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“10 Great Mobile Apps That Allow Me (And You) To Create Awesome Music From Scratch” plus 1 more |
10 Great Mobile Apps That Allow Me (And You) To Create Awesome Music From Scratch Posted: 21 Sep 2018 04:45 AM PDT Guest post by Evan Zwisler of Soundfly’s Flypaper For such a long time, I resisted using apps to make music. I thought they must just be crappy, tiny versions of what they’re attempting to emulate (soft synthesizers, DAWs, digital instruments), or lame tools for musicians younger than I. Well, turns out I was wrong. There are some absolutely amazing apps out there to help you make music on the bus, on the edge of a waterfall, or wherever you are when inspiration strikes. They sound so good, they can do so much, and best of all, they’re all pretty cheap or even free. Even the most expensive one on the below list, the iMPC Pro, is well worth its $25 price tag. We’re huge fans of accessibility here at Soundfly — we want to help you move forward in your musical journey no matter where you’re at in your music making. So as you’re checking out these apps, if you find you need some more human support to get your music to the next level, consider signing up for a Soundfly Mentor to get one-on-one feedback and accountability. Whether you enroll in a Mainstage course, or work on a goal-oriented project of your choosing, our Mentors meet you where you are and create a plan to help you grow. Share your musical goals with us and let us know what you’re working on! Now, to the list. GarageBandWe couldn’t make this list without this fabulous intro-to-recording app, love it or hate it, so we figured we’d start with it. GarageBand is a fantastic digital audio workstation (or DAW) for beginners. If you’re someone who isn’t super familiar with the ins and outs of music production and wants to just jump right in to recording songs on your tablet or phone, this is a great tool for you. I wouldn’t recommend it to be your main DAW as it lacks some of the wider functionality of Ableton Live, Logic, and ProTools, for example, but it’s perfect for getting sketches of songs down on the go. Cost: Free! AnimoogI’m a huge fan of Moog products. In fact, I’m considering selling basically everything in my studio so I can to save up for the Grandmother, Moog’s new semi-modular synth. However, if I can’t scrape together the $900 for that, I’m gonna go ahead and start grooving out on the fantastic Animoog. The Animoog is the “first professional synthesizer” for iOS devices. It only costs seven bucks and gives you all the functionality of a typical Moog synthesizer. The interface takes a little while to learn, but it’s a great addition to both your creative process and your live setup if you have space on your electronics table for a tiny square. Cost: $6.99 Korg iElectribeI do love my Moogs, but I’m a downright Korg stalker. I think they have some of the best gear on the market for some of the most competitive prices. The Korg iElectribe was used extensively on the Gorillaz’s latest release, The Fall. Korg recently released a special version of this app that features all of the patches used by Damon Albarn on the album. Korg has a bunch of great soft synth apps available for mobile and tablet, and they’re all a fraction of what you would pay for a hard synth. Cost: $13.99 Music MemosMusic Memos is the perfect app for people who like like to capitalize on flashes of momentary inspiration. You record a snippet of something you sing or play, and the app lets you organize and rate your compositions. The app also can provide backing tracks, like a horn section or a drum beat. It can pair with the version of GarageBand on your computer, as well, so you can easily move tracks back and forth from your device to your DAW. Cost: Free! CausticCaustic is a music creation tool that emulates rack-mounted synthesizers and modular units. This is a fantastic tool for anyone looking to get into synthesis without building your own rack. The presets are really great and let you get right to making music. The effects are also really useful and open-ended tools in and of themselves, so the app is worth it for that alone. Cost: $13.99 FigureFigure is a really visually pleasing, fun, and useful tool for people who want to make and share their beats and loops. The app lets you make drum loops, bass lines, and arpeggiated synth lines that sound really good right out of the “box.” It also connects you automatically with the Allihoopa online community where you can share your creations and check out what other users are doing in your feed. Cost: Free! Ninja JammI haven’t spent much time working with this app, personally, but from what I’ve seen and what people are saying, I can attest to it being pretty darn cool. Ninja Jamm is a music-making tool that lets you generate beat-driven tunes from samples. You have access to a substantial sample library with samples from a wide variety of users. If you’re looking to get into sampling, this is a great app to help familiarize yourself with the process and practice your chops. Plus it’s free, so like, it’s even cheaper than bargain 7″ hunting. Cost: Free! LoopimalLoopimal is the only app on this list that is geared specifically for children. It’s a super fun, character-based sequencer where kids can drag colored shapes onto a track and make music in a tactile, playful and educational way. The shapes then trigger the respective animals to make a sound. I think it’s just super fun, whether or not you have little ones. Cost: $5.49 DM1 The Drum MachineThe DM1 is a great drum machine for people who want a more tactile experience when making beats. The sounds are great, the feel is great, the look is great, this app is great. Cost: $6.99 Akai iMPC Pro 2Speaking of drum machines, Akai has been making those for several decades, so it’s no surprise their iMPC Pro is a great beat making app. It has a huge sample library (over 1,400 sounds), 3-D sequencing, and 3-Band EQ. If you’re still feeling some trepidation, read this App Store review by user XxHodgepodgexX: “With iMPC I was able to show my son, he is 9 and has developed an interest in making music, how you can sample various instruments and create kits that can be used to make beats. It was a really cool experience and iMPC made it really easy to demonstrate the process for him.” Cost: $24.99 Do you have any favorite mobile music-making apps? Share them in the comments, we’d love to read them! This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
