Have you recorded your podcast audio in Garageband or imported it to GarageBand to make some of your own edits? There are a few simple steps you’ll need to take to prepare and export your audio for delivery to us for editing!
If your audio track has a title like “Audio 1” then it likely is already safe to export. However, if your track has a name such as “Narration Vocal” then it is likely that GarageBand has applied some unwanted audio settings which we need to disable.
Checking and Disabling Unwanted Audio Settings #
1) Be sure you have not added any music or produced intro/outros in the GarageBand session. We want to work strictly with dialogue recordings.
2) If you cannot see the Smart Controls area at the bottom of the screen, click the knob in the top left corner to display it.
3) If they are not already, move all silver switches to the “off” position by ensuring the blue indicator shuts off. Ensure the Ambience and Reverb knobs are turned all the way down.
4) After ensuring the SmartControl settings have been disabled using the previous 3 steps, ensure the metronome is disabled by checking that the metronome button is grey, NOT purple.
Exporting the File #
Now, you are ready to export! At the top of the screen, select “Share” and then “Export song to disk.”
Select either MP3 or WAV format. If possible, WAV should be used. It is the highest quality but larger file size. If you are experiencing difficulty using WAV files, you may use MP3.
Name the file appropriately, navigate to a folder where you would like to save the file, and click the blue Export button.
The exported file is what you will need to provide to us for editing your podcast!
What If I Have More Than One Dialogue Track in My Garageband Session? #
If you recorded 2 separate dialogue tracks in GarageBand, it will provide the most editing flexibility if we receive them separately. To do this, there is one step you must add to the process above. Before exporting, use the pan control to put one track all the way Left, and the other all the way Right. This will provide us with isolated audio of each track, giving the most flexibility to work on each track without affecting the other.
If you have used more than 2 dialogue tracks for more than 2 speakers, you can follow a similar process to export a max of 2 tracks at a time. Just be sure that each is always isolated. Contact East Coast Studio for further assistance!
Helpful Tip #
If you create a new audio track for recording in GarageBand with the + sign, and never assign it one of the GarageBand presets, you will not have to worry about disabling the settings each time. If your track has a name like “Audio 1” and you haven’t added any audio settings manually, it should not have any. This means once done recording, you can jump straight to exporting.
