Apple GarageBand users?

[Closed Eye]

My fiance has Apple GarageBand on her Mac and I've been writing some songs that I think are fit enough to record and track some drums over.

The thing is, I don't know crap about GarageBand and I'd like to buy the connector cable for the guitar to the Mac but I don't want to waste $15-$24 and have a potential useless piece of gear lying around if I don't like it.

So, yeah, if you're GarageBand user tell me EVERYTHING about it!

Thanks for the look/help/info!

 

[scottish]

Re: Apple GarageBand users?

garage band is, imho, the best intro software for recording. its really easy to use. ive been using it for a while and still havent found something i wish it could do that it cant. im sure it has its limitations but ive been very happy with it thus far. very easy to layer tracks on top of one another. so much i could say about it, lol.

i guess it comes down to this: if you are a first time recorder, then if you sat down with cubase or something really hardcore, you probably wouldnt be able to record anything for a week until you figured it out. i have cubase and i never use it. with garage band you could sit down and have songs recorded the same evening easily.

this goes regardless of what software you are using: plugging directly into your comp will only get you so far. at some point down the line you will need to pick up and interface and a mic if you want to do any singing. ive no idea what mics you can get to plug right into the mac, but the built in one sucks, dont even bother trying to record vocals with that.

the guitar cable is a worthwhile investment to tide you over in the mean time

EDIT: i know this is all very general and woolly...if you have any specific questions you are wondering about then let me know

 

[Closed Eye]

Re: Apple GarageBand users?

Wow, great reply scottish! I didn't expect to get something that detailed!

Anywho, I've got two questions then:

1. what sort of amp/guitar interface do you use between your guitar and garage band?

2. How do you track drums? With a MIDI keyboard or loops?

 

[scottish]

Re: Apple GarageBand users?

i have a TC electronic firewire interface...a konnect 8 i think. i also have 8 stenheuser (spelling?) mikes. i mike all the amps, i have one which i ghetto rigged to dangle from the ceiling in the center of the room to pick up the overall sound

and second, i started using loops for drums but its not the best thing in the world so now i convinced my friend to bring their drum kit over since she hasnt played it in years and ive been playing some stuff myself and getting her back into playing too. so now i record them live.

never used midi for drums so i cant comment on that.

with garage band you can manually adjust plenty of EQ settings to the tracks you record after you have recorded them so i have always been able to make pretty much everything sound good

EDIT: let me add that i use 4 konnect 8s stacked together in parallel for all the input so i can really fine tune all the sounds and get one big recording thats done live in one take (most of the time live but more like 5 takes). seems like a boat load of money i know but i aquired them all one at a time over a few years so it wasnt too bad

 

[Closed Eye]

Re: Apple GarageBand users?

Hmm...so you mike the amps rather than use virtual or modeling amps? Interesting, I have two amps and I like their tone a lot, so I could see doing that with my setup. In that case, how do you level everything? Do you push the amps into natural overdrive/amp channel distortion or use pedal distortion?

I'd be recording either at my buddy's house with a tube Traynor YCV50Blue (50 Watter) or a 15 watt solidstate Vox Pathfinder with a DS-1 in front of it. I'd be concerned about matching levels within the mix, you know, whether it would sound good or not.

If I went the virtual amp route do you have any suggestions?

Thanks again!

Oh yeah, have you got any clips?

 

[scottish]

Re: Apple GarageBand users?

the interface i use comes with a good control panel software for leveling stuff. as for using the virtual amps....just play with the settings until you find something you like. personally im not a big fan of the default settings but you can EQ them to your hearts content.

i use a fender super reverb so i like to have that set really clean and then use pedals for overdrive/distortion. ill try to remember to post some clips when i get home from work today but i usually dont log on when im at home.

 

[Bludave]

Re: Apple GarageBand users?

I bought my first mac about a month ago. The first day I had it ( a used powerbook)I recorded just acoustic guitar with the built in mike. Not bad, but not great. I have ordered an MBOX mini and a few other items I am still waiting for. I think a good mike, maybe a pod should be enough to get you going. Here is an online tutorial I found, you may find it helpful.

http://comtechlab.iupui.edu/tutorialsfolder/garageband.html

 

[scottish]

Re: Apple GarageBand users?

oh yeah, one more comment in terms of leveling stuff. if you are going to use pedals then a volume pedal is probably a must. to get some of the tones i really like, i have the drive set fairly low on my ts9 but i have the level cranked....obviously this is useless without a volume pedal if you want to record something cleanish and then kick on the ts9 in the same take. volume levels would spike and you w\ould overload the mikes