[Macworld]

Post your comments for Songwriting with GarageBand here

[HotelMotelHolidayInn]

Enjoy this series. I see that you sometimes record your acoustic guitar in Garageband. I avoid doing this because my iMac G5 starts to whine pretty good when it's working hard, which ruins the recording. What kind of Mac are you working on? Do you have this same problem?

[maineguy]

I like using Garageband as a sketch tool/recording system. It is so simple, and so competent a program it rarely gets in the way. Actually, the only thing in the way is my daughter... getting her off the mac long enough for me to use it is always a problem.
HotelMotelHolidayInn: I'm assuming you're mic'ing the acoustic... have you tried one of the better pickups out there? I use a LR Baggs on an old high end 12 string that is remarkably good.

[Jim Dalrymple]

HotelMotelHolidayInn, I am using a 2 x 3GHz Mac Pro. I haven't seen too many things that can slow this machine down.

[Jim Dalrymple]

maineguy, I think that's a perfect way to put -- GarageBand doesn't get in the way.

[Xaqtly]

I love GarageBand. So many people seem to dismiss it at first because they don't know what it is or what it does, but the value of GB is just astounding. It's such a competent program that I still can't believe it comes free on new Macs.
I helped a friend record a few songs at my house a while back for an album he was making, we recorded all the songs in GarageBand because at the time that was the best option for me. Nobody could believe we recorded it in GarageBand because it actually sounded pretty good. If you want to hear what we did, you can go here to hear a sample:
http://cdbaby.com/cd/jwicksrecords
Click on the first track called "Oh Yeah!". We recorded and mixed that track at my house in GarageBand. I play drums and keyboards on the track, and John played guitars and bass, and did all the vocals. I used an M-Audio Firewire 410 interface for the mic, guitars and drums. It ended up being almost a "how far can we push GarageBand" kind of thing, and ultimately the limits we ran into were my hardware, not GB. I had a 1 GHz dual processor MDD G4 tower at the time, and we eventually ended up needing to bounce tracks.
Not an issue on my current Mac, a 2.8 Ghz 8 core Mac Pro. :D

[ka_klick]

I've done all of my recording in GarageBand since it was released. I came up w/ MOTU Performer from the 1.x days, but for years got bogged down by process, same when I used Deck II and others. As others have said: GarageBand just doesn't get in the way. It lets me get in and come out with a song quickly and effectively. I've released 2 CDs recorded entirely w/ GarageBand. I'll be looking forward to your next installments that detail what you get by taking the project elsewhere, since atm, I'm pretty happy to stay w/ GB.
My Albums (and more info) can be seen here: http://ka-klick.com

[Jim Dalrymple]

Ka_Klick: I've been using other apps after the initial GarageBand recording for some time now. It's actually a pretty easy transition.

[Jim Dalrymple]

Xaqtly: It's kind of funny when the limit is the hardware and not the "consumer" application. Good to hear how well it work for everyone.

[major7]

I like to hear that somebody else works the same way that I do, especially when I need to put solo guitar leads over something. I just keep it running, and keep recording and listen back later. Maybe there's one brief little moment of inspiration in there that catches my ear later, and I expand on that.
Strangely enough, though, it seems I come up with my best stuff when I'm not near any instruments at all. For me, it works best to take my consciousness out of the mix. It tends to be too logical and dismisses anything that doesn't strictly conform to standard music theory. Singing in the shower, listening to what's going on in your head when you first wake up in the morning, humming when you're going out for a walk, or having someone suggest a song title to you have all been times when I've come up with my best stuff.
Lastly, when I am inspired, you know what application I use? Microsoft Word! Yeah, go figure. The cool thing about it is that, if you're in Notebook mode, it can record right from the built in mic on your computer into your document. If you do happen to think up some lyrics, you can write them down as well on the same page. It's the quickest program to boot up on my computer, so less time is taken to catch the inspiration. I'm a terrible lyric writer, so I've tried MasterWriter as well to help think of lyrics.

[Jim Dalrymple]

Major7 that is really interesting. MS Word. I never even thought of that as an option, but that's cool. This is what I wanted to hear -- all the options that people use.

Looks like neither one of us are good lyric writers. I'm bad enough with lyrics, I just decided it would be better to have Al write them. I'm really bad. What are your thoughts on MasterWriter?

[major7]

MasterWriter is a really cool program. It's got a ton of useful features, and they're all neatly packed into one program. Trouble is, I don't do enough song writing to justify the price. If I had an unlimited budget, I would certainly have it, but I only used it for one song that I was working on last summer. You can download it and try it for 30 days - so I would definitely recommend giving it a try - or your co-writer. Just make sure that you copy any of your lyrics into a different app - like Word or TextEdit - before the trial period runs out if you're not going to keep it. You will have lost all your great lyrics!

[petercatham]

I DO ALL MY RECORDING WITH GARAGE BAND, AND APPLE LOOPS.IT'S THE BEST THING I EVER FOUND.
TO HEAR SIX SONG I WROTE.GO TO.
http://www.myspace.c...amhisappleloops
ENJOY THE MUSIC. PETER CATHAM

[gothick]

Its very interesting to see your creative process.
I use GarageBand in a similar way but your comments about the Arrange track has really helped me find new structure in my songs (took me ages to discover you can use the Option key to copy sections!)
I've recently started using Logic Studio but always find myself starting a song with GarageBand - its so quick and intuiative!
Some of my songs are at http://www.myspace.com/gothicknowledge
Look forward to more instalements .. without Pro Tools ! ;-)