GarageBand Could Be Your Key to Stardom

Are you still upset you didn’t make the cut on American Idol? Do you watch Making the Band 2 and say to yourself, “I should be in Da Band?” Well, you don’t need to wait until next year’s competition to realize your dreams. With $49 and your very own Mac, you can be the supastar you always thought you could be.

Folks, I am talking about GarageBand, the musical composition spoke in the digital lifestyle wheel we call iLife. Don’t let the simple, drag and drop interface underwhelm you. GarageBand is a powerful tool that treads the fine line between being a toy program and a weapon to getting your songs heard.

I know you get psyched to go to Karaoke at your local bar. I know you freestyle in your car. I know you beatbox in the shower. Your raw talent need not be bottled up any longer. Open up GarageBand, choose from hundreds of preloaded audio loops, lay those loops down, plug in your microphone and do your thing. Or if you are really slumming it, use the built-in mic on your computer. (If you don’t have a built-in mic chances are your computer can’t handle GarageBand anyway�go buy an eMac)

Music production professionals will tell you that GarageBand will never give you the sound quality and control that the industry-grade programs will. They are right. But for bands, MCs, and DJs, who are trying to make it, this can be the tool that will let you produce something without having to raise the money for a real recording studio. Let your song get heard and then when you get signed to that major label, bring in the big boys.

And with iLife, you can complete the process. Produce your masterpiece, export it to iTunes and either burn a hard copy to CD or better yet, upload it to a site like MacJams. There are a bunch of websites that allow you to upload your songs and share them to the world but none rival MacJams.com. They are the iPodlounge for the GarageBand community.

Not satisfied with the preloaded loops (you greedy thing, you). Never fear because not only can you get thousands more with the Apple JamPack ($99), and there are plenty of other free loops available on the internet.

GarageBand is a great tool for the aspiring music artist and the casual music lover. The program makes it simple to make something that resembles music even if you don’t understand keys, time signature, tempo, and pitch. Remember how psyched you were when you first started using iMovie and you thought, “Yes! Now I can finally create my Driving Miss Daisy.”? Give GarageBand a try and P. Diddy might be calling you.