Recording the guitarist, bass player, and keyboardist separately can take three times as long as recording together, not to mention sucking the spontaneity out of a performance as musicians twiddle their thumbs awaiting their turn to lay down a track.

With multitracking, GarageBand allows you to record up to eight real instruments and one software instrument simultaneously, more than enough tracks to record an entire band at once.

To do so is relatively easy. You'll need GarageBand, an interface that allows multiple inputs, some instruments to attach, and some musicians to play them. With all of that lined up, you're ready to multitrack!

1. Launch GarageBand and select New Project.

2. Enable the multitracking feature: Click the Track menu and choose Enable Multitrack Recording.