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Jan 30, 2016  How to record guitar with an iPad or iPhone: hardware Most iOS devices will do the job but I’d recommend that you have at least a lightning connector for best results. Aug 11, 2011  I'm just now diving into garageband and trying to get a decent sound out of the recordings. I know you can plug your guitar directly into your laptop but i don't want to do that. I have an old Boss BR-864 8-track digital studio that has a crap ton of sounds and effects that i'd like to use. Jun 11, 2013  Connecting your bass guitar or electric guitar to your Macbook can help you improve as an artist. Using a pre-loaded software that came with your Macbook called GarageBand, you can record your playing and listen to it later. But it can be difficult setting this up if.

• Best Way To Connect Guitar To Ipad Air Garageband For Mac
• Best Way To Connect Guitar To Ipad Air Garageband Free
• Irig
• Best Way To Connect Guitar To Ipad Air Garageband Download
• Apogee Jam

More then ever, it has become easier to lay down your song ideas while on the move. With GarageBand for iPad, we are also closer then ever to having a full professional recording studio in a very thin package. And at a price of $4.99, who can complain? For those who are just starting out, here's a first tutorial on recording guitar to get you and your iPad rocking.

Setup and Equipment needed

First off before even starting the application, you should get the hardware you need to enable you to record your guitar to your iPad. There are two basic input types you need to consider:

These interfaces connect through your device’s headphone jack, using a kind of connector called TRRS, which is a special type of mini-plug that allows audio to travel both in and out of your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch. This is important because not only do you want your guitar signal to go into your iOS device. You can connect real instruments, such as electric keyboards and guitars to your Mac for use in GarageBand. Using real instruments with GarageBand produces not only better sound, but realistic practice, as you finger the actual instrument and not an on-screen keyboard/string set. Jan 19, 2016  These all are best audio interface works very good with iOS device. So you can choose an audio interface to use with your iPad air as well as best for iPad Pro and iPad Mini to practice bass guitar and GarageBand. All the best!! You can connect a real MIDI keyboard through a USB cable (on most newer gear) or a MIDI adapter (on older equipment). You can connect other MIDI instruments, including guitars, woodwinds, and drums, and record onto a real instrument track in GarageBand.

1. Guitar Input for Electric Guitar and Bass (IK Multimedia iRig, Apogee Jam, AmpKit Link)
2. Mic Input for acoustic guitar (IK Multimedia iRig Mic, Blue Yeti Pro -- requires Apple's Camera Connection Kit)

L to R: IK Multimedia's iRig, Blue Yeti Mic, Apple's Camera Connection Kit

Guitar Amp

Launch GarageBand for iPad and plug your guitar into the iRig. On the left of the screen is a ' 1/4' jack' button which lets you add a noise gate. Handy for those distorted tones. Next to it is the guitarist's best friend: the Tuner... no excuses for a flat g-string!

In the middle, you can select from different amp combinations and even save settings of your own. You can also swipe the amps to keep the same preset settings and try these settings on different amps.

On the far right is the 'pedals' section. Here you can add up to 4 pedals, change their effects level and remove pedals. To get back to the amp section, tap the 'Amp' icon on the right of the screen. One nice thing about GB for iPad is that you can change the amps settings after you've recorded your part and even create your own presets for future recordings.

Audio Recorder

If you want to record acoustic guitar, you can use the iPad's built in microphone but I would recommend looking at Blue Microphone's 'Yeti Pro' or Apogee's upcoming 'Mic' to add a professional sheen to your recordings. When you first open Audio Recorder it gives you a VU meter to check your audio input levels. A noise gate is also available by tapping on the '1/4' plug' icon.

Once you record a take, you can then add processing to the sound from a preset selection that include effects and voice transformers. The effects also give you sliders for compression, reverb, chorus, etc. depending on the effect you choose.

Recording Tips!

First and foremost... PRACTICE! GB on the iPad does not allow editing like GB on a Mac and you don't get features like Flex Time, multiple takes, pitch correction, etc. Also, you will have to play the parts at the tempo of the song unlike those who slow a song down, record their part, and speed it up after. While some would look at this as a detriment, I look at it as positive growth for musical skills and it ultimately gives you a better understanding of your song. After all, becoming a better musician is a life long process and not a means to an end.

