track Info window.
2
Click the Monitor On button to turn on monitoring, or click the Monitor Off button to turn off
monitoring.
Turning on monitoring can produce feedback (loud, sharp noise) if the audio input picks up the
sound being output through your speakers. This is the reason monitoring is off by default. You
may want to turn off monitoring for a Real Instrument track when you are not singing into the
microphone or playing the instrument connected to the track.
Lesson 2: Working With Real Instruments
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