The iLife '11 Software from Apple is a suite of creativity applications for use with Mac OS X. Compatible Intel Macs running Snow Leopard, iLife includes iPhoto for photo organization and editing, iMovie for video editing, GarageBand for music production, iWeb for Internet publishing, and iDVD for disc creation.
iPhoto allows you to organize and edit all of your digital photos. The application acts as a central repository for your entire photo library. You'll be able to find photos based on where they were taken, who is featured in them, or when they were taken. You can even add your own keywords to aid in organization.
This version of iPhoto adds a full-screen mode, which allows you to view and edit your photos without a cumbersome user interface distracting you. It also delivers improved integration with Facebook, enhanced printing options for cards and photo books, and animated slideshows. iPhoto is compatible with the JPG and RAW files produced by almost every digital camera on the market today.
iMovie allows you to capture and edit your HD home movies with ease. It features all the editing tools you'd expect from a nonlinear suite -- the ability to fine tune cuts, add transitions, titles, and the like. iMovie also allows you to create stunning movie trailers from your home videos, add fun video effects, and edit audio.
New to this version of iMovie is the People Finder. Using technology originally developed for iPhoto, this feature identifies people in your video clips. It can even tell if there are multiple subjects and how tight the framing is on the person. Of course, all the video editing in the world would be useless if you were unable to share your movies with friends and family -- iMovie makes it easy to upload your videos to Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, and MobileMe.
GarageBand allows you to create and record original music, right on your Mac. It supports standard USB musical instruments, including keyboards, and even features an advanced music lesson function that will help you to improve your playing. You'll even be able to compose lyrics to your music, right in the program!
This version of GarageBand features several new features. Flex Time and Groove Matching allow you to improve the rhythm and feel of your music. You can fix the timing of a note, or tighten the groove on your tracks for a better-sounding song. The software is loaded with new guitar amps and stompbox effects, which allow you to give your compositions a unique sound. Piano lessons now include a "How Did I Play?" function which walks you through your lesson, pointing out places where your playing needs improvement.
iWeb and iDVD round out the applications included in iLife '11. You'll be able to use iWeb to publish your own web site -- perfect for sharing you photos, movies, and music for all the world to see. You can use iDVD to burn your movies to disc, perfect for sharing with friends and relatives.
What's New in iPhoto
New Full-Screen Modes
Bigger is better. Especially when it comes to your photos. In iPhoto '11, you can browse, edit, and share your photos full screen. With a quick click, desktop applications, the menu bar, and other distractions disappear, bringing your images front and center. Full-screen views take advantage of every inch of your display. So your Faces corkboard and Places map stretch from edge to edge, and you see more of your Events, albums, and projects. Go from picture to picture while basking in full-screen greatness using the new filmstrip. More screen real estate means a bigger workspace for perfecting each shot or creating the most memorable iPhoto projects ever.
Facebook Enhancements
iPhoto and Facebook are now even better friends. Because some of the things you love doing on Facebook - posting photos and updating your profile picture, for instance - you can do in iPhoto. Share your amazing European vacation by publishing the photos directly to your Wall or to an existing album. If your friends leave comments on your photos, you'll see them in iPhoto. iPhoto even shows you all of your Facebook photo albums, including the ones you published using another application. You'll always know which photos you shared (or didn't share) on Facebook, because iPhoto keeps track of that for you.
E-Mailing Photos
E-mailing a photo usually means bouncing from your email application to your pictures folder and back again. But now you can create and send beautiful messages without leaving iPhoto. Just choose from eight Apple-designed themes that you customize with your own images and words. Then select the photos you want to send, and iPhoto places them in the template. Rearrange photos with a simple drag and drop, adjust the image mask, or change the size and style of your text. Even attach high-resolution versions of your photos for your recipient to download and keep. iPhoto optimizes your message so it's never too big to send.
iPhoto works with popular email services like MobileMe, Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, Windows Live Hotmail, and AOL. And since iPhoto keeps track of all your email messages with photos, you're free to open a sent message, make changes, and share it with someone new, anytime you want.
iPhoto works with popular email services like MobileMe, Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, Windows Live Hotmail, and AOL. And since iPhoto keeps track of all your email messages with photos, you're free to open a sent message, make changes, and share it with someone new, anytime you want.
