APL Innovate: Music + Podcasts

First released in 2004, GarageBand is a free digital audio workstation (DAW) developed by Apple primarily for novices and beginners. It comes preinstalled on all Apple products, including iPhones and iPads, and it's used to record live instruments and play back numerous audio tracks.

In addition, this software also has a sprawling inventory of digital instruments that are available to build your songs: keyboards, guitars, bass guitars, and drums, as well as a wide array of effects, such as decay, sustain, and reverb.

For synthesizers, GarageBand includes ARP 2600, the Minimoog, the Waldorf Wave, the Nord Lead 1, and the Yamaha DX7.

Pro Tip: For the professional market, try upgrading to Apple's more advanced digital audio workstation, Logic Pro, also available at the Austin Public Library's Innovation Lab.

Logic Pro is another digital audio workstation used for the production, engineering, recording and mixing of music, podcasts, and other sound files. Created in the early 90s and acquired by Apple in 2002, it is one of the most popular software applications of its kind. It also contains a MIDI sequencer which allows a wide variety of electronic musical instruments to communicate and function harmoniously together. 

With a massive collection of instruments, loops, and samples, Logic Pro has widely been used in rap, hip hop, and electronic dance music (EDM). This software also offers Drummer, a virtual session player that drums along with your recordings using preprogrammed styles, fills, and techniques.

Like GarageBand, Logic Pro is available only through Mac products.

Tech Talk: Logic Pro also features 1929 definable key and MIDI commands, 90 recallable screens, a 200-step undo history, including plug-in and mixer editing undo. It also has full plug-in latency compensation for external audio and MIDI gear, 1/3840-note resolution for MIDI events, Audio file and I/O resolution up to 24-bit/192kHz, 24 software instrument plug-ins, and 9 MIDI plug-ins.

Although Audacity has fallen out of favor for other digital audio workstations (DAWs) like Logic Pro and REAPER, it is still a good, simple audio editor, especially for those starting out in sound recording.

Audacity sticks to the basics. It records and plays back audio files, and in a pinch, you can mic your voice and instruments directly from your laptop or phone. You can cut, copy, paste, delete, and shuffle tracks around, and you can import other songs and audio files such as WAVs, MP3s, and AIFFs. Audacity also features noise reduction, echo, phaser, reverb, compression, and vocal isolation tools that can remove vocals from songs for karaoke.

This software is free, open-sourced, and available across platforms like Macs and PCs.

Ableton Live was originally developed by Gerhard Behles and Robert Henke of the German dub techno group Monolake. It's another digital audio workstation that can be used simply for recording music and podcasts, as well as for mixing, composing, arranging, editing, and mastering them. But it was originally designed for live performances.

For DJs and musicians and turntablists, it's very popular for its ability to loop sounds and create beats, and because it possesses crossfader capabilities like a physical DJ mixer. It also allows you to create, manipulate, and rearrange loops in a live setting.

Ableton Live has also become one of the most renowned brands for the creation of rap, hip hop, ambient, experimental and electronic dance music—or anyone else working with samples and virtual instruments.

Ableton Live is available for macOS and Windows.

In addition to After Effects and Premiere Pro, Adobe Audition is part of a suite of interactive programs called the Adobe Creative Cloud. 

Although it has a reputation as a good multitrack digital audio workstation (DAW), it’s more beloved among professional audio engineers for its versatile recording and editing capabilities and its post-production effects. This software also specializes in cleaning up and restoring audio. It also has strong tools for sound removal, noise reduction, compression, EQ, mastering, time stretching, and pitch shifting.

One of the major drawbacks for Audition, however, stems from its lack of tools and digital instruments with which to create, and it’s only available through several tiers of pricey monthly subscription.

You can use this software for recording both music and podcasts. It’s available for PCs and Macs.

Yamaha has been producing industry standard white woofer studio speakers since the 1970s.

The Yamaha HS5 Studio Speaker Monitors are the latest in Yamaha's series of state-of-the-art sound monitors. These monitors are designed to provide the most accurate representation of a sonic landscape possible, devoid of any amplified treble or bass frequency settings. They are great for mixing and the perfect tool for audio engineers to use to reference sound due to their faithfulness to the fidelity of an original recording.

The HS5 powered studio monitors are also equipped with a set of isolation pads and several ports for XLR connections.

Focusrite was founded in 1985 and has received four Queen's awards for Enterprise, two for International Trade and two for Technology. They specialize in the creation and marketing of digital audio equipment. One of their first contracts included setting up a custom vintage recording console for George Martin (the producer of The Beatles), for his AIR Montserrat studio in the Caribbean. 

The Scarlett Focusrite 18i8 is a mini portable recording audio interface with 8 balanced line inputs for monitoring and effects sending, 2 instrument line inputs for guitar and bass, and 4 monitor outputs for recording live instrumentation.

This portable audio interface is great for recording vocals and electronic instrumentation and is equipped with digital preamps. 

The Zoom H6 microphone interface field recorder is a portable recorder with a built-in microphone and 4 XLR/TRS microphone inputs. It can record for up to 20 hours straight when running off of batteries.

Depending on the project you can mount the recorder to a camera or stand, or you can plug it in to your computer and use the device as a multichannel recording interface.

The recorder is also capable of using phantom power on any of its channel inputs for maximum microphone quality, and you can choose from up to 6 digital WAV formats when rendering your final product.

The Akai Mini MK III Keyboard Controller can run with any DAW software and is a great production tool for pianists and beat makers alike.

The compact keyboard and pad controller has 25 keys, 8 bankable performance pads, and a joystick for pitch and modulation control. It also comes with over 1500 pre-programmed sounds, 6 built in virtual instruments, a built in arpeggiator, and a sustain pedal input jack.

Most keyboards have a five octave range. The Akai Mini MKIII has a ten octave range, making it one of the most versatile keyboards on the market.

The Shure MV7 microphone is ideal for close range isolated vocal recordings.

It contains both USB and XLR inputs as well as having its own built-in output for headphones. Users will be happy to learn that the USB input jack gives this microphone the ability to be plugged directly into a computer.

The all metal frame makes this a very durable, reliable microphone that can withstand wear and tear over an extended period of usage. 

The Shure SM7B Dynamic Microphone is a versatile microphone with a classic cardioid pattern. This microphone is perfect for a multitude of recording purposes.

Its internal air suspension shock isolation eliminates mechanical noise transmission, and the microphone comes with a pop filter to smooth out harsh sounds and massive dynamic swells.

The design of the mounting bracket also means you can bump into it without knocking it off its stand.

SHURE has been a leading manufacturer of audio engineering technology since the 1920s. Although they were initially in the business of selling radio parts and microphones, over the years they have expanded their product line to include a vast, varying assortment of audio equipment. They were even contracted to produce and supply microphones for the United States military during World War II.

The Shure SRH840A headphones are perfect for monitoring studio recordings and are highly utilized for editing and mixing purposes in the world of professional audio production.

While providing an accurate portrayal of the sonic soundscape of a track that translates over a multitude of mediums, they are also precisely tailored to deliver a wide array of frequency responses that capture rich bass, a clear midrange, and extended highs.  

The Gator Frameworks Broadcast Microphone Boom Arm is an ideal microphone stand to use when recording music or podcasts. The spring loaded arm includes an attached XLR cable and can rotate a full 360 degrees with minimal noise.

Its built in clamps also make it easy to mount to any desk or tabletop surface.