After recording an electric guitar you have plenty of options to affect the tone as the amps have EQ and FX pedals to compress, etc. If you want to record feedback on the electric guitar, you will need to connect the output to your speakers and boost the main volume. But... be careful as each amp/guitar has it's own characteristics for feedback and some are just plain uncontrollable ear-piercing squeals. Layering guitars also has the usual big sound but also eats up tracks so planning is crucial.

Also, when planning your song parts, take into account that GB for iPad does things in 'sections' and only up to 10 sections. While this may not seem like a big deal, you will want to figure out the parts/sections of your song beforehand. For example, song intro, verse 1, pre-chorus, verse 2 with added guitar, pre-chorus with organ, Chorus, verse 3 with less instruments, bridge, intro, Chorus, Chorus 2, End, etc. You can put the 'Sections' into 'Automatic' mode which gives you whatever amount of bars you want i.e. Record intro and verse 1 together.

When recording an acoustic guitar or instrument, be sure to try different takes with your USB microphone or iPad mic on different spots and distances from the guitar. Mic placement is very critical to get a decent sound. For example, placing a mic close to the sound hole of the guitar can add unwanted bass frequencies. Although with the iPad mic I found this to be the best spot.

Also, there are No EQ Frequency bands to allow you to fix things after recording. For a brighter tone, consider newer strings or a harder pick. If using the iPad's mic, make sure your room is as quiet as possible, because it'll pick up every little sound as the signal to noise ratio is not great. Another trick is to use the Guitar Amp settings for EQ control. I found the most natural to be the Clean Combo setting with the gain off. As you increase the gain, it adds some crunch to the tone. This way you can EQ somewhat and even add some nice compression and chorus. Even playing with the Noise Gate setting gave some interesting results. Metal Acoustic! Experimentation is key.

Stay tuned for more GarageBand for iPad tips and tutorials on recording synths, pianos, etc. and vocals!

Best Way To Connect Guitar To Ipad Air Garageband For Mac

When using Extreme Tuning, set the key of your song in GarageBand before applying the effect for best results. You can then additional effects like echo or reverb.

Set the key and scale of the song

Best Way To Connect Guitar To Ipad Air Garageband Free

Extreme Tuning uses your song's key and scale settings to apply the effect. If the actual key or scale of your song differs from the key or scale setting, the effect might be less pronounced, or might change the pitch of individual notes in the track in undesirable ways.

GarageBand songs defaults to the key of C.

1. On iPhone and iPod Touch, tap Settings in the control bar, and then tap Song. On iPad, iPhone 6 Plus, and iPhone 7 Plus, tap Song Settings in the control bar.
2. Tap Key.
3. Tap the key for your song.
4. Tap the scale for your song (major or minor).

Access the Extreme Tuning setting

Extreme Tuning is optimized for male and female voices, but you can apply it as a creative effect to any mono audio track, like a bass guitar or other live instrument.

To access the Extreme Tuning setting:

1. In Tracks view, tap the audio region in an audio track to select it.
2. Tap Microphone on the toolbar to open the Audio Recorder settings.
3. On iPhone or iPod touch, tap Navigation , tap the current Audio Recorder setting (such as Clean), tap Fun, then tap Extreme Tuning.
   On iPad, iPhone 6 Plus, and iPhone 7 Plus, tap Fun, then tap the Extreme Tuning icon.
4. Adjust Pitch Control and Distortion to fine tune the sound.

Irig

Add additional effects

Best Way To Connect Guitar To Ipad Air Garageband Download

To add additional effects like Reverb or Echo:

Apogee Jam

1. On iPhone and iPod Touch, tap Settings , then tap Track Controls . On iPad, iPhone 6 Plus, and iPhone 7 Plus, tap Track Controls .
2. Under Master Effects, adjust the Echo and Reverb sliders, or tap Master Effects to change the Echo and Reverb presets.