Audiobus: Use your music apps together.
What is Audiobus? — Audiobus is an award-winning music app for iPhone and iPad which lets you use your other music apps together. Chain effects on your favourite synth, run the output of apps or Audio Units into an app like GarageBand or Loopy, or select a different audio interface output for each app. Route MIDI between apps — drive a synth from a MIDI sequencer, or add an arpeggiator to your MIDI keyboard — or sync with your external MIDI gear. And control your entire setup from a MIDI controller.
Download on the App StoreAudiobus is the app that makes the rest of your setup better.
Comments
@trackedout - Very nice guitar licks! Good production! It is a good track. Some constructive remarks: For me the instruments sound a bit too much on the beat, most of what happens happens on the beat (i am no expert i want to add) perhaps this is not good said, what i mean is it lacks a bit of integration, it sounds like a cluster of unconnected things every second. But this is also a matter of my taste/preference of course.
@JohnnyGoodyear - first few seconds when listening to it: Laurie Anderson associations (cause of the voice effects). The song is well made, original instrumental composition, all is done very well! It really is a fine project! As for the lyrics: I didn't try to completely understand them, your use of words is a bit too 'advanced' for me. But I like how it all sounds!! Can't find anything that could be done better. Perhaps singing a melody. But then it would be completely different, no, it is good as it is. Great atmosphere!
Finished listening to it, just had an association with the Knight Rider theme....well your song is by far better.
Hey Richard , many thanks , the weedy ruckus nods its dandelions gratefully !
@Bluepunk ....."then pull the log away and siphon the beans into both ears" ...
Damn, well now that's the grimey black n white animation for this tune now ..
Many thanks for the vivid listen .
Updated the SoundCloud and the second post.
Just a friendly reminder for all contributors to get their feedback in please
Excellent Dimitri. Is the 'Carioca accent' the equivalent to say a cockney one over here, with slang words aplenty? Looking forward to hearing you. Need any dodgy harmonies?
Bank Holiday. For those that can watch. On Sky Arts this Saturday at 9pm, Don Letts: Dread meets Punk Rockers. Not enough of that on here........
Ah those Rasta/Punk parties, which always involved the music from these lads:
@richardyot, I haven't gone back to listen to the original from last September, but I thought the vocals were very well done. I also really liked your guitar tone. Most impressive to me was the drum track. Can I ask how you made that part? Any constructive criticism would be very minor, just a little tightening of the electric piano part in the first 30 seconds or so. Nice job! I'm hoping to have something ready to contribute for next month. For some reason, whether on desktop or iPad, I've become way more prolific at creating little ideas and 30 second snippets, but not so great at actually completing a song. Gotta do something about that...
Thanks, @theconnactic also picked up on the loose electric piano, it was done in GB and I probably didn't quantize it. As for the drums, it's the GB Drummer, probably Mason this time (I usually use D'Arcy), for the darker feel. The GB drummer is awesome IMO.
That's exactly what SOTMC is all about! Forces you to write and produce a song every month. Don't worry if they're not perfect, the idea is just to become more productive - funny thing is, the more you produce, the better the stuff gets, I think that's obvious from pretty much all of us who have been doing this regularly. I might post some of my very early entries one day for a laugh.
@Joel75 He's right. Jump in.
Sorry, running late with everything this month. Here is my feedback part 1;
@Bootsy welcome to the SOTMC. Lovely song, beautifully sung. I especially liked the harmonies towards the end.
@trackedout you are definitely developing your own unique sound. Lots going on both rhythmically and musically. I liked the addition of the horns.
@studs1966 nice cool summer vibe. Liked the strings and the vocal samples. Only criticism is the crash cymbal sound you used at the start and a few times later. It sounds a bit harsh against the other mellow sounds you got going.
@JohnnyGoodyear sitting here at 6:45 am on a Saturday morning with a slight hangover trying to think what to say about your piece. I'm not normally a fan of your spoken word stuff but I liked this a lot. Great production with the music fitting the words perfectly. I particularly liked the doubling/echoing of the vocals. Very clever technique that worked really well.
@Bluepunk I never thought I hear a Bluepunk song with a synth break. You will be turning out 20 minute long prog epics next
. Seriously though, love the new sound, great production and clever funny lyrics as always.
@serosin you are not helping my Saturday morning hangover. I don't usually go for these Gadget produced instrumentals but I liked this one a lot. You got some great, weird sounds in there and all hangs together really well.
Off to take some paracetamol for the hangover, I will try and finish my feedback later.
