I have one copy of iReal b for Mac, and one for iOS to give away. To enter, leave a comment here or under the post on Facebook and mention which version you’d like to win, or if you’d like to win either version. You must be a Guitarify Facebook fan to win. The winners will be picked at random next Saturday, April 28th.
iReal b is software that allows you to create your own backing tracks. Perfect for practicing your improv, learning a new song and with the iOS version, a handy way to have lots of sheetmusic with you all the time in a portable package. There are thousands of tracks already available from the iRealb forums which install automatically right into the program when you download them.
Creating your own track is fairly straight forward, but knowledge of music score symbols will make learning the editing process much easier. Different time signatures are available, but it can get tricky creating a score with complex timing changes. There are dozens of rhythm styles to choose from, with more available as addon packs. But there is no way to edit these tracks directly, so if you are trying to recreate an existing song, you will probably be unable to get results that exactly replicate it. It’s not yet possible to create a song that uses multiple rhythm tracks either.
I’ve found the software most useful for practicing improvisation. Instead of using a recorded backing track, iRealb lets me alter the speed, key and rhythm styles at will. This forces me to better learn the fretboard and keeps me from falling into ruts.
I just wanted to welcome our newest sponsor, Seymour Duncan. The pickup they are advertising, the ’59/Custom Hybrid, is pretty interesting. It was actually developed by member of the the Seymour Duncan forums, BachToRock. The pickup takes one coil from a Seymour Duncan ’59 pickup and one from a SD Custom. As you can hear in the demo video below, you end up with a very nice sounding pickup that has qualities of both.
If you’d rather build your own, BachToRock has detailed instructions as well as suggestions for other hybrid combinations in a forum thread HERE.
How many times have you clicked on a link, usually to YouTube, for someone demoing their new guitar, pedal or amp. But then it starts to play and you find they recorded it with their crappy cellphone, or with their laptops webcam. Or they may actually have a decent mic, but it sounds like it’s on the other side of the room, and it’s all boxy sounding and echoing….I mean, come on, your trying to show how a piece of gear SOUNDS!
Sorry for the rant, but I watch a lot of gear demos and way too many fall into the category I just described.
So here’s my attempt to spare the world from at least a few of these types of demos.
I’m guessing if you are reading this blog, you more then likely own a guitar and a computer(or ipad, smartphone, etc). You already own the most expensive elements necessary to making great sounding recordings of that guitar. And it’s not that complicated! The only things you still need are a way to get the signal from your guitar into your computer, and then some type of recording software.
Let’s first talk about connecting your guitar to your computer. Sure you can just buy a cheap 1/4″ to 1/8″ adapter. This will physically allow you to plug your guitar into your microphone jack. But you don’t want to do this. It will sound terrible. This has to do with the impedance of your mic jack not being correct for the signal a guitar generates. Some modern guitar amps have headphone jacks that you can use to connect to your computer. Try both your line-in and your mic inputs and see which sounds better. But this only works if you have such an amp and it’s convenient to locate it near your computer.
Really, a simpler, better solution is to get a dedicated guitar audio interface. These usually plug into your USB or Firewire ports and have a normal female 1/4″ jack to plug your standard guitar cable into. Even the simplest, cheapest option is going to sound pretty good. As I write this, that honor goes to the Behringer “White guitar to USB Interface”, catchy name. And currently only $11.99 plus shipping.
If your not totally dirt poor and want better quality recordings with some fun extras to play with, there’s something like the “Line 6 POD Studio GX”. Besides having a better analog to digital converter, it comes with amp modeling software, as well as a lite version of Ableton Live which you can use as the software component to recording and mixing. Most interfaces in this price range and higher will come with a similar software bundle so that you can get evrything you need to record your guitar in one box.
But if your going to be spending a hundred dollars or more, I’d suggest getting an interface that will also take a microphone. This opens up a ton more recording options, including mic’ing your guitar amp, or an acoustic guitar, not to mention adding some vocal tracks. If possible, get one with a built in mic preamp for more flexibility.
There’s also the option to get one of many interfaces that will allow you to plug into a mobile device like an iPhone, iPad or android tablet or phone. Be aware that there is a big quality difference here based on how the devices connect. Higher quality, and more expensive interfaces will connect to the dock port and give you very clean recordings. The interfaces that plug in to the headphone jack will be much cheaper, but suffer from noisey recordings. The nice thing about using a mobile device for recording, is the software is very cheap. It’s rare for an app to cost more then $20 and there has been an explosion of innovative music making programs for these devices lately.
In part two of this article, I’ll cover recording and mixing software. PART 2
Well, it’s not April 1st, so I think this is actually real. They even got a website and everything for it, so it must be. It’s kind of silly, but would be ‘cool’ in a practice room or recording studio. Especially if it was filled with something a bit more drinkable then Bud.
Interesting interview with Luthier Roger Sadowsky. It’s always fascinating to hear thoughts and ideas about guitars from someone regarded as a master craftsman. A large portion of the video, starting around the 20 minute mark deals with properly setting up a guitar. Roger goes through every part of the guitar explaining it’s effect on tone and playability. So if your knowledge of guitar anatomy is a little lacking, this is a great way to fill in those holes.
