How to import audio to GarageBand

Open a Finder window next to GarageBand and drag the audio file onto an empty area of the timeline. GarageBand creates a new audio track and places the file where you dropped it.

Drop it onto an existing audio track and it joins that track instead. Drop it onto a software instrument track and nothing happens, which is a common source of confusion.

The horizontal position where you release the mouse is where the audio starts. Drop it at the far left to align it with the beginning of the project.

You can drag several files at once and they arrive as separate regions, which is quicker than importing them one at a time.

Press F or use the Media Browser button at the top right. It shows your Music library, your GarageBand projects and your movies.

This is useful for pulling audio out of a video file: drag the movie in and GarageBand imports its audio track, discarding the picture.

The media browser only shows what is in your Music library and standard folders. For a file sitting anywhere else, dragging from Finder is faster than trying to make it appear here.

GarageBand accepts MP3, AAC, M4A, AIFF, WAV and CAF. It does not accept FLAC, OGG or WMA, and it does not tell you why. The file simply will not drop.

Convert to WAV or MP3 first and it will import without complaint. Any converter will do this, including the free online ones.

The other refusal is protected content. Music purchased with DRM, or downloaded for offline listening from a streaming service, cannot be imported. That is by design and no conversion trick changes it legitimately.

Worth saying plainly: even when a track does import, using commercial music in something you publish is a licensing question, and podcast platforms act on claims.

If an imported file plays at the wrong speed or pitch, GarageBand has applied its Flex Time and tempo matching, trying to fit the audio to the project tempo.

Select the region, open the editor, and turn off Follow Tempo and Pitch. The audio returns to its original speed.

For spoken audio you almost never want tempo following, because speech has no tempo and GarageBand's guess at one will be wrong. Turn it off on every imported voice file.

A subtler version of this makes a voice sound slightly odd without obviously changing speed. If an import sounds not quite right and you cannot say why, check this setting first.

Imported music is usually much louder than a recorded voice, because commercial music is mastered loud. Pull the music track down substantially before judging the balance.

For music under speech, aim for the music at roughly 15 to 20 per cent of the voice level. It will feel too quiet while you are concentrating on it and correct to a listener.

Use automation, opened with A, to duck the music when the voice comes in, or the Ducking option in the track header for a quicker automatic version.

If the imported voice recording has background noise, GarageBand cannot remove it. Clean it before importing, because there is no tool here to do it afterwards.