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.
Making an EP
Hey Everyone,
I am putting together an EP. This is going to be my first attempt at it. After several years of making music, I think it will be a fun project to challenge myself. All songs will be made on the iPad of course (mainly using BM3 and Gadget).
Before I get started, I thought it would be great idea to reach out to all of you lovely musicians, dabblers and wizards for some tips. Please share your knowledge and stories 
Thanks,
Comments
Make a plan first, how many tracks, what type of tracks, what the theme for the ep is, if there is one. Finish each track before starting the next one.
If you do not do this you will never finish, each new idea/track you do will be eligible for the ep, and you’ll drop one you already had, eventually you’ve got an album’s worth of stuff that nearly made it....and still no ep. Remember it is your first ep and not your last, save some of what you haven’t done yet for future ep’s.
Most importantly, enjoy the ride ! If it starts to become tedious or tiresome, or that idea just won’t happen, just walk away for a bit and refresh your ears and mind
Good luck !
@AndyPlankton Great tips! Thank you. I think the hardest part for me will to move away from ideas that won't manifest into anything. Like you said, I'll save them for another time when I have a fresh perspective. Cheers!
My approach to EPs is finding sounds that go well together and making different songs using that setup. So if I’m doing an EP it’s usually intended to demonstrate a synth or a technique. I also tend to stay within a sub genre, something melancholy for one EP, something funky for another. Another idea is to find or create album cover concept and title and then compose to what that image inspires in you, like a soundtrack.
I particularly like the album cover tip !
As well as having a specific goal or concept, as per @AndyPlankton's advice, I would also suggest setting limitations for the project. "Maximum four tracks per song" or "Every song built around this particular instrument" or "No songs longer than three minutes" — that sort of thing. It'll stop things getting out of hand and unfinishable, and give the project a strong, coherent vibe, as a happy side effect! Go ahead and make the rules strict, because it's not like you can't break 'em if you really, really want to.
Rules are great because you don't get stuck on decisions. "Where should I take this tune next...? I have a hundred ideas... ah, but ninety-nine of them are against the rules. Welp, that's that then!" [gets the fuck on with it]
@MichaelLawrence I have to admit I'm kind of giving myself advice here, too... [deathbed voice] Don't make the same mistakes I did......
I don’t seem to finish tracks, so my advice may be a little odd, but here goes:
On iOS we have so much to choose from. I’ve found from the odd tracks I’ve been putting together of late (unfinished of course! Lol), that I’m keeping to a few apps for my main sounds and these appear in many songs.
I will make songs until a few come together that merge. Now I’ve just got to find that One Kit! - the one that when my tunes fall into place, glue a few songs in place. (Still trying to find it.
Sensual Sax is all over my tracks and needs cutting back when I eventually get vocals. Bass sounds are all over the place at the moment. As with a drum kit, need to find one bass sound that fits. The synth sounds are the bits I want to vary, yet still have some common ground.
Problem with my advice is it’s aimed at a certain style of music that I’m evolving for myself. Some other styles you may want to vary more options, maybe?
These are just my thoughts as I’m trying to bring stuff together, so thought I would put them here just in case they help.
@LucidMusicInc Awesome ideas! I actually collected a bunch of photos online for a visual of the mood I want to create. I'm going to use those for my inspiration and to keep me in check. I like the idea of using similarly sounds across all the songs too. I want them to all sound like they belong
@zpxlng I definitely need to set a lot of limits because I also have a tendency to lose focus then get frustrated when nothing gets accomplished lol. Thanks for the tips!
I feel ya! Good luck with it, man. Keep us posted!
@Fruitbat1919 My biggest challenged will be limited the number of apps used because like many of you , I have too many lol.
_"Now I’ve just got to find that One Kit! - the one that when my tunes fall into place, glue a few songs in place. (Still trying to find it." _
I always get to this point too! When I need the last sound that will complete the track but it usually means I have enough and I just need to make whats there sound better
Thank you. I will! I need to devise a plan and some rules when I get home but I am excited to get started.
My suggestion is to make an entire album, but when you get about a third of the way in, stop.
@Fruitbat1919
@djpuzzle's recent video outlines a process that you may find helpful... basically making 8 bar loops in a DAW and then arranging them as audio afterwards. If you keep a directory of loops, for example in Audioshare or in the mediabay of Cubasis you can mix and match as you please and no idea is ever lost.
While I'm not quite back on board with team Akai/Retronyms, I do like the MPC workflow where you have banks of patterns and tracks that can be developed over a long period of time. BM3 holds similar promise but equal amounts of pain and frustration, at least until 3.1 eventually drops. The happy middle path is Groove Rider as a compositional workspace because all ideas are stored in the patterns and if you're bored of a pattern you can just switch to a new one without loading up another project. Linear DAWs like Cubasis can definitely speed up the arrangement process now that apps are opening up to Files support.
