iReal Pro

[hyperbolica]

I've had iReal Pro on my phone for 2 years now and haven't used it at all. How do you all use it? Where do you get tunes from? How do you amplify it? Any tips for getting started are welcome. Thx.

[JLivi]

You can download a jazz standards library from the forum on the app itself.

Also, I use the app on phone/tablet and amplify it through a bluetooth speaker. You can also plug in headphones.

[hyperbolica]

Ok, thx. I downloaded the play lists. That's a big help. Now I'm remembering why it sat idle. There's changes but no melody. Do I have to bring along a Real book? Or is there a setting somewhere to show the melody.?

I should be able to plug my phone into a boom box, which might be loud enough.

[SaigonSlide]

Yeah thats the one thing with iReal Pro: no melodies. Hoping that they add that soon. May be a copyright thing?

[Pre59]

Yeah thats the one thing with iReal Pro: no melodies. Hoping that they add that soon. May be a copyright thing?

Absolutely a copyright issue. If copyright was charged on the 2,227 tunes that I have on my app it would cost a lot more than the price of a few drinks.
When fake books appeared back back in the day it was assumed that musicians would learn the melodies by ear, or obtain them though some other source.
There are still printed books that include the tunes at a greater cost.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?source= ... OKsmX2bETQ

...and this is a good read.


https://www.jazzadvice.com/why-you-shou ... ok-player/

[JLivi]

Yeah, no melodies, but it's always added a level of depth to my practicing. I've enjoyed spending time learning the melodies by ear, and then applying them to the play back, while also practicing imporvisation. Also, you don't need the melodies to be able to start blowing.

[Matt K]

It isn't a copyright issue as the application itself doesn't provide even chord changes (as it did when it first started a long, long time ago) for anything other than the blues and a few sample exercises. The reason for that is the publication companies sent a cease and desist because they had titles of their songs built into the app...Now, the changes themselves have to be downloaded from a community maintained list as pointed out by others here. Band-in-a-box has a similar product but it includes the ability to perform melodies. That application likewise includes nothing 'out of the box' (if you'll excuse the pun), but there are ample community generated files that have melodies and chord changes to most of the realbooks. Or even more pertinent, if you had to charge copyright if your application could view copywritten materials... Adobe would be out of business immediately!

The reason that the application doesn't have melodies is that it is purely a chord chart application exclusively. I don't know how useful it would even be to have it on a phone screen anyway. A tablet version would be nice but on both Android and iOS, you can have background apps or side-by-side applications depending on your screen size. So you can purchase (or... find... somewhere) the Hal Leonard books on something like the Kindle store and have one screen up or swap screens if you want the melody. That said, I am a little surprised they haven't added the ability to copy a pdf and associate it with a track.

[ddickerson]

It's a super app. I use it all the time. You can create your own chord progressions also. Sets up a good background play along music for your practice. You should learn how to play the melodies by ear anyway. Then, improvise off of the melodies.

You can turn on/off any of the instruments. i turn off the piano when I'm practicing the piano, and I turn it on when I practice the trombone. Handy tool.

[BflatBass]

If you wanted to record your performance/practice sessions with ireal pro how would you do it? With a separate device, say...recording with a mic that's taking sound from your bluetooth speaker and your horn? Or is there another way to do it from within the device that ireal is installed on?

Robert

[Matt K]

If you wanted to record your performance/practice sessions with ireal pro how would you do it? With a separate device, say...recording with a mic that's taking sound from your bluetooth speaker and your horn? Or is there another way to do it from within the device that ireal is installed on?

Robert

Separate device is best since the application only runs on tablets.

[SaigonSlide]

I think it's a great tool. Just need to sit down and spend some time with it. You can edit changes, make your own, repeat phrases, change keys. Great for playing with singers, and great for pulling up changes that you don't remember.

[Pre59]

If you wanted to record your performance/practice sessions with ireal pro how would you do it? With a separate device, say...recording with a mic that's taking sound from your bluetooth speaker and your horn? Or is there another way to do it from within the device that ireal is installed on?

Robert

Separate device is best since the application only runs on tablets.

..and Mac.

[Matt K]

Separate device is best since the application only runs on tablets.

