GarageBand is free from Apple, and on a Mac it loads third-party Audio Units, a visualizer included. Put one on the master track and your song becomes the footage, recorded with the sound already in the file. That is the quickest way to get a GarageBand track onto Reels or TikTok with no video editor involved. GarageBand also has a Movie track for putting music under a video you shot or cut somewhere else, and this guide covers that first.
The built-in route: the Movie track
Choose File > Open Movie and pick a video. GarageBand shows it in a floating Movie window and as frames in the Movie track, and the movie plays along with the playhead. A project holds one movie. When the music is done, File > Movie > Export Audio to Movie saves a copy of the video with your mix as its sound. It is the right tool for scoring a clip, a trailer, or a short film.
The plugin route: an Audio Unit on the master track
A visualizer plugin loads into the same Plug-ins area as GarageBand’s own effects, with every look already built. You pick a scene and a palette, and it reacts to the song from the first beat.
This is the route Photism takes. It is a VST3 and Audio Unit effect that passes your audio through untouched, and the plugin window is the visualizer. GarageBand loads the Audio Unit. Twenty-four scenes, from marbled ink to architectural geometry to a live reaction-diffusion figure, each react to kicks, bass weight, and energy in real time.
Install and scan
- Install the plugin. Run the Photism installer on your Mac. It
puts the Audio Unit in
/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components, where GarageBand looks. macOS asks for your password once. - Turn on Audio Units. In GarageBand, choose GarageBand > Settings > Audio/MIDI (Preferences on older versions of macOS) and make sure Enable Audio Units is selected.
- Reopen GarageBand. Quit it and open it again so it picks up the new plugin. Photism then shows up in the Audio Units submenu of every effect slot.
Load it on the master track
- Choose Track > Show Master Track, then open the Smart Controls pane with View > Show Smart Controls (or press B).
- Click the Master button in the Smart Controls menu bar, then click Output to see the master track’s plug-ins.
- Click an empty plug-in slot and choose Photism from the Audio Units submenu. The plugin window opens, and it is the visualizer. Press play in GarageBand and the picture starts moving with the song. To open the window again later, click the center of the slot.
On the master track, Photism hears the whole mix. Put it on a single track instead, with the Track button and that track’s Plug-ins area, and it follows only that part, the track carrying your beat for example.
Pick a look
Every control has a button in the row along the corner of the window, so you can drive the whole thing with the mouse:
- tab · scenes opens the scene grid. Click any scene to jump to it.
- p · opens the palette card. Every color set is on one card.
- x · shuffle picks a fresh scene and palette in one click.
- g · tune opens the tuning panel, with the macros, the lens, and your saved presets.
The keyboard shortcuts work too. In the plugin they take shift: shift+g for the panel, shift+r to record, shift+o for the output. Drop an album cover onto the window and Photism builds a five-color palette from it, so the visuals match the release.
Record the video
- Choose the frame with the a · button: 9:16 for Reels and TikTok, 1:1 for a square post, 16:9 for YouTube.
- Put the playhead at the start of the song.
- Click r · rec in the window, or press shift+r, then press play in GarageBand.
- When the song ends, click the record button again. The button steps through finishing, adding sound, and saving, then names the folder.
The MP4 saves to your Downloads folder with the song already in it, taken from the track Photism sits on. You skip Share > Export Song to Disk and the step of lining the song up in an editor. A 9:16 clip records at 1080 by 1920, the upload size for Reels and TikTok, and the recording settings in the tuning panel go up to 4K.
Keep the plugin window open until the button says saved. Covering it with other windows is fine, and closing it ends the take.
Change scenes on the drop
Photism’s scene, palette, mode, preset slot, and main controls are ordinary plugin parameters, so GarageBand can automate them on the master track:
- Choose Mix > Show Automation (or press A). An automation menu appears in the master track header.
- Choose Photism’s Scene from that menu.
- Option-Command-click and drag along the automation lane to draw a stepped curve, then drag the step at the drop up or down to the scene you want. Every playback switches the scene on that beat.
The same works for Palette at the bridge, Spin or Mirror as a slow build, or Preset Slot to swap the entire look on a section.
Getting it on a second screen
Click o · output, or press shift+o, to open a separate output window. Drag it to your second display or projector and make it fullscreen. It shows the visuals alone, with no buttons. To stream it, turn on Syphon in that window’s top bar (macOS 14 or later) and pick the Photism source in OBS, Resolume, or TouchDesigner. The first time, macOS asks for Screen Recording access. Allow GarageBand, since the plugin runs inside it. The Syphon and Spout guide covers the receiving side.
Which route to pick
| You want | Best route |
|---|---|
| Music under footage you already shot | The Movie track |
| Visuals that look finished the moment you press play | A visualizer plugin |
| A video for Reels or TikTok straight from your project | A visualizer plugin |
| Your mix as the new sound of an existing video | The Movie track |
Both run inside your project, so trying either costs nothing but a plug-in slot. You can feel Photism’s engine before installing anything at photism.app/online, which runs three scenes free in your browser from a dropped track or your mic.