GarageBand 2: The Missing Manual Review

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GarageBand 2: The Missing Manual ReviewGarageBand is not aimed at professional musicians. Instead it is intended to help amateurs produce music easily. The application comes with 1,000 pre-recorded sampled loops, plus 50 sampled or synthesized instruments which can be played using a MIDI keyboard connected to the computer, or using an on-screen keyboard. This is a complex piece of software, thus enters David Pogue and his "Missing Manual" series to explain it all.
The book has three parts. Part 1 deals with how to construct and edit a song or composition in GarageBand. Pogue explains how to use GarageBand loops (repeated musical patterns) and how to create original material. The most helpful feature in this section is the tutorial that takes the reader through the construction of a composition using loops. Pogue offers a couple of ideas about constructing music for those new to the process.
The pluses and minuses of using the onscreen digital piano, the Mac keyboard as a piano, and using a MIDI keyboard are discussed. Pogue supplies information needed about additional equipment and software to enhance GarageBand. Websites are listed where equipment and software additions can be purchased and downloaded. Pogue lists prices and states what can be expected from each purchase. He also lists many sites where information, tutorials and software are available free.
Part 2 tells you how to mix tracks and export music to post it on a website, how to export it to iTunes, how to burn it to a CD, or how to use it as background music in iMovie, iPhoto, or iDVD. The problem with GarageBand is overcoming the amount of memory and power it requires, so there is troubleshooting information as well as recommendations about shareware add-ons and Web sites to visit for additional help.
The Appendices round out the book with invaluable information about all of the menus, keyboard shortcuts, and a section on musical concepts for the non-musician.
Pogue is an entertaining writer who is very capable at explaining difficult concepts to novices without boring veterans. GarageBand was designed to enable the writing of music with little or no musical training, and Pogue writes so that the music theory involved in the program can be grasped by the inexperienced. I'm a person whose limited knowledge of music and music theory is self-taught, and I found this book very accessible and enjoyable. I guess the best judge of this book's quality is how much my stepson, who is a musician, has been enjoying it and GarageBand. He's never been one for the books, but he's practically joined at the hip with this one.
I notice Amazon does not show the table of contents, so I do that here for the purpose of completeness:
PART 1: BUILDING A HIT
1. Setting Up the Garage
Equipment Requirements; Installing GarageBand; Opening GarageBand; Playback; Cycling; Navigating the Music; Two Kinds of Music; Tracks; Muting and Soloing Tracks
2. Loops
Starting a New GarageBand Project; The Loop Browser; Placing a Loop; More Loops
3. Regions
Selecting Regions; Renaming Regions; Dragging Regions; The Grid; Looping Regions; Shortening Regions I; Shortening Regions II; Lengthening Regions; Splitting Regions; Joining Regions; Copy and Paste; Option Drag; Delete; Tutorial for Non-Musicians
4. Software Instruments (MIDI)
How To Feed a Hungry GarageBand; Your Free On-Screen Digital Piano; The Mac Keyboard as Piano; MIDI Synths and Controllers; Recording a MIDI Track; Retakes; Spot Recording; Cumulative Recording; Mod Wheels and Other MIDI Fun
5. Editing Software Instruments
The Track Editor; Notation Editing; The Encyclopedia of MIDI Editing; Transposing Notes or Regions; Quantizing; Velocity, Pedaling, and Other MIDI Data
6. Recording and Editing Live Audio
The Setup; Recording a Live Audio Track; Editing Real Instrument Regions; Enhance Timing, Enhance Tuning
7. Effects, Guitar Amps, and Instrument Modules
Instrument-Named Presets; Save Instrument, Deleted Instrument; Effect Modules
PART 2: BEYOND THE GARAGE
8. Mixing and Publishing
Mixing Tracks; The Master Track; Publishing the Song; Your Music in iPhoto, iMovie, and iDVD
9. Adding On, Moving Up
Making Your Own Apple Loops; Moving Your Loops to Another Drive;
Importing MIDI Files; Import iTunes Music Store Files (SoundFlower); More Free Software Instruments (SoundFonts); The iSight as Microphone; Save as Archive; The Instrument Tuner; Re-Wire; Build Your Own Instrument Loops (iDrum); Add an E-Z Chords Feature (ReMIDI); Beyond GarageBand; GarageBand Online
10. The Speed Chapter
Set the Stage; Mute Some Tracks; Lock Some Tracks; Temporarily Squelch the Effects; Combine Tracks; Enlarge Your Buffer; Lose Some Software Instrument Voices; Reduce the Track Overhead; Convert Software Instrument Loops; Turn Monitoring Off; Bounce Down Many Tracks into One; Install More Memory
11. Troubleshooting
Trouble with Loops; Recording and Editing Problems; Mixing and Publishing Glitches;
APPENDIXES
A. The GarageBand Music Course
B. GarageBand, Menu by Menu
C. GarageBand 2 Keyboard ShortcutsGarageBand 2: The Missing Manual Overview

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