New Slideshows
Hear the word "slideshow" and you probably imagine a typical, photo-by-photo, fade-in, fade-out production. With iPhoto '11, there won't be anything typical about the slideshows you make. New animated themes -- like Holiday Mobile, Places, and Reflections -- give your photos movement. For instance, in the Holiday Mobile theme, images swing in and out as though they were hanging from an actual mobile. Each shot is centered and framed perfectly, thanks to face detection. And the animated themes include their own soundtracks, so your photos and music play together flawlessly.
Big Leap in Books
iPhoto '11 makes it even easier to create professional-quality books using your own photos. So you can relive unforgettable moments one beautiful page at a time.
Building your book starts with a new dynamic Theme browser where each theme is revealed in a carousel -- complete with images you've selected. Pick a theme, and an even smarter Autoflow instantly goes to work, placing your images for you. Your key photo becomes the cover shot. Higher-rated images are featured more prominently. Photos taken on the same day appear together. And all the while, face detection ensures that photos of people are cropped and framed properly. Change the background color, font, layout, and more. Add eye-popping full-bleed, two-page spreads.
Building your book starts with a new dynamic Theme browser where each theme is revealed in a carousel -- complete with images you've selected. Pick a theme, and an even smarter Autoflow instantly goes to work, placing your images for you. Your key photo becomes the cover shot. Higher-rated images are featured more prominently. Photos taken on the same day appear together. And all the while, face detection ensures that photos of people are cropped and framed properly. Change the background color, font, layout, and more. Add eye-popping full-bleed, two-page spreads.
Letterpress Cards
There's just something about the elegant look and feel of a letterpress card. With iPhoto '11, you can create custom letterpress cards personalized with your photos and text. For the first time, traditional printing techniques join modern digital photography. Each iPhoto letterpress card is made from premium paper and produced using a centuries-old printing method. Then it's digitally processed with your photos and text. iPhoto letterpress cards are available in 15 beautifully crafted themes complete with matching envelopes. Celebrate the holidays. Announce the arrival of your bundle of joy. Tell your friends to save the date. Whatever you choose, your one-of-a-kind cards arrive at your door, ready to impress.
What is iPhoto?
Organize Your Photos by Who, Where, and When
iPhoto gives you three incredibly easy ways to organize and manage the thousands (maybe tens of thousands) of photos on your Mac. They're called Faces, Places, and Events, and what they do for your photo library is practically magic.
Faces to See
The Faces feature helps you sort your photo library by the people in your pictures. It automatically detects and even recognizes faces in your photos. iPhoto uses face detection to identify faces of people in your photos and face recognition to match faces that look like the same person. That makes it easy for you to add names to your photos. And it helps you find the people you're looking for. Clicking the Faces view shows you a corkboard featuring a snapshot for each person you've named. iPhoto suggests a set of possible matches you can confirm with a click. Use the new Find Faces view to quickly find other people in your photos who haven't been named yet. After you've put names to faces and faces to names, sync them to your iPad or iPhone and take them with you.
Places to Go
Never again stare blankly at your photos pondering, "Now where was this taken?" Places in iPhoto allows you to search and sort photos by location, using data from any GPS-enabled camera or iPhone. Don't have a GPS-enabled camera or iPhone? You can still use Places by adding your own location information: Just start typing and iPhoto instantly gives you a list of locations to choose from - including points of interest like the Eiffel Tower or the Empire State Building. iPhoto also uses reverse geocoding to convert a photo's location data, such as its latitude and longitude coordinates, to friendly place names. Want to add places to lots of photos? Select an Event, an album, or a group of photos shot in the same place, and iPhoto can add your location information to all of them at once.
Events to Remember
iPhoto automatically organizes your photos by Event, so you don't confuse that shot of your best friend celebrating her birthday with the one of her celebrating New Year's. When you connect your camera or insert your SD card, iPhoto groups your images according to the day they were taken. That's a comfort to both the perpetual shutterbug and the chronic procrastinator. If you like, you can turn multiple Events into one large Event. Just drag one Event onto another to merge them. And you can label each Event with a meaningful name, like "Mark's recital" or "Riley's graduation," so it's easy to find everything.
Turn So-So Snapshots into Great Photos
iPhoto features image editing and enhancement tools that rival those in expensive photo software. The difference? iPhoto tools are easier to master, and most take only a few clicks to use.
