We built Songzap as a handy demo production tool that lets you capture musical inspiration on-the-go. We ‘re excited that many musicians with no previous tech or recording experience are embracing Songzap. So, in this blog post, we have summarised four easy ‘Getting Started’ scenarios that will get you recording, making grooves, arranging and mixing in no time! Read on for a fun and fast guide to start making music.
Let’s load up one of the included demo songs that come with Songzap, so we can learn about mixing and experiment with Songzap’s mixer functions! Tap on the Song Library button in Songzap’s Home Screen and select ‘Ready To Go (Demo Song)’ by FET 47. Next, tap on MIX in the Home Screen, which will take you to Songzap’s MIXER page. Press Play and enjoy listening to the song while you explore the Mixer’s functions.
Let’s create a new song and structure an arrangement using drum groove variations! Tap on the New Song button at the top of Songzap’s Home Screen to name and create your new song. Now tap on the ARRANGE button in the Home Screen, which will take you to Songzap’s ARRANGE page. Here, you can view your song sections and access many useful features to customise your arrangement and the elements it consists of.
To start creating drum grooves, tap on GROOVE in the Home Screen. This opens up the GROOVE page, where you’ll be presented with a handy Beat designing screen. At the top part, there’s a Notation editor showing you the notes that make up your drum pattern and, at the bottom, you’ll see three circular areas with control dots corresponding to the Kick, Snare and Hi-Hat sounds. Tapping in the Notation screen adds or removes drum notes, and dragging the control dots creates viable variations for each drum sound pattern.
When you first launch Songzap, it loads with an almost empty song. Songzap’s really a pocket four-track recorder, if you want to use it in its most basic form. So when inspiration strikes, and you just want to capture a vocal or instrumental idea, tap on TRACK in the Home Screen and you’ll be presented with the 4-track TRACKING page. This is where you can record your vocals or instruments just using the iPhone/iPad microphone. And, yes, you guessed it, you can also layer multiple parts to start shaping your songs.
In this post, we provide a breakdown of Ethan Ash’s ‘Cry Baby’ demo – a song that he performs and records on guitar and voice using only an iPhone, with the help of RT60 directors Dr Mike and Prof Rob. Watch the ‘making of’ video and enjoy Ethan’s dynamic performances, as he gets to grips with Songzap, jams with Mike, then exports all of the song’s assets to continue working with Rob and Mike in a professional studio.
Loop Recording in Songzap allows you to quickly capture short musical phrases and chord progressions, add multitrack layers and then construct a detailed song arrangement from your loop ‘building blocks’ – all in just a few simple steps and actions!
The Mixer The Mixer is pretty straightforward, enabling you to balance and enhance your song and recordings even if you are a complete audio engineering novice. You’ll also benefit from seeing the track meters bounce up and down in time to your song, giving you a visual representation… Read More »