musician/pederson/steve

About six months ago a friend of mine, who had just gotten a new iPhone, was showing me how he was using Garageband on his iPhone to create songs. I was blown away that the app was available for only $4.99! Though I had not been a real big fan of Garageband, I downloaded it to my iPod Touch immediately.

Over the next several months, I filled up my iPod Touch to capacity by creating new song ideas with Garageband. I had already purchased an iRig to use with Amplitube, so I was able to easily and instantly start recording my guitar into Garageband.

I found it to be a fantastic tool for capturing new song ideas. The ease of use and quality of sounds – though, the amp simulation doesn’t sound quite as good as with Amplitube – made using Garageband a no brainer. No longer did I need to consider spending the extra cash to upgrade my Amplitube app so it would have 4 track recording capability. I now had an 8 track recorder, complete with drums, bass, synths, etc.

Recently I purchased a new iPad 2. What a thrill it was to see that I could download the Garageband app that I had already bought for my iPod Touch at no extra charge! Another no brainer!

Since I’ve had my new iPad with Garageband, I’ve been having a blast recording new song ideas.

Here is a video from my YouTube channel, http://www.youtube.com/naturalGtr, that I recorded showing how I use Garageband on my iPad to create a background track to jam along to. Enjoy!

Chances are, if you’re reading this article a year after its original post date, that the following web bot playlist will not be active. When you publish an iMix on iTunes, it’s only good for 1 year. In any case, here is a iMix that I just created that I call Xtreme Workout.

(I don’t know why it doesn’t display correctly.)

How can you publish your own iMix? How does it work?

1. Assuming you already have the free iTunes application installed on your computer, which is available for both mac and PC, you create a new playlist (File > New Playlist) and drag all the songs you want from your library to your playlist. Warning: iTunes will only create an iMix with songs that they currently have in their library. If you didn’t buy it from iTunes, chances are it may not show up in your final iMix.
2. Once you have your playlist assembled, highlight that playlist and go to Store > Create an iMix…
3. In the dialog box that pops up, click Create.
4. You will probably be asked to log in. I’m assuming you already have an iTunes account.
5. Once you’re logged in you’ll have a chance to review your submission and add a description. At this point you’ll find out which songs iTunes will actually publish in your iMix. When you’re finished, click the Publish button.
6. Your iMix will be submitted to iTunes. You should receive an email within a few hours with a link to your iMix, which will open up in your iTunes application.
7. From there you can email friends, or create a nifty web-ready application like the one above with just a couple of clicks.
8. Rock on!

The endangered cat is out of the bag. The Snow Leopard (Uncia uncia) is classified as a member of the order Carnivora (Carnivores) and is a member of the family Felidae. It is classified as an endangered species due to an estimated population of no more than 2500 snow leopards and the fact that it has no subpopulation numbering more than 250 mature leopards. Snow leopards can be found in eastern Asia.

Well, another snow leopard has just been released into the wild. This one, however, hears no current threat of endangerment. In fact, it has been released by the thousands and will quickly grow to find a place in millions of homes and offices around the world. It has been officially released as of August 28th from its breeding ground in California. It is the latest operating system from Apple: OS 10.6 – code name: Snow Leopard.

I ordered my copy on August 26th. I assumed that it would ship out on the 28th and that I would see it a few days later. Au contraire! When the FedEx fella showed up at my door delivering my personal new kitty cat on the 28th, he said he had a whole truck full of ‘em! Seems like everyone is eager to pet this new feline.

Hold the phone! What has this got to do with being a musician? Hold the phone indeed! Don’t install that software just yet if you are a musician like me who uses Pro Tools as your go-to DAW (Digital Audio Workstation). The Digidesign website has not officially declared this cat safe for running their software on. Well, like a prowling predator, we’ll have to wait and be patient for the right time to strike.

Sibelius Six seems like sensible software!

In other software news, I just recently upgraded my version of the great music notation software Sibelius from version 5 to version 6.

One of the new features that I really like, being a guitar player, is the fretboard window. You can make all sorts of edits and even input notes exactly where you think they should be (as opposed to where the computer thinks they should be). I appreciate the fact that I could turn off the translucent windows in the Preferences, because it was very difficult to see what was going on with all those lines and notes behind the fretboard. The only thing I haven’t figured out yet, and maybe this is due to a lack of understanding on how to arrange notes, is how to get the fretboard to display multiple parts. I don’t think it can. When I write a guitar piece, I often write it in two different parts – say, for example, if there are some lower notes that are to be held out for 2 beats while the upper notes are doing a run of quarter notes.

Sibelius 6 is quicker. I especially notice this at start-up. The program doesn’t take quite as long to get going, which is a useful feature if you’re experiencing a bit of inspiration…or just impatient. It’s a very cool program. I love the integration with ProTools 8. This program comes in very handy for making arrangements and parts for my school band.