Make Each Photo Its Absolute Best
iPhoto gives you everything you need to fix your photos. Remove red-eye with a click. Adjust exposure, brightness, and contrast. Crop to frame your subject. If you don't know where to begin, click the Enhance tool and watch iPhoto automatically fix underexposed or dull photos. From there, you can try a few more tricks.
If you want to make the colors in your photos pop - without affecting skin tones - adjust the Saturation slider. To improve clarity and enhance detail, experiment with the Definition slider. To make spots and blemishes instantly disappear, use the Retouch brush. With iPhoto, you don't need to be a professional to make your photos look that way.
If you want to make the colors in your photos pop - without affecting skin tones - adjust the Saturation slider. To improve clarity and enhance detail, experiment with the Definition slider. To make spots and blemishes instantly disappear, use the Retouch brush. With iPhoto, you don't need to be a professional to make your photos look that way.
Experiment with Effects
Have as much fun tweaking your photos as you do taking them. With iPhoto effects, you can convert color photos to black and white, try a classic sepia tone, add a vignette border, and more. Experiment without fear: A click of the "None" thumbnail removes effects and returns your photo to its original state. In fact, any edit you make in iPhoto is reversible, so you don't have to worry about losing your originals.
Share What You Shoot
Stop bouncing from photo application to email to an online gallery and start sharing with a click. Publish photos to your Facebook page, Flickr account, and MobileMe gallery. Liven up someone's inbox with a beautiful email message designed with your photos. And do it all without leaving iPhoto.
E-Mail Good Enough to Frame
Your photos look fantastic. So should the email you share them in. iPhoto '11 turns emailed photos into something much more fun and creative than mere attachments. Everything happens right in iPhoto; you don't even have to open Mail. Start by choosing an Apple-designed theme like Announcement, Cardstock, or Collage. Then just select your photos and watch as iPhoto places them in the template automatically. Swap the position of one image with another. Pan and zoom for just the right focus. Change the size and style of your text. Even attach high-resolution versions of your photos. iPhoto automatically formats your message, so it's always the perfect size.
Facebook Friendlier
iPhoto is an even bigger fan of Facebook now. Not only can you use iPhoto to change your Facebook profile picture, but you can choose to upload photos directly to your Wall or to an existing album. If your photos have names you've added using Faces, iPhoto converts them to Facebook name tags. iPhoto even displays your Facebook photo albums -- whether they were published with iPhoto or another application. What's more, when your friends leave comments on your photos, you'll see them in iPhoto.
Flickr with a Click
Sharing on Flickr is just as easy: Click the Flickr button and post images directly to your photostream. When you share your photos on Flickr, the locations you added using Places appear on Flickr photo maps.
Have a MobileMe Gallery Showing
Get a MobileMe subscription, and you can curate an online gallery featuring photos from your iPhoto library. Simply select the photos you want to share and click the MobileMe button. That's all it takes to publish to your MobileMe gallery. Visitors can download and print photos -- even contribute their own. And with the free MobileMe Gallery app for iPhone and iPad, friends and family can subscribe to your gallery so they're always in the (photo) know.
Take Some Photos to Go
Want to keep your photos with you? Use iTunes to sync them to your iPad, iPod, or iPhone to enjoy and share on the go. If you're an iPad or iPhone owner, you can sync your iPhoto faces and places and take them with you, too. Or view your photos in your living room: Sync them to Apple TV and they appear on your widescreen TV in HD quality.
Make Slideshows that Amaze and Entertain
iPhoto slideshows bring your photos to life. With animated themes, multiphoto layouts, and automatic face detection, these slideshows don't just move, they're moving.
Enjoy a Few Choice Memories
iPhoto slideshows are so cinematic, they'll take you back to the very moment each photo was snapped. Choose from a dozen animated themes that each do something spectacular. The Places theme, for instance, uses the location of your photos to create a map where you jump from one location to the next through the lens of your camera. iPhoto slideshow themes include professionally designed layouts, titles, and transitions that make a perfect backdrop for your photos. Face detection in iPhoto automatically centers and frames shots with people in them. So the focus of your slideshow is always where it should be.
Click a theme to play a full-screen slideshow -- accompanied by any song from your iTunes library. Fast-forward or rewind your slideshow using the filmstrip. Reorder photos, set the length of time individual photos remain onscreen, or, with some themes, choose different transitions. When you're happy with your slideshow, export it as a QuickTime movie that's sharable on the web and playable on any Mac, PC, iPhone, iPad, or iPod.
