Apple GarageBand Tutorial: Lesson 1 - Manual (Page 6)

6 Lesson 1: Building a Basic Arrangement
Refining Results by Scale Type
Most loops other than drum loops are recorded using a particular musical scale. In most cases,
when you arrange several loops so that they play together, you’ll want to use loops with the
same scale type. The Scale pop-up menu lets you narrow the loops shown in the results list to
those using either the major or minor scale, those using neither scale, or those good for both.
To display only loops with a particular scale type:
m Choose the scale type from the Scale pop-up menu.
Drum loops don’t usually have a scale type, so try refining the bass loops you found earlier to
show only those using the major scale.
Refining Results to Nearby Keys
Loops with melody and harmony instruments are recorded in a specific musical key. When you
add a loop to a song, GarageBand matches the loop’s key with the key of the song. The closer the
loop’s original key is to the key of the song, the more natural the loop will sound when
transposed to the song’s key. When a loop is transposed by a large number of semitones, the
result can sometimes sound unnatural or distorted.
To display loops only in keys near the song’s key:
1 Choose GarageBand > Preferences, then click the General tab.
2 In the General pane, click the “Filter for more relevant results” checkbox.
Refining Results with Text Searching
You can quickly find loops with specific text in their file name or path using the search field. This
makes it easy to find a loop by name, or to find all loops in a specific folder.
To perform text searches for loops:
m Type the text you want to search for in the search field, then press Return. Loops with the text in
either their file name or path will be shown in the results list.
Try refining the drum loops you found earlier by typing “acoustic”, “club”, or “funk” in the search
field. You can try typing other words to see what results you get.
You can use several methods together to find specific loops. For instance, you can use keywords
with the Scale pop-up menu, or with the search field, to find only bass loops using the major
scale, or to find only percussion loops with “latin” in the file name.
Choose a scale type here. Enter search text here.