“Apple Computer’s new music-recording software, GarageBand, is a smash hit, if you listen to its chorus of fans. Launched just over two weeks ago, the software has already spawned a sizable ecosystem of plug-ins, add-ons and websites for sharing tunes. And it has inspired a frenzy of musical creativity,” Leander Kahney reports for Wired. “Dubbed a ‘studio in a box,’ GarageBand is the digital equivalent of a four-track tape recorder, plus all the instruments and musicians a budding Moby might need.”
“As well as live recording, the application includes hundreds of riffs, beats, bleeps and breaks — snippets of music known as loops — that can be mixed and matched in endless combination. The result is hundreds, if not thousands, of amateur tunes available all over the Net. The application is delighting professionals and amateurs, who are cobbling together selections ranging from Punjabi house to Beatles covers,” Kahney reports.
“‘The amount of creative energy that GarageBand is creating is staggering,’ said musician and producer Chris Bell. ‘Apple has created a monster…. As a pro musician/producer, I love this app. It puts the fun back into creating. I’m amazed.’ Musician and writer Kim Cascone said GarageBand is perfectly good for learning how music is put together, but doubted anything very good could be created with it. ‘GarageBand is snoozeware for the iPod generation who think that music comes in a small white-and-chrome can and only need be served lukewarm for public consumption,’ he said,” Kahney reports.
Full article here.
Ah yes, I wondered when the first “musician/songwriter/producer” was going to put in their 2 cents and say, “no one can do anything good with Garage Band. You have to be a professional like myself to make something good.”
Tell me, Kim Cascone, have you created anything good?
Judging by 99% of the crap in the charts, Garageband is quite capable of modern requirements. Although I think, to put it into perspective, GB is really more of a springboard into the world of music production rather than an end tool.
Of course, a lot of people in the “establishment” within the music industry may find themselves under pressure to produce a bit more than just a couple of loops slapped together.
If only it could do chord changes!
Kim, professional musicians use professional tools, which is why Logic exists. Professional video editors use Final Cut Pro (remember Walter Murch edited “Cold Mountain” with FCP), instead of iMovie for the same reason. The iLife apps are geared towards consumers and amateurs, who could then graduate to more sophisticated, feature-rich tools if they so desire.
Here was I thinking GarageBand was supposed to be about having fun.
Look at the software he uses (Max/MSP). No wonder he does not like garage band.
http://www.cycling74.com/products/maxmsp_3.html
Source:
http://www.intuitivemusic.com/tguidekimcascone.html
Born in Albion, Michigan 1955, Kim Cascone received his formal training in electronic music at the Berklee College of Music in the early 1970’s, continuing his studies with Dana McCurdy at the New York City’s New School in 1976.
In 1980 he moved to San Francisco where he worked with film director David Lynch as Assistant Music Editor on both Twin Peaks and Wild at Heart shows. In 1986 Cascone founded Silent Records, where he released some of his personal projects including Heavenly Music Corporation, PGR, Thessalonians, and Spiced Barons.
Cascone sold the company 10 years later to start a career as a sound designer, working for Thomas Dolby’s company Headspace as a sound designer and composer. He later began working for Staccato Systems as the Director of Content where he worked in the design of new sounds for games using algorithmic synthesis.
Cascone is one of the main representative digital artists of the Glitch aesthetic and the use of software like Max/MSP.
I think it’s analogous to putting crap-ass M$ dtp software on everyone’s desktop. Some portion of the user-population just assumes that because they can make it, they should. People with real talent will quickly discover that the limitations are very real and that upgrading to professional-level tools is worth the money-time investment.
Meanwhile, the large portion of the population already satisfied with mediocrappy will tool happily along, subjecting their family and friends to any number of increasingly bad iMovies, iDVDs, and slideshows with matching home-produced crap-soundtracks. Think, flashing text on websites circa 1997.
The tools themselves, though, really aren’t to blame for that. And that’s what Kim Cascone gets wrong. Art is very rarely about the quality of the artist’s tools. In fact, there is a lot of good art created by using the weakness of the tool to one’s advantage.
Kim who?
so Kim Cascone is a sound designer for video games? …he’s quite the authority…(beep, blip, bleep)
Garage Band allows average people to create poor/average music.
PageMaker allows average people to create poor/average flyers, forms, etc.
PowerPoint allows average people to create horrible/poor presentations.
iMovie allows average people to create poor/average movies.
At least average people are creating something. Like jfbiii said, people with real talent will use professional level tools or even maximize applications like the ones mentioned above.
‘GarageBand is snoozeware for the iPod generation who think that music comes in a small white-and-chrome can and only need be served lukewarm for public consumption,’
I sense bitterness over a “failed” music career. I’m not saying that he has a failed music career, and I’m sure he wouldn’t say it either, but it’s just bubbling up through a statement where a comment about a music creation software turns into a insult to the general music-listening public.
Real musical talent will rise through any medium. A talented pianist can make an old out of tune piano sound good.
I think Kim is probably a true genius, and is probably right; but his opinion is beside the point. Those with real talent and genius always turn their noses up at the new tools. Real music lovers hated CDs because some of the resolution is lost. You can’t hear the fine nuances. Real computer gurus hated GUIs because its faster to type into a command line. (If you disagree, imagine a program with a thousand menu items. It’s quicker to type your command than to hunt it down.)
