I've gone full circle - back to GarageBand for iOS

A few years ago, I started off recording on my iPad with GarageBand. From there, one thing led to another and I ended up buying a MacBook Pro so I could install Logic. No excuses! I now had everything I needed to make decent recordings!

And I still do - but I've reverted back to the iPad. I just don't use Logic often enough to stay up to speed. I'm mainly recording demos of songs, or something I'm working on without my part on it so I can play along, demos of arrangements for the other people I'm playing with who don't read music.

I think the iPad is really great for this sort of thing. I'm even popping earbuds on and recording voice and acoustic guitar using the internal mic and - guess what - it sounds fine for my purposes. If I want to record something suitable for public (I mean paid-for) consumption I'll get a studio and an engineer

I just feel like I dived down a rabbit hole and now I've come up the other side. 

Just wanted to share... Does this resonate with anyone else? 
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Comments

  • TheBigDipperTheBigDipper Frets: 4722
    Oh, and this all started off because someone here posted about musician Dan Baker and his YouTube channel. It's good stuff and got me refocused. 
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  • JalapenoJalapeno Frets: 6378
    That's how Donald Fagen works, so no shame (and Logic is a beast)
    Imagine something sharp and witty here ......

    Feedback
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  • thermionicthermionic Frets: 9498
    I've been with Logic since I got a free demo copy with a magazine that had a reasonably priced upgrade offer (4.8 I think, called MicroLogic AV at the time). It was a big step up from the Tascam Portastudio I'd used up until then.

    I still tend to use Logic as an overgrown multitrack tape machine and only really scrape the surface of what it can do really, but I much prefer it to GarageBand. I like the idea of GarageBand, and I want to like it, but there's something about the dumbed-down interface that I find obstructive. Having said that, I do use it quite often, but usually for recording clips of a single instrument, or sometimes with a basic drum loop.
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  • robertyroberty Frets: 10893
    edited April 2019
    Whatever works. A full fat DAW is only needed if you're gonna get a mix engineer (or are one yourself) and produce a finished thing. Lo fi can sound great and have loads of character
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  • TheBigDipperTheBigDipper Frets: 4722
    I've been with Logic since I got a free demo copy with a magazine that had a reasonably priced upgrade offer (4.8 I think, called MicroLogic AV at the time). It was a big step up from the Tascam Portastudio I'd used up until then.

    I still tend to use Logic as an overgrown multitrack tape machine and only really scrape the surface of what it can do really, but I much prefer it to GarageBand. I like the idea of GarageBand, and I want to like it, but there's something about the dumbed-down interface that I find obstructive. Having said that, I do use it quite often, but usually for recording clips of a single instrument, or sometimes with a basic drum loop.
    I'm at the same level of competence with Logic as you. That's one of the reasons I switched back. It's a lot easier in GB iOS to get a basic idea down, or a backing track of a verse so you can work on a "planned" solo. 

    There are a few workflow differences between Logic and GB iOS, but I kept at it for a few weeks and now I'm back in the groove and find the reduced choice of options helpful rather than limiting. The choices that it does have are very usable and give decent results for relatively little effort. 

    roberty said:
    Whatever works. A full fat DAW is only needed if you're gonna get a mix engineer (or are one yourself) and produce a finished thing. Lo fi can sound great and have loads of character
    Quite. I get the demo going using the internal mic and headphones. If I want to polish it up or spend more time on it, then I'll redo parts using the same mics, audio interface and monitors that I use for Logic. That isn't lo fi at all, by then. But only if it's needed. Mostly, I'm working on ideas rather than tracking my best performances for consumption by other people.
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  • robertyroberty Frets: 10893

    roberty said:
    Whatever works. A full fat DAW is only needed if you're gonna get a mix engineer (or are one yourself) and produce a finished thing. Lo fi can sound great and have loads of character
    Quite. I get the demo going using the internal mic and headphones. If I want to polish it up or spend more time on it, then I'll redo parts using the same mics, audio interface and monitors that I use for Logic. That isn't lo fi at all, by then. But only if it's needed. Mostly, I'm working on ideas rather than tracking my best performances for consumption by other people.
    Pre-production too... it's good to have had a practice run and sort the arrangements before you take all the time of tracking everything precisely
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  • FunkfingersFunkfingers Frets: 14320
    edited May 2019
    roberty said:
    Whatever works. ... Lo fi can sound great and have loads of character
    There are still a few famous songwriter/performers using cassette machines. Quick, simple, adequate for capturing an idea before it evaporates forever. 

    In the case of Garageband for iOS, it is possible to convert/transfer a Project over to Logic Pro for development into a fuller production.
    Be seeing you.
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  • TheBigDipperTheBigDipper Frets: 4722
    roberty said:
    Whatever works. ... Lo fi can sound great and have loads of character
    There are still a few famous songwriter/performers using cassette machines. Quick, simple, adequate for capturing an idea before it evaporates forever. 

    In the case of Garageband for iOS, it is possible to convert/transfer a Project over to Logic Pro for development into a fuller production.
    A bit late coming back to this, @Funkfingers. I thought this thread was dead, but, yes - it is. MIDI files go over as MIDI and audio as audio. I keep my iOS GB projects on my iCloud Drive and just open it with Logic on my Mac. The first thing you get asked to do is save it as a Logic project and then you're in Logic with all your tracks from GB iOS in place. The GB iOS project is untouched. I think Logic has all the software instruments that GB iOS has (certainly all the ones I've used). 

    But I've not done it in anger for a while because I'm getting all I want to do done in iOS. 
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  • axisusaxisus Frets: 28280
    I dabbled with a few other types of recording software, but I have always come back to Garageband. I love the simplicity, and it is perfectly good enough quality for my purposes. Having said that, I just got a replacement macbook pro and the new version looks different! Panic!

    Haven't tried it yet.
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