Garageband

[jitensha]

Hey all. Any garageband aficionados here? I recently picked up an Apogee Jam interface and have been noodling around with Garageband; nothing too serious.
Its actually pretty amazing, and i can record stuff on my phone even and then bring it onto my laptop and flesh it out etc. However, the distortion and fuzz effects, and really anytime you push the gain on any of the amp settings in the software produces this annoying hum/buzz that pretty much renders the effect unusable. I know there is a noise gate that you can slide and filter it out but then it really impacts the sustain and touch sensitivity of the notes.

Has anyone else experienced this and/or and have suggestions? I realize GB is chinzy software to begin with but there seems so much potential there if I could only find a solution to the noise.

[t-ray]

I have been goofing around with GB for a couple of years, now. Last year, I bought a Komplete Audio 6 digital interface and it came with Native Instruments Guitar Rig emulation software. I just upgraded to version 5. It is very easy to use with GB and sounds great. Much more realistic sounds than the amps, etc. on GB. I agree, though, that the hum and buzz is a bit hard to control at times. I would welcome others' thoughts on how to deal with that issue (if they agree that it is one).

[woodman]

Generally with amp sims, the gain control is vastly exaggerated. I've gotten most of my good (and less noisy) tones with the master high, gain control to the lower side. Of course I'm not a huge power chord guy, but I do like some overdrive. A very high-gain setting tends to mush out in the mix. What works for me is to start out getting a good guitar tone on a fairly clean setting (master between 7 and 10) and easing the gain up until I've got the amount of drive I need, then fine-tuning the balance between gain and master.

[Martin R]

We use GarageBand to record and do basic mixes. Do you have an amp, pedals and a microphone? Record what you normally play with your guitar effects instead of adding digital effects later.

We hardly ever use any of the GB amp effects...we record real instruments with mics. (Although I will add a high pass filter to everything but bass and kick drum.)

GarageBand is anything but chinzy. It's probably more advanced than anything around up until the 90's. I usually record in GB, (because it's easy), and mix in Logic. But on Little Blue House there was a problem opening some of the tracks. So the whole thing is mixed in GarageBand...and I'm pretty happy with it.

And Who Luvs Ya was recorded in live in a Santa Fe studio. We recut the vocals and mixed in GB at home. I'm pretty happy with it, too.

[woodman]

Originally Posted by Martin R

We use GarageBand to record and do basic mixes. Do you have an amp, pedals and a microphone? Record what you normally play with your guitar effects instead of adding digital effects later.

We hardly ever use any of the GB amp effects...we record real instruments with mics. (Although I will add a high pass filter to everything but bass and kick drum.)

GarageBand is anything but chinzy. It's probably more advanced than anything around up until the 90's. I usually record in GB, (because it's easy), and mix in Logic. But on Little Blue House there was a problem opening some of the tracks. So the whole thing is mixed in GarageBand...and I'm pretty happy with it.

Gotta agree — GB is the top end of the low end (and it's free if you got a Mac). All the tools are there — maybe not as dazzling plug-ins as the pricey stuff, but plenty to get the fundamentals of recording down. It all starts with getting clean tracks and editing, EQ, compression, all those unsexy things that become your foundation blocks.

GB opened up a whole new world to me after decades of struggling with ministudio-type tape recorders. I think it's a great starting point and, as Martin's experience proves, it can take you well much further if you work at it.

[mindlobster]

I am an Ableton Live hardcore user, and a Logic user, but I LOVE GarageBand; I've been using it a lot recently for recording a guitar-based project. But I think the guitar amp models in GB suck. I was either recording through an Eleven Rack, or guitar-pedals-amp-mic-tube pre-apogee-mac. If I have to use software modelling, I like Amplitube.

[t-ray]

Originally Posted by mindlobster

I am an Ableton Live hardcore user, and a Logic user, but I LOVE GarageBand; I've been using it a lot recently for recording a guitar-based project. But I think the guitar amp models in GB suck. I was either recording through an Eleven Rack, or guitar-pedals-amp-mic-tube pre-apogee-mac. If I have to use software modelling, I like Amplitube.

