[Perform-talk] Making a CD

[Kaiti Shelton]

Hi all,

I've decided a project I want to try to accomplish in my spare time
this summer is to independently produce a CD of children's songs.  I
know a good number of them through my training to become a music
therapist and I am proficient at using GarageBand.  My mom and sister
teach pre-school at a day care and have used some awful renditions of
songs in the past, so I'm hoping to give them a decent CD to play for
their kids.  I come in and play in person at events we call "Karaoke
with Kaiti" when I'm on breaks from school, but it would be nice to do
something for their class.

I'm just giving the CD to my family members for their classes so the
mixing and mastering doesn't have to be perfect (though I do know
basic mixing techniques and have done what I can).  I'm not looking to
really distribute the CD, but I was wondering if anyone has made a CD
before and can give me any tips.  So far I have one song that I made
with GarageBand using the smart guitar, the loops for a shaker, and my
voice, but if I do a song a week I could have 12 to 16 songs by the
end of the summer.

Some things I do not know how to do include changing the tempo.  If I
want to make the songs dramatic and playful in person I play with the
tempos a bit, but that's harder to do with the restraints of
GarageBand.  I also would like to know how to change the phrasing.
For example, in this song I had a 2 bar intro between each 8 bar verse
in a strophic form.  I wanted to change the form to 10 bar phrases so
I wouldn't have to drag and drop parts of the track to bring them all
together, but that is what I had to do since I was stuck with 8 bar
phrases.  The finished product sounds fine, but as a lot of children's
songs repeat the intro frequently throughout the song it would be nice
to change the phrase length and not have to worry about lining
everything up exactly.  I should note I'm using the mobile app on my
IPhone as I only have a PC as my computer.

Any tips would be appreciated,


-- 
Kaiti