[macvoiceover] Re: GarageBand quick guide for Leopard and Voiceover, volume 001, basic use.

  • From: "Ginny" <ginnyo@xxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <macvoiceover@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2008 17:11:28 -0500

Wow, Keith, this is great!  And I thought that multi-tracking was
hopeless...guess I didn't try hard enough. <grin>
 

-----Original Message-----
From: macvoiceover-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:macvoiceover-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Keith Reedy
Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2008 2:32 PM
To: macvoiceover@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [macvoiceover] GarageBand quick guide for Leopard and Voiceover,
volume 001, basic use.


GarageBand Quick Guide for Leopard with Voiceover Volume 001

Basic Use.

Q and A

Q:  Will I need any special equipment to interface with my MAC in  
order to use GarageBand?

A:  You should have at least a 1 channel USB mixer for best results  
with a microphone.  If you are going to become a GarageBand power  
user, a tactile interface can be purchased which will give you hands  
on many of the controls, however, much can be done from the keyboard.

Q:  is GarageBand a professional recording program?

A:  No, but you will find it useful for most of your light recording  
needs.

Q:  is GarageBand fully accessible?

A:  No.  You will find some controls, like the pan control and some  
effects controls which are not fully functional.  However, for the  
most part, I have found GarageBand very usable.

Q:  Can you record Multiple tracks using Voiceover?

A:  Yes.  You can open a new track, (see the list of commands below),  
move to the beginning of the song and start recording.

Q:  Can you add instruments or harmony parts at a given point in a  
song without serious editing?

A:  Yes.  Set up a new track and let the song play.  Just before the  
place where you want to add your part or new instrument  press record  
and then press record again when you are finished.

Q:  How do you name, or, label  a track?

A:  When you are working on a new track, at the bottom of the screen  
is a save instrument button, press this button and the program will  
ask you for the name of the instrument.  At this point you can give  
your track a name.

Q:  If I want to do some work with a track, how can I select it and  
tell that I am on the track that I wish to work with?

A:  You can select a track by moving to the tracks column and  
interacting with that column.  Now move to the track you want with VO  
keys-right, or, left arrow keys.  When you have found the track you  
want, move to the right with VO keys-right arrow to the solo button  
and press it.  If you want to do some work on this track, make sure  
that you have pressed the "enable record button.  Now, stop  
interacting with the tracks column and move back to the record and  
play controls.

Q:  How is a song mastered?

A:  Your song is mastered when you send it to iTunes under the  Share  
menu.

Q:  Can you record a podcast with GarageBand?

A:  Yes.  See the section below on podcasting.

You will find a list of keyboard commands at the end of this guide.

First of all, let me say that we will be dealing with the basics.   
There is so much to learn in this program and the tendency is to jump  
ahead to the things that are the most interesting to you, but, it is  
really necessary to get the basics first.

We will be talking first of all about recording with a microphone, or  
local recording.  You can use the microphone in your MAC if your MAC  
is so equipped, if you are just experimenting, but for best results a  
USB mixer, or interface  with a microphone is suggested.

With those few words of introduction, lets begin.

Open GarageBand.

You will be presented with an opening screen which we will not talk  
about at this time.  Most of the things you will want to do will be  
done from the Keyboard.

Now, start a new project with command-n.

You will be asked to give your project a name, where to save your new  
project.

OK, these next few things are important.  You should make these next  
few choices with thought in mind that you may want to add a drum  
track, or some other loop later.

Next you will be asked to set the tempo, using a horizontal slide  
bar.  You can choose the tempo by listening to   the metronome, (see  
the list of keyboard commands at the bottom of this guide).

Next  is a popup button which will ask you for time signature, the  
default is 4/4.

Next is a text box which will allow you to enter the number of beats  
per minute, the default is 120.

Next is a popup button which will allow you to choose the key, the  
default is C.

Next is a popup button which will allow you to choose major, or minor,  
the default is major.

Next is cancel, or create buttons.  Once you have pressed create, you  
will need to give the file several seconds to create and the screen to  
form.

Now you will be presented with another screen.

When the screen comes up and your project is created, you may hear  
Voiceover say, Grand piano, close button.
You can press the close button with VO keys-space bar.

Now you can create a new track, (see the list of commands below).  You  
will be presented with another screen which will ask you if you want a  
software track, or, a real instrument track.  For our purposes here,  
select, real instrument track and press create.  This will also take  
some seconds, depending on the speed of your computer.  Now you are  
ready to go to work.

There many things to explore.  If you have a microphone ready and you  
wish to do so, press record to start recording, then press record  
again when you are finished.

Go to "begining of song" and press it with VO keys-space bar, wait a  
few seconds, then press play to hear your recording.

Creating a Podcast

Much of understanding the podcast screen has been done in  
understanding the music recording screen.  Please review the  
information above

When you open GarageBand, the screen will present you with a number of  
things you might want to do with GarageBand.  With VO keys-right  
arrow, arrow over to (Create new podcast episode button) and vo keys- 
spacebar on that button.

The podcast screen will present you with some tracks which have been  
created for you, or, a template.  You can use any, or, all of these  
tracks, or create your own.

You will find tracks for jingles, male and female voices with special  
presets and so on.

Stingers, jingles and sound effects are recorded on separate tracks  
from the voice tracks.

You can use these already created tracks or create others.

You will find quite a selection of stingers and  jingles which you may  
want to use at the beginning, or, the end of your podcast, or, between  
sections of your podcast.  You will find sound effects that you may  
want to use in your podcast as well.

When your podcast is finished, you can send it to iTunes from the  
share menu.


Keyboard Commands

New project, command-n

Open, command-o if you have an existing project, start typing the name  
of it.

New track, command-option-n

New Basic track, command-shift-n

Delete track, command-delete

Show track mixer, command-y

Show track info, command-i.

Show arrange track, command-shift-a

Show master track, command-b

Show Podcast track, command-shift-b

Show Movie track, command-option-b

Duplicate track, command-d

Metronome, command-u

Count in, command-shift-u

Snap to grid, command-g

Show alignment guide, command-shift-g

Ducking, Command-shift-r

Show loop browser, command-l

Show media browser, command-r

Show editor, Command-e


Keith Reedy:   wa9dro@xxxxxxxxx
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