Garageband Quantize Audio
Dec 07, 2013 I'm new to Garageband on OS X but have used it on the Ipad. I have my Yamaha Motif ES8 connected via an audio interface and can record the piano voices into Garageband on my Mac. The issue is that there is no audio quantize option available. Revolutionize boring GarageBand tracks with killer drum samples. Apple's GarageBand for iOS is a pretty powerful piece of software for something that's available on every iPhone on planet earth. Business analyst and Apple commentator Ben Thompson remarked in his Exponent podcast that making GarageBand for iOS represented a personal quest of Steve Jobs. Introducing GarageBand during the. I recently made a tutorial showing you how to fix timing issues in your GarageBand for Mac Software Instrument tracks using quantization. This time around i’ve created a beginner’s guide to Flex Time – a fantastic built in tool that allows you to fine tune the actual waveforms in your GarageBand Real Audio recordings. The Quantizer function is in the bottom of the Garageband interface within the section of the DAW that’s called the “Smart Controls.” It’s the section pointed out in the image shown below: Let’s say that you’ve created a track, whether it’s MIDI or a traditional recording. Feb 04, 2017 Covered in this Quick Tip Garageband for iPhone Tutorial: - Accessing quantization options - Using quantization to improve timing and length of notes - Editing using the MIDI note editor.
You can quantize, or automatically correct, the timing of regions on an audio track. This technique is especially useful when regions on the track contain the right notes but are not perfectly in time with the project tempo.
When you quantize the timing, selected regions on the selected track are adjusted to the selected note value. You can quantize the timing of regions with drums, single-note instruments, and chordal or polyphonic instruments.
If the track contains imported audio files (orange), and you want to quantize the timing of the audio files, the Follow Tempo & Pitch checkbox needs to be selected for each audio file.
Quantize the timing of selected audio regions
In the Tracks area, select the audio regions you want to quantize. The regions need to be on the same audio track.
Make sure the Region tab is selected in the Audio Editor inspector.
Choose the note value to use as the basis for timing quantization from the Time Quantize pop-up menu.
Drag the Strength slider to the left to decrease the strength of quantization.
The quantizer function is an incredibly useful feature in Garageband, and I use it on pretty much every track.
In this tutorial today, I’m going to show you how to use the Quantizer function to its best capability, not only for MIDI music but also for actual real-time recordings.
Explained simply, Quantizing is the method by which the sound is processed so it falls more in-line with the beat and the overall rhythm of the track.
In other words, it allows us to alter the notes after the fact, to make the music more “on-time.”
Jan 27, 2020 Ready to rock your next party? Introducing djay 2 - the next generation of the #1 DJ app is now available on Android. Djay transforms your Android device into a full–featured DJ system. Automix in djay 2 allows you to pick your favorite songs and automatically mixes these songs for you with beat-matched, DJ-style transitions. This means you can step away and enjoy live DJ mixes based on your personal musical taste. Djay 2 android automix.
To further illustrate what I’m talking about here, check out the two images that I’ve created below.
In the first one, we can see that the MIDI notes fall slightly off the grid, which means they’re a bit off-time.
In the following image, we can see that the MIDI notes have been pulled exactly on to the grid. That, essentially, is what we’re doing when we quantize music.
When I first started using this software, I used to go through each MIDI note, select it, and manually push it on to the grid line, until I discovered that with a few clicks of the Trackpad, you can just do it automatically without wasting so much time.
Without further ado, let’s get right into it.
How To Use The Quantizer Function
The Quantizer function is in the bottom of the Garageband interface within the section of the DAW that’s called the “Smart Controls.” It’s the section pointed out in the image shown below:
Let’s say that you’ve created a track, whether it’s MIDI or a traditional recording.
If you want to bring up the Smart Controls, including the part where the Quantizer function is visible, you can just double-click on the MIDI/Audio region and it’ll bring up the Smart Controls in the bottom of the screen.
You can also hit the ‘B’ part of your keyboard, or click on the dial in the top-left-hand corner of the DAW.
Once you’ve brought up the Quantizer, you can see the parameters, which there are two, the type of note and how strong you want the quantizer to function.
It’s really not too complicated.
While the options are based on traditional musical notation, for instance, 1/16th notes, 1/4 notes, and 1/8th notes, etc, you don’t have to have an understanding of music theory or standard notation to use the function.
