Category: Meta

Scenario 1: Writing music on a “real” computer (circa 2012)
– Fire up [DAW of choice]
– Lots of instruments are available
– Load “plugins” (little programs within a program) to compensate for shortcomings of DAW software.
– Write your parts
– Mix in context – correct mistakes as you go
– Upload to SoundCloud
– Go on with life (e.g. create dummy SoundCloud accounts and give yourself positive comments, etc.)

Scenario 2: Writing music on a non-iPad tablet
– *cricket*

Scenario 3: Writing music on an iPad
– Fire up GarageBand (or a different DAW, but probably not)
– Think of an idea for a part; realize the GB instruments don’t do all the tricks you need
– Fire up $5.99 synth app; learn how to use it
– Maybe it works. Maybe fire up another $5.99 synth app; learn how to use it
– Switch back to GarageBand and check what tempo your song is
– Switch back to Synth app – switch that tempo to the right one
– Record an out-of-context loop, but try to envision the drum part
– Audio copy the loop
– Switch back to GarageBand
– Audio paste
– Whoops, wrong Audio paste method – use the other one (repeat last 3 steps)
– OK great synth part! That sounds so warm.
– Next idea…

Here’s a quick video illustrating the problem:

So. Despite this cumbersome process, writing music on an iPad is indeed the best music writing experience we can get on a tablet today, and it has gotten much better than when it started. (The days before Audio copy involved having to bounce loops back to the computer and then re-importing them into a DAW program).

But this is supposed the be the future of general purpose computing! What good are all of those 1000’s of $5.99 Synth apps when you can’t load them inside of the app you’re actually using to write the song?

My humble suggestion: allow a new kind of app. This solution could take a couple very different paths:

METHOD ONE: NEWSSTAND-STYLE
There is kind of a precedent for plugins in iOS5. Newspaper and magazine apps are a good example – they “live” inside of Newsstand as a kind of sub-app app. They can exist as full apps, but are by nature relegated to be managed by Newsstand. Why can’t audio apps allow a similar scenario? Imagine the possibilities if something like Figure could run inside of GarageBand as an instrument plugin!

On the desktop, many “big” plugin packages have AU,VST,RTAS versions as well as a standalone launch-able version – Celemony’s Melodyne is a good example of this way of doing things. When Melodyne is launched, whether as a plugin or as the standalone editor, it looks and acts the same – the only difference is that the output is either fed straight to the system audio out, or to the DAW’s output track.

This could possibly be a model to allow plugins on iOS – allow “instrument” apps to exist normally on the home screen, but also be accessible within certain programs (in the same way that Audio copy is enabled per app). How cool would it be to have an “external” option in iOS GarageBand to allow using another instrument app as a track? It would be a cleaner experience than ReWire, and really expand the utility of all iPad music apps. Apple would be the ones to lead the charge in this department, and if they allowed this with minimal changes needed on the developer’s end it would instantly make the world a better place.

METHOD TWO: REASON-STYLE
Another model might be more like Propellerhead’s recently announced Rack Extensions. This model would actually work with current iOS policies (which is maybe why they designed it this way). The hurdle would be convincing app developers to submit racks rather than apps straight to Apple. If enough developers jumped on the bandwagon, it would make the world a better place as well.

Imagine a big boy DAW like Reason having an In-App purchase “store” to buy addon instruments. Possibly very cool, and would redirect a lot of the smaller developers to rally around a standard rather than releasing good sounding apps that are unfortunately hard to actually use in songs.

FIRST ONE TO SOLVE THIS WINS
As far as I can tell, Apple doesn’t like plugins. They have halfheartedly accommodated audio sharing, but who knows? Maybe they’ll tackle this. If they did, it would signal the coming of age of iOS, and would probably be accompanied with a big release like Logic Express Express or something like that.

But let’s say instead that one of the AAA app developers comes in and nails this problem their way. I’m not a Reason user, but judging by Figure, they *get* mobile apps better than all but one other developer. Propellerhead is well positioned to lead the first wave of true pro audio apps on iOS if they want it.

