KVR Audio

Paulieworld · Post by **Paulieworld** » Fri Jul 04, 2025 8:05 pm

Created on an iPad Pro. My take on an old American folk song about labor rights activist, Joe Hill. It’s been recorded by a few, most notably Joan Baez. Featuring powerful narration by the Irish poet Seamus Connelly, aka The Great Shamoozey.

https://soundcloud.com/paulieworld/joe-hill

enroe · Post by **enroe** » Sat Jul 05, 2025 8:54 am

"Joe Hill": A beautiful version of this old song! The narrative is very well-accompanied
and enhanced.

But isn't it difficult to do something like that on just the iPad, with its mini-screen
and small buttons—almost like a postage stamp? I imagine it's almost impossible—but
you're doing it.

Paulieworld · Post by **Paulieworld** » Sat Jul 05, 2025 12:19 pm

enroe wrote: Sat Jul 05, 2025 8:54 am "Joe Hill": A beautiful version of this old song! The narrative is very well-accompanied
and enhanced.

But isn't it difficult to do something like that on just the iPad, with its mini-screen
and small buttons—almost like a postage stamp? I imagine it's almost impossible—but
you're doing it.

It’s really not that difficult. It’s the only way I know, so I have nothing to compare with. I started with the “vocal” track that I found on Looperman. I put that on track 1 in Cubasis. Then I used the metronome to guess the tempo. Being a spoken word track, I just had to find something that seemed to work from start to finish. 50 bpm seemed to work. Next, I created an 8 bar MIDI pattern using Piano Motifs. I ran that into about 35 different synths and recorded each one separately. I started layering them to see what they sounded like together. I ended up keeping 20 of them. Finally, I added a few sound effects from Blocs Wave and put them in a few spots to boost the bass and add a bit of variety. The whole thing was pretty easy to do. It just took some time. I built up the “parts list” over a few days, then spent yesterday afternoon assembling them. It was very peaceful and relaxing. I love to sit outside with my iPad on my lap and a cool, refreshing adult beverage at my side. I’m doing that right now, but it’s too early for the cool beverage, so I’m having some coffee. I’ll switch to the other stuff later, unless my wife has other plans for me. Thanks for listening. Have a great day!