Tips

Keep yourself in time with the metronome

GarageBand includes a metronome that automatically clicks at the tempo of your song while you record. But you can also use the metronome during playback while you’re practicing. In GarageBand Preferences, click the General button and make sure the "During playback and recording" option is selected. To get the feel for the beat before you record, go to the Control menu and choose Count In.

Turning monitoring on and off

If you’re using a microphone to record your voice or an acoustic instrument, you should turn off monitoring on the track you’re recording to avoid feedback. To turn monitoring on or off, double-click a real instrument track and select On or Off from the Monitor dropdown menu in the Track Info pane.

Make changes to real instrument tracks

After you record your performance, you might want to change how it sounds. For example, you might want to change the amp simulation for your guitar. Or, you can modify how your vocal performance sounds by choosing a different vocal effect preset.

Use the Instrument Tuner

You can use the inline Instrument Tuner to tune your instrument before you begin recording.

Use a vocal transformer effect

With the effects in GarageBand you can make your voice sound male or female. Just double-click your vocal track header and experiment with the different Effect settings. You can even create a nice harmonizing effect where you have two versions of yourself singing by duplicating your voice track and changing the octave or effect.

Record multiple tracks at once

You can easily record multiple tracks at the same time. It’s the same process as recording one. This can be really useful if you want to record with other band members. In the Track Info of each track you’ll define which track receives which audio source from your hardware audio input device. GarageBand supports up to 8 audio inputs plus a software instrument track.

Use headphones when recording with a microphone

When you record with a microphone, while playing with other tracks you’ve already laid down, you can use a pair of headphones to hear the other tracks, but capture only your vocal performance.

Steps

Record your voice or acoustic instrument to a Real Instrument track

1. Click the track header of the Real Instrument track you want to record.
2. Click the Record button (the round one with a red circle). Your song will play, and anything you play or sing will be recorded. Notice that a new region appears as you play.
3. When you’re finished with the part you want to record, click the play button to stop recording.