“Recording piano onto your iPhone can take
up a large amount of iPhone storage”
Record piano with a Mac
Record piano with an iPhone
01 Stay in time
It’s important to maintain a steady tempo.
Most music-recording software packages for
Mac will have a Metronome feature – use this
to improve your time-keeping.01 Get connected
Make sure your piano-recording hardware
(you’ll need some to connect) has a
headphone connection on it, otherwise you’ll
be playing piano in silence! A great choice of
kit is IK Multimedia’s iRig MIDI adaptor.
02 Save some space
Recording piano onto your iPhone can take
up a large amount of iPhone storage – free
up some space before you begin recording,
otherwise you could end up running out
mid-recording.04 Know your limits
Want to create a polished-sounding
recording? Use your iPhone to solely record
your piano then export to software on your
Mac, such as AmpliTube or GarageBand, to
mix your recordings.05 Crank it up to... 7
Don’t be tempted to record at maximum
volume. If your recording input level is too
high, it will result in distortion – not a desired
effect for a pianist.03 Keep it clean
Don’t worry too much
about getting your sound
right before you begin
recording – you can add lots
of authentic effects and
post-recording processing
once you have nailed that
difficult section.04 Select a location
If you’re using your Mac’s on-board mic to
record acoustic piano, choose your location
carefully. Smaller rooms work best for a clean,
interference-free recording, whereas bigger
rooms add natural reverb.03 Keep your distance
When recording acoustic piano with your
iPhone’s built-in mic, enure you are seated at
least 15cm away from the iPhone, otherwise
you will end up with a bass-heavy recording.05 Use as a toolbox
There are plenty of apps out there which
offer handy piano tools in one app, such as
a chord book and metronome, saving you
space in your kit bag.02 Multi-take
Recording software
such as GarageBand
offers you the ability
to record several
takes of your piano
playing on a loop, giving you the power to
pick the best-sounding take!