Click a theme to play a full-screen slideshow -- accompanied by any song from your iTunes library. Fast-forward or rewind your slideshow using the filmstrip. Reorder photos, set the length of time individual photos remain onscreen, or, with some themes, choose different transitions. When you're happy with your slideshow, export it as a QuickTime movie that's sharable on the web and playable on any Mac, PC, iPhone, iPad, or iPod.
Create Beautiful Books and Cards
With iPhoto books and cards, you can create gifts so unique, you'll find it hard to part with them.
Books That Are Real Head-Turners
Whether it's a coffee table book of your last vacation, a special gift to honor a momentous occasion, or a keepsake of a fun day at the beach, each and every iPhoto book promises to be one of a kind. A dynamic Theme browser makes it easy to create your book. Watch as theme after theme is revealed in a carousel, filled with the images you selected for your book. With smarter Autoflow, your book comes together in an instant. iPhoto automatically places your images for you. Your key photo becomes the cover image. Photos with higher ratings are featured more prominently. Shots captured on the same day appear together. Face detection ensures that photos of people are cropped and framed properly. Change the background color, font, layout, and more using simplified tools. Give your book a more professional look by adding full-bleed, two-page spreads. And see every page of your book from cover to cover with the new All Pages view, so you can make changes quickly and easily.
iPhoto books are available in a variety of sizes, including an extra-large 13-by-10" format. Choose softcover, wire-bound, or hardcover with a photo-wrapped cover and matching dust jacket.
iPhoto books are available in a variety of sizes, including an extra-large 13-by-10" format. Choose softcover, wire-bound, or hardcover with a photo-wrapped cover and matching dust jacket.
Cards Worth a Thousand Words
There's no disputing the beauty of a letterpress card. And even in today's high-tech world, there's something special about receiving one -- whether it's for a birth, a wedding, or just to say "thanks." Now in iPhoto '11, you can create letterpress cards customized with your photos and text. iPhoto letterpress cards are made from premium paper and come with matching envelopes.
iPhoto also lets you create standard folded or flat cards that aren't standard at all. That's because you can personalize them with your own images and your own words. And every card you create arrives at your door, ready to send to a lucky few.
iPhoto also lets you create standard folded or flat cards that aren't standard at all. That's because you can personalize them with your own images and your own words. And every card you create arrives at your door, ready to send to a lucky few.
What's New in iMovie
Movie Trailers
If you thought the movie was great, just wait until you see the trailer. Now you can make one yourself in iMovie '11. Choose from 15 movie trailer templates in almost every genre: adventure, drama, romantic comedy, and more. Graphics and titles flash across the big (or small) screen. The legendary London Symphony Orchestra performs an epic original soundtrack. And suddenly your home video goes Hollywood. Movie trailers are easy to create. Just click your clips to drop them into the storyboard. Add character names and personalize the titles. Then iMovie works its magic. It trims your clips to fit and adds transitions, titles, and special effects. The result? A trailer tour de force.
All-New Audio Editing
Go from indie filmmaker to master sound editor with new audio editing tools in iMovie. Sound effects, voiceover, and music -- you control them all. iMovie shows you detailed audio waveforms for all your clips. They're color coded, so you can see where the audio is overpowering. To adjust the audio levels of a clip or part of a clip, just drag the volume slider. To shorten or extend fades, drag the fade edges. As you make changes, waveforms update immediately so you always see what you hear. And the new single-row view shows you your entire movie project in one horizontal row, so it's easier to preview and edit your soundtrack.
One-Step Effects
A dog running in slow motion. A wedding ceremony sped up. Pee Wee baseball instant replays. Home videos are even more entertaining with visual effects, and you can make them happen with a click. Add jump cuts and flip effects perfectly timed to music. Transition parts of clips from color to black and white, sepia, or a dream haze. Choose a clip, choose from over 12 effects, and click to apply.
People Finder
What's a movie without a great cast? iMovie makes it easy to find your stars without digging through all your footage. By analyzing your video for faces, People Finder identifies the parts with people in them and tells you how many are in each scene. It also finds the close-ups, medium shots, or wide angles so it's easy to grab video clips as you need them. People Finder is great to use while you make movie trailers. You can quickly find the right shots and drop them into the movie trailer storyboard.
