For years I’ve stuck with the same home-recording setup of a PC running Ableton Live 8 and a BOSS BR-800. Is it time to switch to Apple’s Garageband for iPad?
Bringing back the golden years of home recording.
Back in the days before Garageband even existed, I used to work through most of my ideas on a Yamaha workstation keyboard, and then record its drums, strings, keyboards etc onto a stereo track in one go onto a Tascam portastudio, then, later on, a BOSS BR-8.
Of course, the sound quality wasn’t brilliant, but this workflow allowed for creativity virtually unhindered by technology. I seemed to get a lot more inspired back then and come up with better ideas, mainly because I wasn’t spending time bogged down in menus and software config.
I could put all my effort into songwriting, guitar and vocals, but still, end up with a complete song.
I can see a lot of workstation similarities in the virtual drummers and auto-instrument accompaniments in Garageband for iPad. I need those halcyon workstation days to return without the complexity of a separate keyboard. A one-stop-solution, as opposed to a collection of disparate parts and Garageband for iPad, looks to fit the bill.
Benefits of a 3rd party audio interface.
My existing USB Audio interface is getting VERY long in the tooth. The BOSS BR-800 functions as the interface, the guitar FX and my vocal FX. It works great and solves the latency issue, but it’s a bit of jack-of-all-trades.
I need to de-couple and require only the simplest of audio-interfaces, so I could achieve quite a big uplift in audio quality around £100. Something along the lines of the Focusrite iTrack Solo. This also has a direct apple lightning connection for even better performance.
Has technology solved the latency issue?
Historically, my home recording attempts have been dogged by latency, which is the reason I went down the BOSS BR-800 route in the first place (full story here). With today’s technology advances in processor speeds, RAM capacity and audio interfaces, is latency worth worrying about anymore?
Can I cope without my mastering plugins?
I absolutely love iZotope Ozone. It makes it easy to add that final polish to make your recordings sound professional, balanced and dynamic.
At first glance, Garageband for iPad has the glaring omission of no master track (so I hear) and no built-in mastering tools as such. On closer inspection, it looks like, with a bit of work, mastering is possible, but how much of pain will it be? Will the end result be comparable?
Can I cope without Antares autotune?
Rather than the extreme setting you hear on so many recording these days. I always employ autotune very subtley to sweeten the vocals. It’s an invaluable tool too, saving hours on re-recording (I’m not the most confident of singers).
Can Garageband’s built-in auto-correct compete?
Will the drum software cut it?
For years I’ve used ToonTrack EZ-drummer 2. It sounds great, has an enormous amount of loops you can organise into common song structures, fills etc, and above all, is incredibly simple to use. Allowing you to lay down drum tracks quickly.
The drum solutions for Garageband iPad look exciting, to say the least. Virtual drummers, loops. To be honest they seem to pull off the trick of being more intuitive yet more flexible, and taking me right back to those unhindered and missed keyboard workstation days.
Will the built-in amp models replace my BOSS BR800?
Although the COSM BOSS amp models of the BR-800 aren’t that great, to begin with, they served the invaluable purpose of providing a zero-latency signal.
The amp (and pedal) models of Garageband iPad surely must be a step up, but will the combination of the audio interface and the processing power of the iPad be able to handle them, particularly when the number of tracks begins to increase?
The benefits of going mobile for the first time.
Being sat in my PC cupboard isn’t the most conducive environment for creativity. I’d much rather be sat on the sofa or in bed exploring the possibilities of Garageband iPad, piecing together my masterpiece.
Also, collaboration and capturing live performances could become a whole lot easier, Just pack up the iPad and use the internal mics.
Garageband updates and improvements.
I live in a closed environment so far as home recording goes. I’m out of the loop with regards to software updates and am stuck with the hardware.
That’ll change with Garageband iPad. I’ll be blessed with regular updates and improvements to Garageband core, its instruments and its plugins. Even mastering may not be a long way off.
Get all the latest info here: https://www.apple.com/uk/ios/garageband/
And hardware upgrades? Your talking £100 on the latest Audio interface
Garageband: Cloud Storage
Even though I work in I.T., like many guitarists, I’m pretty much stuck in the past when it comes to music technology. We find what sounds good and hold onto it.
It’s high time I moved from on-premise to the cloud, isn’t it? I’ve lost work with a lot of sentimental value, old songs, all because of a PC drive or a lost tape.
Never again.
Garageband: Bringing back the fun into Home Recording
Where has the fun with home recording gone? Putting together music with my Yamaha workstation was definitely fun, but maybe I got a little too serious as I tried to upgrade to DAW PC recording and all the issues that presented.
Whatever happened to the idea of music production on a games console – Remember Music 2000 for the Playstation?
In the end, I figured it out and got some good results. But maybe something was lost along the way, that very creative spark that kicked off the whole journey. I got bogged down in solving problems and out solutions that had nothing to do with music.
With Garageband, it looks like I can plug and play. Get to work right away, and save me from all the boring technical nonsense.
It’ll feel great to be back.
A couple of thoughts:
– you can get back to faster workflow with your existing system. It just requires some structure, templates and a focus on the elements that matter.
– you might miss the handy stuff like Izotope and Antares, so this is worth considering
– exporting from iPad is very possible, so perhaps that will be a workaround, but does take you back to slower workflow.
– mastering should really be done when everything else is done. It’s not good practice to have a mastering tool just sitting on your stereo bus. iPad has some mastering apps that you can run your stereo track through. I LOVE AudioMaster. Tho it is a paid for app/subscription.
– BUT THE MAIN POINT: writing on iPhone has been a game changer for me. I create far more stuff than I ever have. I can do it on trains, planes, hell I even record guide vocals in my car using a standard headphones microphone!
I don’t using garage band, I prefer beatmaker plus some synths and Funkbox drum machine. But it is such feeedom to have DAW in my pocket.
Very interesting Steve.Thanks. I’m having second thoughts now, mainly because it sounds like using the guitar plugins will create latency. With regards to Antares, is the standard garage and vocal correction comparable.?