iPod compositions

Date: 11th March 2010
Duration: 4hours


Having seen people on websites such as Youtube perform music together on their iPod touches and iPhones, I thought it will be interesting to create music using just the iPod itself and recording it to a recorder.

Procedure

I began by finding suitable Apps (applications) for the iPod touch to create music with. I browsed through reviews on magazines and websites (ie Future music) to find (if possibly) free music apps. Many applications creators release 'lite' versions of their apps (like demo) so customers can sample some of the features before committing to buy the full version. I found some interesting apps I downloaded and began messing around, tweaking their sounds and finding some sounds I could use.

Here are the apps I used on the recording:

 

Having selected which apps to use, I went about setting up the Boss BR-600 recorder. I used a mini-TRS connector from the headphone output of the iPod to the Line (audio sub mix) input on the recorder.

I originally set up a click track on the recorder using the onboard drum machine but decided against it afterwards and laid down the tracks click free. I tracked the drum beats first using two separate apps. I set the levels using the Boss's onboard metering and adjusting the Rec level wheel on the side, I started recording.

 (as you can see above, all apps utilised the iPod touch's touch capabilities for expressive feel)

After the drums came the synthesizers and the piano app. The NLog (free synth) boasts many features including expression wheels, XY pad and adjustable controls (ie oscillator cutoff etc) and I spent long time tweaking things. The piano apps is very simple by comparison and has a fixed key sizes and features only the sound of a piano which it performs to a tolerable standard.

Afterwards I added sounds effects in the form of scratching and gunshot sounds. I found a disk scratching free app while surfing the app store and wanted to somehow add to the song in process. Having never scratched before, I hastily practiced til I was satisfied I could 'perform' over the existing track I hit the record button. I played the piano app as a accompaniment to the synth.

  

Result

Although this idea was hastily put together and far from profession quality, with the ever increasing musical apps created for hobbyist as well as serious musicians, soon it may be possible to emulate existing profession gear which may be used for performance and to lesser extent recordings.

Here is the recording :