GarageBand (Literally)

Here we see me messing around with GarageBand for iOS while in the garage.

Literally GarageBand. Can you dig it?

One Day Behind

I feel so out of touch. There was an Apple Event yesterday and I was not able to follow along with any live blogs or anything. I missed almost all of the new gadget revelations.

I know there’s a new iPad that I want.
I know there’s a new WatchOS.
I know there’s a new iPhone.

I know these things, but I know nothing about them.

My step kids’ father loaded a release candidate of the new iOS onto their phones. Last night my step son loaded a release candidate of the new WatchOS onto his watch. I’m not going to do either of those things. When it comes to software releases, I prefer to play it safe(er) and wait for the actual release. Still… they have stuff on their devices that I don’t have! I am so far behind the curve right now. I have actual gadget envy over gadgets that I actually have!

iCloud Drive

I just made my first practical use of iCloud Drive.

For most of the past year I have been recording new music using GarageBand for iPad. I’m not sure why, exactly. I think it’s because it’s portable. I don’t have to carry a lot of stuff around with me. Just the iPad, the adapter I use, and either a guitar or a microphone. Mixing demos on the iPad kinda sucks though. GarageBand on iOS is pretty limited in that respect, so I port the files over to my Mac and mix them in the full OS X GarageBand.

Prior to today I would export the iOS file to iTunes and pull it to my desktop, then open it in the full GarageBand. The two programs are not interchangeable though so I would save a copy as an OS X file and mix that.

With the latest updates though, I can now upload the iOS files to iCloud, and then import them directly from there to the OS X GarageBand. I still have to save a new copy, but I can eliminate the iTunes middle man, and get the whole thing done without having to plug the iPad into the Mac.

I just did it with NaSoAlMo song #1 which I finished recording today, and will mix tonight… if I can stay awake.

Replacing Native Apps

Yesterday I made a mobile app decision. Henceforth I will no longer be using the native email app on my iPhone or iPad. I have replaced it in the dock with the Gmail app. I did the same thing with Chrome and Safari a while ago.

Since making the change last night I have not received a single email. Not one. Not even spammy crap.

I’m not sure, but I think I broke the Internet. Sorry ’bout that.

There is No Excuse for Clipping

Now I know how Rush must have felt when they got the first mix of Vapor Trails…

It’s a good thing these are just demos and not a real attempt at doing anything… real.

So the vocals… the clipping… the distortion. No excuse. It’s spoiled the entire song for me.

This is the second of two songs that I recorded in their entirety using GarageBand for iPhone. My ability to get a good vocal take on an iOS device is iffy at best, but I was just all over the place with my iPhone today.

Tonight, when I did the iOS mix of this one the vocals sounded bad, but they always sound bad, you know? They were worse than most of the songs I’ve done this month, but it wasn’t the end of the world.

Then I ported the file to the Mac and I could actually see the waveforms. Uh oh. Then I actually played the track. Oh damn, what a mess.

Sorry about that.

———-

As soon as I heard how distorted the vocal tracks were I listened back to the iOS mix to see how bad it sounded there. Now that I knew what I was looking for, yeah it’s there. It just doesn’t seem quite as insultingly awful on the first mix.

———-

I suppose I could go back and rerecord, but June ends on Monday and it’s a kid weekend. I don’t have time to do any more vocal recording. I’m stuck with this, unless I want to fix it next month. I won’t want to fix it next month though. The best this can hope for is that I rerecord the entire song from scratch at some future date.

Two New Songs

I have two new iPad mixes done.

This first one is one that I believe I wrote about before. I wrote the riff I used in the chorus using the “software” instruments in GarageBand. Then when it came time to record the actual guitar part it was too difficult for me to play. I had to work on it quite a bit before I got it down. Then, like a doofus, I decided to double track the part and had to do it all again.

——————

There’s nothing particularly special about the second song except that I made the lyrics up on the spot. Therefore they are completely meaningless. I’ve been doing that a lot this month. No trips to @floridaman yet.

June Music Lull

Well the June Tunes have definitely slowed down over the past week. There are 10 plus the one May left over. Three total are finished but only the iPad mixes at this point. I hope to make good progress in the next couple of days.

Until then, want to hear something? How about the goofy May left over?

Wasn’t that fun? Of the 11 songs, three are 12-bars because that’s the mood I’m in. Wait… Is it three or four? I can’t remember.

Want another?

Fun, eh? Everything is still 100% iOS. How about one more for the road? This is the first song I’ve ever recorded entirely on a telephone. There will be another soon, but for now this is it.

I’m writing this post using the WordPress app on my iPad. Here’s hoping the audio tags work, eh?

That’s three songs down. Eight more to go, and then I remix ’em all. Hooray for bad music!

Updated Flickr iOS App

The Flickr iOS app has be redesigned. It’s okay. Black backgrounds, somewhat similar look and feel to the updated Flickr photo pages that are rolling out now. Not bad. Not awesome. Just pretty good. I messed with the filters. They are good. Not Hipstamatic or Camera+ good, but good.