GIGGING & RECORDING > ON TRACK
POCKET POWER TOOLS BY RICH TOZZOLI
Without a doubt, we guitar players like our toys, no
matter what size they come in.
But the smallest one with the
biggest punch is my iPhone.
With its built-in software and
a few cheap apps, the iPhone
helps me tune up, rehearse,
record and create. With literally hundreds of guitar-related
apps available, how do you find
the cool ones? One solution
is to identify which apps have
worked well for others. With
that in mind, here are four apps
that enhance my workflow.
The $3.99 Cleartune
Chromatic Tuner is incredibly accurate. You can set it to
display a simple note wheel that
measures pitch with ± 1 cent
(1/100th of a half-step) accuracy. Jamming with harmonica or
playing in a baroque ensemble?
No problem: You can reca-librate A4 to something other
than 440 Hz and make your
adjustments in 0.1 Hz increments. Other features include
automatic or manual note
selection and a tone-generating
Pitch Pipe mode.
I simply set Chromatic
Tuner to automatic pitch selection and tune up while watching the note wheel. It works
like a charm. The app’s supersensitive pitch detection allows
me to place my iPhone in front
of me on a desk or music stand
and tune up from anywhere
nearby. It will even let me tune
up my electrics when they’re
unplugged. I can’t recommend
this app enough.
Sonoma Wire Works
Four Track is slightly “
expensive” at $9.99. (Imagine—we
think that’s expensive!) But you
get 16-bit/44.1 kHz recording and an onscreen 4-channel
mixer. Just like an old Tascam
Portastudio 144, you can bounce
down to open up tracks for more
overdubs. Four Track has a compressor and 4-band parametric
Left to Right: Cleartune’s Chromatic Tuner, The Four Track recording app from Sonoma Wire Works,
Ninebuzz Software’s Guitar Jam Tracks—Acoustic Blues, Massimo Biolcati’s iReal Book.
EQ, panning and faders—and
has the ability to import audio
tracks. The latest version ( 4.0.2)
offers the GuitarJack control panel, which allows you
to record using the optional
GuitarJack audio interface that
sports 1/4" and 1/8" inputs.
To use this app, you need to
have headphones and a mic. (I
simply use my headset mic.) It’s
basically GEP (Good Enough
Productions) to get the chords
down and then overdub a melo-
dy or solo idea. But if you want,
you can take it much further
and do some decent recording.
I’ve written a lot of songs with
the help of this useful “toy.”
It’s fun to practice with
Guitar Jam Tracks—Acoustic
Blues, a $1.99 app from
Ninebuzz Software. Just pick
a major or minor key and play
along to the progression. The
tempos are fixed and the sound
is just mediocre, but I use it to
practice phrasing and solo ideas.
There is a section that displays
scales (such as the A minor
pentatonic for the selected key
of A minor), which you can
view while trying out new ideas.
The company has other apps
too, such as Humbucker Blues,
Rock, Reggae, and Bass.
Another excellent value at
$9.99 is the iReal Book. This
app features over 900 songs
that display neatly on your
phone. You can transpose each
song into any key and you can
even have the app play along!
Currently, there are 24 styles
( 12 jazz, five pop, and seven
Latin), and each song can
be played in any key at your
chosen tempo in any of the
24 styles. You can create edit-
able playlists (perfect for gigs)
and edit existing charts. It’s a
real blast to call up a tune, and
play along to the piano, bass,
and drums. As the song moves
along, a small grey area follows
the chart, showing you exactly
what measure is playing. It’s a
crazy-good way to learn tunes
and practice.
RICH TOZZOLI is a
Grammy-nominated engineer and mixer who has
worked with artists ranging
from Al Di Meola to David
Bowie. A life-long guitarist,
he’s also the author of Pro
Tools Surround Sound Mixing and composes for the likes of Fox NFL, Discovery
Channel, Nickelodeon, and HBO.
38 PREMIER GUITAR MAY 2011
premierguitar.com
