Exporting Your Song to iTunes

When your song is finished, you can export it to iTunes so you can listen to it on your iPod or use it with your iMovie projects, your iPhoto slideshows, or with your iDVD project.

GarageBand automatically puts your song in your iTunes music library, where you’re listed as the artist.

Tips

Archive your project

If you want to work on your song on another Mac, you can save an archive. Just go to the File menu and choose Save as Archive. This creates a file in the GarageBand folder that contains all the loops you added to your song, as well as your Real and Software Instrument recordings.

Use your GarageBand songs with other iLife applications

You can use your song to play along with your iMovie, as background music for an iPhoto slideshow, or even as the menu music that plays in your iDVD project. Just export the song to iTunes and its available for use in the other iLife applications.

Capture effects at the end of your song by cycling extra measures

If you’re using loops that use echo or reverberation effects, they may continue to sound after the final measure of the song. When you export the song, these sounds may be cut off abruptly. To ensure that you capture everything, you can turn on cycling and then extend the cycle region a couple measures beyond the end of the song. When you export the song, the additional measures are included, and everything will fade away gently.

Change song and playlist information

To change the information that GarageBand sets for your song when you export to iTunes, go to the GarageBand menu and choose Preferences. In the window that appears, click the General tab and enter new information in the iTunes Playlist, Composer Name, and Album Name fields.

Steps

Export your song to iTunes

From the Share menu, choose Send Song to iTunes.
Notice that iTunes opens and starts playing your song.
You can now listen to your song in iTunes, transfer it to your iPod, or use it with your slideshows like any other song in your iTunes library.