..and Mac.

That's new! Very cool though. Wish they had a Windows version. Well, a Linux one would be really awesome but I'm not holding my breath on that one.

[Pre59]

If you wanted to record your performance/practice sessions with ireal pro how would you do it? With a separate device, say...recording with a mic that's taking sound from your bluetooth speaker and your horn? Or is there another way to do it from within the device that ireal is installed on?

Robert

On an Android device, tap on an opened song sheet, then go to the share icon at the top right, tap Record.

[brtnats]

On my iPad Pro, I run iReal Pro as a small side window and a Realbook in Forescore in the main window. I play it all through a bluetooth speaker. That way I've got written tune for the head, and the changes playing on the side. iPad also lets iReal Pro run audio in the background.

I can't overstate how good that setup has been for my development as a player.

[BflatBass]

I've been messing around with tbone quartet arrangements of some jazz standards and I record them on my little digital multitrack recorder. What would be totally cool is to be able to add the rhythm section from iReal Pro to my recordings on one of the tracks. But then you have the problem of syncing the digital recorder's click track and the beat of the rhythm section. Anyone know if this sort of thing is possible?

Cheers
Robert

[Pre59]

Which multitrack recorder are you using? How many tracks?

[BflatBass]

Which multitrack recorder are you using? How many tracks?

Tascam DP 006 4 track recorder (technically a 6 track but I haven't figured out how to record a 5th and 6th track inividually). You can also "bounce" tracks by combining tracks onto another track so the amount of tracks you record is pretty much unlimited.

[Matt K]

I've been messing around with tbone quartet arrangements of some jazz standards and I record them on my little digital multitrack recorder. What would be totally cool is to be able to add the rhythm section from iReal Pro to my recordings on one of the tracks. But then you have the problem of syncing the digital recorder's click track and the beat of the rhythm section. Anyone know if this sort of thing is possible?

Cheers
Robert

I imagine it would be easier to start with the track; so you record from iRealPro and then you use that as your click track. On such a device I imagine the opposite would be next to impossible but my lack of imagination by no means it is impossible.

[ssking2b]

FYI: you can't copyright cord changes. Only melodies and lyrics. Check with Harry Fox Agency or US Copyright laws, You'll see.

Also arrangements can only be copyrighted for resale, paper or electric. The publishing company of the original tune will have granted rights to the paper publisher to use the tune, and distribute arrangements. Sound tracks on recordings can be copyrighted, but there is no copyright that prevents transcription. Distribution electronically or on paper of transcriptions is another gray area.

The music business and copyrights are a really messed area. Toss in ASCAP and BMI and you have a free-for-all claiming payments...which mostly only gets to the original composer, and sometimes arranger, in pitiful amounts.

They all seem to think we practice our craft so they can make money from it, not us.

[BGuttman]

FYI: you can't copyright cord changes. Only melodies and lyrics. Check with Harry Fox Agency or US Copyright laws, You'll see.

Also arrangements can only be copyrighted for resale, paper or electric. The publishing company of the original tune will have granted rights to the paper publisher to use the tune, and distribute arrangements. Sound tracks on recordings can be copyrighted, but there is no copyright that prevents transcription. Distribution electronically or on paper of transcriptions is another gray area.

The music business and copyrights are a really messed area. Toss in ASCAP and BMI and you have a free-for-all claiming payments...which mostly only gets to the original composer, and sometimes arranger, in pitiful amounts.

They all seem to think we practice our craft so they can make money from it, not us.

Isn't that Captitalism in a microcosm? Workers get paid small amounts to do work that benefits the owners of the company. Sad but true. I wish Jeff Bezos would spend a day filling orders at one of his Amazon warehouses and see if he likes it.

[Molefsky]

I use it with my jazz all region/state students. I can write out the changes etc from the exercises or download standards from online sources. I can then tweak them if need be, put them at whatever tempo or key is needed and then export them as an audio file for the kids to practice with to their heart's content. I can also drop the audio files into Reaper and then record sample tracks of me playing so they can have a style model on their etudes throughout the week or we can do jazz duets like this, where I record one part and assign them the other part etc. Covid has really helped me up my music technology game and iRealPro has fit into that nicely.