The Hindu News Update Service
News Update Service Thursday, October 18, 2007 : 1245 Hrs Sci. & Tech. What's behind Apple's software gift to musicians? By Adam Webb in London London (Guardian News Service): Garagebland, Apple's free software is credited with getting many bands started, but is the inclusion of the program on Macs pure generosity or clever marketing, wonders Adam Webb In January 2004 when Steve Jobs unveiled a new program called GarageBand, the newest member of Apple's iLife family of consumer-level media programs, he called it "a major new pro music tool ... for everyone" - a loop-based recording suite that "turns your Mac into a pro-quality musical instrument and complete recording studio". The technical press preferred to call the event a "snoozeathon"; one commentator dubbed the program "Garagebland", and even Mac sites called GarageBand's 25-minute introduction "the longest demo on Earth". But for musicians it was big news. Engineered with the same technology as Logic Pro - the high-end recording suite Apple inherited after its purchase of German company Emagic in 2002 - and preinstalled on to every new Mac, the software enabled users to mix 64 tracks, record live performances, use 1,000 prerecorded loops and export the fruits of their labours directly into iTunes. Jobs was adamant that this was no niche market proposition. In fact, according to Apple, GarageBand encapsulates the company's long-term goals: to democratise the use of technology and to take creative tasks that were difficult or expensive and make them accessible and easy to use for everyone. And with 5.6m Macs shipped last year alone, this "free" program has made a significant impression on the music world. In the 1990s, Apple machines gained huge traction among musicians for their support of MIDI, used to control synthesisers - and that explains too why professional musicians were among the first to adopt the iPod. But Windows-based machines caught up, and by the time Jobs introduced GarageBand, were snapping at Apple's heels. So Apple needed a strategy to get people to buy its machines. And if that meant a cut-down version of its pro software - why not? It certainly seems to have worked. "When I started out in the early 80s you had to become a runner in a studio and then work up from there," says Dave 'Deptford' Pine, head of Point Blank music college, whose CV includes work with The Smiths, Massive Attack and Leftfield. "That was your only chance. Now, if you buy a Mac, then out of the box you've got the opportunity to have a taste of music production or video editing." Using the program is simple enough: having chosen from hundreds of "loops" (perhaps a 4/4 or 3/4 or 5/4 sample of a drum kit), you drop it on a track and then drag it along that track to make it play as long as you like. More instruments (guitars, orchestral, percussive) can be chosen, effects (flange, phase, distortion and more) added, volumes and stereo positions tweaked, and your own input - instrument or voice - added. Et voila. "I think GarageBand is absolutely fantastic," adds Mike Hillier, a writer at Music Tech magazine and engineer at London's Metropolis Studios. "I speak to people who are doing really low-budget recordings all the time. You go out and see any band now and they've got a demo CD, or a CD they made for a couple of quid, and it's because of the explosion of software like GarageBand." Genres such as techno or grime owe their very existence to specific pieces of technology - whether the Roland TR-808 drum machine, Fruity Loops (now FL Studio) or even MTV's Music Generator game for the PlayStation. However, combine the availability of entry-level recording apps with the ability to share and distribute music - whether instantaneously posting to a MySpace page, or selling tailer - and things get really interesting. This double whammy, claims Christian Ward of LastFM, is the basis for some seismic changes. "People looking for the next revolution in music are actually looking in the wrong place," says Ward, who recently launched the Now Form A Band campaign, encouraging budding creators to tap into punk's DIY spirit and use free or open source software such as Luna Free, Ardour or Kristal Audio Engine. "The revolution is the internet. It doesn't matter if the music itself is not groundbreaking - the next revolution is how it's actually recorded and distributed." A host of established artists - such as Courtney Love, Limp Bizkit, Panic! At The Disco and Scout Niblett - have used GarageBand to just plug in and sing straight into a Mac's inbuilt microphone to record instant demos. Meanwhile, Nine Inch Nails and Erasure have both issued singles as GarageBand files, letting fans remix and mash up original master tracks. This summer, Rihanna's chart-topping Umbrella used one of its drum loops (specifically, Vintage Funk Kit 03) to great effect. But is a wave of GarageBand-enabled artists following suit and storming the Top 40? Well, no, not really. Kate Nash did use it to record her debut single - although not, according to producer Paul Epworth, her debut album - before signing a major label contract, but examples of others are few and far between. One artist championing the benefits of GarageBand is George Pringle. Already building a significant online buzz, Pringle's forthcoming single, Carte Postale, was recorded solely on her Mac. Taking her love affair to more excessive levels, she has also taken to scrawling "GarageBand Until I Die" on her body. "I think you can parallel it a bit to the time before punk, when there was loads of proggy shit," she says. "Then you got a whole bunch of people who shouldn't be musicians, but who were coming out with really great ideas. If people keep using home software like they are, it could become much more vocal and interesting and diverse." For free software, she says, GarageBand is also surprisingly flexible. "You can put it through an amp emulator, you can change the preset sounds, you turn your voice into an instrument, you can plug old beatboxes into it, you can make your own loops. GarageBand is like an instrument itself - if you know how to use it and play it right, you can make virtually any kind of sound." However, there is no lack of rivals. In March, Steinberg announced the launch of Sequel - a GBP60 package for PC and Mac offering 5,000 loops and 600 instruments, all compatible with Cubase. Sony is offering an American Idol version of its ACID software, as well as the GBP50 ACID Music Studio and ACID Xpress - a free, stripped-down version of ACID. The website ACIDplanet allows users to upload their music and even download free eight-packs of loops. Similarly, Ableton, Cakewalk (Sonar) and FL Studios all offer sub-GBP100 entry-level recording packages. This is pretty elementary marketing: entice mainstream consumers with a easy-to-use version, sell them peripheral add-ons (such as extra beats or loops) and then hope that the appetites of the most proficient users are whetted enough to upgrade to the full professional suites. For all the above, these retail for up to GBP500. Apple has pursued a similar strategy - offering Jam Packs of extra loops for GBP69.99, and hoping a similar proportion of users will progress to the full-priced experience of Logic Pro 8 (recently slashed in price to GBP319), or its cut-down incarnation Logic Express (GBP129). Intriguingly, this latest version of Logic has also been issued without the copy protection of a physical dongle, leading some to speculate that Apple is in effect allowing its software to leak on to file-sharing systems, safe in the knowledge that downloaders will need a Mac to use it. "The dongle will actually become the Apple Mac," says musician and Logic user Mark De Clive Lowe. "It's a marketing ploy, just like iTunes is a way to sell iPods instead of music. Make the software free, but if you want to use it, then buy a Mac." In this wider context, and despite the idealism of putting the tools of production in the hands of the masses, it is perhaps little wonder that such high-end packages still dominate the recording market. "GarageBand to me is more like a game," says Rinse FM station boss Geeneus, who uses Logic Pro for his dubstep/grime productions. "It's like a demo where someone can have a go at making music, mess around and make a song in their spare time. There's not much you can do with it, but Apple uses it to lead you into Logic and Soundtrack and all these other programmes. That's the trick with this stuff. Everything's there to entice you in." C To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