See my post about Guitar Rig 5, above. I thought the guitar sims in GB were pretty good when I started out, but I was really blown away when I started using the FREE software that came with my DI. No doubt, there are a lot of very affordable options out there. Nevertheless, GB is a great tool. Quite amazing how much power and control it gives you, for free (for us Mac users).

[woodman]

Originally Posted by mindlobster

I am an Ableton Live hardcore user, and a Logic user, but I LOVE GarageBand; I've been using it a lot recently for recording a guitar-based project. But I think the guitar amp models in GB suck. I was either recording through an Eleven Rack, or guitar-pedals-amp-mic-tube pre-apogee-mac. If I have to use software modelling, I like Amplitube.

I like Amplitube too, and POD Farm, and (more and more) Logic Amp Designer. It's true the high-dollar plugs bring more to the table than the stock GB rigs. But it seems a bit harsh to say the GB models suck.

I do think it's fair to say that an awful lot of the presets in all the above suck. They sound great when auditioned solo, but then fall apart in your mix. But if you find a preset that's close to what you want but doesn't work in the mix, thorough, artful tweaking can remedy a lot of those ills.

Once a mix is happening, I usually sweep the frequencies on every tone control to find the sweet spot that helps it sit in the mix, then take a minute to tinker with the gain/master ratio to get just enough dirt to suit the song — too much diffuses the guitar tone and makes it indistinct; too little can make it sound thin.

Then, when you've got something that works, save it as a user preset and start building your own library of home-grown guitar sounds.

[jitensha]

Thanks for the input everyone. I seem to be discovering,as per woodman's suggestion that the trick is to keep the output and gain below 7. I seem to be able to manage a nice crunchy tone. Also it depends on which amp sim I choose, My initial impulse was to go with the vox-ish one or the bluesbreaker-ish as those british tones are ones I gravitate to anyway, but as I mentioned when I crank them up it would get really hissy. However, the some other sims (the orange-ish one or the blackface one for example) are already hotter so I can get a crunchier signal at a lower output/gain setting.

I was also thinking of bringing my pedal board back from our rehearsal space and run through that and see. But it is a pretty cool software and total value for the money. The phone ap is maybe the best 5$ Ive spent on an app. I could make beats and loops on that thing all day.

[swleamon]

Good advice all around. One thing to remember when recording with amp sims. It is a midrange instrument. Don't hype the highs & lows as they will inevitably interfere with other instruments and or be masked. Like others have said, use gain judiciously to avoid the "sizzle" sound.

I use Pro Tools & Logic. But sketch ideas with GarageBand on my iPad/iPhone. It is amazingly good for being free. Also my 11 yr old son loves it.

[Progbusters]

I learned what I know on Garageband. I'm doing analog recording to garageband. No sims except the drum kit. GB is powerful but after 8 or 9 tracks, memory and cpu usage is an issue if you don't have a powerful computer. Also I'm getting artifacts when I export the song to AIF. I believe the hum is coming from using an USB interface. I read Firewire doesn't have this problem. Is true? I have hum in my recordings using an M-Audio Fast track Pro. I got hum when using headphones to montior.

[Martin R]

Originally Posted by Progbusters

I learned what I know on Garageband. I'm doing analog recording to garageband. No sims except the drum kit. GB is powerful but after 8 or 9 tracks, memory and cpu usage is an issue if you don't have a powerful computer. Also I'm getting artifacts when I export the song to AIF. I believe the hum is coming from using an USB interface. I read Firewire doesn't have this problem. Is true? I have hum in my recordings using an M-Audio Fast track Pro. I got hum when using headphones to montior.

I have the same interface but don't have the hum issue. Could it be a bad mic cable or something simple like that?

And there are no artifacts when I export to AIF. Try setting up iTunes for AIF then export to there.

Also, we can run up to 16 tracks of real instrument on an older Mini without too much trouble. (I don't have GB in front of me now, but I think locking tracks that are set frees up some CPU room.)

This track, Little Blue House, has six drum tracks, three pedal steel tracks, three electric guitar tracks, a bass plus the acoustic guitar and vocal. It was recorded and edited on GB.