"Practice makes perfect!"...

...says the one who's skilled enough to attain perfection. Which is also the same person who doesn't and will never exist. Ever. Because humans will never be perfectly skilled in anything because there's always room for improvement and, well, we just aren't wired that way, dammit.

School started a couple of weeks back (for those of you who don't know, I'm finally taking up Music Production in Benilde. Yay!) and I took it upon myself to practice with Logic Pro. I don't even know if what I'm doing is right. So far, I have these two tracks:

I'M NOT YOUR TOY by La Roux

Tempo's off in this one. It was meant to be a raw-ish vocals + guitar track (as made evident by the shitty tem- oh wait, my tempo's always shit). But things happened and I ended up having too much fun.

I DON'T WANNA MISS A THING by Aerosmith

This was initially supposed to be another auto-tune adventure (much like the Banana song), but it seemed too sincere of a song to auto-tune. Does that make sense? I didn't want to "taint" the song with my stupidity. I'm not implying that auto-tuned tracks are stupid, it's more of... the act of me auto-tuning things means I don't take certain songs seriously (POTATO-NA~). But since auto-tuned vocals are cool to some extent, the treatment was used on the back-up vocals.

I figured it'd be easier to practice on covers since the song's already structured a certain way. All you have to worry about is making it your own.

It was fun toying with midi instruments.

AUTO-TUNE ABENCHOORS!

Saw this video months ago:

And I just had to make this

The lyrics aren't spot-on, but hey, I wasn't born a minion.

I've always disliked auto-tune, and I never thought I'd ever use it. But around two years ago, whilst toying with Garageband, I thought it'd be funny to auto-tune my voice and write a song over the drum track that the program automatically inserts and loops for you when you create a new project. Here's a screencap of the post

Curious as to how it sounds like? Click me!

This song is going to undergo some major tuneage tweaks before its rebirth into the interwebs.

❖

This definitely isn't going to be my last auto-tune abenchoor. Mehehehe.

ALBUMALBUMALBUMALBUMALBUMALBUMALBUM!!!

SO YEAH I'M RELEASING AN ALBUM SOON.

LISTEN LISTEN LISTEN!!!

SO THESE ARE THE THREE SONGS FROM THE ALBUM THAT I'VE RELEASED HERE ON ZE WONDERFUL WORLD WIDE WEB. YOU WON'T BE HEARING THE REST OF THE SONGS UNTIL THE ALBUM COMES OUT.

ARE YOU AS EXCITED AS I AM?!?!

NO??

Okay.

Seriously though, I'm really happy. It's finally happening!

❖

Excuse me while I express my gratitude for the existence of this man right here

Carlos Castaño a.k.a. Keyeh Kehrlehs

He bugged me about recording with him. He bugged me a lot until I finally gave in. I don't know if he used the whole "help me with a song" thing to lure me into his studio, but I'm glad he did it.

He just had his 3rd album launch last night! And it was livestreamed on Youtube aaand captured and uploaded for those who weren't able to watch it/for those who want to watch it again. Here it is:

So proud of you, man ♥

Won't Cave In

Prideful girl, I’ll keep you; steal you if I have to

Shelter you and give you all of me

Ruthless girl, I’ll love you more than I would dare to.

Carelessly, we’ll slip into a lovers’ coma

I don’t wanna live another lifetime if I’m not gonna end up by your side (again)

Again and again

I will find you; I’ll find you

Again and again

We will crash into each other again

Stubborn girl, I’ll hold you, wrap your heart so close to mine and I will leave no gaps between

Playful girl, I’ll thrill you; tease you like you want me to

Make your day in many ways; we’ll make this work, just

Rest your weary heart upon my battle scars. We won’t tire; we will make it out (alive)

Alive, we’re alive

We won’t cave in, won’t cave in

Alive, we’re alive

We will crash into each other again

Prideful girl, I’ll keep you

Ruthless girl, I’ll love you

Stubborn girl, playful girl

I will hold you, I will thrill you

Again and again

I will find you; I’ll find you

Again and again

We will crash into each other again

(I won't leave you)

I’ll keep you, I will keep you

Garageband + iPhone

Two months ago, I made a daring purchase (I say daring because, well, I never really buy shit online) in the app store and got myself the Garageband iPhone application.

Here's what I came up with on my first try:

  

Lonely bee, can you hear me calling? Waiting for your sting~

10 minutes to navigate around the app, familiarize myself with it, put together the instrument parts, and then write the lyrics. I know I could've made something longer, but I just wanted to try it out. Hopefully I'll get around to recording an entire song in the near future. Knowing how lazy I get when it comes to handling equipment, I'll probably be recording my next song with this baby. 

Basically, it's a really compact version of the desktop program. All in all, I'd say it's a pretty handy app to have when you're on the go and you have something you're itching to record and you don't give a damn about the sound quality (not implying that the quality is crap because it totally isn't).

If you're the type of person who enjoys making the most out of/abusing your iPhone, you might want to look into these products:

The Mikey 2.0

and...

The Amplitube iRig

The Mikey 2.0 is a stereo microphone that you can attach to your iPhone 3Gs/iPod Touch/iPod Classic (not compatible with other iPod models). The Amplitube iRig is an interface that allows you to connect your guitar directly to your phone. Pair the iRig with the built-in Garageband amps and pedals, and you've got yourself one heck of a machine in your hands. 

More about the Mikey 2.0 in the official product page -> clickityclack

And of course, the Amplitube iRig's got one, too -> clickitycloo

And just in case you're interested in reading the poorly-written write-up I did a while back on the Mikey, clickity your way over here -> clippityclap

Hit the jump for more info on the Garageband iPhone app!