Music Copyright Law And The Consumer: Understanding The Basics Posted: 19 Sep 2018 09:46 PM PDT Most of us remember the glory days where a blank CD and 10 of our favorite songs could quickly turn into the mixed tape playlist of the summer. As a tween, I would sit by my boom box in my room, waiting for my favorite songs to come on the radio so I could click “record” and save them forever on my cassette tape. A few years later, I learned how to navigate online downloads. In an era where so much content is available at our fingertips 24/7, it seems almost impossible that anything is set aside, sacred or off limits any more. Anyone can post a cover song on YouTube, add a clip of a pop hit to their wedding video or create a brand marketing campaign featuring the beat of a hit tune, right? Not so fast. Music copyright law is put into place to protect the rights of the musicians, producers, songwriters and other persons involved in the original creation of a piece of music. When enacted, it serves to prevent the illegal sharing, misuse or distribution of that content through unauthorized mediums. But, what does that mean exactly and what or who does it cover? Let’s take a deeper look. Does the Law Affect Me as a Listener? If you legally pay for a song online or in the store, then pop it into your car radio or onto your smartphone and just blast it in your car with friends, you aren’t doing anything wrong. You don’t need a license or special permission to enjoy music that you rightfully own. That’s why musicians do what they do. They want you to enjoy their hard work and they want to become a household name that you tell all your best buds about. They don’t, however, want you burning copies of that CD to hand out to your crew for free, using it in your videos (however handmade and shaky they may be) or affixing it as background music to your ad campaign. The same goes for the radio. You can stream your favorite radio show in your vehicle or at home without fear of repercussion. Why? There is already a blanket license set in place at the radio station that covers all the music it broadcasts. Thus, as it travels over the airwaves and into your speaker system, it’s covered and so are you, given that you don’t charge anyone to just come over, sit in your living room and enjoy the country countdown on Sunday afternoon. Once you start asking listeners to pay, that’s when you lose the private home exemption policy and start collecting fines. When Do I Need a License? Are you planning to play music at a public event? If so, you’ll need a license to do so. The person who holds the copyright to the song or musical composition in question is legally the only person allowed to perform it for a public audience. While that knowledge might not stop your crazy aunt from hopping on stage at the next family wedding and belting out “Wind Beneath My Wings” it should be in the back of your mind as a conscious music consumer. The catch? If the piece is found in the Public Domain, qualifies as royalty free music or falls under the category of “fair use” then you are off the hook. Not sure what constitutes as fair use? You can research the basics of the doctrine to understand the four main factors that play into it. In short, they are: Whether or not you intend to use the piece for a commercial or non-profit purpose The nature of the copyrighted piece itself How much of the piece you intend to use compared to the length of the piece as a whole How your use will affect the overall market for the copyrighted piece
Drawing the Public vs. Private Line Still confused about what is private and what is public? That is to be expected. The lines are blurred and gray at best. While the Music Licensing Act, enacted in 1998, served to clear up a bit of confusion, myriad court cases still upheld rulings that declare the public use of a copyrighted piece is an infringement with the exception of the following cases: Radio stations, jukebox operators, bar/nightclub establishments Hotels that stream radio music in their lobbies or hallways for guests to hear Restaurants Retail Stores Intercom systems that play music for on-hold callers Now, though that Act still stands, it has been modernized to account for size restrictions, type of equipment used and the type of establishment in question. For example, bars and restaurants that are larger than 3,750 square feet now must pay a fee to broadcast the radio to their customers. Establishments smaller than that are exempt from that payment. In a similar vein, stores that are larger than 2,000 square feet are required to pay the fine, while those under the limit are not. Further complicating the matter are the restrictions around specific types of stereo systems. Is your public establishment using fewer than six external speakers with fewer than four speakers inside each room? If so, it doesn’t matter your size and you’re free to broadcast the radio or television for free. Yet, if it’s a CD or live cover song you want to play in lieu of the radio broadcast, those fees still apply. Moving Forward Ethically and Successfully As music enthusiasts, we all have our genres, artists and specific songs that bring us alive and that we understandably want to share with others. Yet, before you start playing “Free Bird” at that retirement dinner, posting videos of popular cover songs on your public social media channel or illegally copying purchased music to distribute within your circle, consider the artists who worked tirelessly to create that content originally. There is indeed a time and a place for everything, and those are the two main axises on which the issue of music copyright law ultimately turns.
This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
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