• Registered: 2023-03-31
  • Posts: 1

Topic: Adding drum tracks

I've been recording on garageband for years. Vocals, guitar, keyboard(directly to my iPhone), laying down several tracks like harmonies for example. But for the life of me I can't figure out how to add drum tracks to my songs. Through garageband do I lay down the drum track first? And what if you want a percussion intro and fills throughout the song? I listen to the existing tracks thru my headphones as I record live. Then there's the latency dilemma.  Any ideas on how to resolve these issues? Thanks! 

  • From: Western Oregon,US
  • Registered: 2008-07-22
  • Posts: 2,498

Re: Adding drum tracks

Well, your post has been here a week and so far no-one has stepped forward to try to assist you, so I might have a go.  First off, the disclaimer: I've not used garageband ever, so I may be far off the mark so take my advise with the requisite grains of salt.  It has been awhile since I have done any recording or production and then it has been with audacity or reaper and yeah I tried to get my head around Ableton once until confusion set in.
Generally I would record the drum track first and build everything off of that, or a click track just to keep things in time. Add frills fills and gingerbread after the fact in post processing. Doing things on an iPhone seems adventurous to me after all it is a phone not a full blown PC. As a phone they are amazing, but there are limits in resources available for juggling multiple audio tracks and storing them, which may explain your latency issue.
You might try Audacity and see how it works for you, it seems light on resources, it's free, has a shallow learning curve. Have fun!     

"what is this quintessence of dust?"  - Shakespeare
  • From: Hooksett, New Hampshire
  • Registered: 2026-11-11
  • Posts: 3

Re: Adding drum tracks

I have not used GarageBand much, so take this as a workaround rather than a power-user tip. The latency you hit when you try to play drums on top of tracks you are already hearing is the usual reason those takes drift. Put a simple drum loop or click down first and treat that as the clock, then record the guitar and vocal against it. Add the intro hit and the fills after the groove is in place, instead of trying to perform them live while you are monitoring. On the phone, the built-in loops are enough to sketch that before you worry about a real kit.     

Geologist in Hooksett. I run early mornings and share tools that help with field notes.