Reconnecting mp3 in garageband

[Policar]

I have a garageband file that's all software instrument tracks except for an mp3 file called "timpani 3.mp3." Anyhow, that file somehow got misplaced or disconnected and I found it on the hard drive but when I open the file it says it can't be found, it won't find it when I hit "search" and I don't know how to reconnect it after the file is open. What do I do?

Thanks.

 

[Policar]

Up. I know this is probably something very simple but I still can't figure it out.

 

[ChrisA]

I have a garageband file that's all software instrument tracks except for an mp3 file called "timpani 3.mp3." Anyhow, that file somehow got misplaced or disconnected and I found it on the hard drive but when I open the file it says it can't be found, it won't find it when I hit "search" and I don't know how to reconnect it after the file is open. What do I do?

Thanks.

Create a new track, drag and drop the MP3 file into the new track. Delete the old track.

 

[Policar]

The mp3 track is a collection of timpani samples, so I cut the correct samples out for each part and placed them individually. It's a pain because there has to be a sample for each type of timpani roll or hit and twelve tones for each of those so I've placed about two dozen individual hits of changing pitch and timbre. It would probably take a couple hours to line everything back up correctly, if I could figure it out at all.

Is there any other way? This is so easy in Final Cut or After Effects or something, but I'm a video person and very new to audio.

 

[Policar]

Is the path of the original mp3 hidden somewhere in the garageband file? Can I open it with textedit and search for it? (Unfortunately, the file is 240mb.)

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[ChrisA]

Is the path of the original mp3 hidden somewhere in the garageband file? Can I open it with textedit and search for it? (Unfortunately, the file is 240mb.)

Any help would be appreciated.

If you want to search the file for the pathname the command that does this is "strings". It will find and print all ascii strings in a file.

open the terminal, type the word strings then a space then drag and drop the big file. the drop operation will drop the path name of the file then hit return.

But the full pathname might not be stored in the file. Perhaps there is a default folder and that would not need to be in the project file.

Hate to bring this up but I guess maybe now you've become a big fan of Time Machine?

 

[Policar]

Thanks for the suggestion...I had no idea you could do that and I'll try it. I'll also add another new track and see if garageband makes a copy of it elsewhere and, if it does, move my timpani mp3 there. If it doesn't work, I guess it's brute force.

I'm ashamed to admit I've added over 5 terabytes of extra storage to my mac (internal and external) and have yet to use time machine. This is what I get.