Sports and News Themes
Today's headlines: whatever you want them to be. Turn your video into a broadcast news segment complete with sophisticated graphics, sleek transitions, and hard-hitting titles you write yourself. The News theme is a fun way to announce a graduation or a new baby. Want to report real-life news? Share your story with CNN iReport directly from iMovie. With the Sports theme, you can turn a Pee Wee baseball game, a round of golf, or skateboarding at the park into sports video highlights. Add sports graphics and transitions. Choose from dynamic animated titles, such as game score, team face-off, and player stats. The Sports theme even includes a Sports Team Editor that seamlessly integrates your own player photos, rosters, statistics, and team logos into any Sports theme movie.
Your World Premiere
iMovie '11 lets you publish your movies in more ways to more places. You can export movies to iTunes and watch them on your iPhone, iPad, iPod, or Apple TV. Share them with your friends on Facebook. Premiere them with a YouTube or Vimeo audience. Publish newsworthy content to CNN iReport. And you can create a video podcast in iMovie and send it directly to Apple Podcast Producer. When you export HD video at full 1920 x 1080p resolution, whatever you share will stun everyone.
What is iMovie?
Home for All Your Home Video
With iMovie, every video you've ever recorded is right in front of you, ready to roll. Grab the popcorn and enjoy the show.
All Your Video, All in One Place
Chances are, you have a camcorder, a digital camera, or an iPhone -- and maybe all three. That means one thing: You have a ton of great video. iMovie puts it all in one place and organizes it for you so your video is easy to browse and fun to watch. Just plug in your device, open iMovie, and start importing your video. It appears in your Event Library -- the one place you'll find everything you've ever recorded. Just like photos in iPhoto, videos are organized by Events. And as your collection grows, you can rate clips as "favorite" or "rejected," tag them with preset or custom keywords, and filter them so you can find the best scenes (or hide the ones you're not thrilled with).
Enjoy Your Feature Presentation
Who says you have to edit? iMovie is a great place to just sit back and watch. View your video full screen without any desktop distractions. In full-screen view, flip through your entire video library using Cover Flow -- the same way you flip through albums in iTunes. You can also toggle between Events and projects, skim quickly through clips, and watch individual scenes.
Editing for Everyone
In just a few clicks, you can turn your home video into your favorite film.
Drag-and-Drop Moviemaking
If you know how to drag and drop, you can make a movie in iMovie. Here's how easy it is: Just drag your favorite clips into the project area and arrange them however you like. Drag in titles and transitions. Drop in photos. Add a song from iTunes or GarageBand for your soundtrack. The end.
Make the Cut
Editing in iMovie makes perfect sense, thanks to the simple, friendly interface. Every clip appears as a dynamic filmstrip that lets you preview the action at a glance. Move the pointer over the filmstrip to skim your video. Select clips and parts of clips just as you select text, then adjust them until what's in your head appears on the screen.
Add Some Photos
When your action flick has too much action, maybe it's time for some stills. iMovie imports your photos from iPhoto, Aperture, or Photo Booth. You can apply pan and zoom motion effects to give it a documentary feel. iMovie even detects faces in your photos to ensure that they remain in the frame.
Take Your Movie Further
Fine-tune every cut and transition, edit color and audio, and fix shaky video. iMovie gives you the controls you need to smooth out the rough parts -- and there's nothing rough about it.
Fine-Tune Every Edit
When you have all your clips where you want them, fine-tune even the trickiest cuts and transitions with the Precision Editor. Skim each clip up close and identify precisely how much to keep and where to cut. Adjust the duration of transitions. Edit audio and video independently, so you can use the sound from one clip with the video from another. Reposition titles and effects. And preview everything before you commit to a cut.
Fix Shaky Video
Don't leave those perfect -- if slightly wobbly -- moments on the cutting-room floor. Video stabilization in iMovie analyzes how much your camera was moving, then automatically reduces shake. You can analyze your video on a clip-by-clip basis or fix it all at once (the latter may take a while, but it's worth it).
Make Some Adjustments
When it's time to make final adjustments, iMovie gives you image controls in floating windows you can place anywhere on your screen. Use sliders to speed up, slow down, and reverse your clips. You can even adjust the color of your video by changing exposure, brightness, contrast, and saturation levels.
