Waveform Wednesday: Flex Time Editing in GarageBand ’11

New in GarageBand ’11 is the ability to manipulate timing in audio regions. Essentially a flexible audio quantization option, now you can fix an otherwise perfect take without having to re-record. Here’s how:

First, download the practice file at LINK

Open the GarageBand file and take a listen. We are going to focus on the electric guitar track. Solo the electric guitar track as shown, and enable the metronome as shown.

Now take a listen for how the track lines up with the click.

Before doing any editing, make sure you understand what the rhythm is supposed to be. There is some 16th note syncopation, the guitar rhythm is as shown.

Double-click on the electric guitar audio region to open the editor. Now move the mouse over the editor. Notice when you are in the top half of the region the mouse cursor changes to GarageBand’s Flex Time editor.

Click the waveform and GarageBand will analyze the audio for Flex Time editing.

Now click and drag to move around the individual note attacks or transients. Keep in mind that the more drastically you edit, the further the audio quality is degraded, though this may make for a cool effect. Have fun!


-by LC Tech Blog contributor Chris Fitzgerald