Why would I need something other than GarageBand?

[pjroberts]

Originally Posted by ukejon

By the way, the OP owns an Apple so the whole "PC is better" argument is pointless here.

That old debate was sure to surface ... now we just need the thread to shift, SOMEHOW, to Taylor vs. Martin. Thae PC-Mac thing is an outdated debate though anyway, Round 2 is underway and the situation is reversed.

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by jmcdonough120

thank you all. that was really helpful. the editing features in Doug's video are really amazing (and, I presume, unavailable in GarageBand).

thank you again.

There's a lot more like that - check out the flex time editing in Logic, for example (less useful for solo guitar, but still cool). And automation of all parameters. I don't think you have any of these things in GarageBand, tho I could be mistaken. There's also a ton of routing flexbility, with busses and sends, that I don't think are available in GarageBand.

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by ukejon

As an aside, do you think that most solo guitar recordings are spliced/edited in this manner, as opposed to being recorded continuously like a live performance? Just curious.....

I think it's extremely common - simply expected by most players these days. Just like writing a paper or article - you need to be able to edit to polish it up, change a comma to semi-colon, fix a mis-spelling, etc. Everyone has their own approach, and I hear stories of people who do massive editing, maybe hundreds of edits in a tune. I'd get bored with that, so my approach is usually to get a good take, one that I could probably live with, then just make a few tweaks, kind of like I did in this concocted demo - is there a better ending? Is there a take where I held out a cut-off note? Did a chair squeak? You can just polish up those things, while still keeping the integrity of the overall take.

[Psalad]

Originally Posted by jmcdonough120

ok, here's the scenario:

Imagine I'm a gifted, solo fingerstyle player (not even close) with a nice studio with all kinds of perfectly set up sound treatments (nope) and top of the line microphones (yeah, no), all perfectly set up for recording.

I know there are lots of other options, but could someone explain why I would need something other than GarageBand (that came free with my computer) to record solo fingerstyle guitar?

Haven't read the entire thread, but one thing is just to learn how pro software works. GarageBand doesn't work like pro software... So if you ever want to record in a studio and know your way around a DAW you might want to learn Logic for example.

For me the DAW is both a recording tool and a creative tool. If you just use it as a recording tool and never use any of the synths, drummer feature, etc, then it doesn't really matter much.

[jmcdonough120]

it looks like GarageBand (at least the version I have loaded) includes buttons to turn on flex time editing and automation. I have no idea how to use them or if they're anywhere near as powerful as the Logic versions, but they're there.

[alohachris]

Aloha jm,

You may already know about this, but Apple offers a "One-to-One" Program where for $99 a year, you can receive as many individual training sessions in GB or Logic Pro as you can schedule.

If you are considering a move up to Logic Pro X DAW from GB, that program can make ALL the difference in cutting down the learning curve to a fraction of what it would be trying to learn it on your own.

I signed up for 56 'One-to-One" sessions in my year & it really helped. Best training money I've ever spent. You can also renew it. I occasionally do a refresher session to keep up with each Logic version's new features.

Check it out if you haven't already, jm.

A Hui Hou!
alohachris

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by alohachris

Aloha jm,

You may already know about this, but Apple offers a "One-to-One" Program where for $99 a year, you can receive as many individual training sessions in GB or Logic Pro as you can schedule.

If you are considering a move up to Logic Pro X DAW from GB, that program can make ALL the difference in cutting down the learning curve to a fraction of what it would be trying to learn it on your own.

I signed up for 56 'One-to-One" sessions in my year & it really helped. Best training money I've ever spent. You can also renew it. I occasionally do a refresher session to keep up with each Logic version's new features.

Check it out if you haven't already, jm.

A Hui Hou!
alohachris

This is absolutely spot on advice. A year of the right kind of organized progressive knowledgeable training, will give you a jump start, probably significantly better than 5 yrs worth of trying to figure it out on your own. At least in my case with Pro Tools it was certainly true. Except not being as smart as Chris, I waited for 8 years to get some training and discovered the amount I did not know after 8 years of use was more than double, what I did know.

[jmcdonough120]

thanks Chris. I had no idea. I'll check it out.

[Joseph Hanna]

Originally Posted by alohachris

Aloha jm,

You may already know about this, but Apple offers a "One-to-One" Program where for $99 a year, you can receive as many individual training sessions in GB or Logic Pro as you can schedule.

If you are considering a move up to Logic Pro X DAW from GB, that program can make ALL the difference in cutting down the learning curve to a fraction of what it would be trying to learn it on your own.

I signed up for 56 'One-to-One" sessions in my year & it really helped. Best training money I've ever spent. You can also renew it. I occasionally do a refresher session to keep up with each Logic version's new features.

Check it out if you haven't already, jm.

A Hui Hou!
alohachris

The One to One program is predicated on buying a computer. Walk in's off the street don't get unlimited training for $99.00. Doesn't work that way...

[paulp1960]

Originally Posted by Doug Young

Yeah, it really depends on what you need. I haven't spent much time on GarageBand, but it seems fine for most things, and there seems to be a lot of power under the hood once you get underneath the UI.

But there are many more features in Logic that you may or may not want to use. There are extra plugins, some really nice effects, that I believe offer more control than the ones in Garageband, which tend to be simplified to be easier to use.

Chris mentions workflow, and in that vein, there are a lot of editing features in Logic that are very cool. Here's a demo I did some time back of one of Logic's killer features, "Quick Swipe Editing", which really speeds up editing. A bit rambling, but hopefully shows what this one feature can do for your solo guitar tracks:

Wow thanks for that video Doug that was amazing.
I'm just learning Logic Pro X but loving it compared to Sonar X1.

[DesolationAngel]

Garageband is incredibly good and works, under the hood, in much the same way as Logic Pro (so, for instance, the Master Echo and Master Reverb are just 'sends' to a bus... if you open a GB project in Logic you'll see the send and the bus, it's a neat way to learn).

I kinda think of it like this;

Garageband = cowboy chords (really, really nice ones)
Logic Pro = every string, every fret, in any tuning with capos and and an extra pair of hands.

[Mtn Man]

My son is a bluegrass guitarist and recently helped record, mix, and produce his band's CD in a local professional studio. They used Sonar.

When it was done, he started messing around with doing some home recording on our Mac (using what he had learned working with the pro in the studio) and we started looking into upgrading from Garageband to a "real" software.

He messed around with it for a few nights, watched some youtube videos, did some research...and realized Garageband would do everything he needed it to do.

It obviously doesn't have all the bells and whistles of Logic or other "pro" softwares, but if you're just looking to record and mix some acoustic music, it'll do everything you need it to.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by jmcdonough120

ok, here's the scenario:

Imagine I'm a gifted, solo fingerstyle player (not even close) with a nice studio with all kinds of perfectly set up sound treatments (nope) and top of the line microphones (yeah, no), all perfectly set up for recording.

I know there are lots of other options, but could someone explain why I would need something other than GarageBand (that came free with my computer) to record solo fingerstyle guitar?

I just thought of perhaps a better analogy than my transportation one. And also a thought about the use of the phrase " came free with my computer" First to clarify . In fact the software applications that come with a Mac are not free, they are simply built into the cost of the computer (which is why the old PC vs Mac cost debate, is non applicable)


So, since your on a Mac and if your at all familiar with the extent of "word processing" possibilities there are for computers , a much better analogy might be:
"Imagine I am a gifted writer " why would I need anything other than the basic "Text Edit" program that came with my Mac.

So just as you might choose something with much more capabilities like Microsoft Word for multiple reasons. So too, you might look at something other than GB ...... Or like Garage Band, you could just type away with Text Edit and call it good.