Lesson4.Working with Real Instruments

Lesson 4. Working with Real Instruments

Lesson Files	Lessons > Lesson_04 > 4-1 GuitarTest Starting; 4-2 GuitarTest Finished; 4-3 BassTest Starting; 4-4 BassTest Finished; 4-5 Piano Starting; 4-6 Piano Finished; 4-7 Piano punch ins
Time	This lesson takes approximately 1 hour, 30 minutes to complete.
Goals	Set the input channel for a Real Instrument track
	Set up musical instruments for recording
	Monitor Real Instrument input
	Record guitars
	Explore the Track Info window
	Add effects to a track and adjust them
	Edit Real Instrument regions
	Understand how to record over part of a song
	Work with the Timeline grid
	Split a region
	Edit a Real Instrument region in the Track Editor

GarageBand gives you many choices of instruments, tracks, regions, and methods of recording. In the previous lesson, you worked with flexible, editable Software Instruments. This lesson is dedicated to what GarageBand calls Real Instruments.

Real Instruments are exactly what they sound like: regions recorded from real instruments. With GarageBand, you can record a real instrument such as a guitar, bass, or keyboard directly into the Timeline. You can also use a microphone to record instruments that don't have an output jack, such as a trumpet, violin, grand piano, drum kit, acoustic guitar, or even vocals.

To record a Real Instrument into the Timeline, you have to physically perform/play the part using a real instrument in real time. In contrast to Software Instruments, Real Instrument recordings are "as is"you can't edit the individual notes or change instruments. However, you can add filters, and GarageBand 2 offers new features in the Track Editor to enhance the tuning and timing of Real Instrument regions once they're recorded.

Why would you record real instruments when you can use Software Instruments? Because they're real instruments! Certain instruments can't be simulated very well, so you want to record the real deal.

Suppose you're in a band and you want to record one of your new songs. How do you explain to your drummer that he has to play drums on a MIDI keyboard to get them into the computer? What about the lead vocal, guitar, and bass? Most musicians play best on their chosen instruments, not on a keyboard simulation. (Nothing against keyboards, which happen to be my instrument of choice.)

In this lesson, you'll learn how to work with Real Instruments once they are recorded into the Timeline. You'll learn how to record Real Instruments, edit and loop the recorded regions, and add effects to enhance the tracks.