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GarageBand 2: The Missing Manual: Record and Publish Your Own Tunes Like a Pro

September 22, 2005

Sebastopol, CA--Recording a song used to be an expensive endeavor, getting the song published and distributed, a next-to-impossible dream. It was the recording studios that held all the power, but with the advent of the Internet, the power shifted into the hands of the creative artists. User-friendly applications like GarageBand have been providing powerful tools, and in today's music creation arena, anyone can create professional sounding recordings and use the Web to publish and distribute to a broad audience.

The latest GarageBand 2 update includes even more of the sophisticated musical instruments found in the first version, powerful new tools, and professional features for recording, editing, mixing, and publishing songs. Unfortunately, the best techniques aren't covered in the "manual" you get with GarageBand--its electronic help screens. Enter author and "New York Times" columnist David Pogue with GarageBand 2: The Missing Manual (O'Reilly, US 24.95). It's just the ticket for expert tips and techniques that will have musicians quickly and expertly recording and publishing their own tunes.

"GarageBand is more than a MIDI sequencer, more than a loop-based music construction set, even more than a multitrack tape recorder," comments Pogue. "It's also the equivalent of a six-foot-tall, $100,000 rack of studio processing equipment and a room full of guitar amps. The point is to give you exactly the same professional edge that recording artists have."

While GarageBand 2 provides the edge with a recording session, it's Pogue's book that functions as the personal tour guide with expert advice delivered with his trademark wit and humor. Readers will glean many cool new tips and learn techniques to:

  • Record and Edit Live Audio with Support for Multiple Tracks--GarageBand 2 now supports multi-track recording (up to 8 real instruments and one MIDI instrument at once)
  • Create Loops--No need to settle for the 1,000 musical snippets included, users can record and use their own
  • Use New Effects Modules--Apply special effects to both real and software instruments
  • Edit and Mix With New Features--Edit on screen with standard music notation in the new "sheet music view," alter tempo of real instrument recordings, correct pitch and timing of live recordings, pan and transpose curves
  • Bring Songs to the Public--Create an .AIFF file (used for professional recordings), convert to an MP3, AAC, .WAV, or Apple Lossless Encoder File, and learn where to post songs on line for streaming or downloading
  • Use Music in Videos--Learn how to incorporate your recordings with iMovie, iPhoto, and iDVD
  • You don't have to know how to read or play music. The book even provides a "GarageBand Music Crash Course" for a quick introduction on how to read sheet music and a handy appendix for reference that details GarageBand's menus so you wont miss any of the cool features. With GarageBand 2: The Missing Manual, anyone can become an expert at recording their own music.

    Additional Resources:

    GarageBand 2: The Missing Manual
    David Pogue
    ISBN: 0-596100353, 172 pages, $24.95 US, $34.95 CAN
    order@oreilly.com
    1-800-998-9938; 1-707-827-7000

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