GarageBand exports exactly one file format — the Audio Interchange File Format (with extensions of aif, aiff, AIF, or AIFF). Fortunately, AIF files are the gold standard of audio files, the highest-of-high-quality uncompressed audio that you can save on a disc. AIF files sound great, but a cost is incurred: The files are huge — too big to send via e-mail or download or to stream from the Internet.
AIF files are, by definition, uncompressed. They’re usually five to ten times the size of a song in its compressed form (that is, encoded or ripped). Other audio file formats, such as MP3 and AAC, are compressed and are much smaller, by 50 to 95 percent, than the same song uncompressed.
Jun 17, 2016 So, you've recorded and mixed a song in GarageBand.Now it’s time to share your song with the world. In its current state, your tune can only be played within GarageBand, so you need to export it — or “bounce it down” — to a single audio file that can be played in common audio applications. Sep 25, 2016 I have a similar issue, I would like to collaborate with artists living in different parts of the country, and be able to send the whole.project file to them along with all sound files. At the moment, only airdrop allows you to send the entire.project file to someone else and they can import it, which requires you to be in the same room.
Sound quality
Compression, by its nature, takes away part of the sound. In theory, it’s the part that people can’t hear, but some people do notice a big difference between uncompressed audio and compressed audio, even on cheap stereo systems. Others can’t tell any difference.
Some people can hear the difference between compressed audio files that are encoded (ripped) at bit rates of 160 and 192 Kbps. Others hear no difference.
The smaller, compressed audio files sound good enough to most people most of the time and have become a de facto standard for consumer audio.
iPods (and most other personal music players) and iTunes (and most other personal music-playing software not made by Microsoft) can play both uncompressed and compressed files. But most people store most of their music as compressed audio files, allowing five, eight, or even ten times as many songs to be stored in the same amount of hard drive space.
The compressed file formats can encode your song at different bit rates. The higher the bit rate, the better the song will sound. Alas, the higher the bit rate is, the bigger the file will be.
Choosing a compression type
The quality of an AIF file is top-of-the-heap because it, by definition, contains 100 percent uncompressed audio. Nothing has been added or removed; every note, breath, harmonic, overtone, string noise, buzz, hiss, and other sound in the master recording is in an AIF file.
Technically, the files on an audio CD are “Red Book Audio” files, which are slightly different from AIF files. The technical aspects aren’t important; the important part is that when you shove an audio CD into your Mac, it sees Red Book Audio files and automatically thinks of them as AIF files. No conversion or translation is needed — to your Mac, Red Book Audio files are AIF files, and vice versa, even if the rest of the world says that Red Book and AIF are different.
The problem is, while uncompressed audio may be the right format for shiny silver discs, it’s not the right format for e-mail or the Web, because AIF files are gargantuan.
Fortunately, if you have GarageBand, you also have the right tool for compressing AIF files, and in fact, that tool is already open and ready to rip. That tool is GarageBand’s iLife sibling, iTunes. With iTunes, it’s child’s play to compress (rip or encode) AIF files into MP3, AAC, or even Apple’s new high-quality lossless encoder, and it’s all done behind the scenes using iTunes built-in (and very high-quality) encoders.
MP3 and AAC are the two most common compressed audio file formats on the Mac. MP3 came first and has essentially been the compressed audio standard for many years. Then, a couple of years ago, when Apple introduced the iTunes Music Store, it also introduced the AAC file format, which it uses for the store’s rights-protected songs.
Figure 1 is worth a couple of thousand words — it shows the same song saved in all four formats and the size of each file.
Table 1 is a handy reference to the different file types and the common ways in which each type is used.
How To Transfer Garageband Files
Figure 1: Compare the file size of the same song saved in four different file formats.
Table 1: File Types Large and Small
|
File Type |
Compressed? |
What’s It Good For? |
|
AIF |
No |
Audio CDs, iTunes, and archiving music in the file format that retains the most audio information. Can be used with iPod, but files are 5–10 times the size of compressed formats. |
|
WAV |
No |
The equivalent of an uncompressed AIF file on a Mac, this format is used for sharing files with Windows users. File sizes are 5–10 times the size of MP3 files, which is the compressed file format of choice among Windows users. |
|
Apple lossless |
No |
iTunes and archiving music in the file format that retains the most audio information. Can be used with iPod but files are 3–7 times the size of compressed formats. |
|
MP3 |
Yes |
iTunes, e-mail, the Web, and sharing with Windows users. Files are much smaller than either uncompressed format, making MP3s ideal for iPods. |
|
AAC |
Yes |
Same as MP3 but is Mac-only. Slightly smaller files than MP3 and slightly better sound quality in those slightly smaller files. Most Windows users can’t use AAC files. |
Remove Garageband Files
What is Audiobus? — Audiobus isan award-winning music app for iPhone and iPad which lets you useyour other music apps together. Chain effects on your favouritesynth, run the output of apps or Audio Units into an app likeGarageBand or Loopy, or select a different audio interface outputfor each app. Route MIDI between apps — drive asynth from a MIDI sequencer, or add an arpeggiator to your MIDIkeyboard — or sync with your external MIDI gear.And control your entire setup from a MIDI controller.
Download on the App Store
Audiobus is the app that makes the rest of your setup better.
Hey all,
I'm currently using GB on my iPadPro, and would like to collaborate with another fellow musician. I'm having a hard time being able to send him a GB project. It says online you can share it to iTunes, then share it from there, however I don't have a computer, I have an iPad Pro....
I have tried email, Dropbox, etc, and it wants to mix the project down to an MP4 before sending. Not what I want....
