A mainstay for budding music industry creatives everywhere, Garageband has long enabled those interested in music to cut their creative teeth before moving on to more industry standard software, at least usually. Here, however, we look at seven major performers who used the basic apple software to craft major hits.
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Guest post by Silvia Woolard
Since it was first introduced back in 2004, GarageBand has reached high popularity among artists who make music. This product by Apple is known as the ‘Starbucks of digital recording’, used by performers and companies on global level.
In 2017, Apple sold 216.76 million phones on a worldwide level. GarageBand is pre-programmed into all Apple devices, making it available for everyone who owns an iPad, iPhone, or Mac. This makes for a very widespread use, including people who simply wanted to record some fine music, as well as popular performers who created the masterpieces we listen and love today. ‘’Some of the best music we hear nowadays is made by using GarageBand and yet, many are still not aware of this. Start with ‘Umbrella’ by Rihanna to Grimes who uses GarageBand since forever, and you get one of the biggest trends in music production of today.’’ – shares Albert Live, writer for UKBestEssays.
1. Steve Lacy
Did you know that the Grammy’s nominations for ‘’Damn’’ by Kendrick Lamar and ‘’Ego Death’’ by The Internet are a result of Lacy’s work on GarageBand? Lacy earned the largest collaboration ever by using iPhone and iPod in combination with GarageBand as the primary tools for music production.
According to Lacy, he used an iPod Touch and discovered this app in addition to BeatMaker and iMPC, which led him to making some magnificent music by combining his bass and guitar playing skills. Soon after, he met The Internet and joined their band for the Ego Death album, where he also placed the beats made on his iPhone: ‘’Curse’’ and ‘’Gabby’’.
2. Grimes
Claire Boucher aka Grimes is another large example of what GarageBand is all about. She used it in the underground scene in Montreal in the search for her path as a producer and artist, which experiments later led her to create the breakthrough album named Visions. After this, Claire decided to move on to a more advanced digital audio workstation, but the fact remains that her breakthrough album at 27 years was made on precisely this program.
3. Julianna Barwick
Barwick first began recording her music with a bit of a fear of digital recording technology. She stated that she even posted an ad on Craigslist that says ‘help me learn Logic’. People aren’t instantly ready to do layering, audio tinkering, or editing as offered by Logic made by Apple. However, in Barwick’s case, this program was her amazing partner when entering the digital realm, and she only needed one single lesson to get started.
This makes the program accessible to everyone, making it much easier for talented musicians to produce some fine music. In fact, the second album by Barwick, Florine, was made with the help of GarageBand, in her bedroom.
4. George Pringle
Another artist that enjoys the benefits of this program is Pringle. His single, ‘Carte Postale’ was made solely by using this program on his Mac. In fact, he says the following about GarageBand:
“You can put it through an amp emulator, you can change the preset sounds, you turn your voice into an instrument, you can plug old beatboxes into it, you can make your own loops. GarageBand is like an instrument itself – if you know how to use it and play it right, you can make virtually any kind of sound.”
5. Justice
The album ‘Cross’ by Justice is made by using Apple’s GarageBand. Xavier de Rosnay, aka Pitchfork says: “A lot of people think it’s bullshit when we say we use GarageBand, but it’s actually an amazing tool.”
This famous album was made by using what is supposedly an entry-level software, but the band claims that they plan to use the same software to make great music in the future, too.
6. Rihanna
Yes, Rihanna. And not just any song, but one of the top songs in the pop industry – ‘’Umbrella’’! Did you know that Rihanna’s song has a drum loop from the GarageBand program, tweaked into what we know as the song that reached many top charts back in 2007?
We all know that this song won a Grammy and reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as got its deserved spot on the Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Songs of All Time” list. But, what many people do not know is that, the song that sold millions and millions of copies, started with a single GarageBand drum loop called: ‘’Vintage Funk Kit 03’’.
When the Dream walked in on Christopher ‘’Tricky’’ Steward playing this loop, he instantly noticed the potential. This is what led to ‘’Umbrella’’.
7. Usher
Finally, Usher’s song ‘’Love in This Club’’ is said to have come from GarageBand, too. The producer Polow Da Pon used some of the music loops of Garageband and created this popular song. Once again, GarageBand helped make something great for all of us to enjoy!
Did you know of the widespread use of GarageBand? It is one of the best free tools to use to produce music, and even though it might not feature all advanced features of the paid tools, it is definitely the most accessible tool for producing great music.
Silvia Woolard is a freelance writer and novice entrepreneur from Phoenix. In her free time she writes and works in a field of popular psychology and marketing. Read Silvia at her Twitter.