Recording multiple tracks separately on Garageband '09.

[beholdtheturtle]

I apologize, as I realize this topic has most likely come up before, but I have yet to find the solution on the forums.

To make it short, I'm trying to record vocals and acoustic guitar simultaneously, but to separate tracks on Garageband so they may be edited independently of each other. I know to create two separate tracks and set the input sources to their corresponding sources on your recording interface.

I'm using a Peavy PV10 mixer that is connected to my Macbook Pro by USB. When I go the input source dropbox, my only options are Mono 1, Mono 2, and Stereo 1/2. At first, I thought that this was correct, since the only inputs that were in use on my mixer were 1 and 2. However, when I record the separate tracks, they end up being identical, with guitar AND vocals on both tracks. Unless I'm mistaken, my input choices should go up to Mono 10.

I'm new to recording, so I apologize for anything that may be obvious. If you have any other questions about my setup, feel free to ask. Thank you.

 

[Kasalic]

The problem you have is that whilst the mixer allows you to input many devices, it is only outputting 2 channels (in stereo) to the Mac.

To do what you want to do, you need to pan the vocal channel hard right, and the guitar channel hard left on the mixer.

You should then be able to select mono1 as the input on one track and mono2 as the input on the other. This should then give you vocals on one track and guitar on the other.

Bear in mind that if you may get bleed through on the vocal mic from the Acoustic guitar depending on how omnidirectional it is, and vice versa if you are not using a Direct Input from the guitar's preamp.

 

[OllyW]

This might help you.

 

[mchalebk]

If your input options are Mono 1, Mono 2, and Stereo 1/2, you should be able to record two separate tracks by selecting Mono 1 on 1 track and Mono 2 on the other. However, you have to make sure that each channel has separate info on each. I think Kasalic has it right. you need to pan your inputs on the mixer hard left and right.

 

[Kasalic]

This might help you.

That link assumes you have a hardware device that allows multiple inputs, the mixer the OP is using connects via USB and has only a stereo input which can be split into two mono inputs. The link is useful for showing how to set up multi-track recording though

 

[beholdtheturtle]

Many thanks to Kasalic, panning hard left and right did the trick. Thank you as well to the others for your input.