GB is the latest tool for the untalented and the undeveloped talent. Also, a toy for those who aren’t serious. No surprise there. That is it’s intended purpose. Kim is just stating the obvious.
The main issue with statements like this guy’s is that he assumes that people are born with musical abilities!
Garageband is a great tool for anyone who hasn’t thrust his-/herself into the whole music recording process. Some might discover they actually enjoy being creative with music and be led to better tools. Others may just want something to lay down foundation tracks for musical ideas. Garageband is perfect for these kind of needs, as many won’t be put off by the steep learning curve otherwise involved.
These arrogant remarks about how nothing good will come of it really do seem to show a sort of insecurity.
Then again, we’ve heard it all before (GUI anyone?)
Damn Kenny, you beat me to it!
However, I have 2 points to make.
1st, the truly great artists aren’t the ones that turn their noses up at new developments. That behaviour is reserved mostly for the “professional establishment”, the ones worried about their own future.
2nd, I’m a serious musician (well, I try to be), and think GB is great. As a guitarist I never wanted to faff around with complicated processes just to capture an idea or practice. GB fits my bill perfectly. And while I’ve learned to use more professional tools, I’m glad I don’t have to when it’s not necessary!
I think YOU are a weak tool being used to somebody’s advantage jfbiii.
The Beatles recorded their first songs on a tape recorder. Ooh, brilliant!
In Jobs’ original presentation/introduction of GarageBand, his focus was dead-on. I have a nephew, 16 years old, with extraordinary musical talent on the keyboard, but his family could only afford the bottom-end Yamaha MIDI-compatible keyboard for him 4 years ago. I told him to come visit me with his keyboard. In the mean time, I purchased an inexpensive MIDI-USB interface for him. He was here for 40 hours straight, no sleep, that weekend and is here almost every week (until I can find a way to finance an iMac for him – I’m not so wealthy myself).
Although his Yamaha had some basic looping and multi-track abilities, it was very awkward and often difficult to use. His ability to seamlessly orchestrate a wide variety of genres of GarageBand loops within the same song is nothing short of genius. His results are very beautiful. [To “The Bo’ster”, simply transpose the loop to produce a chord change, albet you must be careful, many loops don’t transpose well.]
Granted, there must be millions of luke-warm tunes generated by GagageBand users, but every now and then, the right tools in the right hands will produce a new source of beauty that may never have had the chance to blossom until now.
Steve Jobs, ya done good! Thanks!!!
Wow Jack, that hurt. I’ll worry about what you think of me all day, now. But thank you for illustrating that some people interpret the ability to express themselves badly as the rationale for doing so.
I like it when no names have to slam something to get noticed. I think if Bono or Prince would say Garageband isn’t a good program and you can’t do crap with it then I would there advice and use Soundtrack but who is this joker? Why should I listen to someone who I never heard of in the Music Industry? Hey Kim where’s your Grammy?
“simply transpose the loop to produce a chord change, albet you must be careful, many loops don’t transpose well”
Have been doing, it’s a bit of a pain in the posterior though and still quite limited (transpose can only alter pitch after all, and not type).
What would be nice would be something like cubase 4s jam tracks, at least for the midi loops, but that would maybe make it toooo “killer”!
rlhamon, grammies are certainly no indicator for musical quality! They’re like the oscars, it’s the industry patting itself on the back.
The reason you don’t hear the big names dissing GB is because they don’t need to, after all, they probably feel pretty secure!
There is absolutely no reason at all that GB couldn’t be used to produce a hit record. What’s unlikely is that it would be done purely with the bundled Apple loops. It would need use of instrumentation unique to that track – be that vocals, guitar, bass or whatever and be they MIDI parts or audio part.
It’s also unfortunate that people who should keep their stuff to themselves can get too wide an audience. And garageband does help that. And to that end, the complaints are kinda valid.
With some decent external equipment – a microphone and a MIDI controller, someone with genuine talent will be able to make something great with this software as long as they’re happy to work within its limits.
just like gazillions of buyers of photoshop, painter and umpteen 3-D programs thought that owning those graphic programs would make them great artists, animators, etc and bring fame and fortune and were sadly mistaken and disappointed, I am sure garageband has the same hypnotic effect on the marginally-talented musicians. (me being one of those musically challenged).
GB is a tool – if you want to make music that people want to own, you have to have more than a tool – talent is required.
Sooner or later GarageBand will have a solidly bad reputation with pro composers and musicians…
UNTIL
David Byrne or Brian Eno does their next album with it, then it will be cool again.
dv
a lot of composers who aren’t piano virtuosos benefitted from all the MIDI gear that came in the past… i myself earn a living doing soundtracks for ads and i can only play in the key of C…. but having all this MIDI gear helped me achieve what i could only imagine in my head….
but of course i still had to buy those gear (tens of thousands of dollars) and still had to spend hours of sleepless nights learning to use these programs (logic, reaktor, kontakt, absynths etc.)
Garage Band is both powerful (to a certain degree) and definetely easy to use…. this sure is going to benefit a lot of people…. finally people who don’t have money or technical know how will be able to produce almost professional sounding music… and GB is just the first step….
hope Apple does as good a job making logic (its professional MIDI workstation) easier to learn and use and buy
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