It all started one evening when my good friend mentioned to me that his favorite song was “No Surprises”.

In my work between the US and Japan, I recently took up a new hobby to fill the 14 hour flight back and forth. Since I used to own a studio and am considering building a studio in a new house, I thought I’d get my chops back up to speed by utilizing GarageBand to record some tracks while on the go.

Not very impressed with its ability to immediately replicate my previous rock glory, I somewhat set it aside, tinkering with it here and there until one night, at my favorite izakaya near my home in Tokyo, inspiration struck.

“No Surprises, oh man that song just … mmm, man it just hits me right here”, was my recollection of my friend’s comment. I went home that night, listened to No Surprises, and subsequently found myself revisiting the entire “OK Computer” album.

I’ll spare the accolades for the record, it truly is a marvelous piece of work. But the next morning I set out to try to replicate the song purely in GarageBand, using nothing but the built-in software instruments and effects and the stock Apple ear buds. 

A few hours later, I had a draft completed and sent over to my friend. Having listened to “OK Computer” a few more times, I soon decided to have a go at the entire record, and thus the project “OK iPad” was born.

Inspiration Through Limitation

Some of the best musicians I have met could make the rattiest piece of gear sound amazing, purely through technique and raw skill. Though I don’t consider myself the best guitar player or singer, I do think I make a pretty decent audio engineer.

So in the spirit of creativity through limitations, and as a test of just how far I can push GarageBand to its limits, I will share my trials, tribulations, frustrations, accomplishments, and hopefully just sheer fun of seeing these great songs come together on my iPad with GarageBand.

Parameters of the Project

• All recording and mixing will be done on the iPad utilizing GarageBand
• No external audio gear is allowed (that means no midi controllers or audio interfaces)
• No real instruments – all instrument performances must be must be software instruments wherever possible
• No third party plug-ins or instruments, only stock GarageBand effects
• Vocals are limited to the microphone on the Apple earbuds (I know it doesn’t technically come with the iPad) or the built-in mic on the iPad.

As I work on and eventually finish each track, I will post what I have learned, the techniques that I utilized, and the final GarageBand track file for free download when completed.

My intent is not to create an in-depth GarageBand tutorial, or to teach the finer points of recording in general. Rather, I hope to illustration how I solved, or didn’t solve, technical challenges related to the limitations of working solely inside software, and more specifically inside GarageBand for replicating OK iPad.

I hope that through this project other people will learn how to use GarageBand more effectively. I also hope to hear from people who have encountered different ways to solve various problems.

Finally, after the first experience of recording “No Surprises”, I know I will certainly come to more deeply appreciate the songwriting and recording techniques utilized in this fantastic record.

Humanoid Assistive Units

Christopher Scheidel

Producer, technologist, OK iPad engineer and vocalist.

 

 

Nolan Voss

Artist, producer, co-founding member of Anicon, graphic designer, OK iPad vocalist.