Mac360 Twitter TweetsSponsorship and Advertising on Mac360Forums Member LoginRegister for Mac360 ForumsFrequently Asked QuestionsYouTube Video WatchDashboard Widget WatchPolls & SurveysMac360 Power Search Options
RSS FeedThe Mac360 Article ArchiveThe Cheap MacWhat's New!Mac Tips & TricksMacintosh User ForumsMac360 Reviews

What’s In A Name? Amadeus And Audio?

There are more than a handful of stops between one end of the spectrum (free) and the other (Emagic’s “Logic Pro” audio application.

Starting with “Free”, each Mac comes with iLife, that suite of applications for photos, music, DVDs (if you have a Mac with a SuperDrive), movies, and music creation. The music creation application is called GarageBand and it will do a great job creating audio, mixing sound music in multiple tracks, adding special effects, and much more.

Did I mention that GarageBand is free?

Audio, either voice, music tracks, or both, can be exported directly to iTunes, imported into iMovie, and used in iDVD or iPhoto.

It could not be much easier to create quality audio, music or voice or both, using just these basic applications from Apple.

At the other end of the scale, there are even more choices and more capabilities. Apple bought the premier computer audio company, Emagic, a few years ago. Their Logic audio application is used extensively to record and mix commercial music CDs, movie soundtracks, and much more.

It’s expensive. The whole Emagic suite for Mac OSX will push you near to a grand ($1,000), but you’ll be able to load Logic onto your Mac and instantly be competitive with the best sound production studios in the world. That assumes you know something about music and sound.

In between, Apple also has the Final Cut Pro suite of tools for video and audio production.

SoundTrack (as part of Final Cut Pro, or as a standalone audio production application) is like GarageBand on steriods. There’s not much you can’t do with SoundTrack.

Even Final Cut Pro contains a great audio mixer with sound effects.

What if you just want to create an MP3 from a CD, add a few effects, and send it to a friend via email (I recommend that you don’t send a full CD cut in AIFF format, as that could easily run 50-megabytes in size; not an easy download for a friend using dial up email; he or she won’t be your friend much longer.

So, what do you do?

Post your own Comment.

Classy Mac360 PhotoBy Alexis Kayhill | I'm a 20 year Mac user veteran, writer, photographer, wife, and mommy. I live in sunny San Diego with my husband, three children, two dogs, one mean old cat, and an SUV with a back seat full of beach sand. Follow me on Twitter.

• Email This Article  •  Follow Mac360 on Twitter
• Posted in the Mac Software Section

Off Topic Note: Help support Mac360. Order your copy of Mac OS X Snow Leopard from Mac360 through Amazon. Snow Leopard is $29 for the Single User Upgrade, and only $49 for the 5 User Family Pack Upgrade.

Mac360 posts daily Mac updates on Twitter, too. If you Twitter, give Alexis, Bambi, or Ron a tweet and follow Mac360 on Twitter to get daily Mac tips and tricks.

Page 1 of 2 pages  1 2 >
Diary
Journal or Diary. Your life is worth remembering beyond photographs.
Wed Nov 4 - Full Article »
Email
What? You don't use email stationary? Try these free templates.
Tue Nov 3 - Full Article »
Dock
Why not just add another Dock to make your Mac more efficient?
Mon Nov 2 - Full Article »
Snow Leopard
What's in the FORUMS?
Mac360 Link Farm