Press releases

"GarageBand: The Missing Manual": The Keys to Producing a Studio-Caliber Demo CD in Your Living Room

Press release: August 6, 2004

Sebastopol, CA--GarageBand may not begin with the letter i, but it's a glittering addition to Apple's iLife creative suite. It's a song-making toolkit and software recording studio that can produce professional-sounding, polished musical tracks. The program comes with 1,100 prerecorded loops, tracks for live recordings, and effects like reverb and panning. But it doesn't come with a single page of printed instructions.

GarageBand: The Missing Manual (O'Reilly, US $19.95) is the book that should have been in the box--and the manual that author David Pogue, a composer and former Broadway conductor, was born to write.

GarageBand makes possible "a world where Joe Nobody, a guy with a great voice but no money, can produce a studio-caliber demo CD in his living room," promises David Pogue. And it's for musicians and non-musicians. "GarageBand lets you create authentic-sounding, studio-quality music even if you can't carry a tune, let alone a tuba," assures Pogue. "If you have some semblance of musical chops, though, GarageBand can quickly take you to the next level of creativity."

In GarageBand: The Missing Manual, Pogue explains the two ways GarageBand can create music--digital recordings (sound recordings that Apple calls "Real Instruments") and MIDI recordings (built-in synthesizer sounds that Apple refers to as "Software Instruments")--and advises readers when and why to use each. He explores every GarageBand feature in depth and offers shortcuts, workarounds, hacks, tricks, and troubleshooting advice. He also includes advanced GarageBand techniques for power users.

Covering GarageBand 1.1, GarageBand: The Missing Manual includes:

  • Essentials of music: Readers can use GarageBand's loops without any musical training. But to exploit its more powerful tools, they need this book's crash course in music and tips on song building and orchestration.
  • Beyond the basics: This book reveals GarageBand's amazing plug-in architecture. It shows readers how and where to find new loops, instrumental sounds, drum machines, and more--even how to make their own Apple Loops.
  • Finding an audience: When a hit single is ready to meet its public, GarageBand exports it to iTunes. From there, it can be burned to a CD, posted on a web site, or used as the soundtrack for an iMovie movie, iPhoto slide show, or iDVD menu screen.
  • With GarageBand: The Missing Manual, readers can marry the stunning quality of digital sound with the power of their imaginations and create musical magic with their Macs.

    Additional Resources:

    GarageBand: The Missing Manual
    David Pogue
    ISBN: 0-596-00695-0, 304 pages, $19.95 US, $28.95 CA
    order@oreilly.com
    1-800-998-9938; 1-707-827-7000

    About O’Reilly

    O’Reilly Media spreads the knowledge of innovators through its books, online services, magazines, and conferences. Since 1978, O’Reilly Media has been a chronicler and catalyst of cutting-edge development, homing in on the technology trends that really matter and spurring their adoption by amplifying “faint signals” from the alpha geeks who are creating the future. An active participant in the technology community, the company has a long history of advocacy, meme-making, and evangelism.

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