Deleting parts of Garageband recordings

theBB · Apr 22, 2006

I gotta be missing something very simple. When I delete a part of a recording (with only one track) in GarageBand and export it to iTunes, the length of the recording stays the same, so I end up with silent sections at the end.

I am making some test recordings with Garageband, let's say about 10 seconds long. Then I delete the last 4 seconds of that recording through the "track editor", thinking that now I have a 6 second recording. Afterwards I click Share -> Send Song to iTunes. The recording stays about as long as what it would be without any deletion, so there is a 4 second silence at the end.

I have also tried deleting the middle section and stitching the remaining parts together, the silent section is at the end again. Can anyboby tell me what I am missing?

VanNess · Apr 22, 2006

well, a couple of things

First, if you delete a portion at the end of a track, drag the bottom portion at the end of the track in towards the remaining recorded material, so the track displays only recorded material. (I don't remember off the top of my head if a blank space is left when you delete something at the end of a real instrument track, but I think one does if it's a software instrument track.) That should eliminate the silence at the end of the track. Then drag the end of song marker (the black marker similar in appearance to the timeline/playhead marker that sits at the end of the song) so that it matches the end of the track. Export to iTunes and you should get only the recorded material for that track without any silent sections.

theBB · Apr 24, 2006

VanNess said:
First, if you delete a portion at the end of a track, drag the bottom portion at the end of the track in towards the remaining recorded material, so the track displays only recorded material.

Do you mean the slider that sets the zoom level? If so, I set it so that I can view almost only the recorded material without any need for scrolling.

Then drag the end of song marker (the black marker similar in appearance to the timeline/playhead marker that sits at the end of the song) so that it matches the end of the track.

I can only see a purple triangle on the timeline axis with a black line going down. Whan I play the recording, the red line moves only up to that purple triangle. When I click "Share -> Send Song to iTunes" it exports up to the purple triangle. Thanks for your help...

For some reason, I cannot move that purple triangle below 8 seconds, even though I have chopped off a lot of stuff so that there is less than 4 seconds of recording left. If the recording is longer than 8 seconds, the purple triangle can still move down to 8 second limit. Do you think this is the minimum length for a GarageBand song?

Porco · Apr 24, 2006

It's the purple triangle that sets the end of where it'll export, you seem to have worked that bit out. I'm not sure if GarageBand has a minimum track time, it looks like it, but either way, in iTunes you can solve this easily, and it's worth knowing regardless:

- Get Info for the track you exported from Garage Band (right-click/ctrl-click the track, or find it in the File menu)
- Go to the 'Options' Tab
- Set the 'Stop time' to whatever you want (e.g. 0:04 for 4 seconds in)
- click OK
-'Convert selection to...' AIFF again (right-click/ctrl-click or in the Advanced menu), or MP3/AAC/Lossless/whatever you favour (export settings are in Preferences)

Now you should have a copy of the track which is exactly the same but has the end chopped off

You could be more precise with Quicktime Pro, but the iTunes way works as a fix.

VanNess · Apr 24, 2006

theBB said:
Do you mean the slider that sets the zoom level? If so, I set it so that I can view almost only the recorded material without any need for scrolling.

Nope. I mean shortening the track itself. When you move the cursor to the end of the recorded portion of the track, the cursor will change as shown in the attached pic. You can then drag to the left to shorten the track.

I can only see a purple triangle on the timeline axis with a black line going down. Whan I play the recording, the red line moves only up to that purple triangle. When I click "Share -> Send Song to iTunes" it exports up to the purple triangle. Thanks for your help...

I did a bad job of describing it, but you got it.

For some reason, I cannot move that purple triangle below 8 seconds, even though I have chopped off a lot of stuff so that there is less than 4 seconds of recording left. If the recording is longer than 8 seconds, the purple triangle can still move down to 8 second limit. Do you think this is the minimum length for a GarageBand song?

You got me there. I have no idea. Never came across a situation where I had to export something 8 seconds or less in length. Although I can recall hearing many many songs that I wish were less than 8 seconds long.

Looks like Porco has come up with an excellent workaround for the length issue.

theBB · Apr 24, 2006

Porco said:
Now you should have a copy of the track which is exactly the same but has the end chopped off You could be more precise with Quicktime Pro, but the iTunes way works as a fix.

Wow, that's a really good hint. Thanks...

In any case, for a person who does not need any software instruments or complicated audio effects, I gotta say GarageBand is not very intuitive at all, especially compared to other iLife apps. On Windows I really like Audacity, very easy to use, yet does everything I need. Unfortunately, the new version is not very stable on my intel Mac. One of these days I should try the older version to give it another chance.

texasmccoy · Jan 16, 2012

Thanks SOOOO much!!

OMG Thank y'all so much!! It was driving me bonkers trying to figure out how to shorten all those long unnecessary silences at the ends of my songs, that extend way past the end of the longest track/region.

Apple otta make that tiny little purple triangle a little easier to see. I know this is a really old thread, but the info still applies to the current version of Garage Band as of Jan. 2012. Thanks!!

aballiett · Jan 29, 2012

This is a little different, but the same topic

I've been working with a two track podcast. I have a lot of silent space to delete. Since garageband doesn't have a truncate silence filter, I've been cutting the silence out. When I move the pieces of the recording from the right to the left, I notice that any adjustments I've made to the track volume to silence noise in the track that isn't speaking do not move with the tracks. In other words, if I silence a cough in track one and then snip out silence, the track volume line area I used to reduce the sound in to hide a cough may now be silencing speaking in that same track. Does this make any sense!

I can't believe Garageband could be so stupid, so I assume I'm missing something.

Can some someone help me?

Thanks

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Deleting parts of Garageband recordings

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Porco

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