Max "Bunny" Sparber (left) and Coco Mault (right) are the Ultramods, who just recorded an album entirely on an iPad 2 using GarageBand. Photo courtesy of Max Sparber
Apple’s GarageBand app for iPad makes music creation so simple that a band produced an entire album with it in just two weeks.
The Ultramods, an independent punk duo, recently released its album Underwear Party. The band composed and recorded everything in the GarageBand iPad app including vocals, virtual lead guitar, bass guitar and drums.
For the drum beats, The Ultramods used GarageBand’s SmartDrum instrument, which enables you to compose a simple drum loop in a few seconds, without any knowledge of using a professional drum machine.
“I see [the GarageBand app] as an everything-combined-into-one package,” said Max “Bunny” Sparber, The Ultramods’ lead singer. “Both new musicians and professional musicians are going to be very surprised with what they can do with it.”
First released in 2004, Apple’s GarageBand is a simplified audio tool designed to make music production accessible to everyday customers, without the need for expensive professional hardware.
Last month, Apple’s Steve Jobs introduced the iPad 2 with a new version of GarageBand remade for the iPad’s touchscreen interface. It’s one of several apps aimed at making the iPad 2 into a tool for creativity, not just for media consumption.
Some might say that GarageBand for iPad furthers Apple’s vision of making music creation accessible for the masses. Starting at $500, the iPad is more affordable than a Mac, and the $5 GarageBand app doesn’t require additional external instruments or hardware for recording music. All the necessary tools are available inside the app.
The GarageBand app packs a virtual keyboard, lead guitar, bass guitar and drum, and up to eight tracks of layered instruments can be recorded to create a song. GarageBand also includes “Smart” instruments that automatically generate drum loops and guitar or piano chords so that even people without musical training can pick up an iPad and create a song.
Sparber said he was excited about the dramatically lowered cost of music production thanks to the iPad and GarageBand. Furthermore, there are no additional costs to upload and sell an album on the internet, Sparber said.
“Making an album even a year ago costs thousands of dollars,” Sparber said. “This is a huge transformation. It’s part of the ongoing democratization where the tools have become inexpensive, and that’s a very exciting prospect.”
The Ultramods are selling their album for $10, and the band provided a free MP3 track for Wired.com readers to sample.
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