Apple gives brilliant, great music gifts to GarageBand

Apple has introduced cool new Sound Packs for the (now free) GarageBand for iOS and iPadOS with new sounds from top artists and producers and two cool step-by-step video guides to remixing featuring music from Dua Lipa and Lady Gaga.

Art of the Remix with Dua Lipa and Lady Gaga

The two new in-app Remix Sessions featuring Dua Lipa and Lady Gaga feature inspirational videos from each artist telling the stories behind their hit songs “Break My Heart” (Dua Lipa) and “Free Woman” (Lady Gaga). You’ll also get step-by-step remix instructions led by an Apple Retail Creative Pro using a GarageBand Live Loops version of each song.

This is neat because when working through these sessions you can really dig into the track, hearing isolated vocals, beats, and individual instruments. You can then use GarageBand’s instruments and loops to make your own unique remixes of these tracks.

Apple says these sessions expand on the Today at Apple educational sessions it offers in Apple Stores.

What Apple said

“GarageBand continues to be a catalyst for music creation — making it easy for novices to get started and for seasoned pros to develop their ideas on the go,” said Bob Borchers, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing.

“For this update, we’ve collaborated with an incredible group of artists and producers to give musicians an amazing collection of new sounds to play with, and we hope even more people will be inspired to tap into their creativity and start making music in GarageBand.”

What Dua Lipa said

“It’s amazing to see Apple bringing my music to life in GarageBand, so now anyone can experience how I made ‘Break My Heart’ no matter where they are. Music has the power to bring people together, and this is doing that in such an exciting way. I personally can’t wait for people to have a lot of fun experimenting and coming up with different versions of my song.”

What Lady Gaga said

“GarageBand is my idea bank and where I start my songwriting, so I’m excited to make my song ‘Free Woman’ available as a Remix Session. I want musicians and music lovers to be able to see how a song is produced and be able to hear all the individual parts, and then put their own creative color on it, doing whatever they want in GarageBand.”

More sounds, more guidance, and even more

There are also seven new Producer Packs full of beats, loops, and instruments created just for GarageBand by some of the world’s top producers, including Boys Noize, Mark Lettieri, Oak Felder, Soulection, Take A Daytrip, Tom Misch, and TRAKGIRL.

Each Producer Pack offers hundreds of royalty-free loops, beats, instruments, drum kits, synth patches, and samples that embody the sound and vibe of each producer. And in-app videos feature each producer offering words of encouragement to beginners, as well as insights into their creative process.

A really cool Apple TV+ tie-in with Mark Ronson

There’s one more Producer Pack which is designed for use for those watching the new Apple Original docuseries “Watch the Sound With Mark Ronson,” premiering Friday, July 30, on Apple TV+. This is quite exciting, to be honest as it will enable viewers to experiment with sounds inspired by the music featured in the show.

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The show sees Ronson explore the intersection of technology and musical innovation.

He says the series, “explores and celebrates the intersection of music and technology, and it is exciting to have GarageBand bring the beats and sounds from the show to anyone who is inspired to create their own songs. This Producer Pack delivers the creativity and excitement of the show in a way I never imagined and couldn’t be more excited about.”

The pack offers GarageBand versions of the music technology featured in every episode, from sampling to drum machines, synths to reverb, and vocal effects to distortion.

Frankly I think this is clever.

What the producers said

Apple’s GarageBand PR also carries quotes from producers featured in the new packs:

Oak Felder, producer (Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato, John Legend): 

“Whenever someone asks me how to start producing and making beats, I tell them to grab their iPhone and open up GarageBand. It removes all the technical obstacles and makes it easy to turn a simple musical idea into something great. I still use GarageBand to sketch out ideas, so it’s especially cool to be able to deliver my own selection of royalty-free sounds to help someone else write their own hit song.”

David Biral and Denzel Baptiste, Take A Daytrip, producers (Lil Nas X, Kid Cudi, Travis Scott): 

“We both got our start using GarageBand, met to form Take A Daytrip, and added Logic Pro to our production tools. Our new Producer Pack is a personal collection of signature sounds created from our favourite synths and gear so that we could always have access to them whenever we’re away from our studio. Our goal is always to make technology more accessible for the next generation of producers and artists. Making our own sounds for GarageBand is a perfect way to pay forward the inspiration we got from previous generations of creators.”

TRAKGIRL, producer (Andra Day, Jhené Aiko, Vic Mensa): 

“It’s been an important mission of mine to help young women break into music making, and GarageBand is a powerful creative tool that everyone has access to. I hope my Producer Pack will inspire people globally to embrace their creativity and show that anyone can follow their dreams and get involved in music production.”

Availability

All-new Remix Sessions and Producer Packs are available today as a free download from the Sound Library in GarageBand 2.3.11, the latest version of the app, for iOS and iPadOS. Download it now!

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