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Chapter 3 Working With Projects 29
Setting the Key
Each project has a key, which defines the central note to which the other notes in the
music relate, and the scale used (either “major” or “minor”).
To set the key:
1 In the New Project dialog, choose a key from the Key pop-up menu.
2 Choose the scale from the Scale pop-up menu to the right of the Key pop-up menu.
Note: You can change the key later in the Track Info pane for the master track.
If you change the key of a project after recording instruments or adding loops, all
Software Instrument recordings and loops are transposed to the new key. Real
Instrument recordings are not transposed.
Setting the Time Signature
Each project also 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.
To set the time signature:
m In the New Project dialog, choose a time signature from the Time pop-up menu.
Note: You can change the time signature later in the Track Info pane for the
master track.
Opening an Existing Project
You can open an existing project to continue working.
To open an existing project:
m Choose File > Open, locate and select the project you want to open, then click OK.
You can also open a recently open project by choosing File > Open Recent and
choosing a project from the submenu.
If you close the currently open project, a dialog appears, asking if you want to create a
new project or open an existing project.