More feedback from me;
@Bobbejaan interesting piece, loved the piano sound. What app/plugin are you using? If you are looking for constructive criticism than you may want to pan the different instruments a bit to give them their own space.
@badrico great stuff man, you got a nice groove going and I particularly liked the bit with organ at about the 2:30 mark. Maybe you could added a bit more harmonica.
@Igneous1 nice production with some interesting sounds.
@theconnactic brave attempt to mash together a few different styles but it didn't really work for me. Loved the classical guitar playing which worked ok with the drum beat but I didn't like the harsh synth sound. I'm not sure the funk guitar fitted very well either. Great video though gives us an insight into how you put your stuff together.
@marcel nice song with a great overall sound. I thought the vocals sounded good despite the iPad microphone. Maybe turn the guitar part up a bit towards the end, it was a bit low in the mix for me.
@richardyot just listened to both versions and I not sure which I prefer. I liked the vocoder effects you used originally. Maybe vocoder vocals for the verses and clean for the chorus.
@Bluepunk - While listening to your track I immediately started to google translate the dutch word "drilboor" which is hammerdrill. After that I read your introductionary words of the song. So: yes, definetely hammerdrill sounds! Funny. As is the track for me: funny with a punky vibe. My English is just not good enough to understand everything, but the track sounds good to me! With all its added noises of all sorts. They fit. I like it. Well done. It has an Ian Dury feel (great artist imo).
Pardon me if the track wasn't meant to be funny, my English is just not that great, and I am not lyric orientated.
Many thanks for your kind words about my track!!
And thanks for the advice about buying an usb mic. Been thinking and exploring it since. I am thinking: perhaps a Irig Mic Studio or the Apogee mic 96K (both not cheap). But I have a tendency to look at not the cheapest stuff, and I don't know what i'll do cause I hardly sing. So the costs might not fit the amount of usage (if you understand); I have stuff here I bought but never (or hardly ever) use. On the other hand: it might encourage me to sing more, when I hear how great the recording of it is (haha).
@Bobbejaan - Atmospheric piece! Good piano play!! Nice interplay at end between piano and guitar/harpichord (whatever) sound. A fine atmospheric track, nice to listen to.
Some subjective preferences of me: the synth lead is sometimes a bit too loud for me (but this could also be the headphones I use (which is a good Beyerdynamic); I think the whole mix could be mastered a tiny bit better: a bit more depth and stereo perhaps and low frequency eq perhaps a bit more; and the piano could perhaps have a bit more "body", this could perhaps be accomplished by eq-ing the piano track (or your bound by the depth/limits of the piano app you used); But its all very subjective, and I am not sure if I could do better if I had the multitracks.
@badrico - Suspense track. Would fit somewhere in the Breaking Bad tv series. Nice track!! Great harmonics!
Thank you Marcel. I appreciate you listening, commenting and having to google words as well. Very kind of you.
I went with this one last year, after research and advice from folk here. Love and cherish it and because I choose not to add many vocal effects, the difference/clarity (compared with the iPad internal mic) is easily heard. Two things encourage me to sing more, and the mic on a real mic stand (threw the podcaster tripod away) is one. The other is because I really do want to sing. Good luck and many thanks again Sir.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Microphones/RODE-NT-USB-Rode-Microphone/B00KQPGRRE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1493485975&sr=8-1&keywords=rode+usb+mic
@Bluepunk - Thanks for the Rode mic suggestion. The Popfilter is a plus. And a plus is that the thing is sort of approved here in the community. Will need a Usb to lightning adapter which puts it in the same price range as the Apogee. I will keep this Rode mic in my mind, seems like a very good mic, thanks. Great that you are happy with it.
@richardyot - The vocals sounds great! Good in the mix also! Yes I like this track! Well sung! Nice weird sounding section starting at 3:12, sounds very good, atmospheric. All is good as it is. If I had to make some constructive remarks, then I would make two: 1. The timing in the ep key play could be a bit better, and 2. I would cut the low eq a bit in your voice, a few months ago I made a remix of a track of you, as an experiment, I think you remember, I overdid it there, it was more dynamic but I overdid it. Still I think a bit of low end (or low-mid) eq cut in the vocals in your Time track might improve the sound of the vocals. But thats only my thinking about it (when I listen to it in a critical mindset mode), overall I think the voice sounds really great in your track! Don't know which effects you put on your voice, reverb of course, but there's something else, yes I think it is the higher second voice in the back (if i am not mistaken), that works!
Thanks very much for your kind words about my track!
Appreciated. And about the The Cure sound in the end section: your ears are doing well: I played that last part on my Bass VI, an instrument Robert Smith used/uses a lot.
