GarageBand 2: The Missing Manual

Appendix B. GarageBand, Menu by Menu

You could use GarageBand for years without opening a single menu. But unless you explore its menu commands, you’re likely to miss some of the options and controls that make it a surprisingly powerful little recording studio.

Here’s a menu-by-menu look at GarageBand’s commands.

GarageBand Menu

This first menu, Mac OS X’s Application menu, takes on the name of whatever program happens to be running in the foreground. In GarageBand’s case, that would be GarageBand.

About GarageBand

This command opens the “About” box containing the requisite Apple copyright, trademark, and version information.

There’s really only one good reason to open the About GarageBand window: It’s the easiest way to find out exactly which version of GarageBand you have.

GarageBand Hot Tips

Opens a page on Apple’s Web site that lists tricks like keyboard shortcuts and provides a brief overview of GarageBand’s features—like using loops and recording a live instrument.

Preferences

Opens the Preferences window (Figure B-1), where you can twiddle with four tabs’ worth of options.

General

Most of these options are pretty easy to figure out. Do you want the metronome (when it’s turned on in the Control menu) to click away only when you’re recording, or also when you’re playing back the piece? Do you want GarageBand to say, “Save changes?” each time you make a change to an instrument or instrument preset?

“Filter for more relevant results” is a Loop browser setting. It hides loops whose original ...