Edit Audio, Too
What's great video without audio? iMovie gives you all the tools you need to make your movie sound as good as it looks. Use multiple audio tracks for music and sound effects -- even record a voiceover track right in iMovie. New audio controls let you cut down background noise. And new audio effects make you sound like a professional radio host, a space alien, or nearly anything in between.
Add a Little Hollywood
With one click, make epic movie trailers and create beyond-amazing effects. It's your home video's big break.
In a World Where...
...you have hundreds of videos. No time. And nowhere to turn. Now there are iMovie trailers -- the fastest way to create something fun from your footage. Choose from 15 movie trailer templates in almost every genre: action, documentary, romantic comedy, and more. Spectacular graphics and titles soar across the screen. The London Symphony Orchestra performs original soundtracks. And suddenly your home video seems straight out of Hollywood. iMovie helps you choose the right clips, tells you where to drop them in the storyboard, and fits them perfectly within each trailer. You can print a shot list to get an overview of your trailer. And when you export your masterpiece, iMovie even creates a movie poster fit for the big screen. Or a little one.
Every Movie Needs a Theme
Turn your T-ball video into sports highlights. Make a graduation a news story. Or create a comic book from your family vacation. Themes make your movies look fun and professional, and they're easy to apply. Just choose a theme and iMovie does the rest, adding animated titles and sophisticated transitions automatically. You can even customize your titles.
Make Movie Magic
Your baby's first steps. A ballet recital. The cat playing with yarn. Yawn. Liven up your home movies with instant replays, dream sequences, or slow motion scenes and suddenly you have a screwball comedy or a tear-jerking drama on your hands. High-quality visual effects are easy to create in iMovie. Just choose your video clip, choose an effect, and click to apply. Add jump cuts and flip effects perfectly timed to music. And transition parts of clips from color to black and white, sepia, or a dream haze.
Animate Your Travels
With travel maps in your video travelogues, everyone who watches comes along on the adventure. Choose from four different 3D globe or flat map styles, select your location (or locations), and iMovie builds an animated map. If you want to change its look, just drag a different map on top of your current one.
Now Playing Everywhere
Once you've finished your masterpiece, it's time to share it. The fans, the critics, and the red carpet are ready and waiting.
Premiere Your Movie on MobileMe
With a MobileMe subscription, you get your own online gallery, where you can publish your movie for friends and family to watch, make comments, and download in a variety of sizes.
Be an Online Sensation
Upload your movie directly to Facebook and CNN iReport. If you have a YouTube or Vimeo following, export your movie at an amazing 1080p resolution and share it in stunning HD.
Share Your Movie Anywhere
To watch your movie on the go, send it to iTunes and sync it with your iPod, iPhone, or iPad. Or send your movie to Apple TV, then sit back and watch it on your widescreen TV.
They'll Laugh, They'll Cry, They'll Need a DVD
Of course, you can also burn your movie to a DVD. Just choose iDVD from the Share menu. Included with iLife '11, iDVD lets you create a full-featured DVD, complete with customized menus and buttons. If you've added chapter markers to your movie in iMovie, they show up in iDVD, too.
What's New in GarageBand
Flex Time and Groove Matching
Flex Time and Groove Matching are powerful tools that help you improve the rhythm and feel of your recordings. You can fix the timing of a note. Tighten the groove of your tracks. And easily create a great-sounding song.
Flex Time
Your performance is about to get even tighter. Flex Time is a new tool that lets you quickly change the timing of your recording, so your song has perfect rhythm. Something sounds a little off? Use Flex Time to fix timing mistakes on the fly. Just click and drag any part of a waveform to change the timing of a note or beat. You can move, stretch, or shorten individual notes without changing the good parts of your recording. And Flex Time is great for creative inspiration: Extend guitar riffs, alter vocals, try different rhythms, and get new ideas. Your Flex Time edits are highlighted so you can easily see your changes. Click the Flex Time button at any time to compare your edits with the original performance.
Groove Matching
If you're working with a bunch of different tracks -- like a guitar, bass, keyboards, percussion, and a drum loop underneath it all -- chances are that one (or all) of them could be a little out of rhythm. Groove Matching brings all your tracks together beautifully. Just select any track in your song and make it the Groove Track, and all other tracks instantly match it. If not every track needs adjusting, you can choose only the tracks you want. Groove Matching helps Apple Loops fit the feel of your song even better, too.