Gorgeous tune Marcel! Love the dark moodiness. Simple piano lines, yearning desperation in your vocals and some tasteful guitar coming in towards the end. Beauty! Kind of dig the vocal effects on this one.
Lovely song @richardyot! I haven't heard the vocoder version but I really felt the vocals on this. Love the lyrics too actually, I think a lot about time, (how much I waste) slipping away so fast. This would fit on the Garden State soundtrack right along with the Shins and Remy zero. Kind of reminded me a bit of Al Stewart vocally. Time passages.
Great job.
Thanks Marcel! I'm kind of obsessed with Nick! Deep melancholy is definitely my thing!
Been working on "Riverman" forever. thanks for the listen.
Cool, trippy tune! Guitars were a trip back to the late sixties, harmony guitars at the end were cool, fun stuff.
@Bootsy: Wow! Great first entry. I like it.
@trackedout: Another good one. Great singing and guitar. Well done.
@studs1969: Beautiful.
@JohnnyGoodyear: How do you do it? Another great one. I love your lyrics and music.
@badrico: Lots of energy. Good song.
@theconnactic: You are a master. Once again very impressed with your entry. Liked the video too. Thank you for your feedback and words of encouragement. The piano and guitar was done with Tin Pan Rhythm.
@Marcel: Well done. I cannot believe the quality you managed to get with the built-in mic. Thank you also for your comments. Unfortunately I cannot take credit for the playing - only "arranging" it. I agree with your take on the final mix. I tried, but it is far from perfect.
@Bluepunk: Sir, I am humbled to even get a mention by a great musician like yourself. Unfortunately I cannot take credit for any of the playing - all credit to the music apps and my Ipad. It makes it possible for non musicians like myself to channel some of that creative juices into something... I love the possibilities.
@Orchardman: i like your music. I have listened a few times to your entry of last month, including the instrumental version. Another great one. Thank you again for your constructive criticism. The guitar and piano was Tin Pan Rhythm.
@richardyot: congratulations with the new house. I am very impressed with the quality you produce with GB. Great vocals. I love your music. Thank you for your kind words and encouragement. I appreciate it.
Well spotted, there's a fake harmony mixed very low behind the vocal. Basically I copied both tracks of the double-tracked vocals and pitch-shifted them up 5 semitones, added a little delay and mixed them so they're barely audible. Other than that there is compression (5:1 ratio and low threshold), reverb using Pro-R, and also a fake ADT effect added to the vocal bus using PSP Echo with a short delay and some Wow to simulate a real tape-based ADT effect.
All of the above help to thicken the vocal sound, I've been refining my vocal mixing gradually over the last two years, and am pretty happy with the sound I'm achieving now, but it needs to start with a good vocal performance otherwise it's all just lipstick on a pig. I do comp my vocals from anything between 6 to 12 different takes, in this case it was just 6 takes that went in to make the finished thing: I listen to every line of the song and choose the best two takes (for double-tracking) to use each time.
Wow. You make me feel like a workshy layabout....
Haha, yes I spend ages and ages on the vocals.
As an aside, this month is the best SOTMC we've ever had, the standard of entries has been exceptional.
Agreed on this month's offering, perhaps the club is one of the few real examples of a tide that raises all boats etc.
Was thinking about the vocal issue while plowing up and down the pool earlier and found myself listening to Ian Brown's El Mundo Pequeno (I love the listening while swimming more than the swimming truth be told) and wishing I could dial it in like that. However, your description of the effort you make, or the recipe in a way, makes me realize there isn't any magic single button etc.
I remember the melody from last year Rich and thought it was excellent, one of your best. I listen to the SOTMC every month and really enjoy it, and try to comment as well but since I haven't posted anything to the club I don't want to rattle anyone's cage thinking I'm judging without letting myself be judged too.
I have no problems with critique, I love it in fact, and I'm wrapping up some stuff now that I'll put up to the club as soon as I'm set. But I also don't want to remain mute and just listen to the playlist on SoundCloud without saying anything when I hear great stuff...
So I wanted to tell you I really dug "Time", the drums & elements of the rhythm track had such a lovely analouge quality that I just love in recordings from decades ago but can be applied today a lot more IMO.
The vocal timbre was so in line with the lyric, this weary, wise and etheral quality that really gave the track a great quality. Just a really good track brother...
@JRSIV thanks for the nice words, and more importantly for taking the time to listen to everyone's entries. Looking forward to your contributions when you submit them!
This resonated with me today. Great stuff as usual.