Loaded Garageband 2009--Lightsnake acoustic guitar recordings sound BAD!

Hi All--
I used to use Garageband 2008 to record my acoustic guitar with my Lightsnake and all was well. The recordings were crisp and clean. Since loading Garageband 2009, the recordings sound horrible, very tin-ny, with lots of static and slight feedback. They almost sound distorted. I tried it on another computer with Garageband 2008 and it sounded fine. Am I missing something on the settings? Can anyone help?
THANKS

Sounds like the problem is happening before the mac. Who makes the acoustic pickup and what model is it. Also how are you connect to the mac adapter or interface?

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Garageband - using apogee Jam and acoustic guitar sound

Hi
I am trying to record an acoustic guitar on garageband (using my actual acoustic guitar), however the sound of the low strings sounds really muffled and low quality. i am using the built-in mic on my Mac to do this, not any external equipment. Is it advisible to always use an external mic and/or directly plug any instrument directly into the Mac? Are there any methods to improve the sound of recording?
I also purchased an apogee Jam device to plug electric guitar and bass directly into my Mac and record. It seems to be working, however, i cant get any output sound at all (when playing or recording). it does record, but only like an unplugged electric instrument would sound. On the 'Track' menu at the top, the option to 'show monitoring for real instrument tracks' is greyed out when i have the Jam plugged in. i cant find any way to hear the instrument in Garageband at all.
I am using a Mac Book Pro, Garageband 11 V. 6.0.5.
Any help, much appreciated!
Thanks
Dom

Dom,
Double check that your JAM the selected input source by opening System Preferences>Sound>Input and select JAM. When you open GarageBand make sure to start a new "Real Instrument Track" or "Guitar Track" (if you want to add any crazy effects to the acoustic signal). Also make sure to select the button "I want to hear my instrument as I play and record."

What are the best Garageband effects to make an acoustic guitar sound like a twangy Fender?

What are the best Garageband effects to make an acoustic guitar sound like a twangy Fender? Using a Blue Snowball USB mic for input.

If you are willing to spend the money you might look elsewhere for better samples,
http://www.native-instruments.com/index.php?id=akoustikpiano

Im using Duet2 Interface with Garageband 09 when I connect my acoustic guitar to the combi jack I get a buzzing/humming sound how can I eliminate this?

I'm using Duet 2 Audio Interface with Garageband 09, when I connect my acoustic guitar to the combi jack I get a buzzing/humming sound. How can I eliminate this?

do you have any thing plugged into wall power? Audio interface, computer, speakers, amp for the guitar? if so are they all plugged into the same power strip? if so, have you tried another outlet?
Altertively have you tried a diffrent port on the combo jack? Have you tried a diffrent guitar cable? Have you tried a diffrent guitar or audio input device like a mic? Is the device directly plugged into the combo jack, or is it being routed throughs some thing?

When recording how do you make an acoustic guitar sound good??

With the microphone on my mac, im recording my guitar and i mostly hear the strumming and no sound is there an editing thing i can use to get rid of ugliness??

Oh, in terms of creating music, it's actually pretty bad, even for voice.
The built in mic is good for "text only", like chats, dictaphone like usage, quick&dirty recordings... But if you want to record music (not just noise), a decent microphone is the first thing you'll need. You'll also need an audio interface with a XLR input (preferabely with phantom power in case you got a condenser mic).
Recommendations for beginners: Shure SM-57 or -58 (good-for-all dynamic mic, but needs good preamps). Or AKG C1000S as a universal condenser mic.
Now the choice depends on which kind of music you like to record. For acoustic guitar, i said it should be a condenser. It's more crisp and clear as most of the dynamic microphones. I like the AKG C1000S because it is not as small and fragile as many of these intrument mics. You can use it for vocals, change the cardioid characteristics, record ambient sound and speeches, whatever.
The Shure SM-57/58 is the main workhorse in many environments. Whenever there's no better mic, no special mic for this or that, the engineer will look over his shoulder and tell ol' John Doe to "Gimmea57". Or 58 for vocals, because it has an integrated pop filter. You'll see many vocalists using the '58.
And to give you something to read: http://www.tweakheadz.com/guide.htm
Fox

