This is the second in a series of articles reviewing Apple’s iLife 06 software suite. Applications will be reviewed in this order: iPhoto, GarageBand, iWeb, iMovie, iDVD, and iLife summary. I will not be reviewing iTunes because iTunes 6 has been out for a while, and it’s ubiquitous. Also, the score on this page reflects this application only, not the suite as a whole. Onward!

GarageBand holds a unique place in the iLife suite as the only application whose name doesn’t start with a lower-case “i”. It’s also the only one sporting woodgrain. That’s besides the point, though. Since its introduction two years ago, an entire community of GarageBand users has sprouted through sites like iCompositions, and for good reason; GarageBand has been a solid application form the start. Does GarageBand 3 keep up those winning ways?

GarageBand’s user interface is not significantly different from the previous two versions. The window texture appears smoother, keeping with Apple’s move to kill the brushed look. Aside from that, however, there are a few notable changes. The track info panel is no longer a separate window but is integrated into the main window. When it is showing, things can get a little tight in the GarageBand window on 1024x768 displays. An option to view it in a separate window would be nice. GarageBand also features a media browser similar to that in some other iLife apps (and iWork) which is integrated into the window in a similar manner as the track info panel. You may wonder what good being able to access photos in a GarageBand composition is at first, unless you knew about GarageBand 3’s big new feature: Podcast Studio.

GarageBand features only minor changes to its music creation duties. GarageBand now allows you to create longer songs--up to 1999 measures, which is twice as many as earlier versions allowed. Other features include the ability to compact projects into a more manageable size for sharing. Translation: it saves the project as an AAC file. That’s great if you want to give it to others to listen to, but not if you want them to edit it; try using a compressed disk image instead. Another addition it that it is now possible to import other GarageBand projects into the one you’re working on. The down side is that the project you import must have an “iLife Preview.” GarageBand will ask you to create one when you attempt to import it. This isn’t a big deal, except for the annoying part where GarageBand closes the file you were working to open the file you want to add an iLife preview to, as GarageBand still limits you to one open project at a time. Lame.

The big-ticket addition to GarageBand 3 is the podcast creation tools. One could already use GarageBand to create simple podcasts, but GarageBand 3 now supports creating podcasts with enhanced features, such as chapter markers, artwork, and even video. GarageBand comes with a number of “jingles” for use in a podcast; no longer do you need to come up with a theme song for yourself. Roughly 200 jingles come with iLife 06. Some of them are inspired on various television and radio shows; for example, there is a jingle inspired by local news theme songs. GarageBand also includes various sound effects for use in a recording, such as nature sounds and even laughter and a applause. Great, just what every podcast needs! A laugh track! Please, for the sake of our sanity, use the laughter and applause effects sparingly. Various other sound effects are bundled as well. The audio transitions smoothly from any sound effects you add and you speaking, thanks to the automatic ducking feature.

Also, it is possible to record iChat conferences, which is a great way to have roundtable discussions on your podcasts: begin a conference (you must initiate it), press the record button in GarageBand, click the “Yes” button in the warning dialog (along the lines of, “Are you sure you want to record this audio conference?"), and GarageBand will record it or you. Or at least it should record it. I had problems actually getting this feature to actually work. Yes, I am running Mac Os X 10.4.4, as is recommended by Apple. It’s too bad that this feature refuses to work properly; it is a great addition. If anyone has gotten this feature to work, please post a comment below and note your hardware setup. That issue aside, GarageBand allows for the creation of some very professional podcasts. And Deep Thought may no longer have an excuse for not having a podcast.

The other major new addition is movie scoring. While some may not see this as a big deal, it makes it easier for users to create a soundtrack that syncs better with the video than was possible before, since you have the video right there with you. So you can edit the video in iMovie, send it to GarageBand and create the movie score, then from GarageBand send it to iDVD. It’s very seamless. (I’ll discuss this more later, but iMovie’s audio editing capabilities are unchanged in version 6, so you don’t have to do anything in GarageBand if you don’t want to). The only downside to this is that GarageBand starts to take on a slightly chaotic feel, since it is handling forms of media it was not originally designed to handle. GarageBand does handle it pretty well, all things considered.

GarageBand 3 is a very solid release and, aside from the iChat conference recording weirdness, fairly bug-free. How useful it is to you, however, depends on what you’re doing. If you simply use it to make music, you may appreciate the ability to create longer songs. If that is not an issue for you, GarageBand is probably not a must have. However, if you dabble with iMovie or want to start your own podcast, GarageBand 3 is a great upgrade.

Previously in this series

1. iLife 06 Review Part 1: iPhoto