Recording with Garage Band... Looking for tips
Hi All,
I'm looking for some guidance - I'm currently using garage band to record my submissions. I'm uploading the Jam Track and have been recording a seperate track, using the Jam Track as a back up. Is there a way that I can merge these tracks? Up until now I have been resorting to playing the two tracks simultaniously and using the internal mic on my Mac to record both tracks into one. As you can immagine, the result isn't the greatest - the song comes out thin and tin-can-ey and virtually wipes out all intended dynamics and color I'm adding to the song.
Can someone out there help, or provie an alternate fix (approach, recording software, etc...)? Here are the specs I'm currently working with:
Mac Operating System: High Sierra 10.13.6
Garage Band Version: 10.3.1
Digital Interface: Focusrite Scarlet 2i2
Mic: Bulletini
Thanks for any and all ideas - I'm getting increasing frustrated with every submission I make.
G~
Thank you so much!
That's EXACTLY what I needed to do!
I didn't watch mmarquez's video, but I use Share > Export Song to Disk. Click MP3. I tend to use Medium Quality, because of file-size issues.
Step one would be to get a better grade external USB mic. Big difference
I don't use Mac OS, IOS or Windows. I'm sharing my set up in case it comes handy for someone else.
I have recorded in two different ways:
Using Android. The newer version comes with a recorder app which is fine. Before I used some called "Audio Recorder", which was good enough. I recorded mainly inside my car in my garage, to minimize noise. Was OK for submissions. I have both recorded acoustically and amplified (I bought a Danelectro HoneyTone to practice and a Shure Green Bullet, and I'm pretty happy about both). Amplified recordings this way were tricky because you need to be careful with the volume level. Also, recording with the phone can introduce interference from the phone itself (SMS, WiFi) so you need to be careful with how you set the cables etc. I started recording playing alongside the backing track, but of course that sounds really bad. Then I switched to recording just the harp track (while listening to the backing track played on my phone or laptop with headphones) and mixing it in BandLab.
Using Zoom H4n. I happen to have one of those because I was getting into video recording some years ago, and I got one. This thing is a beast. It can record multi-track, and do many many things. So my latest recordings use this: harp -> green bullet -> honeytone -> H4n -> headsets (monitor). The H4n is also playing the backing track (that I loaded as a separate track) while I'm playing and I can hear using the headset on the monitoring channel. Then I make a mixdown in BandLab, but only because I like adding a little reverb in software. That's how I recorded my cover of Stormy Weather that I uploaded recently to the "Share" section https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XReXMu_arW0 and I was pretty happy with the process.
For helping adapt backing tracks, I use an android app called Music Speed Changer, which can change speed and pitch. Similar to the Amazing Slowdowner but free. For Stormy Weather I played it at the right pitch at my phone (1/2 tone sharper to match my A harp in 2nd position) and recorded it in the H4n by using a stereo cable between the two of them. Then I recorded the harp track separately.
I'm not a Garageband user but it seems that you want to export a mixdown as an mp3 (or other file format) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJyvSpgL-5E