Why two waveforms/soundwaves Garageband acoustic guitar track

I'm relatively new to Gargeband. For some reason I'm noticing some of the acoustic guitar tracks have two (near duplicate) waveforms, one above the other, yet in other projects it is just the one. I prefer the one. I've looked through all the settings and I can't find out why. I assume it has something to do with mono vs stereo but in puts are the same on all files. I don't play with the settings in general so I don't know why they would be different at all.
Also, I notice that for some reason when I make certain edits to the double waves tracks, that segment with turn orange (such as joining two segments) and will no longer be purple. I don't really love this either. Not sure if that's a separate issue or related.

Edgar wrote:
Please note that the Recording Source is only important for recording part. You can drag stereo and mono Audio Regions around between Tracks because a Track itself is always "two track" aka "stereo" aka "left-right"
Actually I have to correct myself on that one because it is a little bit more complicated under the hood (strange I can't edit my own forum posts anymore, is that feature gone?)
Regarding mono (one channel) and stereo (two channel), a Track in GarageBand has has to be looked at on three stages in the signal flow of the Track.
Stage 1: Input Source of the Track
The input is always determined by the Input Source selection. If you select a one channel Audio Device then the recorded Audio Region will be mono (1-channel, single waveform). If you select a single channel of a multi-channel Audio Device (2 or more channels), then the recorded Audio Region will also be mono. If you select the stereo channel of an Audio Device, then the recorded Audio Region will stereo (2-channel, double waveform)
Stage 2: Playback of the Audio Region
You can place a mono Audio Region or a stereo Audio Region on an Audio Track. But here is the important part. The setting in the Input Source (Track Info window) affects the playback. A mono Region will be played back in mono (the same signal coming out of the left and right speaker. If you have a stereo Audio Region and selected a stereo Input Source, then the Audio Region will be played back in stereo. However, and this is potentially very dangerous, if have a stereo Audio Region and have set the Track to a mono Input Source, then any stereo Audio Region wille be played back in mono. That means it is "summed together", left channel will play through the left-and-right channel of the Track and the right channel of the Audio Region will also play through left-and-right channel of the Track.
Stage 3: Output of the Track
The output of a Track always has two channels (left, right), routed to the stereo master bus. If the Audio Region on a Track "sounds mono" or "sounds stereo" depends on whatever happens in stage 1 and 2. And also don't forget the Master Effects. Adding Master Reverb to a mono signal will "widen" the signal to sound stereo.
Hope that clarifies it
Edgar Rothermich
http://DingDingMusic.com/Manuals
'I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from my recommendation or link.'

Good Acoustic guitar sound

Hey all. I am a fairly seasoned Garageband user. When I record songs with distortion, the "Arena Rock" effect works great, the problem is I can not seem to find, or manipulate using all of the possible effects, a really great, solid, and bright acoustic guitar effect. Any suggestions on settings I might use to achieve this effect? Note: I am not trying to emulate an acoustic guitar with my electric, rather have a really full sounding non-distortion electric sound for slower songs and verses, etc.

2 grand LOL Well that's out of the reach of most of the folks here. I still say just get a good clean amp sound, be it from the GB amp sims, or elsewhere, and back off the guitar volume a bit and it'll clean right up. I like to use a 2 pickup guitar, and then blend the bridge and neck pickups to get the right twang.

About turning Acoustic Guitar sound into a Electric Guitar Sound...

