Garageband newbie question

T

TMSongwriter

New member
Two questions:

1. Is there a way to add the metronome click after a guitar track to find out the tempo of the song. I know most people will record with the click together to stay in rhythm.


2. Once a guitar track is recorded, if I add a drum loop is there a way to have the drum loops match the tempo of the guitar? I can't seem to find any drum loop or drum beat that matches up to the
guitar. Thanks!
 
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Unless you recorded the guitar to a metronome, there's about zero chance a click will align with it for the duration. But, you could just use a metronome (electro-mechanical of phone app) with a tap function to find the BPM. Set the project BPM to that, then align your track(s) to the measure markers and see how it goes.

Some DAWs might find the BPM for a track, but not GarageBand. (My GB experience is limited to when I used an older version probably 6-8 years ago. I've installed the new one to compare to Logic Pro X, but have not really used it otherwise.)

You'd need to use a [more] pro DAW to actually quantize a recorded track to a project BPM so a loop would match, IME.
 
I know nothing about Garageband.....but.....couldn't you speed up or slow down the metronome until it matches the guitar track using a set start point? Metronomes are all adjustable of course. Once you've done that you'll be able to see the track BPM.

You could try the same thing with a drum track. Use your DAW to speed up or slow down the drum track to match the guitar. Most DAWs will do that with no pitch changes. Once you have the speed right.....match the drum track to the guitar track by moving the track start point to match the guitar track..........if all you need is something to sync up to live playing.

Good luck.

Mick
 
If you have a good timeline on the track, you should be able to actually measure a section, say 4 or 8 beats, and divide the time by the number of beats. That will give you a "sec per beat". Then divide 60 by the time per beat and you get BPM. 0.6 seconds per beat is 100 BPM. 1 second is BPM.

Plug that in for your metronome number and see how consistent you are. I'm guessing that like most normal folks, you'll be drifting a fair amount.
 
Not sure how far Garageband can go but when I have no choice and need a click to a pre-recorded track, recorded without click reference,
I either add a click and change its tempo regularly, every few beats or whatever, to make it match the performance,
or I use Elastic Audio (pro tools) to stretch the music to fit a constant click.
There's most likely an automated way to do the first option but I'm set in my ways.

Looks like GarageBand has 'flex time' which would let you do the second option.
This guy gives a tutorial on it.
YouTube

If it's at all possible it's always going to be better to set up a suitable tempo+click then re-record whilst listening to it,
but I understand that's not always possible.
 
i'm using GarageBand. i just adjust the tempo until the click is right then play to it.
i used to hate using a click track. i used to record a ghost track, sometimes with spoken cues on too, record my parts then delete it.
i don't mind using a click track now with GarageBand as i like using the sounds.
to get a more natural feel i sometimes record the ghost track with a click then record to the ghost track only. or you can do the drums first and record to them...
 
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