Guitarists and the Mac

[ifingers]

Apple UK Guitar Seminars

Apple UK are holding 3 guitar seminars for anybody interested in this sort of thing. Featured guitarists include Dominic Miller (Sting), Ben Lacy, Jay Roberts..

http://www.apple.com/uk/series/guitarists/

Oct 29 - Olympia, London
Nov 5 - Music Live, Birmingham
Nov 28 - The Hub, Edinburgh

Sign up to Olympia and i'll see you there

[ifingers]

I have posted some pics of <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/richiefingers/Mac_Music/PhotoAlbum36.html" title="Click to view my Guitarists and the Mac images" >Guitarists and the Mac</a> London.

<strong>Guitarists and the Mac</strong>
<em>London - Saturday 29th October 2005</em>

Olympia's Conference Centre witnessed a special music seminar on Saturday; Hosted by Apple, the event brought together the finest computer technology with some equally outstanding musicians. What was really refreshing was the lack of sales spiel. Anybody lucky enough to be able to attend the free seminar, witnessed a dazzling and inspiring mix of six string prowess, an incredible percussionist and the state of the art in guitar and recording technology.

I can't imagine any other company but Apple, putting something together like this. The first hour was spent watching the laid back cool of an Apple employee, playing a large range of styles from Blues to Death Metal. Playing through GarageBand and using AU effects from Guitar Rig 2, Amplitude and Waves new guitar amp. He asked the audience how many guitar amps we could see on stage. The answer was nil; but they had worked out that they had 2722 different software amps - enough even for Spinal Tap.

One of the highlights was the use of a Brian Moore iGuitar, which brings software instruments to the guitarists domain. This means you can play strings, horns, organs, piano's and any other sound available from your computer.

One artist that doesn't need such arrays of audio diversity is Ben Lacy. Ben has the most amazing technique of any guitarist I have ever had the pleasure to watch perform. In a mind-numbing display, he blends melody, rhythm, harmony lead and percussion into a poly-rhythmic aural showcase. It's very hard to explain what he does, but in his rendition of Kashmir - he played the part of Bonham, Page, Plant and Jones - he is a human multi-tracker. Like the guitarists equivalent of a human beat box. I have never seen anything like it - you have to make a point of checking Ben out!

Next to join Ben was Jay Roberts - voted "Seattle's Best". A versatile and accomplished guitarist, who makes the rest of us mere mortals want to sell our axes on ebay.

One of the best finger techniques was displayed by the percussionist - my wife swears she saw sparks fly as he was beating some dazzling rhythms out on his hand drum.

Last up - we have Dominic Miller. Famous for his work with Sting, Steve Winwood, Peter Gabriel and Luciano Pavarotti. Armed with a classical guitar he just oozes class. It became quite apparent that he is someone on top of their game. He seemed to enjoy the interplay with the percussionist - even when some of the cues were missed. He seemed like he enjoyed himself and he didn't just make a dash to his limo he spent time signing autographs and posing for photo's with his fans.

Out in the foyer was the Apple experience demo area. Banks of iMacs, audio interfaces and Fender guitars, so we could try and emulate some of the stuff we had seen on the main stage.

Overall, I would say the event was a huge success, but the story doesn't end there. The audio from the event is going to be made available from Apple as a GarageBand and Logic session - So that we can play along at home!

Kudos to Apple for hosting such an event, I can't imagine Dell ever doing something like this, which is why I suppose Apple are the musicians and especially guitarists favourite computer company.

[kilroydegeek]

<gargle, drool />

Sounds like fun, Rich. Love that iGuitar, USB direct out, too. Noice!

[ifingers]

<gargle, drool />

Sounds like fun, Rich. Love that iGuitar, USB direct out, too. Noice!

It certainly is a noice bit of kit.

I think it needs a roland contoller (Roland GI-20) which will then output usb.

It would be noice to ditch my keyboard...

[ifingers]

You can now <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/gatm06/.cv/gatm06/Sites/.Public/Guitarists%20and%20the%20Mac.band-zip.zip">Download</a> a GarageBand project file of a live recording of guitarists Dominic Miller, Ben Lacy and Jay Roberts, and percussionist V. Selvaganesh. This recording was made at the Guitarists and the Mac event at Olympia Conference Centre in London on October 29th, 2005.

"The recording was originally done using Logic Pro 7.1.1, a MOTU Traveler FireWire audio I/O and a Dual 2.7GHz Power Mac G5. The song is the finale of a 30 minute set where the musicians improvised on a chord progression written by Dominic Miller.

After the recording, the individual tracks were exported as AIF files then imported into GarageBand. Listen to the song as it is or, better yet, add your own parts and create your own mix. Record, arrange, slice, dice, master — you decide!"

Go Apple! - and there's more...

Download an <a href="http://images.apple.com/movies/euro/euro/series/files/Guitarists_and_the_Mac.mp3">mp3</a> or <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/gatm06/.Public/GATM_London.mov.zip">H.264 QuickTime Video</a>

http://www.apple.com/uk/series/guitarists/post/

[ifingers]

Hey, Sue and I are in the video!

<img src="http://www.macidol.com/assets/images/gatm.jpg" alt="Guitarists and the Mac" title="Sue and Rich sitting on the front row of the Guitarists and the Mac seminar" />

[ifingers]

But, why oh why does the video not play on my <a href="http://www.macidol.com/reviews/ipod/2005/12/apple-ipod-video-60gb.html">iPod Video</a>

I'll investigate further, when I get the time...

[ifingers]

[quote]In conjunction with Apple Solution Experts Sound Control and Professional Music Technology, Apple will host a series of free seminars for guitarists during June and July. Join us in London on June 22nd or Birmingham on July 13th and discover why the Mac is the perfect solution for creating and performing music with your guitar.

June 22nd — Sound Control, 14-16 Oxford St, London, W1D 1AR
July 13th — PMT, 136 Lawley Middleway, Birmingham, B4 7XX

pecial Guest — Boyan Chowdhury
Boyan Chowdhury, guitarist from The Zutons, will participate in both the forthcoming Guitarists and the Mac seminars. The Zutons formed in mid 2002 and released their first album, “Who Killed the Zutons?â€