I have an Acoustic Guitar & a pick up its like a clamp which we can attach at the place where we tune the guitar. Actually i want a distorted sound using my new acoustic guitar on Garageband. So i connected the guitar to my macbook through pick up (guitar amp). It sounds nice not that bad. but even if i'm not playing it is giving loud disturbance like kkkkkhhhhhhhhhhhrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!! And also it records that disturbance.... Like distorted but in very bad way...It doesnt give bass also...
Even if i remove the guitar amp it is same... It is not like if i pluck a string and it is giving me a perfect clear distorted electric sound... Is it a problem of my Macbook Hardware or Audio driver...????
Pls help Should i continue with Garageband or shall i use Logic Pro ??? Is it good with Audio Output??? Pls help

Sounds like the problem is happening before the mac. Who makes the acoustic pickup and what model is it. Also how are you connect to the mac adapter or interface?

Why two waveforms/soundwaves Garageband acoustic guitar track - again

I posted this a few weeks back and haven't had a lot of activity and was hoping someone would look at again.
I'm relatively new to Gargeband. For some reason I'm noticing some of the acoustic guitar tracks have two (near duplicate) waveforms, one above the other, yet in other projects it is just the one. I prefer the one. I've looked through all the settings and I can't find out why. I assume it has something to do with mono vs stereo but in puts are the same on all files. I don't play with the settings in general so I don't know why they would be different at all.
I got a response, but it didn't really help much:
Regarding the waveforms, you are right. On waveform is a mono Audio Region, double waveform is a stereo Audio Region. If you record on an Audio Track that is set to a mono input in the Recording Source, it will record a mono Audio Region. If it is set to a stereo input, then it will create a stereo Audio Region.
Please note that the Recording Source is only important for recording part. You can drag stereo and mono Audio Regions around between Tracks because a Track itself is always "two track" aka "stereo" aka "left-right"
Remember that GarageBand distinguishes between three different types of audio files (indicated by their color code) There are a few things to pay attention to:
Joinging MIDI Regions will create just a bigger Region ("container") including all those MIDI Events inside that new Region (container). Joining Audio Regions is different. GarageBand performs a "bounce in place". It is like a mini export, mixing those Regions together. But this is only the first step. Now it takes that newly exported Audio File and re-imports it into the Project.
Now Remember: newly "recorded" Audio Regions are purple, imported Audio Regions are yellow. What happens during the join procedure is that your recorded (purple) Audio Region become imported Audio Region and therefore change their color to yellow.
Remember the difference between the three types of Audio Regions:
screenshot from my book "GarageBand 11 - How it Works"
You have to be aware of that little side effect of the join process. Yellow Audio Regions cannot have a Follow Pitch feature anymore. This is the checkbox in the Track Editor "Follow Tempo & Pitch". Purple Regions can follow both your Project's Tempo and Key (Pitch), similar to Apple Loops. Yellow Regions can follow the Tempo but not the Key of your Project!
So I responded, but did not get an answer:
Ok... for some reason this still isn't making sense. Just yesterday I created a new acoustic project and the opening acoustic track displays one wave (mono), then today, without ANY changes, I do the exact same thing and it displays dual waves. NOTHING has changed. The only areas where I see anything that an relate to this is in Preferences ->Audio/MIDI, where Audio Output is: Built-in and Auido Input is Generic USB (for my microphone). I also see on the main screen on the lower right area it shows Input Sourse: Mono 1 (Generica USB...). So that is it. This is the same for both occurrences where one shows two waves and the other 1 wave. It's just completely random.... there are no changes, no additions or plug-ins, just, "ok, today we're going to show two waves"!!

