GarageBand -file compatibility with...?

proffett · July 17th, 2007, 01:44 AM

My worship leader and I have recently set up a little studio in his office, in order to record new songs and parts for rehearsal purposes... his setup is simple, a Mackie mixer into a Firebox into a Mac laptop running Garageband.
My question is this... what other, if any, DAW applications out there will read the Garageband format?
I am just starting to put together a small home recording setup mself, and have a few options as to my interface... I am going to be using a PC, with some sort of Firewire interface, so I'll be using either ProTools LE, ProToolsM-Powered or Cubase LE to start with.
Will any of these, or any other, read a Garageband .band(?) file? Or am I resigned to mixing down to .mp3 and/or attempting to convince my worship leader to convert from Garageband to the platform I select? Or 'converting' to a Mac myself and using GarageBand?

Thanks

Dan

ibobunot · July 17th, 2007, 02:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by proffett

attempting to convince my worship leader to convert from Garageband to the platform I select?

Good luck with that...

Logic Express and Logic Pro are the only programs that can import a native Garageband file. You could mix it down, export to iTunes and encode as MP3, AIFF, WAV, MPEG-4, AAC.

tjalla · July 17th, 2007, 03:53 AM

I can't say about PCs reading garageband files, but I do know that exporting garageband to iTunes allows you to save as AIFF, which isn't compressed like mp3s.

my .02, fwiw.

proffett · July 17th, 2007, 05:43 AM

Mixing down to mp3 format is what we have been doing, just to get the tracks out to the members of the team, and that works just fine for distributing the basic stuff.
What I want to do now is take the original native file with the individual acoustic guitar and vocal tracks and add/edit my own instrument (electric guitar, bass etc.) tracks to some of the stuff we record, as well as additional vocal tracks. I know one way I can do it is to import the mp3 or wav file into just about any DAW as a single track, but some of the rough guitar tracks need to be replaced or vocal parts removed etc... in which case the original garageband file with the separate tracks is needed.
If Logic Express/Pro are the only apps that read garageband native files then I guess I'm out of luck...
Unless... if I can find someone with Logic, have them import the file and then export it to ProTools or something else? Is that a possibility? I know its reaching but, I just can't afford a Mac right now... yet...

Big John · July 17th, 2007, 05:57 AM

Why not just mute the tracks in Garage band that you want to replace then mix it down to MP3 ?, muting the tracks means they wont be mixed down and you can add your own later on your own system.

ibobunot · July 17th, 2007, 06:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by proffett

I just can't afford a Mac right now... yet...

This meets the minimum requirements for Garageband...

needs more ram and a bigger hard drive.

proffett · July 17th, 2007, 06:57 AM

Big John: that would work, but I would probably want a second mp3 with all of the tracks for reference... but it would do until I could come up with a system that will be compatible... IE: buying the Mac in the link that ibobunot posted...

ibobunot, thanks for the link... that may be the route I end up going... I'm not too sharp when it comes to Macs but I guess if that meets the requirements then it's probably the best way to get started...

Obviously you are a Mac person, or at least someone with some knowledge of them...
Here is a question probably asked way too many times:
How do they compare to PC's for recording? I'm using a PC with XP, an Athlon 64 2 GHz processor and 1 Gig of RAM. What would a comparable Mac consist of, and what are the advantages and disadvantages of Macs over PC's?
What else do I neeed to look for in a Mac for recording?

Tim Armstrong · July 17th, 2007, 11:23 AM

I'm a PC person (so far), but many feel that Macs are the way to go for recording. Pro studios use them much more often than PCs, probably because ProTools and Logic are designed for them.

FWIW, I've done a lot of online collaborations with other musicians using a whole lot of different DAW programs (including GarageBand), and we generally swap files as mp3s, and then send wav files to whoever is mixing...