Any help would be greatly appreciated
Thanks in advance
Comments
Garageband File Sharing
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edited September 2016
one idea would be to share it to iCloud Drive, when you do this it will offer on option to save the project file there. Then go into the iCloud Drive and share the project there via email.
If it's especially large, iOS should offer the ability to send it via MailDrop
Additionally you could share it via 'open in', then choose Google Drive...when you do this It also presents the option to send the project file.
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edited September 2016
.> @sirdavidabraham said:
one idea would be to share it to iCloud Drive, when you do this it will offer on option to save the project file there. Then go into the iCloud Drive and share the project there via email.
If it's especially large, iOS should offer the ability to send it via MailDrop
Additionally you could share it via 'open in', then choose Google Drive...when you do this It also presents the option to send the project file.
I have tried sending it via email from the iCloud Drive, but it shows up as 0 bytes....also tried to send it to google drive from iCloud, but it says it's uploading, but never does, just hangs up...>
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@Bängers said:
I have tried sending it via email from the iCloud Drive, but it shows up as 0 bytes....also tried to send it to google drive from iCloud, but it says it's uploading, but never does, just hangs up...>What apps do you have available for Open In...?
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@telecharge said:
@Bängers said:
I have tried sending it via email from the iCloud Drive, but it shows up as 0 bytes....also tried to send it to google drive from iCloud, but it says it's uploading, but never does, just hangs up...>What apps do you have available for Open In...?
From GB....Notes,Google Drive, Message, and Messanger....tried google drive, and it just hangs there saying 'uploading'....everything else, it wants to mix down.
From iCloud no open in options -
edited September 2016
Well I just managed it using ifiles2
But it was a hell of a hassle.
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@Bängers said:
From GB....Notes,Google Drive, Message, and Messanger....tried google drive, and it just hangs there saying 'uploading'....everything else, it wants to mix down.
From iCloud no open in optionsUnfortunately, your options are pretty limited. Have you tried Apple support? They should be able to help with iCloud/upload issues.
Otherwise, you're looking at a 3rd party solution like what @BiancaNeve is describing.
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@BiancaNeve said:
Well I just managed it using ifiles2But it was a hell of a hassle.
Please explain how??
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@telecharge said:
@Bängers said:
From GB....Notes,Google Drive, Message, and Messanger....tried google drive, and it just hangs there saying 'uploading'....everything else, it wants to mix down.
From iCloud no open in optionsUnfortunately, your options are pretty limited. Have you tried Apple support? They should be able to help with iCloud/upload issues.
Otherwise, you're looking at a 3rd party solution like what @BiancaNeve is describing.
Apple support said to use iTunes....hate to think if you spend $1000 on the iPadPro, I now have to go buy a laptop to transfer files....
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@BiancaNeve said:
Well I just managed it using ifiles2But it was a hell of a hassle.
How does ifiles2 work
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edited September 2016
Actually forget it. My method worked on iPad Air 2. But the transfer from iCloud on iPad Pro seems to get stuck.
1st download the app
iFiles 2 - File Manager, Cloud Storage, PDF Reader by Imagam.com
https://appsto.re/gb/tBD2bb.iAdd iCloud Drive as a service
Open Gagageband App
Press select
Select a track
Press the share button
Press iCloud Drive
Select ProjectSelect the ifiles folder in iCloud Drive
Open the ifiles app
Press the iCloud button. (you should see a folder called whatever you named your song)
Click on this and press download select local filesOnce the transfer has completed you can zip it and email it or upload to Dropbox one drive etc
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@BiancaNeve said
Once the transfer has completed you can zip it and email it or upload to Dropbox one drive etc
Yes...........
but how to share it then with others?By the way: it is also possible to send a zipped .band file to Dropbox via the free iZip app, without using iCloud Drive. I just did it. But I have no good ideas about sharing it with others. As I understand it iCloud Drive is only about sharing with your own devices. I could send the link of the zipped .band Dropbox file to others, but I can't find a way for them to import the zipped .band file into their GB (without the use of a PC).
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They need to unzip the .band file and save it to their own iCloud Drive. Then in GB they can just press plus then import from iCloud
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Good info here for escaping the walled garden. Thank you @BiancaNeve and @Marcel
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@Marcel said:
@BiancaNeve said
Once the transfer has completed you can zip it and email it or upload to Dropbox one drive etc
Yes...........
but how to share it then with others?By the way: it is also possible to send a zipped .band file to Dropbox via the free iZip app, without using iCloud Drive. I just did it. But I have no good ideas about sharing it with others. As I understand it iCloud Drive is only about sharing with your own devices. I could send the link of the zipped .band Dropbox file to others, but I can't find a way for them to import the zipped .band file into their GB (without the use of a PC).
@BiancaNeve said:
They need to unzip the .band file and save it to their own iCloud Drive. Then in GB they can just press plus then import from iCloudThank you guys for the input!!! I'm going to try it with izip cause it seems like the easiest way... I'll keep you posted if it works....
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I just tried Izip free on a very simple band file, but it wouldn't zip it because it was too big. But the process of getting it into izip was very simple so I may buy the full version.
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edited September 2016
@BiancaNeve said:
I just tried Izip free on a very simple band file, but it wouldn't zip it because it was too big. But the process of getting it into izip was very simple so I may buy the full version.If I remember it correctly: you have to zip the .band map. I first tried to zip all the files within that map, that didn't work, then I tried zipping the map itself, that worked. If it seems you can't select the map then press the file/map above it, then you can select the map.