Atomix dj download free software. AtomixMP3 is a software that allows you to mix like a pro DJ with your computer.If you are a music lover who wants to burn your own mixed CDs, AotmixMP3 will help you doing it, because it acts as a DJ and seves the files eady to be burnt.With AtomixMP3 you will be able to do advanced technics or simple ones. If you are new in the art of DJ, it is a good program to start, but if you have experience. It’s good too, because it has a lot of features and they are not difficult to use.Some of those features are Automatic Level synchronization, Mp3 and WAV input, Automatic beat synchronization, Drag and drop beat synchronization.In addition it supports Plugins and Skins.Technical information.
When Quantizing Drum Tracks, I pretty much always have it set to 1/16 notes, and then I slide the meter all the way to 100 to pull the notes exactly on the grid.
Essentially, that’s what the Quantizer does. It pushes the notes back or forward until they snap exactly to the grid.
The intuitive part of the Piano Roll is the fact that the grid-lines are split up so it matches, mathematically, the traditional time measurements of standard notation.
Explained in another way, if you look at how many grid-lines there are between the 1 and 2 in the Piano roll, you’ll notice there are 16 grid lines.
If you set the Quantizer function to 1/16 notes, that means it’s going to snap each note to the closest grid line exactly, which is much better if you have a ton of different notes in each bar.
On the other hand, if you only play one note per measure, the 1/16 function wouldn’t be as useful. Let’s say, hypothetically, there is one note per measure, and it’s right near the beginning of the bar.
In that case, it would be best to use the 1/4 note function. However, with all of that said, I find that the 1/16 note option is pretty much always the setting you want to have it at, but I’m sure this depends on for what instrument you’re using it for.
Using the example of 1/1, if you select this option, the Quantizer Function is going to snap each note so it falls exactly on the Grid Line for each new beat, (1, 2, 3, 4,) and not the grid-lines that fall between them. This looks like the image shown below.
If you use the 1/2 (Half-Note) function, it’ll snap each note to the Grid-Line on every beat and the beat between each beat. Check out the picture below:.
Select the Quarter note function, 1/4, and it’ll bring the notes to every quarter grid-line.
Select the 1/8 note function, and it snaps the notes to one of 8 of the closest grid-lines.
I hope you’re able to get the picture from here. ***Keep in mind, each of these images is the same melody, just quantized differently.
It’s really just as simple as that. The Quantizer function isn’t very sophisticated, but it is extremely useful.
Using the Quantizer With Actual Recordings (Not MIDI)
This function is just as useful.
In fact, it’s of incredible value. If you’ve recorded a performance and a note is just slightly off-time, you can go into Garageband’s Smart Controls and push the note over just a tiny bit to make it perfect. It’s pretty amazing.
Click on your Audio Region, the Blue Region, and then hit the Region button.
First things first, you want to check the box that says, “Enable Flex.” This allows us to actually make changes.
Down in the Smart Controls, we can see the Quantizer function, and we’ll set it, again, to 1/16 notes.
Once you’ve done this, you’ll notice that Garageband will drop a bunch of different lines in the Smart Controls between the soundwaves that represent your recording.
From here, you can simply use your Trackpad and the cursor to manually move notes around.
Match up the beginning of the soundwave with the grid-line, as what’s seen below, and voila, you’ve got a piece of music that is more on time.
Drawbacks Of Quantization
An important thing to note is that the Quantizer function, in the eyes of some musicians/engineers, can have the unintended consequence of eliminating the “soul” of the music.
In other words, human performances of music will regularly have mistakes and imperfections, which is kind of what makes the music more human and impactful.
Garageband Quantize Audio Track
If every note is constantly on key and every note is exactly on time, the effect of this is that it doesn’t have the same amount of humanity.
Whether or not you agree with this, I don’t know, but it’s something to think about.
Using the example of Punk Rock or even Jazz Improvisation, quantizing everything is likely going to make the music seem way less cool to fans of these genres.
Garageband Quantize Audio Youtube
With hip-hop and modern rock, and regular pop/dance music, this is less the case, as listeners of this music typically care a lot less about the production methods.
For other editing features, including pitch correction, check out my article on auto-tune and pitch-correction, as well as my post on editing tips.
In these articles, I run through how to use Garageband’s pitch correction features, and in the editing article, I explain some of the most useful commands and editing functions Garageband has to offer.
If you need a video tutorial, I have one at the link shown below.
I run through the exact same principles laid out in this article, but you can hear how things sound after using the quantizing function.
YouTube Video Tutorial
Conclusion
Quantize Audio In Garageband
I hope this short article was helpful to you. Do me a solid and share this on social media with your producer friends.