Things To Do With GarageBand, Even If You're Not a Musician

GarageBand is a part of the iLife suite of Mac applications from Apple. If you're a musician, you're probably already using GarageBand to lay down tracks, write songs and play with song ideas. If you not a musician, you can still use GarageBand in many useful and fun ways.

Create a cool voicemail message.
Instead of recording your voicemail message "live" into the phone, use GarageBand on you Mac to record it. The recording controls in GarageBand are much easier to use than any voicemail system. Plus, you can add background music and sound effects, too.

Create a ringtone for your phone.
Drag a music file into GarageBand. Trim it down to the portion of the song you'd like to use as a ringtone. If you have an iPhone you can use the "Send Ringtone to iTunes" item in the Share menu. The next time you sync, your custom-created ringtone will be installed on your iPhone.

Rehearse a speech.
Record a speech you are rehearsing and play it back to hear how it sounds.

Record your kids practicing an instrument, and play it back for them to hear.
If your son or daughter is learning to play an instrument, perhaps practicing a piece of music for a recital, it will help for them to hear a playback of part of their rehearsal.

Learn to play the guitar or piano in GarageBand.
Can't accommodate a regular guitar or piano lesson into your schedule? GarageBand offers video lessons that can teach you to play, with teachers such as Sting and Colbie Caillat. GarageBand let's you progress at your own pace and repeat lesson sections as much as you'd like. Slow down songs you're learning, and speed them up to normal tempo as you get better.

Learn your lines.
Read the script and record the lines of the other characters, leaving space for your lines. Then, play it back and say your lines using the recording to prompt you. It's a good way to learn and rehearse your lines and line cues.

Record a class or meeting.
With GarageBand installed on a MacBook, you can record a seminar, class session, speech or meeting as you take notes. You can refer to your audio recording later if you need to.

Remember a song you like.
If you're sitting in a Starbucks and hear a song you like, record it so you have a better chance of recalling it later to find the name of the song and who performed it.

Record yourself singing to a karaoke track.
Download a karaoke track from the web or iTunes Music Store and drag it into GarageBand on your Mac. Then sing and record. The cool thing about GarageBand is that you can record portions of a song, a little at a time. And, you can re-record any portion to get it just right. Add echo, too.

Create your own radio show, for fun.
You can be your own DJ. Drag music files into GarageBand and spread them out. Then, record song intros and clever quips. Add sound effects and musical jingles, too.

Create a podcast.
One of GarageBand's specialities, it turns your Mac into and podcast studio and provides sounds effects and jingles to spruce-up a podcast. Plus, GarageBand makes it easy to create and share a podcast. To start, launch GarageBand and select New from the File file. Then, click "Create New Podcast Episode." Name your podcast. GarageBand will open a template ready for you to start recording.