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How to Edit a Song on GarageBand to Make an Acapella

GarageBand is a digital audio workstation for Mac computers. It typically comes free with the Mac Life suite of programs. GarageBand enables you to record, edit and mix music using your computer. One benefit of using a digital workstation such as GarageBand is the ease with which you can edit audio content. An acapella is a vocal only version of a song. If you’re making a remix or want to showcase your vocal talent, an acapella version of your song is useful to have. GarageBand has the tools to edit a full song into an acapella.

Things You'll Need

  • Mac computer
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Instructions

    • 1

      Click the GarageBand icon on your desktop or open the “Applications” folder and click the GarageBand icon in there. This launches the program.

    • 2

      Arrange your audio files. When GarageBand is open, the audio files are displayed one on top of the other. If you have numerous files, this can get confusing. Hit “Play” and click the organge “Solo” button. This mutes all other audio, enabling you to hear the selected audio in isolation. Once you’re sure of what the file is, edit the name to reflect this — for example, “Lead Vocal 1.” Arranging your files clearly makes editing out unwanted audio easier and prevents you from removing audio that you need.

    • 3

      Click “File, “Save” and save the session as “Song Tile With Instruments.” GarageBand is an entry-level workstation and has some limitations. One limitation is that you can’t sub-mix. Sub-mixing is the industry-standard technique for routing multiple audio to a single channel for mixing — for example, sending all vocals to one channel when making an a capella track. This approach lets you export selected audio separately from the whole. For this reason, it’s necessary to save a version of the song with instrumentals before removing them.

    • 4

      Click on each non-vocal track, for example “Electric Guitars.” Hit “Command” and “Delete” at the same time to delete the selected track. Repeat this process for each non-vocal track until all you have left is vocals.

    • 5

      Click “File,” “Save” and rename the track as “Song Title A Capella Version.” This approach creates two versions of the track, one with and one without backing instrumentation.

    • 6

      Click "File" and select “Export to iTunes.”

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