My pleasure to respond to you, Mike, because we all learn so much from you and your recommendations.
I would say that I work very simply. I use Garage Band on my nine or ten year old MacBook. I interface using a relatively inexpensive Apogee I-rig which requires no drivers, just plug the USB from the I-rig into the computer and your instrument cable from your instrument into the I-rig. Then the stereo effect is just my panning of the instruments.
To record my little piece I used maybe eight tracks. I’m on my IPad so I can’t see. This time I used a metronome and recorded my initial melodic phrase on my bass using a preset setting for the bass that I like called Combo or something like that. I’m not one who likes to fiddle around adjusting all the settings. I want to get my ideas down before I forget them and the presets were designed by sound engineers, of whom I am not one.
Then I figured out how to play my bass phrase on my baritone and more or less copied it on another track. I may not have copied it precisely but hey that’s counterpoint. I have a Pono chambered electric baritone that I love. I think I got a good deal from the Ukulele Site by buying a blemished one. That saved me the job of having to blemish one on my own. I forgot to say that on both tracks I had repeated that initial phrase. I play basically by ear. I know some music theory but try to ignore it when composing. So, I can’t tell you what key the piece is in. My fingers however do find places on the neck they like. A well-trained musician said I was using parallelisms and I thanked her for letting me know what I’m doing. I was also made aware that there is an Asian influence. I guess that’s what happens after living two years in Tokyo and seven years in Honolulu.
After recording those two tracks I tried to find a phrase that I think nicely followed. Garage Band has a nice feature that I’ve learned to use by experimenting. You can get a section to repeat by highlighting it. It repeats over and over.
So, I was able to listen to my previous two tracks while at the same time having space after them on another track to try different possibilities and to record them. When I found one I kept the recording and attempted to play the same thing on another track using a different instrument. I alternated between bass and baritone.
After recording several phrases I wondered what adding a few chords might sound like and again I experimented. Basically following this method I finished my piece and was happy.
Now my advice is to take advantage of all the wonderful and not so wonderful tutorials on YouTube about how to use Garage Band. There’s a lot to learn. It’s kind of like our brains. We only use 10% and many people even less.
Also, in my case, I’ve started to write down what I play using tablature and standard notation because it might be nice to actually be able to play the piece again, some day, or to teach it to someone. I’m okay with standard notation but not with getting the precise timing of the notes.
And, I will say it again, I love Chord Tones Lessons for bass and am learning a lot. After I have practiced diligently for an hour or two I find myself coming up with musical ideas such as those in the piece I presented. Lyle Ritz said practice, practice and then afterwards give yourself time to noodle.
p.s. Initially it was a pain in the okole to get my instruments recording on GB. I had to learn to use the Macbook’s Preferences to get to the computer accept the instruments and to play it out from headphones and also that after doing this I had to deal with GB’s preferences. Now it’s very easy and I don’t have to practice my swearing. Also it’s easy to accidentally get a section of a track repeating on GB and to think your computer is stuck and about to blowup. Now that too is all easy to deal with.