Link to GarageBand Information Page

When deciding to create a new file, you can choose from:

New Song (use this to work with the virtual instruments of Garageband, or to record a musical instrument into a microphone or through midi/another method.
New Podcast Episode (use this to create spoken word audio files, such as lectures or an audio file to be distributed which mostly contains speech)
New Movie Score

Whatever you choose, give your new project a name and select “create”. The default save directory for audio files is in the user’s folder/user directory/music/garageband , but you can choose to save your file where ever you like.

Garageband comes with a large collection of sample audio loops you can use to build songs and ambient audio sound, sound effects, and even musical instruments you can play with the computer keyboard.

Upon creating a new GarageBand document, you will see the workflow interface, which has several time lines for each individual track (what tracks are available by default will vary depending on the kind of document you decide to create, but you can add more tracks by clicking the somewhat large “+” button on the left in the middle of the GarageBand screen.

Recording
To record an individual track, like your voice for example, simply press the circle (record button) in the track label (“Male Voice” for example) so that the circle in the record button is red (and not gray). After enabling the track, when you are ready to record you can press the red record button in the middle of the GarageBand window. When you are done recording, press the red record button again to stop.

Using Apple’s Pre-loaded Audio
To use the pre-loaded Apple sound effects or music beds, click on the “eyeball” button in the middle of the program window to bring up the loop browser. You can click through and even get previews of the audio samples by simply single clicking them. When you find a sample you want to use, drag and drop the sample into your timeline where ever you would like the sound to play. Once you have the sample in your timeline, if you decide to move it you can simply drag the sample where ever you want in the time line.