6.1. The Setup

GarageBand can record live audio from two kinds of sound inputs: microphones, and direct line inputs (from electronic instruments like guitars and keyboards, audio interface boxes, and mixers). In version 2, it can even record from several of these sources at once, which is handy if, say, you like to play your guitar and sing.

6.1.1. The Microphone

To record singing , acoustic instruments, or the world around you, you'll need a microphone.

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Note: Some acoustic guitars have built-in pickups. If yours does, you don't need a microphone; you can plug the guitar straight into an audio interface, as described next .

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This mike can take any of several forms:

• The built-in microphone on Mac laptops, iMacs, and eMacs . The drawback of this approach is that you might also pick up the Mac's own fan sounds, and the quality isn't quite studio caliber. But it's cheap, it's built-in, and it works fine for everyday recordings.

• A cheap USB microphone . At Amazon.com or Buy.com, you can pick up a microphone that plugs directly into your Mac's USB port for under $20. They come in two forms: headset mikes, designed for use with speech-recognition software, and desktop mikes , which stick up, stalk-like, from a little stand on your desk. Both work fine for recording vocals andif you position them close to the sound sourceacoustic instruments.

  

  Figure 6-1. Adapting your microphone to the Mac may require an adapter. Here, a Griffin iMic adapter ( preamp ) is used for signal boosting for a fancy microphone. The iMic plugs into the Mac's USB jack.

  
  

• A regular microphone . If you have access to a more professional microphone, then by all means, use it. You might run into two problems, though.

  First, there's the little matter of fitting the microphone's cable into the Mac's tiny, one- eighth -inch, Walkman-headphones miniplug microphone input. If your microphone's cable ends in a quarter-inch phono plug instead, or even a professional, nickel- sized XLR connector, the cheerful staff at your local Radio Shack will be happy to sell you an adapter. (At Apple's Web site and others, you can buy this adapter in the form of the $20 Monster iStudioLink.)

  Second, many microphones (and other sound sources, like record players and tape decks) don't put out enough signal for the Mac's microphone jack. You'll probably need a preamp to boost the signal to audible levels.

  The most inexpensive option is the $40 Griffin iMic (www.griffintechnology.com), which offers not only a built-in preamp but also cleaner sound circuitry than what's built into the Mac. (It's shown in Figure 6-1.)

  For even more flexibility, you can use an audio interface box like the M-Audio MobilePre USB, which you can also find on the Apple Web site ($150). This more professional box offers three different kinds of input jacks for various microphones and instruments, including both microphone preamp inputs and high-impedance instrument inputs for guitars and basses.

  Both the iMic and the MobilePre draw their power from the USBjack, so you don't even have to carry along a power adapter.

6.1.2. Line Inputs

If you have an electric guitar, electric violin, or synthesizer keyboard whose built-in sounds you want to capture, don't bother with the microphone. Instead, connect the instrument's line output cable (which would otherwise go into an amplifier ) into an audio interface, like the iMic or M-Audio MobilePre described above. The audio interface then plugs into your Mac's USB port.

In more elaborate setups, you can even connect the outputs from a standalone mixing console. You'd do that if, for example, you wanted to record the playing from several live instruments at once into a single GarageBand track. (Of course, using a very basic program like GarageBand to record from thousands of dollars' worth of recording equipment in this way is a little like using iMovie to edit The Lord of the Rings but hey, whatever floats your boat.)

Because this cable is coming directly from a sound source and not from a microphone, it's called a line input .

6.1.3. Introducing the Mac

As you're starting to realize, the Mac is capable of recording sound from a number of different sources: its own built-in mike, an external mike, a line input, and so on. When the moment comes to click the Record button in GarageBand, how will the Mac know what to listen to?

You'll tell it ahead of time, that's how. Figure 6-2 shows the two-step procedure.

Figure 6-2. Top: From the menu, choose System Preferences. Click the Sound icon; then click the Input tab. Specify which sound source you want to record (in this case, a microphone connected to the iMic adapter). Before you close this window, drag the slider to adjust the general volume level for your singing or playing. Ideally, the loudest notes should illuminate the rightmost dancing bars briefly . (The highest level bar "sticks on" for about a second to make it easier for you to spot your volume peaks, as shown here.)
Bottom: Now return to GarageBand. Choose Garage- Band Preferences, and click the Audio/MIDI tab. Using the Audio Input pop-up menu, check to make sure that the correct input is selectedthat, in effect, GarageBand is prepared to listen using the correct "ear."
(Actually, GarageBand 2 is pretty smart about auto-detecting the iMic adapter in particular.)