Getting more out of GarageBand - Recording a real instrument (part 3: tuning)

Recording a real instrument (part 3 — tuning)

GarageBand's built-in tuner

So you've got your instrument plugged into your Mac, it's making a noise (as covered in the first article in this series) and you've created a Real Instrument track for it (as covered in the second article). So you're ready to record?

Not quite. If you're using a guitar, bass, flute, saxophone or any other instrument that requires tuning (kazoos are mercifully exempt), the next step is to check it's in tune.

Get into the habit of doing this — with GarageBand's built-in tuner it doesn't take much effort — because there's nothing worse than perfecting a part only to find you've recorded it out of tune. After all, your guitar may be in tune with itself, but when you combine it with one of GarageBand's Software Instruments, or when you record another Real Instrument part later on, you may realise that it was not tuned to concert pitch. Tuning it with GarageBand's built-in tuner will make sure of this.

Turn on the tuner

To use the tuner you must have created a Real Instrument track. Select it and make sure your instrument is coming through at an audible level. (As covered in the previous articles in this series.)

Now turn on the tuner by clicking the dimmed-out tuning fork icon in the timing display (ringed in red in this picture):

The timing display changes to the tuner display. (Clicking anywhere in this window returns it to the timing window.)

Now play a note. The tuner will do two things. It will display the letter-name of the note you're playing at the left of the tuner window (G in the picture below), and it will display a marker on the scale to show how far (if at all) the note you're playing differs from concert pitch. In this picture, the note is flat, so the scale-indicator is red:

If the note is flat, it will display left of the centre of the tuner scale, but if it is sharp, it will display to the right, also in red:

Note that if your instrument is tuned more than half a semitone out of the tune, the tuner will show a different note (Gb or G#, for instance, if you're tuning a G), so always check which note you're tuning to. The tuner scale, by the way, is in cents — hundredths of a semitone

If your instrument is out of tune, adjust it accordingly until you get a green indicator in the middle of the scale. This means the note is in tune:

I find that GarageBand's tuner tends to wander up or down the scale (for sharp or flat) once I've played a note. But, when the note is in tune, it tends to stay, perhaps with a little wavering once the note starts dying away (as the signal gets weaker). Real instruments that require tuning, such as guitars, are rarely perfect and will waver a little. Get the tuning as right as you can, then get on with the recording.

Note that, of course, the tuner can't tune multiple notes played simultaneously. And remember, when tuning a guitar, to always tune the strings from flat upwards — a sharp string loosened can catch at the nut and go out of tune while playing.

Why bother?

Why bother with all of this if GarageBand has got an Enhance Tuning slider? For a start, Enhance Tuning takes up processing power you could be using for effects, software instruments, etc., so it's best used only as a last resort. And, of course, it won't work if you're playing chords. As always with recording a real instrument, getting the basic signal right (both in tune and loud enough) is the most important point

To dismiss the tuner, click anywhere on the tuning window and you'll return to the timing display.

Now you're ready to record.