Saturday, August 6, 2011

Join Tracks (Merge Tracks) GarageBand Hint

This hint works for ProLogic, Protools, any recording program. Example: One online GarageBand manual I found is almost 100 pages long. In 100 pages, this is what it says about joining or merging regions:
you can. Instruction: "Select the region, then choose Edit > Join."

Well, it's a bit harder to do than that. Without any manual in hand, I learned after much frustration that in GarageBand you first have to:
3. (Steps 1 and 2 are explained below).
Click on the instrument's track name (left column) to highlight it. Until then, the Edit>Join menu option stays GRAYED OUT,
___even if you've highlighted the regions you want to join,
___even if your cursor is in the editor,
___even if you've selected a MIDI note or highlighted a wave in the editor.
I'm still a bit miffed to think of all the frustrating time I spent trying to figure out why the logical Edit>Join did not work. May you have a bit more joy in missing out on that annoying omission in technical manuals that should have been user tested with complete novices like I was!

4. This step is logical even if you have no manual: Highlight the regions and select Edit>Join (duh).

5. Here's a hint I learned the hard way because it wasn't in the manuals: BEFORE you hit File>SAVE, always play your full piece of music for the newly joined regions to be sure you didn't accidentally move anything while highlighting the regions.

In fact: Here's a really cool hint (imho) I worked out from personal experience:
ENSURE YOU DIDN'T SHIFT YOUR REGIONS while highlighting them....
which is easy to do. If either region is bumped one tiny count as you touch it with your cursor, your entire piece will be off... and you will be quite frustrated as you try to repair "whatever I did." Especially if you save the file immediately after joining (merging) regions. To avoid this easy mistake:

1. BEFORE you do the three steps above, SAVE your file.
2. After you highlight the regions to be joined, go to Edit> and ensure that the Undo item is still gray. Hit UNDO if it says you need to undo anything! Especially "Change position of region"!
It's still a safety feature to check with Step 5 above, but not so essential if you've first done these two steps.
Much Joy in music to you! ©2018, 2011 DianaDee Osborne

Reprinted 23 January 2018