New Guitar Amps and Stompbox Effects
GarageBand brings you seven new guitar amps for a total of 12. They're modeled after the most revered gear in the world -- from clean sounds to heavy distortion and everything in between. You can also reproduce the sound of classic foot pedals with five new stompbox effects, making 15 to choose from. Mix amps with stompboxes and find thousands of ways to rock. And with the Apogee GiO (sold separately), you can control GarageBand hands-free, so you don't ever have to stop playing. The GiO lets you control stompbox effects, recording, and transport controls with your feet. Plug an electric guitar into your Mac, crank it up, and let it rip.
"How Did I Play?"
First GarageBand taught you how to play. Now it tests your chops. As you play along with any lesson, record yourself. GarageBand listens in real time and tells you how you're doing. You'll see how well you played with colored notes, a progress bar, and a performance meter. You can check your rhythm and note accuracy, keep track of your progress, and beat your best score -- all while perfecting your skills.
New Lessons for Piano and Guitar
With 22 new genre-based lessons (40 in all), you can pick up the basics of piano, guitar, or even both. Video demonstrations, synchronized notation, and instrument animations make lessons fun and easy to follow. And you can learn at your own pace. You'll jam with the Blues Guitar and Rock Guitar series. You'll master classical piano pieces by Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, or Chopin. And you'll play Top 40-style piano with the Pop Piano series. The new built-in glossary is a great reference for tuning your guitar, changing strings, reading music, finding basic chords and scales, and more. With the Chord Trainer, you'll master the most important guitar chords by shape, which makes it easier to keep them straight.
What is GarageBand?
Make Music on Your Mac
With GarageBand, you have all the instruments, bandmates, and talent you need.
Plug It In and Let It Rip
Plug a USB music keyboard into your Mac and over 100 realistic software instruments are at your fingertips. You'll find pianos, strings, drums, guitars, and horns -- everything from bass to woodwinds. Just create a new track, choose your instrument, and play. Don't have a keyboard? Try the one onscreen -- it can display up to 10 octaves at once and it's resizable. Or turn on Musical Typing and use the keys on your computer keyboard to play. As you record software instruments, GarageBand can display your notes on a piano roll or as notation, complete with rests and other musical events. Edit individual notes right on the staff, then print the notation.
Play Guitar Like a Legend
You don't need a studio full of big, expensive amps to play like your heroes. Just plug an electric guitar into your Mac and play through amps modeled after the most revered in the world. Add virtual stompbox effects that reproduce classic foot pedals. Then get a 3D view of your rig -- complete with amp, speaker cabinet, and stompboxes.
Jam with Your Band
The roadies have set up. The band is ready to jam on a full-screen stage. Now pick your instrument and step into the spotlight. Playing or singing along with Magic GarageBand Jam is the perfect way to practice and have fun. Assign instruments and styles to your guitarist, bassist, drummer, and keyboard player. Or shuffle instruments randomly to hear a new sound from your backing band. When you're happy with rehearsals, record right into Magic GarageBand. Create a custom mix. Share it with your fans. Then go at it again.
Write Your Big Hit
Easily write a song, share it with everyone, and become the next big thing.
Give Me a Beat
To write a song, start with a beat. It's easy to build with the included Apple Loops. Then plug in a guitar, bass, or microphone. You can even play (or sing) into the mic on your Mac. GarageBand captures the audio and turns it into digital files you can manipulate using recording and mixing tools.
Make Some Arrangements
As you record, GarageBand helps you add structure to your song. Most songs are arranged in distinct sections: introduction, verse, and chorus. With the sections clearly defined, you can rearrange your song at any time. Want to repeat a verse? Copy and paste. Move the chorus? Click and drag. All the tracks that belong to a section go along with it.
One-Click Wonders
GarageBand brings you Apple Loops -- over 1000 professionally recorded (and pretty short) performances you can use in your songs. You'll find loops created with just about every instrument in every genre, playing style, and mood. In the Loop Browser, click a loop and take a listen. If you like it, drag it into your project. You can piece loops together to create complete songs or backing tracks. Apple Loops automatically stretch to match your project's key and tempo so they're always in time and in tune. And you can create your own Apple Loops from real or software instrument tracks you've recorded. If you still need more backing musicians, you'll find thousands of additional Apple Loops in GarageBand Jam Packs (sold separately).
