Apple GarageBand Tutorial: Lesson 2 - Manual (Page 3)

Lesson 2: Working With Real Instruments 3
Getting Ready to Record
Once you have connected your instrument and added a track to record in, there are a few things
to check before you start recording:
• Make sure the microphone or instrument is connected properly and is working.
• Make sure the correct audio drivers are selected in the Audio/MIDI Interfaces pane of
GarageBand Preferences.
• Open the Track Info window to make sure the instrument has the instrument and effects
settings you want, and is using the correct input channel (or pair of channels). See “Changing
Real Instrument Settings” on page 5 for more information.
• Sing or play a few notes and watch the track's level meters in the track mixer to make sure the
track is receiving input, and isn't clipping. If the red dots at the right of the level meters (called
clipping indicators ) light up, try dragging the volume slider to the left a little to lower the input
volume.
• You may want to set the song tempo and key before recording a Real Instrument. Real
Instrument recordings are fixed in tempo and key, unlike loops and Software Instrument
recordings, and cannot be changed after they are recorded.
Monitoring Real Instrument Input
Hearing your instrument while you play and record is called monitoring . When you create a Real
Instrument track, you can turn on monitoring for the track in the New Track dialog. You can turn
monitoring on or off in the Track Info window.
To turn on monitoring for a Real Instrument track:
1 Select a Real Instrument track, then click the Track Info button to open the Track Info window.
2 Click the Monitor On button to turn on monitoring, or click the Monitor Off button to turn off
monitoring.
Turning on monitoring can produce feedback (loud, sharp noise) if the audio input picks up the
sound being output through your speakers. This is the reason monitoring is off by default. You
may want to turn off monitoring for a Real Instrument track when you are not singing into the
microphone or playing the instrument connected to the track.