I posted this a few weeks back and haven't had a lot of activity and was hoping someone would look at again.
I'm relatively new to Gargeband. For some reason I'm noticing some of the acoustic guitar tracks have two (near duplicate) waveforms, one above the other, yet in other projects it is just the one. I prefer the one. I've looked through all the settings and I can't find out why. I assume it has something to do with mono vs stereo but in puts are the same on all files. I don't play with the settings in general so I don't know why they would be different at all.
I got a response, but it didn't really help much:
Regarding the waveforms, you are right. On waveform is a mono Audio Region, double waveform is a stereo Audio Region. If you record on an Audio Track that is set to a mono input in the Recording Source, it will record a mono Audio Region. If it is set to a stereo input, then it will create a stereo Audio Region.
Please note that the Recording Source is only important for recording part. You can drag stereo and mono Audio Regions around between Tracks because a Track itself is always "two track" aka "stereo" aka "left-right"
Remember that GarageBand distinguishes between three different types of audio files (indicated by their color code) There are a few things to pay attention to:
Joinging MIDI Regions will create just a bigger Region ("container") including all those MIDI Events inside that new Region (container). Joining Audio Regions is different. GarageBand performs a "bounce in place". It is like a mini export, mixing those Regions together. But this is only the first step. Now it takes that newly exported Audio File and re-imports it into the Project.
Now Remember: newly "recorded" Audio Regions are purple, imported Audio Regions are yellow. What happens during the join procedure is that your recorded (purple) Audio Region become imported Audio Region and therefore change their color to yellow.
Remember the difference between the three types of Audio Regions:
screenshot from my book "GarageBand 11 - How it Works"
You have to be aware of that little side effect of the join process. Yellow Audio Regions cannot have a Follow Pitch feature anymore. This is the checkbox in the Track Editor "Follow Tempo & Pitch". Purple Regions can follow both your Project's Tempo and Key (Pitch), similar to Apple Loops. Yellow Regions can follow the Tempo but not the Key of your Project!
So I responded, but did not get an answer:
Ok... for some reason this still isn't making sense. Just yesterday I created a new acoustic project and the opening acoustic track displays one wave (mono), then today, without ANY changes, I do the exact same thing and it displays dual waves. NOTHING has changed. The only areas where I see anything that an relate to this is in Preferences ->Audio/MIDI, where Audio Output is: Built-in and Auido Input is Generic USB (for my microphone). I also see on the main screen on the lower right area it shows Input Sourse: Mono 1 (Generica USB...). So that is it. This is the same for both occurrences where one shows two waves and the other 1 wave. It's just completely random.... there are no changes, no additions or plug-ins, just, "ok, today we're going to show two waves"!!

I'm using Garageband 09 and I wanted to know can Garageband transcribe my guitar parts? I'm using an Acoustic guitar.

I'm using Garageband 09 and I wanted to know can Garageband transcribe my guitar parts? I'm using an Acoustic guitar.

Melodyne is the most advanced in that field. It is called "Save as MIDI file". They even have a 30 day trial software so you can try it out www. celemony.com
Hope that helps
Edgar Rothermich
http://DingDingMusic.com/Manuals/
'I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from my recommendation or link.'

Help with this acoustic guitar sound.

Hi guys,
Having a break from recording vox for a bit. So now on to recording acoustic guitars
I need some help with this acoustic guitar i recored today, it sound ok? but needs help. I'v messed about with EQ but still not happy .
I'v put the recording up as a quicktime movie so you can see mic positions. Processing so far is a bit of compression and a dab of EQ cutting 500 Hz and reverb. Mic is a SE-Z5600.
The performance is far from perfect as this was a once through take for sound tests. Also the sync goes out between the audio and video no idea why
Any help would be great.
John
http://www.gradeaguitartuition.co.uk/hidden.htm
Message was edited by: john boswell1

John,
Hearing it back from a compressed file obviously is going to "skew" things a bit, but I actually fail to see what you don't like about it.
Here's the thing...
When the guitar is good (sounds like yours is), and the player is good (which you are), THAT"S the sound of the guitar.
Yes, mic choice, mic placement, mic pre-amps, size of the room, etc, all play a part, but here's the best kept secret in the biz...
All those things I just mentioned play the smallest part. Don't believe me?
Record that guitar with you playing, with 5 different mic, 5 different mic pres, in 5 different rooms, and you'll be stunned at how similar they all sound. Sure there will be various sonic differences, but those differences would be pale in comparison to a different player playing a different guitar.
Hmm, why not move the mic a bit more to the center hole of the guitar and >get a bit closer.
I would suggest NOT doing this, because of the proximity effect of placing a mic to close to the sound source, unless the mic was set in an omni pattern, and even then, I suggest against it, because a guitar is made to project tone, and when you stick a mic within an inch or two of it, you "choke" all that tone, and it's a very microscopic view of a intended bigger picture.
The "safest" place to place a single mic on an acoustic guitar, is out about 7 or 8 inches, from the 12th or 14th fret. You'll find a very balanced tone here. It's certainly not the only place to out a single mic, but it's the "tried and true" method, that will produce predictable and useable results everytime.
Other than that, a small diaphragm condenser mic will generally sound better on an acoustic guitar than a large diaphragm mic, like the one you're using. Again, that's a safe generalization... not to be written in stone, but will always produce good results.
I think you're recording sounds good. It sounds like you, playing your guitar. Isn't that the goal?

