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Chapter 3 Tutorial 1: Creating, Playing, and Saving GarageBand Projects 25
4 Set the project tempo, time signature, and key, as described in the following steps.
Setting the Tempo
Each project has a speed, or tempo. The tempo defines the rate at which beats, the
basic rhythmic pulse, occur in the project. The tempo is measured in beats per minute,
or bpm. You can set the tempo to any speed between 60 and 240 bpm. The default
tempo is 120 bpm, which is a common tempo used in popular music.
5 Set the project tempo by dragging the Tempo slider (drag left to make the tempo
slower, or drag right to make it faster). You can also type a tempo in the Tempo field
(marked “bpm”).
Setting the Time Signature
Each project has a time signature, which controls the relationship between beats and
measures. A project’s time signature consists of two numbers separated by a forward
slash, which look similar to a fraction. The number on the left controls the number of
beats in each measure, and the number on the right controls the beat value (the length
of the note that gets one beat).
You can use any of the following time signatures in a GarageBand project: 2/2, 2/4, 3/4,
4/4, 5/4, 7/4, 6/8, 7/8, 9/8, or 12/8. The default is 4/4, the most commonly used time
signature.
6 Choose a time signature from the Time pop-up menu.
Tempo slider
Key pop-up menuTime pop-up
menu
Scale pop-up menu