Tracks area

Tracks area

The Tracks area is the primary workspace of GarageBand, where you record and arrange audio and MIDI regions to create your project. The main elements of the Tracks area include:

Figure. The Tracks area.

  • Tracks area menu bar: Contains controls for adding tracks, showing track automation, a Catch button, and a zoom slider.

  • Ruler: Shows divisions of time, either in bars and beats or in hours, minutes, and seconds. The ruler lets you align items in the Tracks area, and has additional uses for various playback and recording tasks.

  • Track headers: Each track has a header that shows the track name and icon, and includes controls for muting and soloing the track, arming the track for recording, and other functions.

  • Tracks: All audio, MIDI, and Drummer regions appear on horizontal lanes called tracks, aligned to time positions in a grid.

  • Playhead: The thin vertical line extending from the top to bottom of the Tracks area, the playhead shows the part of the project currently playing or where playback starts. You can use the playhead to help align regions and other items, and for editing tasks, such as splitting regions.

For information about arranging regions in the Tracks area, see What are regions?