This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
www.prosoundnewseurope.com


April 2012 l 29


Start The Show, was recorded entirely on an iPhone 3GS


WORLD There’s an app for that By Erica Basnicki


“GRAB THE MIC and Let the haters know/Make them sing along to the words you wrote/They won’t know/Now were making records/In the studio…” You have to challenge Stephen Poff on his choice of lyrics. Poff, from Alabama-based band One Like Son, chuckles and admits a certain irony; One Like Son’s latest album, Start The Show, was recorded entirely on an iPhone 3GS – and not in a studio at all. “Anything we could do on the


iPhone, we did with the iPhone,” said Poff. This included the bulk of the mix as well (minus two singles).


Although the tracks themselves were loaded into Cubase for mixing, Poff used


One mic + one phone = one album


studionews


Saitara Software’s AC-7 Core to control the DAW via the phone. In fact, the only piece of professional studio gear used on Start The Show was a Shure SM57 microphone, used in conjunction with IK Multimedia’s iRig. Although Poff admits he knew


recording an entire album on an iPhone would draw some media attention, his goal was to enjoy the process of experimenting with unconventional recording technology, as well as the challenge of using it to make an album that sounds good. “I’m certainly not comparing


myself to the Beatles, but if the Beatles can record an album on a four-track, I can record an album on the iPhone.” It would be unfair to compare


just about any album to the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Bands – which Poff is referring to – however, two singles from Start The Show did get professional mixing treatment by engineer Will Kennedy at Studio P in Los Angeles. Here’s what he heard:


“In all honesty, if I didn’t


know in advance that it had been recorded on an iPhone, I wouldn’t have guessed,” he said. “That said, it was clear that the guitars were tracked with amp modelers, and that the drums were samples. But those tools are common in modern recording, so their use wasn’t a giveaway. The amp models in particular weren’t quite as good as others I’ve used/heard – they were a little two-dimensional in nature, which is common with all modelers, but it was a little more noticeable on these tunes. Certainly not bad though. I’ve mixed other songs that were recorded on a DAW in a similar manner, and I’d say the quality was comparable.” Although reportedly the first commercial album to be recorded this way, One Like Son isn’t alone in using iDevices to record material. R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe used his iPhone heavily on Collapse Into Now released last March, and Gorillaz’s The Fall was recorded entirely on an iPad. www.onelikeson.bandcamp.com www.willkennedyproducer.com


    





     


    





    


 


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68