An Introduction to GarageBand '09

This one-day, hands-on course introduces students to the features and interface of GarageBand '09, which is part of iLife. iLife is a suite of digital authoring tools that comes with every Mac: iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand, iDVD, and iWeb. Whether you're an accomplished musician or student, GarageBand is the most rewarding way to create, perform and record your own music. Learn the interface and basic recording techniques, then move on to arranging a song, editing and mixing tracks, adding effects and distributing your music files.

Course Outline

Learning to Play Music with GarageBand
Opening GarageBand, Connecting Musical Instruments and a MIDI Instrument, Learning to Play Guitar or Piano, Exploring the Interface, Navigating Between Lesson Sections, Customising the Lesson Workspace, Tuning and Recording During a Lesson, Changing a Lesson Mix, Downloading Learn to Play Lessons and Taking an Artist Lesson.

Jamming with a Virtual Band
Selecting a Musical Genre, Navigating and Controlling Playback, Auditioning Virtual Musicians, Mixing Instruments in Magic GarageBand, Setting Up and Adding an Instrument, Recording a Part, and Opening and Saving a Song in GarageBand.

Recording Music in GarageBand
Recording a Song, Choosing a Project Template, Identifying Regions and Tracks, Setting Up an Electric Guitar Track, Monitoring Input, Stereo vs. Mono, Tuning a Guitar, Using a Metronome or Drum Track, Adding a Drum Loop, Recording Single and Multiple Takes, Selecting a Best Take, Using Guitar Amps and Stompboxes, Saving Effects, Working with an Acoustic Guitar Track and Editing Multiple-Take Regions.

Scoring a Movie and Arranging Loops
Scoring a QuickTime Movie, Importing Video, Creating a Cycle Region, Working with Loops, Using Alignment Guides and Snapping, Trimming a Loop, Working with Software Instrument Loops, Splitting a Loop Region, Using Advanced Arranging Techniques, Changing Track Instruments, Duplicating and Transposing Regions, Working with Sound Effects and Archiving a Project.

Creating an iPhone Ringtone
Opening a Ringtone Template, Recording a New Software Instrument Part, Playing the Onscreen Music Keyboard, Sending a Ringtone to iTunes, Exploring a Voice Ringtone, Editing a Real Instrument Voice Track, Editing Regions in the Editor and Merging Real Instrument Regions.

Mixing Music and Effects
Creating a Basic Mix, Adjusting the Tempo, Using the Arrange Track, Working with the Track Mixer, Adjusting Levels, Reading the Level Meter, Using the Pan Dial, Balancing Levels for Tracks, Adding Effects, Locking Tracks, Working with Volume and Pan Automation Curves, Showing Volume Curves, Adding and Adjusting Control Points, Dynamically Panning a Track, Working with the Master Track, Understanding the Volume Controls, Fading Out the Master Track, Testing your Trained Ear and Ducking Background Tracks.

Creating Podcasts
Creating a New Podcast Project, Showing and Hiding the Podcast Track, Browser and Editor, Choosing Podcast Recording Equipment, Exploring the Vocal Track Presets, Adding the Speech Enhancer Effects to Recorded Vocal Tracks, Importing a GarageBand Project, Saving a Project with iLife Preview, Adding a GarageBand Project from the Media Browser, Working with Artwork and Markers, Adding Artwork to the Browser, Adding Episode Artwork to the Project, Working with the Artwork Editor, Building a Marker Title Sequence, Editing Marker Regions, Viewing Additional Marker Information, Adding a URL to a Marker and Adding Episode Information to a Podcast.

Sharing your Finished Projects
Sharing with Other iLife Applications, Exporting Projects to iTunes, Setting Preferences for iTunes, Evaluating a Song's Output Level, Sending a Song to iTunes, Exporting a Project as a QuickTime Movie, Sharing a Project with iDVD, Adding and Editing Markers, Sending a Movie to iDVD and Sending a Podcast to iWeb