One thing I think everyone will agree on: iOS is close, but it needs a way to marry the instruments with the method. Right now it’s the shiniest, most impressive toy for music writing…and it’s so close to really being useful for this it hurts.

Last Thursday I planned on going to a big ticket pop concert. I ended going to something much more.

HOW THIS RELATES
This is a music tech blog, right? Well, even though in 2010 Lady Gaga is considered mainstream pop, I hear in it all of the underground house stuff I listened to in the ’90s. RedOne (her beat maker/producer) and the other people in the Haus of Gaga have brought real trance, real house, and real acid beats into the mainstream, and I simply can’t believe it. Almost every new pop artist sounds like this now.

Acid 303-style bass lines, dry square leads, and a four-on-the-floor pulse worthy of Oakenfold and contemporaries permeates the show. Some of my favorite parts were the “scene changes” where the gigantic video “curtain” would fall and these awesome grooves kept the crowd going while she changed into endlessly more complex outfits as the night went on.

THE EXPECTATIONS (which were fulfilled)
This show was a huge spectacle, and a big scale production. It almost felt like going to a broadway revue – there was acting, scene changes, and a sweet “pit” section on stage. Instead of regular instruments they had a laptop-ist, a harpist, an electric violinist, and a drummer that was triggering stuff too. Also, the backstage and booth crew was massive which is standard for big ticket shows like this.

Gaga sings almost everything, which is no longer standard for big shows like this. Rather than blatantly lip syncing, most performers tend to rely on “backing tracks” – these pre-recorded versions of the vocal part are blended with the signal from the singer’s mic. However, if it’s going to be convincing, the mix leans in favor of the backing track.

I can speak from a bit of experience here, as I once played Timpani as a prop with a very popular Christian music act. Said act was blatant in their use of tracking to the point that WE WERE NOT MIKED. However, those in the arena bleachers said they could hear my wind chimes just fine. I did not bring wind chimes that night – I forgot them at school, but I digress…

Lady Gaga’s inherently electronic music uses plenty of extra tracks, but it felt like only the “effected” vocals with digital edits and such were used. Most produced songs are impossible to perform live due to vocal layering and “stutter edits” and things of that nature. Everything else was totally live. The show was structured in such a way that her most exposed moment was in the middle, and the other more demanding songs were far away from that part of the show.

The middle of the show is where you know for sure that you’re watching an amazing AMAZING performer. She sits alone at the piano, facing sideways so you can see her fingers clearly, and sings the slow songs. It’s worth the price of the ticket just to see this part – the emotion in these songs comes through very clearly live, and it’s very moving and impressive. I’d put this part up there with someone like Tori Amos or Norah Jones. She could have a career just doing this stuff.

But she doesn’t just do the slow piano songs. Instead, she wows the crowd stepping out of a (working?) subway car with an actual disco stick she uses to shine a bright light into the audience. She fights a gigantic angler fish (the “fame monster”) and rises a few dozen feet above the stage to ascend after a video cylinder showing a tornado swirl picks her up and drops her off at the Monster Ball.

The show is groundbreaking, both from a musical/talent standpoint, and from an artistic standpoint.

WHAT I DIDN’T EXPECT
This show becomes life-changing in a way.

I mean it – for all the shock and attention-grabbing stunts she pulls in her outfits and her music videos, her message is quite clear live: “this is who I’ve always wanted to be, and you too should all be free to be who you want to be.” She repeats this mantra throughout the show, telling the crowd she created this tour so people could be free to be themselves away from the norms of society (though most ultimately dress like Gaga when they go to her show).

But there’s something about her sincerity – you come away feeling totally positive afterwards in a way I’ve never felt after a concert.

Most events I’ve attended which were “positive” or “character building” you come away with the feeling that “gosh, I can be a great person if I do the following x, y, z…. things”.

At the Monster Ball, you come away with “gosh, I am already a great person”. It’s an incredible self-esteem booster that puts a smile on your face well after the concert has ended.

Gaga is a great entertainer, but more importantly through these (partially self-funded) concerts she brings pop music to new heights and more importantly, she brings LIVE pop music into a new era of sincerity.