Dec 29, 2008

Garageand Hints & Tips: Free Apple Garageband Loops

Garageand Hints & Tips: Free Apple Garageband Loops

Greetings all, and it is soon time to say farewell to 2008... Boy... did it go by fast!!!

Loops are a great way to get inspired for a new song idea! And free loops are a cool way to add to your musical arsenal!!

check out these links for 



Keep making great music with garageband!! One of the greatest writing tools of all time!

Svend

posted by jaggerdiggydog


Dec 22, 2008

Garageband Hints and Tips: by passing count in click

here is a quick tip...

often when I am recording a long song, I was to record something a
minute or two into the song.
If I hit record, then I have to put up with the 4 click intro then
wait till I am ready to record...
One thing you can do is to hit play... then hit the record button...
This bypasses count in :)
You can also double click up on time bar to start payback a few bars
before your recording point, then hit record button.
These are simple things but can save a lot of time ;)

Svend
www.svend007.com

posted by whitediggydog

Nov 10, 2008

Garageband Hints & Tips | Creating A Cool Tremolo Effect

Here is a cool effect I used on a rocking organ in Garagebands Organ category.

Pick your favorite organ sound.
In the effects section you can pick up to 4 effects from the drop downs.
Now it is pretty normal for someone to add the TREMOLO effect once, and adjust as needed.
The trick here is to pick it again and give it a different value!! This way you get the tremolo effect working together to create a cool phase in and out effect. Experiment!! :)

keep making great music, and think outside the box!

Svend

posted by jaggerdiggydog

Nov 9, 2008

Garageband Hints and Tips | Vary your song tempos!

I have a master garageband template that I call up when I am writing a new tune. It has all the instruments I normally need, and a basic drum loop and mastering settings the way I like (EQ, reverb, delay, etc)

This makes it easy for me to start a new song in an instant. A couple problems with this is I tend to write my music in the same tempo and using the same instruments. SO... the template idea is great, but make an effort to change those instruments and tempo's!

keep making great music, and think outside the box!

Svend

posted by jaggerdiggydog

Garageband Hints and Tips | Getting the BEST out of your Music!

Once you have a song that you like... leave it alone for a week and then come back to it with fresh ears. At this point you can make subtle adjustments that take a good song and make it great! Like tuning the EQ... or ramping up a volume curve so an instrument is not all at the same volume... or panning tracks to get a wider stereo field... etc... etc...

keep making great music, and think outside the box!

Svend

posted by jaggerdiggydog

Oct 29, 2008

Garageband Tips | Hints - Getting cool backing tracks!

I use a cool program on the mac called limewire to find free public domain files on the internet. You can use this to find cool backing tracks without vocals!! Great to practice along with or get song ideas!

Enjoy writing music! You can hear Svend's instrumental newage music here

posted by jaggerdiggydog

Sep 28, 2008

Garageband Hints and Tips: Using Measure Alignment Grid

Thanks for checking out Garageband Hints and Tips!

This one I came across when I was making song track pitch adjustments.
If you have a large monitor like I do and your song only has a few
tracks, it can make it hard to see where your song tempo and song
pitch adjustments are in relation to the segments of your song....

Grab the resize window area at the bottom right of Garageband, and
pull it up so that the master track is right up close to your song
segments... and bingo... you can see your overall song adjustments in
the master track much easier in relationship to your song segments!

Svend
www.svend007.com

posted by jaggerdiggydog

May 3, 2008

Garageband Hints & Tips: Phat Bass Lines

When you pull up a new garageband instrument the graphical EQ is
flat... get in there and tone down the highs and notch boost a nice
bass spectrum and roll off the super lows that are boomy... and BINGO,
you have super phat bass! Then double that bass line with another
instrument like acoustic guitar but with a really low register! makes
a great bass sound with a nice tighness!

have fun always! AND experiment!! do what is not obvious!

Svend (Garageband Hints and Tips Creator)
(posted by jaggerdiggydog)

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)