Multipass Recording

You just recorded a simple drum part in one take. To create a mixed drum part, you may wish to try multipass recording. With multipass recording, you can record into the same region over and over, adding different sounds with each pass.

Your goal in this exercise is to record a drum region that has different drum sounds. You'll then use that region as a drum loop.

Creating a Recording Cycle Region

The first step in multipass recording is to create a cycle region for the number of measures you wish to record. For this exercise, you will set a cycle region that is two measures in length.

1.	Click the Cycle button in the transport controls to show the cycle region. The cycle region appears beneath the Beat Ruler at the top of the Timeline.
2.	Click-drag the Cycle Region Ruler between the 2nd and 4th measure to create a cycle region two measures long.

Creating a New Software Instrument Track

Before you record, you'll need to create a new Software Instrument track.

1.	Choose Track > New Track to open the New Track window.
2.	Select Drum Kits > Hip Hop Kit from the Software Instrument choices.
3.	Click the Create Button. A new Hip Hop Kit track appears in the Timeline.
4.	Click the first five keys (C1E1) to hear the sounds again.

Recording a Rough Draft

Brace yourselfthe first time you try multipass recording will likely be rough. Don't worrywith the Undo command, you can always do it again.

Select one drum sound, perhaps the kick drum (C1) or the snare (E1), and play only that drum part for the first pass. Choose a second drum part for the next pass. Each time you finish recording a drum part, switch to a different sampled drum sound (a different key on the keyboard) to add a new part.

Experiment with the different drum parts to come up with one that you like. If you are having trouble coming up with a pattern, start with the pattern I describe below for the kick drum and snare. Keep in mind that your drum pattern will be two measures in length, making it a total of eight beats, four per measure.

Try recording the kick drum once on the second beat and twice on the fourth beat. Then again in the next measure, record once on the second beat and twice on the fourth beat.

Now try the snare twice on the first beat, once on the second beat, twice on the third beat, and once on the fourth beat for both measures.

Keep the recording going until you have recorded a pass with all five of the different sounds.

The key (pun intended) to making this work is that you can't stop recording. If you stop recording, the multi-take option is over. If you try to record in that region again, you'll erase the previous recording.

One more thing: let's slow things down a bit for this first version. Remember, if you slow the tempo down for a Software Instrument, you can always speed it up again after you record.

1.	Change the project tempo to 100. The metronome will change to match the new project tempo. Tip Let the metronome count off a few measures first to get a feel for the tempo before you start recording.
2.	Click the Record button to start the multipass recording.
3.	Record each instrument one at a time through each pass.
4.	When you finish, press the spacebar to stop recording. Note If you hold a note at the end of the loop region, it may cause the finished loop to extend longer than two measures.
5.	Change the project tempo back to 120 to hear your recorded loop at a faster tempo.

So, how did it go? Recording drum loops takes a lot of practice and patience. Fortunately, you can always press Cmd-Z to undo the recording and start over.

If you had a rough time creating your own drum tracks, there's good news. GarageBand includes hundreds of prerecorded drum loops from which to choose. For those of you who like creating your own beats, you now have the tools to do it.

Resizing a Recorded Region

What if your finished recorded region appears longer than the two measures you set in the cycle region? You can easily resize the region to trim the empty space at the beginning and end.

To resize a Software Instrument region in the Timeline, simply click-drag the lower-right or lower-left corner and resize.

1.	Move your pointer over the lower-right corner of the recorded region. The pointer becomes a resize pointer.
2.	Click-drag the lower-right edge of the loop to resize it so that it fits the two measures of the cycle region.
3.	If necessary, drag the lower-left edge to resize the beginning of the loop.
4.	Move your pointer over the upper-right corner of the recorded region to turn it into the loop pointer.
5.	Click-drag the upper-right corner to extend your recorded region another two measures. As you can see, your recorded software regions can be resized or extended into loops depending on which corner you click-drag.

Project Tasks

Now it's time to practice your skills by recording another multipass drum loop at full tempo. If you feel like creating a really fat beat, feel free to try some of the other drum sounds (keys) within the Hip Hop Kit.

1.	Create a new Software Instrument track and select Drum Kit > Hip Hop Kit for the instrument.
2.	Select the new track and make sure the Record Enable button is on.
3.	Mute the previously recorded tracks.
4.	Turn the cycle region on and record a new drum loop using multiple drum sounds.
5.	Extend your finished region so that it loops three times in the Timeline.

Saving Your Project

Now that you've created three different drum loops, let's save your work so you can come back and listen to it another time for pleasureor torture, depending on the quality of your recordings.

1.	Click the Mute buttons on the first two tracks to turn them back on.
2.	Click the Cycle button to turn off the cycle region in the Timeline.
3.	Press Cmd-S to save the project into your GarageBand Songs folder on the Desktop.