Record, Mix, and Master
GarageBand puts a dream studio at your fingertips and a brilliant recording engineer at your beck and call.
Multi-Track Recording
Got a guitar or keyboard? Just plug it into your Mac and start playing. Sing into the built-in microphone (or plug one in). And suddenly you're a recording artist. You can use over 100 built-in software instruments that even include backing vocals. Record each track one by one or bring the whole band over and lay down multiple tracks together. GarageBand supports Mac OS X-compatible audio I/O devices, so it's possible to record up to eight real instruments simultaneously and hundreds of tracks.
Take One -- And Two, Three, and Four
Record a part as many times as you like. GarageBand can keep track of every take and saves it to a multi-take region. Play your song back while switching between different takes to choose the one that sounds best. Keep the takes you love, delete the ones you don't.
Get Your Groove On
Once you've laid down a few tracks, it's time to mix. Just like a professional recording engineer, GarageBand helps you create a sound all your own. Are a few guitar notes out of time? Flex Time can fix them. It lets you quickly change the timing of your recording just by dragging the notes to the right spot. If more of your tracks seem a little off, Groove Matching will help bring them together. Just select any track -- like a steady drum beat -- as the Groove Track and all other tracks instantly match its rhythmic feel.
Master Your Mix
Add basic effects such as compression, reverb, or EQ. Take it up a notch by adding fun effects like Chorus, Auto Wah, and Distortion. Tweak your mix by adjusting the volume of each track or panning between speakers. Then rock out and get down.
Share Your Single
All that hard work deserves to be heard. Do it for your fans (but keep a copy for yourself).
Your Own Digital Download
Export the songs you make in GarageBand to your iTunes library so you can listen to them on your iPod, iPhone, or iPad and share them with everyone. You can choose to export them in CD-quality AIFF format or as near-CD-quality AAC or MP3 files.
Your Ringtone Release
Even your phone rocks your single. GarageBand can take your song, Apple Loop, or any recorded audio and instantly turn it into a custom ringtone optimized for iPhone. So when your friends call, your song plays. (Tell them to call often.)
Your Podcast Premiere
Share your GarageBand project as a podcast. Or create a radio-style show entirely in GarageBand. Record and edit a voiceover, add sound effects and jingles, and record interviews. You can even use built-in audio enhancement to sound like a professional radio host.
Share Your Songs Online
GarageBand exports smaller versions of your projects so it's easy to share them over the Internet. Friends, bandmates, or music instructors can download them fast when you want some comments or collaboration. Your GarageBand projects are compatible with Logic Express and Logic Pro, so it's easy to swap tracks with the pros. And even go pro yourself someday.
A Fun Way to Learn to Play
Apple found some incredible music teachers. And put them in your Mac.
Learn to Play: Basic Lessons
GarageBand not only helps you make music, it teaches you how to play an instrument right on your Mac. Choose from 40 Basic Lessons that cover blues guitar, rock guitar, classical piano, pop piano, and more. Learn at your own pace, in your own way. Onscreen instruments with animated guitar strings and piano keys show you exactly where to place your fingers. Follow chords, guitar tablature, or music notes. Or read the sheet music -- it's displayed full screen on two pages, just as it would be on a music stand. In a guitar lesson, the Chord Trainer helps you get your guitar chords straight by seeing their shapes. When you're more comfortable, practice your new skills with a complete backing band and play an entire song.
Learn to Play: Artist Lessons
It doesn't get any more authentic than learning to play a song from the artist who made it famous. Have Sting teach you how to play "Roxanne." Death Cab for Cutie will show you "I Will Possess Your Heart." Learn the classic "Tom Sawyer" from Rush. And many more. Browse, preview, and purchase Artist Lessons from the Lesson Store in GarageBand. Then get step-by-step instructions for chords, finger positions, and techniques from the people who know your favorite songs best. Even play along with their bands and hear the inspiration behind every song -- straight from the artist.
"How Did I Play?"
Instantly impress yourself with your new talent. Record your lesson as you play along, and GarageBand tells you how well you're playing in real time. You'll see colored notes, a progress bar, and a performance meter. You can check your rhythm and note accuracy, keep track of your progress, and beat your best score -- all while perfecting your performance.