Compare ipad2 with ipad3, garageband for acoustic guitar and voice recording, backing tracks.

I am interested in purchasing an ipad for recording music using garageband, acoustic guitar & vocals, and using to add rhythm/bass, to create tracks to use in performing solo gigs.
After reading about problems many were experiencing with NOISE after upgrading to an ipad3, and a GB upgrade, I am not sure if this
is a viable purchase. If this is my main use of the ipad (along with itunes, chart storage and general use for solos gigs), should I be going in this direction, or more of a simple recording studio?
Is ipad2 just as good as ipad3 for this main purpose?
Any advice would be helpful,
Thanks,
walkman1187

Assuming it does not have a pickup, any instrument that the microphone picks up can be recorded.
(If it does have a pickup, you can probably just plug it in.)
GarageBand is simply a fancy tape recorder. Anything that can be converted to an audio frequency electrical signal can be recorded.
Unless this is like the joke where the man with the broken hand asks his doctor whether he will be able to play the violin when his hand heals. "Sure." the doctor replies. "That's great!" says the man, "I couldn't play it before!"

What is your favourite acoustic guitar (string or nylnon) sounds in LP ?

As Title
Cheers,
edtayin
iMac G5 2.1 GHz + 1.5GB Ram Mac OS X (10.4.6) M-Audio Firewire410 + Keystation 49e + BX5a

It depends on what I am working on, and what works for my ear at a certain moment. The good news is, SCULPTURE is the best module when it comes to both flavors. Both emulations are crystal clear, and as close as it gets to reality. But!
When it comes to a track that requires an acoustic guitar, I don't fool myself, I call in a guitar player.

Song in lesson 4 acoustic guitar

In GarageBand '11, what is the song they have you play at the end of lesson 4 for learning to play acoustic guitar?

cmv2203 wrote:
it only records through the left speaker
http://www.bulletsandbones.com/GB/GBFAQ.html#leftspeakeronly
(Let the page FULLY load. The link to your answer is at the top of your screen)
every time I record as I've always recorded the guitar, it produces fuzz.
what happens if you record without the cable plugged into the computer?

How to use Garage Band to play a live gig (voice and acoustic guitar)

Hello!
I'd like to know if I could I use Garage Band to play a live gig (voice and nylon acoustic guitar).
I have an M-Audio fast Track PRO (with 2 plug-ins) as well.
Is the M-Audio Fast track strictly for recording or could it be used for live too?
And for the speaker I though about splitting the audio output from the computer into 2 and one would connect to a loudspeaker going outwards and the other towards me as a monitor.
And the set I wanted to do included a DJ.
I have the Djay spin table and the software.
Would it be possible to run GarageBand for me with the voice and guitar plugged into the M-Audio and then into the Mac and equalize it (and either record it or just play through it). And, on another screen the Djay software and also connect the spin table into the Mac and run it together with me?
Thanks,
Fernando.
www.fernandoingles.com

just playing through GB should be fine, but recording, especially with other software running, might fail. if having a record of the event isn't the most important thing, then go for it. otherwise, i'd suggest using an audio editor to capture the event as you play though GB:
http://www.bulletsandbones.com/GB/GBFAQ.html#audioeditors
(Let the page FULLY load. The link to your answer is at the top of your screen)

Loaded Garageband 2009--Lightsnake acoustic guitar recordings sound BAD!

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