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Jeff Swope strums an old mandolin and records the sound to his iPhone via the microphone in the earphones cable. He writes music and records parts before sending his composition to Nashville for digital mixing. (By Kevin G. Gilbert/Staff Photographer) |
When singer-songwriter Jeff Swope decided to make an album, he could have followed the conventional path of spending hours in a studio.
Instead, he's literally phoning it in.
Swope is taking advantage of the mobile software revolution to plug, play and record his songs with a tap of his finger.
He's using his iPhone and apps called FourTrack and StudioMini — tools that allow the user to record unlimited tracks and export them to an editing/mastering program on a home computer.
"Nobody is barking about deadlines or fighting over creative control," he said. "Essentially, this is an album that I chose to do my own way, in a unique and fully-controlled fashion. This is me putting an almost novelty application to great use and doing it whenever I want."
Recording music on an iPhone is just another step in the Hagerstown man's musical journey.
The early musical years
Swope, 26, said he was an artistic child who enjoyed writing and drawing.
But his first love was music.
"I was about 2 or 3 years old when I started messing around with my grandfather's old guitar," Swope said. "But I didn't start learning to play seriously until I was about 14."
Swope said his grandfather must have known he was going places, because he eventually bought his grandson his own guitar, which he slept with and took everywhere.
"I practiced at least four hours a day," he recalled.
Although today he enjoys everything from blues and jazz to soul and reggae, Swope said his roots are in country and bluegrass.
"Only in recent years has Hagerstown begun to find its feet in terms of arts and entertainment," Swope said. "But we've always been a traditionally small country town. With that, it's hard to escape the country and bluegrass influence, especially with a family like mine."
He said his family associated with Patsy Cline when she was becoming a popular act in Winchester, Va.
"She'd make routine trips through Hagerstown playing gigs," he said. "So, that's naturally what genre I was raised around."
While other kids had "Sesame Street," "I had 'Hee Haw' and the Grand Ole Opry," he joked.
As a teenager, Swope said he played guitar in church bands, which was "my first real experience in front of people, singing and performing. That's when I fell in love with it. I developed my style and started to write music in and around church. Later, I started writing country and more contemporary songs."
After graduating from Smithsburg High School in 2002, Swope began thinking about moving to Nashville, Tenn., "and becoming the next Brad Paisley."
Instead, he's literally phoning it in.
Swope is taking advantage of the mobile software revolution to plug, play and record his songs with a tap of his finger.
He's using his iPhone and apps called FourTrack and StudioMini — tools that allow the user to record unlimited tracks and export them to an editing/mastering program on a home computer.
"Nobody is barking about deadlines or fighting over creative control," he said. "Essentially, this is an album that I chose to do my own way, in a unique and fully-controlled fashion. This is me putting an almost novelty application to great use and doing it whenever I want."
Recording music on an iPhone is just another step in the Hagerstown man's musical journey.
The early musical years
Swope, 26, said he was an artistic child who enjoyed writing and drawing.
But his first love was music.
"I was about 2 or 3 years old when I started messing around with my grandfather's old guitar," Swope said. "But I didn't start learning to play seriously until I was about 14."
Swope said his grandfather must have known he was going places, because he eventually bought his grandson his own guitar, which he slept with and took everywhere.
"I practiced at least four hours a day," he recalled.
Although today he enjoys everything from blues and jazz to soul and reggae, Swope said his roots are in country and bluegrass.
"Only in recent years has Hagerstown begun to find its feet in terms of arts and entertainment," Swope said. "But we've always been a traditionally small country town. With that, it's hard to escape the country and bluegrass influence, especially with a family like mine."
He said his family associated with Patsy Cline when she was becoming a popular act in Winchester, Va.
"She'd make routine trips through Hagerstown playing gigs," he said. "So, that's naturally what genre I was raised around."
While other kids had "Sesame Street," "I had 'Hee Haw' and the Grand Ole Opry," he joked.
As a teenager, Swope said he played guitar in church bands, which was "my first real experience in front of people, singing and performing. That's when I fell in love with it. I developed my style and started to write music in and around church. Later, I started writing country and more contemporary songs."
After graduating from Smithsburg High School in 2002, Swope began thinking about moving to Nashville, Tenn., "and becoming the next Brad Paisley."
