GarageBand SuPeRsTaR

I have had a MacBook for almost two years and have not had a chance to use GarageBand, a software that comes with the laptop, until now!  And let me tell you, I can spend more time using GarageBand then FaceBook.  GarageBand really rocks my socks off!  I am a huge music fan, but have no musical talent.  I can’t even play the egg shaker right.  Well, in seventh grade I played the trumpet, but it was only because I had a crush on another trumpet player and I thought it would be a great opportunity to talk to him.  Lets just say the crush ended and so did my trumpet playing days.  But now I am able to create, mash and manipulate music.  I almost feel like a producer, almost…not really.  Like a nerd, I attended a GarageBand workshop at the Apple store at MOA.  I learned a lot of neat stuff in that hour.  Each class is different, teaching different techniques, so I suggest you go next Saturday at 6pm.  My first attempt at making a creation took me 6+ hours.  Yeah, a long time.  But I have a pretty neat mashup that I am proud of.

So for our project, we decided to “implement” a “contest” in “YOUR Library” called GarageBand Battle.  Hypothetically, this contest is geared towards teens and young adults.  The contests create a “song” using GarageBand and submit it to the library.  A wiki has been created that provides information about the “contest” as well as provides video clip tutorials.  We then created a link from the wiki to a podcasting site where the “contestants” upload their music.  From the podcasting site, the public is able ot listen to “entries” and place comments.  The “entry” with the most comments “wins.”

Challenges of this project:  Not spending every moment of my day playing with GarageBand.  Making the video clips small enough to fit in the side bar of the wiki.  Pod-o-matic; its a great site, but it does not like me.

Overall, I am really happy that I did this project, we were able to implement a few 2.0 tools and now I know how great GarageBand really is.

Click Anonymous to checkout a mix a created to demonstrate to my class the opportunities and creativity available with GarageBand.  It samples Bjork’s “So Quiet”  as well as an anonymous comment made to a blog entry on Tame the Web.