@zpxlng makes great points to about rules, or parameters and guidelines. For me the unbreakable rules are things like tempo and song length. I'm most comfortable with 126, it provides enough room for complex grooves and it doesn't feel slow like a lot of music in the 110-120 range, so I can make stuff that sounds mellow or hard hitting with that tempo. Key signatures on the other hand I'm okay to play around with, major or minor is fine.
A song isn't ready for release unless its longer than 5 minutes and it can't be longer than 8 minutes. 8-12 tracks is all I really need, and there ought to be an A and a B section as well as the usual things like intros, breaks, drops, and outros. Having a structure like that thought out ahead of time definitely eliminate decisions.
Good album art will also increase your listens and views. Just don't go overboard on the sexy anime stuff
One of the things I do when I make albums is start project files for all the songs right away. Say I want to make a 5 track EP, I'll go ahead and create 5 projects in Auria and name them. Might be a rough idea for an actual song name, or just something simple like "Track 3".
This way, I can alway see at a glance the whole project, and pick which part of it I want to work on for any given day. Personally, I like working on multiple songs at once, I jump around a lot while writing. Helps give everything a bit more cohesion and maybe a common theme, and if I'm not feeling a particular song one day I can move on to something else instead of feeling stuck.
Album artwork and title are things I try and nail down early too as other's have said, again to give you something to base your ideas off of.
Good luck!
My advice is to really commit and get obsessive about it. Set yourself a deadline for finishing the ep and how many tracks you want on it. Start composing a song, go for a walk and listen to what you’ve done 5-6 times on headphones, each time thinking about how you can improve it. Tweak it a bit more. Listen to other songs in that genre. Play the song in your head when you’re going to sleep, when you’re in the car, when you’re on the toilet, and make notes ready for when you have some more time to work on it. Give a song a name and a track number as early in the process as possible - you’ll be more likely to finish it. If you can work on your phone, this makes it a lot easier to tweak things wherever you are (an essential part of my process)
I did this on each song on my ep, doing the same process for composing, mixing, and mastering, although I jumped around from track to track depending on my mood that day.
Also keep things simple. Eliminate anything unnecessary - it makes you focus on the bits you do keep, makes less ‘perfect sounds’ to find, and makes the mixing stage much easier.
@AndyPlankton
Or, may I suggest, the opposite: do them all at the same time, go back and forth, bounce ideas from one to the other. That way you won’t get bored, you’ll have fresh ears, and may end up with a cohesive bunch
One more bit of advice I’m learning, but haven’t cracked yet - let your tracks breathe.
I’ve included my latest jam I’ve done today. It’s getting some bits right, but I’m still wanting to put all and the kitchen sink in before those lyrics come.
Now go listen to an album like Japan’s Tin Drum and see how each instrument breaths - all the tracks on the album just belong together.
While I am no where near what I want, I am learning, so my final advice:
Enjoy what you are doing and if like me, you never seem to reach that goal - the journey becomes such a pleasure that all is good!
Wish you well
@LucidMusicInc
Yep Im dabbling with iMPC Pro 2, but I still keep going back to BM3 - something about BM3 just feels right for me. Still hoping it gets a little dev love in time
Well an EP is a mini Album to me.... I’ve just had one released with a record label last month.... They wanted 7 tracks on it... ( tho back in the day, I thought an EP was 4 tracks?... That’s what I use to buy in the days of old)... I was told 15 - 17 tracks was an Album... But the label wanted Radio Edits on this one... Now I’ve just done a DJ friendly version of it ( double the work..lol.... )... Here it is, so it may give you an example.... Hope it helps?....
https://www.beatport.com/release/connected-ep/2393426
I’ve got lots of records with only seven tracks on - how times are changing lol
I know tell me about it?...
As long as you’ve decided on the tracks first.
Yeah, still trying to learn this myself too, must listen to tin drum again, see if I still know it word for word and note for note lol, although obscure alternatives is my favourite.
Same here: OA, TD, GTP then the rest lol
@LucidMusicInc Thank you, I will check out the video. Coming from a machine and Ableton background, BM3 really works for me so that will be my weapon of choice. I like the idea of saving a bunch of loops. If I'm not feeling an idea I normally bin it because just exporting to audio share is a great habit to get into.
lmaoo. Its so crazy it might work
@Tarekith great approach. I already have the names of the 4 songs I want to make and I feel like they already informed some of my decisions.
I like the idea of starting templates for all of the songs for cohesion. I might try this approach as well
@gregsmith Thanks for the info. I'm going to try and keep things as simple as possible
@Fruitbat1919 nice track! I like the horn/flute type sound in there. I will check out tin drum and some more of my favourite music to actively listen to. Not just in the background when im at the gym