Like Randy, when I first started up GarageBand, I had no idea how to work it.
Notice how the sides of the GarageBand window are simulated wood (click above for a slightly larger image). This is an interesting (or is it ironic?) gesture towards the current vogue for vintage, analog equipment. The White Stripes, for instance, record only on vintage, ’60s-era equipment.
One of the things I really like about this program (and I’m sure there are other programs that work the same way) is how it turns one sensory experience, sound, into another sensory experience, vision. All the parts of a song are laid out in front of you and they scroll from right to left as the song progresses. If the song is short enough or the screen wide enough, you can view the whole song as a static object, like a short text, from start to finish. You’re not forced to listen your way from start to finish in order to get a sense of the whole. It makes understanding the structure of songs much easier.
I need something like this for the rest of my life. When you’re right there in the middle of your life, you’re not sure what’s coming next and you can’t remember all the details of what went before. And it’s hard to pay attention to more than one track at a time. With a real iLife program, that would no longer be a problem. You could step back and say, “Aha, this class needs a bit more reverb, but the other one’s doing fine. I’m going to turn down the volume on this committee assignment for a little while so it doesn’t distract from the research track. Up ahead we can see where the tenure decision is made, so let’s jump ahead and see what’s going on there. Then we’ll come back to this part and make sure everything leads up to where it’s supposed to.”
Well… read on for a more prosaic explanation of GarageBand as it actually works:
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