That Eric Alper

Guest Post

A wise man once said, “Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.” With the invention of music videos, this statement has never been more true. Music videos provide a multi-sensory experience of music, one that has captivated audiences for decades. MTV, the first 24-hour music video channel, was launched at 12.01am on the 1^st of August 1981 – people were hooked! Music videos are constantly evolving with time with some artists continuing to challenge the boundaries between reality and fantasy. We have counted down the 5 greatest music videos of all time below and added a few fun facts to the mix as well!

5. Michael Jackson – Thriller (1982)

This video cost a whopping $500 000 to make 38 years ago, the song was originally title “Starlight” but Jackson didn’t like it. The album name “Thriller” was already on the table so renaming the song wasn’t a giant leap. This 13-minute video changed the face of music videos forever, turning them from simple promotional clips into a cultural phenomenon.

4. Crazy – Aerosmith (1994)

We could not get enough of Alicia Silverstone in the 90s and, apparently, neither could Aerosmith – this is the 3^rd music video Silverstone had appeared in. What made this video special was that it was the first video to feature frontman’s Steven Tyler’s daughter, Liv. Liv was just a teenager back then but her resemblance to Silverstone was remarkable. If you feel inspired to recreate this all you need is a shiny red car and a South Florida Video Production Company!

Fun Fact – The love interest in the music video for Baby One More Time was Britney’s cousin. Weird.

3. Missy Elliot – The Rain (1997)

This iconic video of Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliot’s featured her a what looked like a bin liner through a fisheye lens. Revolutionary! This lens went onto become a hip-hop video staple. Directed by Hype Williams and filled with cameos of many famous faces like Timbaland, Lil’ Kim and Puff Daddy. The ‘Femme It Forward’ trailblazer’s video has been viewed over 20 million times on YouTube.

2. Sia – Elastic Heart (2015)

Whilst this video received a lot of internet backlash, if viewed as Sia intended, it is a beautiful and heart-wrenching story. Perhaps it could have been cast with an older female lead, Sia felt at the time that those two best portrayed what she was looking for. Sia has apologised for triggering her fans as this was never her intention. Love it or hate it, it is an emotional video for a beautiful song.

Fun Fact – In the dance scene for INSYNC’s Pop video, Joey was replaced by Wade Robson, the choreographer, because his foot was broken at the time of filming.

1. OK Go – Here It Goes Again (2006)

The video that inspired hundreds of amateurs to attempt the same treadmill choreography routine, and then fail dismally (usually). This video inspires pure joy every time you watch it, which is why it gets to claim the top position on our list.

Developed by Apple INC., GarageBand is currently one of the best Digital Audio Workstations in the industry. You must have come across several articles and blogs describing GarageBand as software for beginners and intermediate users and how it is not meant for professional use. All of them mainly recommend Logic Pro X for professional use. While GarageBand is an extracted version of Logic Pro X, it has made no compromise in providing users the best audio quality possible. The interface has intentionally been kept user-friendly such that users across all backgrounds will feel at ease using this application. The following list of musicians has taken GarageBand to another level by using various loops and sound effects in professional songs that have hit top charts across the world.

From 2017 onwards, all Apple devices (iPhone, iPad, or Mac) have GarageBand pre-installed as a music application. In that same year, Apple sold over 200 million devices. This only goes to show how Apple is promoting its flagship DAW and urging people to use it as soon as they buy an Apple device.

Musicians who have used GarageBand in major productions

Steve Lacy

Steve Lacy is an American musician, singer, songwriter, bass player, and record producer. He gained popularity as a member of the band The Internet which led to a Grammy nomination. What is so spectacular about this artist’s way of producing music is that he completely uses his iPhone or iPad to create beats and tracks. Along with BeatMaker and iMPC, he extensively used GarageBand to produce ‘Damn’ by Kendrick Lamar and ‘Ego Death’ by the Internet. Both these songs earned Grammy nominations each. He started by just recording bass and lead guitar parts into GarageBand. In fact, some of the most famous hits of the Internet in their Ego Death album have beats produced by GarageBand namely Curse and Gabby.

Grimes

Claire Elise Boucher, better known as Grimes, is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, and music producer who has used GarageBand to produce the very first of her albums that shot her to fame. Some of the loop genres she used to produce her album ‘Visions’ include dream pop, R&B, electronic music, and hip hop. When she started, she had absolutely nothing at her disposal other than GarageBand for producing her music. She used the application to its best potential to create what would later feature in the Top 100 charts. Grimes is an inspiration to many GarageBand producers as she has led the way to show people how good music can be made out of a free application like GarageBand.

Rihanna

Yes, you read the name right! Rihanna has used GarageBand to produce one of her biggest hits – ‘Umbrella’. Back when it was released in 2007, no one could ever have imagined that a drum loop of GarageBand has been used in the song for the basic rhythm. People hardly had the idea then of how advanced the electronic music scene was. What looked like something that could not have been done without a studio was a simple pop and R&B loop for the Apple loops music library. The song went on to win a Grammy and also reached the important milestone of Billboard Hot 100. Umbrella is also featured in Rolling Stone’s ‘500 Greatest Songs of All Time’. The GarageBand loop that was used here is the Vintage Funk Kit 03. It is still available in the music library of the application.

George Pringle

George Pringle is a London based musician and well known for his single, ‘Carte Postale’. If you ever wondered which studio this song was produced in, it was in his home studio, on his Macbook, on a DAW called GarageBand. He had some beautiful words to say about GarageBand when he was asked about the make of his song:

“You can put it through an amp emulator, you can change the preset sounds, you turn your voice into an instrument, you can plug old beatboxes into it, you can make your loops. GarageBand is like an instrument itself – if you know how to use it and play it right, you can make virtually any kind of sound.”

Justice

Justice is a French electronic music duo consisting of Gaspard Auge and Xavier de Rosnay. They mostly create EDM beats and funky hip hop loops. While most of their music is derived from GarageBand and Logic Pro X, the entire album ‘Cross’ was made using GarageBand specifically. Xavier humorously said in an interview that no one believes that they use DAWs to produce their music, GarageBand being an integral one of them. Justice loves the idea of creating music that common people connect to and they have promised to work more with software like GarageBand to make great music in the future.