GarageBand For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Chapter 2

Equipping and Setting Up Your Recording Space

IN THIS CHAPTER

Knowing the dos and don’ts for equipping your GarageBand studio

Determining your needs

Working with must-have gear

Knowing some good-to-have gear

I have some good news and some bad news. The good news first: Many of you won’t have to spend a dime — assuming you have GarageBand installed on your Macintosh or iDevice — to have lots of fun with GarageBand.

All iDevices and many Mac models, including most MacBooks (Pro and otherwise) and iMacs, come factory-equipped with everything you’re going to need to use GarageBand. As long as your Mac or iDevice has one or more speakers and a microphone, you have all you need to use GarageBand.

Now for the bad news: Although it’s true that you don’t need to spend another penny, it’s likely your finished song quality will be lacking in some (or many) ways. To make music that sounds fantastic, you'll need to invest at least a few additional bucks (or a few thousand). Although I am about to tell you which gear will have the most effect on your sound (and be easiest on your budget), ...