Apr 4, 2008

Garageband Hints & Tips: Listening to multiple instruments in Garageband

One of the things I miss the most in Garageband is the ability to play
multiple instruments at the same time while recording or just playing.
If you want a very layered sound, you record your piece, then make a
copy of that track and assign it a new instrument.

The problem with this approach is that when you can record something,
it is nice to play all the layered sounds together while you record,
because it effects the way you play your piece... (you know... when
you play a piano sound, you play it a certain way, because as you hear
what you're playing, you immediately change how you are playing it...
and if you are playing strings, that will be played totally differently)

Here is my workaround to make this a reality. (This assumes you have a
program like logic studio, that allows multiple instruments to be
played )
** this also assumes you like composing in garageband better than in
logic... I do... Garageband is much more "conducive" to me for
recording music.

So, open Logic, and set up your layered instruments...
open Garageband, and set up just one of the instruments above, and
record...
as you play, you will get all instruments playing, and your playing
will be based on this layered approach :)
then in Garageband, duplicate tracks and replicate the logic layered
sound and mix/balance sounds...

Let me know what you think!

Svend

(posted by jaggerdiggydog April 2008)

Garageband Hints & Tips: recording a part when you have a complicated "master pitch" key changes

I love using the master pitch function to make key changes in my
instrumental compositions. Makes the songs more interesting,
especially with my music which uses a lot of repeating motifs...

When recording a new track with all these key changes, it can be hard
to play the part with all the changes, so what I do is temporarily
turn off "master pitch" and then record my part, with no key changes,
and also, I am in my favorite key which is Em, so the parts play easy
for me (and I am not a trained keyboard musician... I just play by ear
with the playing ability I inherently have)

Ok... once your part is recorded, turn your master pitch back on and
you have a great new part, that will automatically change pitch as you
have set it up in your master track!

Let me know what you think!

Svend

(posted by jaggerdiggydog April 2008)