Kitty Pryde, And Nightcrawler Too

So. First impressions of the all-new all-different GarageBand. (Now you guys "get" the post title, right? Get it? Anyway.)

I love this shit. That's for starters. My experience with MTV Music Generator definitely gave me a head start and within an hour of really sitting down with it, I had the foundation of a bad ass Bollywood/Starsky & Hutch freak-out. Some observations:

a) The Software Instruments, That's Your Problem
If you're having lag issues with GB, without a doubt, it's because you've either piled on too many Software Instruments or a Software Instrument based loop with an ass-load of simulataneous notes in it. My first track was made up of about 15-20 distinct Real Instrument loops and the arrow never went out of the white. (For those of you wondering what that means, the little arrow on top of the red line that follows the course of your song as you replay changes color from white to yellow to orange to red depending on how badly it's maxing out your hardware). I'm running GB on an 800mhz iMac G4 with (if I recall correctly) 512 Megs of RAM and (if I'm not mistaken) a 5400 rpm Hard Drive. Incase you were wondering. Currently in my coat pocket is a new set of strings for both of my guitars, some new picks, and a 1/4 to 1/8 adaptor so I can plug my guitar into my PowerWave. Once I do that I'll let you people know how my trusty little guy handles some real six string power. Or rather, some guitar noddling from someone with marginal talent.

b) Put Down The Funk Band Horn Section Loop
I've already decided to take three of the Horn based loops out of my first song, mainly because there are only three Horn based loops pre-loaded into (onto?) GarageBand. And I've already heard one of them on a posted GB Creation. Not to mention the fact that while they worked theoretically in my song, I kept feeling like they detracted from the overall groove effect. Stuff like horn samples are probably never going to be an option because they're so distinct and there are so few of them in the program. Beats, there are plenty of and you can build a thousand different songs off the same beat. Even the more esoteric string loops I used I'm not too worried about because they're layered into five or six other sounds, forming a nice sort of marketplace vibe. A vibe that is obliterated once those horns come in. I don't know what I was thinking. No, that's not true. I wanted a bad ass Curtis Mayfield flavor to my song. But it just doesn'tfit. The rest of it has an honest to goodness Timbaland feel that I'm completely enamored with and then the second half of the song goes into what my roommate described as a Thomas Newman feel. Now, this is no small compliment. I love the Newman stizz in his slower moments (and much less-so when he breaks out the xylophone and gets "jaunty"). What I discovered is that layering in a bunch of acoustic guitar loops (about six all told) and a nice Funk Upright Bass Loop gives this occasional dissonant hum that sounds exactly like a few violas playing softly. Very cool. It all works very well over the tight beat I picked out. Very Four Tet. I know, I know. I'll post a link to the song tonight so you can all hear what the hell I'm talking about.

P.S. Expect to hear the same three horn loops over and over again in your travels among the thousands of new GarageBand composers. Me? I'm already tired of them.

c) Buffer Your End
I've noticed that if you've got an echo effect on the last thing in your song, when you mix-down, it's going to cut the song off at the end of the loop, thus losing any echo that would've tapered off. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm going to see if I can just make a short Software Instrument loop with nothing in it underneath the echo so that the song doesn't get cut off. I'll keep you posted.

d) Lacking Direction
Spreading your tracks all over the left/right spectrum is critical. This might have been a no brainer to everyone else, but my first mix of "Indian Sumner" (temporary title) had every track mixed right in the middle. After I went back and spread things out, the track sounds 810% better, the loops sounded clearer. Ah, it was beautiful.

I'm still waiting on the 49e, which ought to be another significant test to my current setup's capabilities. We shall see. Overall, though, GarageBand was tailor made for someone like me. Rhythm, but no ability to play drums. Good taste, but without the financial wherewithal to replicate the multi-layered and dense sounds of my favorite artsists/producers (Jon Brion, Prefuse 73, El-P, Tchad Blake, etc). In just a few hours I had several track levels of incredible shit laid down, some fantastic breaks, and a wicked shift in mood and tempo, all in a 5:30 song that I've already listened to (on my iPod, natch, praise be to iLife integration) like five times already.

Once I ditch the horns, you guys'll be the first to hear it. Check back tomorrow morning.

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