12. Sharing and Archiving Your GarageBand Projects

Digital music and audio production are very broad forms of creativity, art, production, and engineering. Many different kinds of people are involved—often at different levels of participation—in the process. If we’re talking about it from the perspective of the producer, recording engineer, or performer on a given project, that person will often have additional musicians working with him, as well as additional producers or engineers. But with collaboration comes a degree of unpredictability in terms of the software and/or hardware your comrades will be using. Sometimes it’s a different recording software package, such as Logic Pro, Pro Tools, Digital Performer, or Cubase, and it’s even probable that if you are working with someone else who uses GarageBand, that person might be using a different version than you are. This can make life difficult if you are unprepared.

This preparation usually involves understanding a good bit about file types and formats, as well as software versions and the inherent pitfalls and/or benefits associated with them. It also includes knowledge of where and how to acquire and install software patches and updates and how to purchase licenses for plug-ins, Software Instruments, or samples that perhaps you do not own yourself, but that your collaborator has used in the project he is planning to share with you. There are so many possible iterations of these various scenarios that it’s very important to consider—almost from a strategic perspective—ways to align yourself technologically before you begin working on a project.