Cheers, Tim

July 17th, 2007, 01:44 AM	#1 (permalink)
proffett TDPRI Member Join Date: May 2007 Location: Denver Age: 38 Posts: 87	GarageBand -file compatibility with...? My worship leader and I have recently set up a little studio in his office, in order to record new songs and parts for rehearsal purposes... his setup is simple, a Mackie mixer into a Firebox into a Mac laptop running Garageband. My question is this... what other, if any, DAW applications out there will read the Garageband format? I am just starting to put together a small home recording setup mself, and have a few options as to my interface... I am going to be using a PC, with some sort of Firewire interface, so I'll be using either ProTools LE, ProToolsM-Powered or Cubase LE to start with. Will any of these, or any other, read a Garageband .band(?) file? Or am I resigned to mixing down to .mp3 and/or attempting to convince my worship leader to convert from Garageband to the platform I select? Or 'converting' to a Mac myself and using GarageBand? Thanks Dan

July 17th, 2007, 05:57 AM	#5 (permalink)
Big John Friend of Leo's Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Suffolk UK Posts: 4,690 36 Photos	Why not just mute the tracks in Garage band that you want to replace then mix it down to MP3 ?, muting the tracks means they wont be mixed down and you can add your own later on your own system. __________________ If you are going to be a bear, be a grizzly !!

July 17th, 2007, 11:23 AM	#8 (permalink)
Tim Armstrong Moderator Poster Extraordinaire Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Berlin, Maryland, USA Age: 49 Posts: 9,654	I'm a PC person (so far), but many feel that Macs are the way to go for recording. Pro studios use them much more often than PCs, probably because ProTools and Logic are designed for them. FWIW, I've done a lot of online collaborations with other musicians using a whole lot of different DAW programs (including GarageBand), and we generally swap files as mp3s, and then send wav files to whoever is mixing... Cheers, Tim __________________ http://www.moodswingers.org

July 17th, 2007, 03:53 AM	#3 (permalink)
tjalla Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Perth, Western Australia Posts: 1,891 7 Photos	I can't say about PCs reading garageband files, but I do know that exporting garageband to iTunes allows you to save as AIFF, which isn't compressed like mp3s. my .02, fwiw.

July 17th, 2007, 05:43 AM	#4 (permalink)
proffett TDPRI Member Join Date: May 2007 Location: Denver Age: 38 Posts: 87	Mixing down to mp3 format is what we have been doing, just to get the tracks out to the members of the team, and that works just fine for distributing the basic stuff. What I want to do now is take the original native file with the individual acoustic guitar and vocal tracks and add/edit my own instrument (electric guitar, bass etc.) tracks to some of the stuff we record, as well as additional vocal tracks. I know one way I can do it is to import the mp3 or wav file into just about any DAW as a single track, but some of the rough guitar tracks need to be replaced or vocal parts removed etc... in which case the original garageband file with the separate tracks is needed. If Logic Express/Pro are the only apps that read garageband native files then I guess I'm out of luck... Unless... if I can find someone with Logic, have them import the file and then export it to ProTools or something else? Is that a possibility? I know its reaching but, I just can't afford a Mac right now... yet...

July 17th, 2007, 06:57 AM	#7 (permalink)
proffett TDPRI Member Join Date: May 2007 Location: Denver Age: 38 Posts: 87	Big John: that would work, but I would probably want a second mp3 with all of the tracks for reference... but it would do until I could come up with a system that will be compatible... IE: buying the Mac in the link that ibobunot posted... ibobunot, thanks for the link... that may be the route I end up going... I'm not too sharp when it comes to Macs but I guess if that meets the requirements then it's probably the best way to get started... Obviously you are a Mac person, or at least someone with some knowledge of them... Here is a question probably asked way too many times: How do they compare to PC's for recording? I'm using a PC with XP, an Athlon 64 2 GHz processor and 1 Gig of RAM. What would a comparable Mac consist of, and what are the advantages and disadvantages of Macs over PC's? What else do I neeed to look for in a Mac for recording?