iPad and recording

[sikamikanico]

Hey Justin,

to what extent do you see people using their iPads for recording purposes, if at all? Maybe for sketching ideas?

I'm building a "small home studio" for developing ideas, and figured I might simplify it to the extreme. Youtube revealed some promising apps, like Auria... even GarageBand seems to be able to pull of most of what I'm considering doing!

Anyway, I figured you might be able to provide a unique insight, given your exposure to recording

Thanks,
Jure

[rimbaud]

Yep I'd like to know too.... IMHO: wait for Audiobus-ready apps, and it will be really reliable, you will be able to use multitasking, as using a multi-effect or a synth and stream it into ... Auria or Loopy on the same Ipad

[jmjbassplayer]

Recording? Not terribly often across my path, yet. Auria is promising, but I'll take a physical keyboard with tons of memorized key commands in PT/Live/Logic any day, VST/AU/HDX plugs, deep MIDI, etc.

[jbiscuti]

Originally Posted by jmjbassplayer

Recording? Not terribly often across my path, yet. Auria is promising, but I'll take a physical keyboard with tons of memorized key commands in PT/Live/Logic any day, VST/AU/HDX plugs, deep MIDI, etc.

Agree...I do so much on a MacBook Pro and its plenty portable, what could the iPad possibly offer over that?

[Biggbass]

I am an engineer in a private recording studio that caters to the local ad industry.
We've had a few occasions in the past months, even as recent as last week, where iPad recorded audio was sent to me for use in a radio or tv commercial. A couple were Garage Band produced music tracks and a couple were Garage Band recorded voice over tracks...all done on an iPad. One of the VO tracks came from a music celebrity who had voiced the track on a tour bus. Unfortunately, the voice over tracks were done with the built in iPad mic and sounded like they were recorded from several feet away from the mic and also captured the bkgr noise of the bus. When we got the tracks I couldn't help but wonder, what was the celeb thinking? The music tracks we received were built around acoustic guitar, which was also recorded from several feet away via the built in mic. All of the tracks contained additional noise that the iPad mic picked up from the background, outside, etc. And so far, none of the iPad recorded tracks I've received has been usable for broadcast purposes and each had to be redone in a studio. I think the issue is that people get the iPad and see Garage Band on it and think it's going to solve all their recording equipment needs and make them professionally mobile at the same time.

I can see the iPad, Garage Band, Amp Kit, etc family of recording gadgets being useful in a songwriting application but for actual production purposes they are just not up to it, based on what I've heard so far. I use my iPad and Garage Band occasionally just for that purpose...to capture ideas and save them. I also capture song ideas on the voice notes app on my phone. But with the iPad, of course, I can add some instrumentation ideas to it.

[carpcutter]

^^ I think I have used the built in mic twice and had less than stellar results.

But...

For the past year, GarageBand on the iPad has been my sketchbook of choice. I use a Griffin GuitarConnect cable - it is passive as opposed to the battery powered types like iRig - for analog tracks and it does what I need it to do, I just play and add drums using the canned drumset. Not studio-quality sound, but good enough for fleshing out ideas. Another big plus is that the interface makes arranging a snap in that you just drag parts around the screen to where you want them. I have found that for me this is the quickest path from inspiration to execution (I've come up with and forgotten too many riffs and melodies to count).

[MNAirHead]

audacity and a cheap USB interface works better -- trust me.

[sikamikanico]

Thank you all, I will give iPad a try. Maybe I was just looking for another excuse to get an iPad, heh, but based on the info here, it should be fine for the level of recording I want to do...

I'm kinda surprised they're not more prevalent in the music recording business, in some capacity... I guess it will take a few more upgrades, heh

[Dan Bozek]

Excuses for a musician to have an iPad you say? Check out Liine Lemur, (or TouchOSC, but you get what you pay for with Lemur) iRealB, (and the thousands of free jazz standards in their forum—indispensable for me when I fill in with my friends' agency band) and FourScore for your own charts, take downs, and sheet music.

[sikamikanico]

thanks, will check them out!