Glossary

Every term used across the lessons, defined in one place. Bookmark this page.

Apple Loops: Pre-recorded, royalty-free audio and MIDI snippets built into GarageBand that automatically match your project's tempo and key when you drag them into a track.
Automation: Recorded changes to a setting — like volume or panning — that play back automatically over time, instead of staying fixed for the whole song.
Bounce / Export: Rendering your multi-track project down into a single finished audio file (like a WAV or MP3) that can be played anywhere.
BPM (Beats Per Minute): Your song's tempo. GarageBand's default is 120 BPM; you can change it in the LCD display at the top of the window.
Bus / Aux Track: A shared channel that several tracks can be routed to, so you can process or control them together — commonly used to send multiple tracks to one shared reverb.
Comping: Short for 'composite' — recording several takes of the same part and combining the best sections of each into one final take.
Compression: An effect that reduces the difference between the loudest and quietest parts of a sound, making a performance sound more even and controlled.
DAW: Digital Audio Workstation — the general term for software like GarageBand used to record, edit, and mix audio.
Drummer: GarageBand's built-in virtual drummer that generates realistic, editable drum performances based on a style and intensity you choose.
EQ (Equalizer): A tool that boosts or cuts specific frequencies (like bass or treble) in a sound to shape its tone.
Flex Pitch: A GarageBand editing tool that lets you correct or reshape the pitch of a recorded vocal or monophonic instrument, note by note.
Flex Time: A GarageBand editing tool that lets you stretch, compress, or nudge parts of an audio recording to fix its timing without changing its pitch.
Loop Browser: The panel where you search and preview Apple Loops before dragging them into your project.
Mastering: The final polishing pass on a finished mix — usually EQ, compression, and limiting — done to make a track sound loud, balanced, and ready for release.
MIDI: A digital format that stores note, timing, and velocity information (not actual audio) — used to record and edit Software Instrument tracks.
Mixdown: The process of adjusting the relative volume, panning, and effects of every track so they sit together as one balanced song.
Panning: Positioning a sound anywhere from fully left to fully right in the stereo field.
Plugin / Audio Unit (AU): Third-party effects or instruments that some DAWs (like Logic Pro) support. GarageBand doesn't support third-party plugins — you're limited to its built-in instruments and effects.
Quantize: Automatically snapping recorded MIDI notes to the nearest beat or subdivision, tightening up timing.
Region: A single block of recorded audio or MIDI that sits on a track — the basic building block you trim, move, split, and loop.
Reverb: An effect that simulates the natural echo and ambience of a physical space, like a room, hall, or church.
Sampler: A software instrument that plays back recorded audio (a 'sample') across a keyboard, letting you turn any sound into a playable instrument.
Smart Controls: The panel of simplified knobs and sliders GarageBand shows for the instrument or effect on the selected track.
Software Instrument: A track type that plays a virtual instrument (piano, synth, drums) from MIDI data instead of recorded audio.
Take: One recorded attempt at a performance. GarageBand can store multiple takes of the same section for you to comp between.
Track: A single horizontal lane in your project — one instrument, voice, or audio source at a time.
Transient: The sharp, initial attack of a sound, like a drum hit or a plucked string — important for timing edits and compression settings.
Velocity: How hard a MIDI note was played, which usually controls how loud or bright that note sounds.
Waveform: The visual squiggle representing an audio region's shape over time, used to see where sounds start, stop, and peak.