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Description
The Objective: Pinhole mics and iPhone apps! I am hearing more and more great sounding music recorded completely, or partially, with pinhole mics and/or iPhone apps! I want in on that fun. Since acquiring my iPhone and iPod Touch I’ve downloaded Sonoma Wireworks 4 Track, iRig, and Harmonicdog’s Multitrack DAW. Due to it’s familiar layout (kind of a simple GB on the iPhone) and editing capabilities, the later seemed to be the best of the three apps for me to record quick acoustic demos.
The Lyrics: On Sunday, May 1st my wife and I picked up my dad and headed over to St. Pete to watch the Rays play the Angels. As Tina and Dad chatted I drove. An idea for a song and a few lines occurred to me. I made sure to keep them in my head until we reached our seats in section 315. I opened the notepad on my iPhone and started typing. As the game went on other lyrics occurred to me. In between pitches and innings I would continue typing the lyrics. By the end of the 9th inning I had the lyrics done. I thought the song needed a proper chorus. But I decided to leave it just the way it was written in section 315 at Tropicana Field! As for the meaning of the lyrics, let’s just say, some guys don’t know when to quit.
The guitars: At first I was thinking the song would be a blues. Later it morphed in my mind into a bluegrass tune. On the road home a ¾ feel was running through my mind. When I got home and picked up a guitar a minor key blues seemed to have promise. Then the following day I got an email from someone with whom I’ve collaborated before. The message was politely informing me he/she had to decline the rather folkish guitar track I had recently pitched. I immediately wondered if those same changes would work with the lyrics I wrote at the ballgame. I grabbed a guitar and was pleased with the results.
The recording: Not long after that I recorded two guitar tracks (one standard and one capoed at the 7th fret) and two vocal tracks. All four tracks were recorded with the built in mic on my iPhone and the Multitrack app. I then uploaded the mix to my SoundCloud account. From there I was able to download the WAV file to my Mac and import it into GB to do some mastering (compression, reverb, and EQ). Here are the results. It’s a bit noisy. But it was done with an iPhone and a $10 app. I’m hoping these iPhones demos will get cleaner as I get more experience working with the app and hardware.
The dry file I uploaded from the iPhone can be heard here
The Lyrics: On Sunday, May 1st my wife and I picked up my dad and headed over to St. Pete to watch the Rays play the Angels. As Tina and Dad chatted I drove. An idea for a song and a few lines occurred to me. I made sure to keep them in my head until we reached our seats in section 315. I opened the notepad on my iPhone and started typing. As the game went on other lyrics occurred to me. In between pitches and innings I would continue typing the lyrics. By the end of the 9th inning I had the lyrics done. I thought the song needed a proper chorus. But I decided to leave it just the way it was written in section 315 at Tropicana Field! As for the meaning of the lyrics, let’s just say, some guys don’t know when to quit.
The guitars: At first I was thinking the song would be a blues. Later it morphed in my mind into a bluegrass tune. On the road home a ¾ feel was running through my mind. When I got home and picked up a guitar a minor key blues seemed to have promise. Then the following day I got an email from someone with whom I’ve collaborated before. The message was politely informing me he/she had to decline the rather folkish guitar track I had recently pitched. I immediately wondered if those same changes would work with the lyrics I wrote at the ballgame. I grabbed a guitar and was pleased with the results.
The recording: Not long after that I recorded two guitar tracks (one standard and one capoed at the 7th fret) and two vocal tracks. All four tracks were recorded with the built in mic on my iPhone and the Multitrack app. I then uploaded the mix to my SoundCloud account. From there I was able to download the WAV file to my Mac and import it into GB to do some mastering (compression, reverb, and EQ). Here are the results. It’s a bit noisy. But it was done with an iPhone and a $10 app. I’m hoping these iPhones demos will get cleaner as I get more experience working with the app and hardware.
The dry file I uploaded from the iPhone can be heard here
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Lyrics
Get up the next morning,
Last night in the haze!
Can you see things different,
By the light of day?
Sure, you made it home safely
No blood no foul!
But could the bill come later?
No payment due now!
For years you've been lucky
But could your luck run out?
You were afraid of nothing!
But now you're having your doubts!
It's hard to blame others!
Can't fault someone else!
When you spend your whole lifetime,
Aiming the gun at yourself!
You've been firing blindly,
What the hell you thinking of?
Will the ricochet find you,
Or maybe someone you love!
Perhaps there's no karma,
No justice in fate,
Can't help but feel guilty!
So till the bill comes you wait.
It might come years later,
Or maybe won't come!
No way to go back there.
To fix the damage you've done!
You've been firing blindly,
What the hell you thinking of?
Will the ricochet find you,
Or maybe someone you love!
Last night in the haze!
Can you see things different,
By the light of day?
Sure, you made it home safely
No blood no foul!
But could the bill come later?
No payment due now!
For years you've been lucky
But could your luck run out?
You were afraid of nothing!
But now you're having your doubts!
It's hard to blame others!
Can't fault someone else!
When you spend your whole lifetime,
Aiming the gun at yourself!
You've been firing blindly,
What the hell you thinking of?
Will the ricochet find you,
Or maybe someone you love!
Perhaps there's no karma,
No justice in fate,
Can't help but feel guilty!
So till the bill comes you wait.
It might come years later,
Or maybe won't come!
No way to go back there.
To fix the damage you've done!
You've been firing blindly,
What the hell you thinking of?
Will the ricochet find you,
Or maybe someone you love!
magnatone
good grief - you did this with your iphone? this is terrific, absolutely TERRIFIC!! what a cool backstory - i'll never look at somebody fiddling with a notepad at a ballgame the same again!