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New song, with Apple's Music Memo, no less


AnneS

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Posted

While using the new app for its intended purpose, I captured this early draft of a new song with the added bass and drum tracking. But when I went to email the file to myself (so as not to eat up phone memory), I discovered that the process of emailing removed the file from my phone, so now I can't lose the add-ins. But the more I listen, I gotta say--the added bits have me hearing where this song should go.

 

Just my iPhone mic, and no way to bring up the vocals in the Audacity mix (so the lyrics may be hard to follow), but this turns out to be a handy-dandy little tool (if used judiciously, probably).[thumbup]

 

Anyway, here's what the app did for me. (Cracks me up that the bass didn't know the song was over..)

 

Truest North

 

Whatcha think?

 

 

 

 

 

Posted

Liked that - a very tender song, nice. The add-ons from the app are really nice ! Thsy seem to sit well in the mix, a bit subdued perhaps - but really pretty impressive. [thumbup]

Posted

Lars that a new app from Apple. You just record your song and hit the bass and drum icons and somehow it puts it into your music.

 

That is interesting. I have downloaded the app and will give it a try. Unfortunately it seems like I won't be able to open existing files from Garageband, so I will have to make new recordings in the app.

 

In general, though, I am against "artificial" music and also always prefer live recordings to studio.

 

Lars

Posted

Lars that a new app from Apple. You just record your song and hit the bass and drum icons and somehow it puts it into your music.

 

Exactly; you hit the icons during playback. You can make some rudimentary adjustments (quieter-to-louder; simple-complex) on both, as you listen, and you can choose between electric bass vs standup bass and among 3 drum options.

 

Once I sent the file to myself, though, whatever combination of choices I had made were fixed. Had I known that beforehand, I might have upped the volume on both tracks. But, given how low the vocal level was, I wonder if I mightn't have drowned myself out altogether. (No, let's not do a show of hands...[scared])

 

 

I believe I read that, if you export to Garageband, the tracks show up separately and can be tweaked there. After downloading a helper file to Audacity, I was able to import the m4p file there, but as a single track.

 

It's rudimentary, I suppose, but definitely a step up from the iPhone's voice memo. As I said, this time around, it helped me quite quickly see what direction the song could take.

 

Okay, while we're at it, and only somewhat off-topic (but I started this thing, right?), I am thinking about picking up a Mackie Onyx Blackjack 2x2 USB interface. I always wanted to try recording voice and guitar via separate inputs. I have a new Windows pc with plenty of storage, a m58, a mess of cords, and a DI box for the gits (though I believe both channels on the Mackie are DIs).

 

I'm either getting too far down the bunny hole here, or it'll be a better set up for me.

 

Either way--I may keep bothering you guys with various experiments. (Seeking mercy in advance. [tongue])

 

Thanks, all...

 

 

 

 

 

Posted

When I first started to record myself I accumulated a bunch of gear. Computer, external soundcard, mic stand, pop filter, a couple of mics etc. After I while I got so frustrated with the technical aspects, like combability issues, taking up valuable time that I should have spent working on the music. Now I have an iPad with the Garageband app and and external Apogee mic. That is it. I will never attempt to make studio quality finished recording work. I'm just not good enough to do that, but I'm extremely happy with the ease of use, speed, and quality I get witth the the super simple iPad setup.

 

Anne, how have you been recording so far?

 

Lars

Posted

For this one, I laid the iphone on the desk in front of me and that was that.

 

Normally, I either capture voice/guitar together with my ZoomH4, using it either as a usb mic (and record into Audacity) or as recorder (and later import to Audacity). Lots of my earlier recordings were with a Samson USB mic, which worked well when I recorded in a very large, 'live' room. Now, I'm confined to a smaller, carpeted room, which makes it tricky, when using just one mic to capture voice and guitar, to situate.

 

As I said, I've never recorded voice and guitar independently of each other. And seeing as I already have the peripherals, I'm willing to take a chance on the used Mackie 2x2 USB interface and see what happens.

 

Like you, I DON'T want to be a sound engineer when I grow up, but I'm thinking a two-channel USB interface might significantly improve the overall quality AND (once I work the bugs out), actually make my recording life simpler, as I hope to reduce some of the moving parts and to have better control over them.

 

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it...[biggrin]

 

 

 

 

 

Posted

Its a great backup isnt it, and really helps to tell your great stories. I quite like the subtlety of the drums, give the song depth without ovewhelming the vocal delivery. Looks a worthy partner in crime for you Anne.

Posted

That's very good Anne! I 've downloaded this app too, but

didn't noticed that you had different options for bass and drums. Thanks for the head up on that :)

Max

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