Making Garageband songs not sound like Garageband songs

Well....

This isn't what you want to hear, but GB is only as good as the person using it. I have some friends that are trained audio engineers and they can make GB sound as good as anything. I do a pretty good job too. LOL!

What I would like to emphasize if you are looking for pro sounding recordings:
-get decent monitors,
-learn to use your microphones AND the space/room you are recording in,
-read up on the art of mixing,
-learn what a compressor does and familiarize yourself with them,
-practice mixing other's songs (Nine Inch Nails has 2 of their songs as free GB downloads for mixing)
-read and practice, read and practice, read and practice, read and practice, read and practice, read and practice, read and practice, read and practice, read and practice, read and practice, read and practice, read and practice, read and practice, read and practice, read and practice, read and practice, read and practice, read and practice, read and practice, read and practice,

and that about covers it. Garageband is just a tool. You have to make it work.

Good luck and welcome to the forum! If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Lots of smart people here.
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I'll assume that your musical skills are adequate. Most pop music is treated with after effects, like reverb, to get away from the band-in-a-box sound. Loop samples typically are dry, so you will need to add some dazzle. For starters, add it to the final stereo mix. Better results can be had when you leave some tracks dry, such as bass parts. Just don't go extreme or your band will sound as if they all got off the train at different stations.

Broadcast music suffers from a special indignity -- compression. Much pop music is also lacking in dynamic range, even before it hits the air. We get accustomed to this, so when we hear "live" music with a correct dynamic range it sounds un-natural. That might be affecting you.

Loop samples typically are dry, so you will need to add some dazzle.

No, typically the come with effects. Putting additional reverb on a drum loop is a typical beginner's mistake. And if you use presets for real recordings, most of them already have effects too, sometimes too much even.

Putting additional reverb on a drum loop is a typical beginner's mistake.

As a producer of R&B/Hip Hop, I could not agree more with this statement. I hear way too many demos where the drums (loops and programmed parts) are swimming in reverb. I use compression and eq judiciously, and only use reverb to create an effect. Resist the urge to turn it up, and your drums will sound much better. 🙂

What are you using to monitor your mixes? I use to use a decent Altec computer speaker setup with a thumping sub. The problem is that most of these add so much color to your sound that if you get a good sound on the computer they sound real thin on most other players car, ipod, portable.

Now there are people that get good sound from these systems but they worked at getting them tuned to there room. I found spending some money on a good neutral set of studio monitors helped greatly. Also sometimes if I'm doing something that I know will only be played on my ipod I mix through the ipod headphones.

I agree. When I used to do live music balances (usually small groups, often ethnic) my policy was to bring the reverb. up until I could just hear it, then take it back 2 dB. At this point you think you can't hear it - but if you then cut it abruptly the difference is obvious. My other tenet was 'never put reverb. on your main microphones' - I used to place a mic as far away in the studio as possible and add reverb to that - but of course this isn't applicable in assembled music.