Garageband help - balance

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My band just started to record some songs using garageband, and I'm having difficulty using the balance. For some reason, the bass and guitar are only playing through the left side of the headphones/speaker system, even though I have the balance set right at the middle.

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But for some reason, for the life of me, I can't figure out why it is only coming out of the left. If I turn the balance to the right, it just puts less in the left(as it should), but still nothing in the right.

I've checked under System Preferences - Sound, and the output slider is right in the middle.

www.myspace.com/neonlightsca

That is my band, the recording we did was "Song 2", when you listen to it, it should be fully balanced, but it's all coming from the left side, except for the drums, which were recorded using a microphone.

Any help would be lovely.
 
What did you use for an audio interface when you were recording bass and guitar? What did you use when you recorded the drums?
 
The problem isn't with the jack you're using, it's with the 1/4" instrument cable that goes into the jack from your guitar / amp. That's a mono cable, which means it only contacts the left channel of the stereo input jack. If Garageband expected to hear a mono track input, you'd be in business; but because it expects to hear stereo, it records stereo -- sound in the left channel, silence in the right.
 
billbaloney said:
The problem isn't with the jack you're using, it's with the 1/4" instrument cable that goes into the jack from your guitar / amp. That's a mono cable, which means it only contacts the left channel of the stereo input jack. If Garageband expected to hear a mono track input, you'd be in business; but because it expects to hear stereo, it records stereo -- sound in the left channel, silence in the right.
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Thanks a lot, I'm just using a regular guitar patch cord. What do you suggest I use?
 
Alright, thanks so much, but I found how to fix it without having to buy a new jack/cord. I just changed the imput from stereo to mono. Thanks Billbaloney! Couldn't have done it without you.
 
This is good to know.....I'm probably going to need something like this real soon. Thanks, billbaloney
 
In my experience, those USB interfaces are just the ticket for simple, one-at-a-time inputs. You can also get a nice little mixing board for really cheap and mix that to the R/L inputs on the audio interface if you're doing something with multiple mics (e.g., tracking drums).

Obviously, the expensive interfaces have more going for them -- more channels, nice preamps, more features, etc. But that's often overkill for the home recordist.
 
billbaloney said:
In my experience, those USB interfaces are just the ticket for simple, one-at-a-time inputs. You can also get a nice little mixing board for really cheap and mix that to the R/L inputs on the audio interface if you're doing something with multiple mics (e.g., tracking drums).

Obviously, the expensive interfaces have more going for them -- more channels, nice preamps, more features, etc. But that's often overkill for the home recordist.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the first option is what I was thinking about especially after I looked at some of the prices of those USB inputs. Ah well, time to save up for the mixer first. :D
 
My friend who is into recording live music in his home city for money, swears that the boards at Mackie (no relation to Apple, Inc.) are top notch. Also he also said those boards are the best balanced for the money (at least here in North America).
 
Satcomer said:
My friend who is into recording live music in his home city for money, swears that the boards at Mackie (no relation to Apple, Inc.) are top notch. Also he also said those boards are the best balanced for the money (at least here in North America).
Click to expand...

That's what I would have gone with from the get go as I've always loved the Mackie stuff since I studied sound engineering in the 90s. Problem is that even the cheapest mixer (1202-VLZ Pro) is out of my price range right now. I was looking at some of the Behringer stuff (the UB1202FX) and saw some of the user reviews on it being good for the price range. Unfortunately, I just found out that this model is discontinued (now replaced by the Xenyx 1202), but it was within my price range new (rounded off, it was about $90). Here's a link from Behringer regarding the Xenyx 1202. From what I've read so far, it looks good.
 
I am having the same problem, and I have actually gone the route and bought a usb device to connect to my mac, but I still am not able to get the recording to go into the left and right... I am actually having the opposite problem of the poster mine is coming in only on the right and not on the left... I have checked the input box on the track info pane on the right hand side of the garage band interface and selected stero 1/2, yet still only one side of sound... my maudio usb interface is set for stero and everything seems to be in order... does anyone have any idea what could be wrong, and what i can do to rectify situation?
 
Garageband works just fine with the 1/8" input on your mac (I use mine on my laptop and it sounds pro!). I do sometimes use my SansAmp direct box to increase and tweak my signal before going direct, though.

Unless your connection is a stereo connection, make sure you connect mono only.
 
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