Music production with the latest "iPad Pro" with M1 chip, what equipment and editing software are necessary?

Following Billie Eilish?

Recording at home is fun, isn't it? The joy of being able to give shape to your own performance, even if it's bad. Ah, but I wonder if they call it DTM or DAW these days. In the English-speaking world, you might say that it was produced in a bedroom studio.

The latest iPad Pro with M1 chip has been released. More than a decade after the iPad first appeared, opinions are still divided on what tasks it's good for and what it's not. Some music producers seem to think that even the latest iPad Pro is not powerful enough for professional work. But that is not the case. All you have to do is combine it with the equipment and apps that suit your purpose.

Everyone has different needs and settings. Still, the gear and more below should help you get started, whether you're recording your debut album at home or creating a podcast show wherever you want without being tied to a studio.

Indispensable Audio Production Hardware

Thanks to USB-C, you can connect a wide variety of gear to your iPad Pro. Furthermore, if you expand with a USB-C hub, you can easily increase the number of connections. You can connect the necessary equipment for your own private studio, such as microphones and headphones. However, just in case, let's check if the hub can be used with the iPad Pro. On rare occasions, there are hubs that don't work well.

Although you can record with the iPad Pro's built-in mic, an external mic will still give better results. The iPad Pro's USB-C port has some issues with the compatibility of connected devices, so you can't get the best performance unless you use a properly certified device.

Whether you're recording a live performance or recording conversations for a podcast, a dedicated mic will make a difference in sound quality. So, I used a $270 RØDE VideoMic NTG microphone with a $15 RØDE SC16 USB-C to USB-C cable. How about a combination such as connecting to an iPad Pro? The mic features a high pass filter (HPF) for high frequency boost and a -20dB protection channel to avoid clipping due to excessive input when recording.

Since it is impossible to cover every recording and audio editing environment, in this article we will use only one audio interface, the $200 iRig Pro Duo I/O. Let me introduce you. It's an external box with two analog audio input ports to which you can connect microphones and instruments, a class A preamp, and a line-out port that allows you to connect your iPad Pro and another device so that your iPad Pro can be used in any audio editing studio. You can get an image of it.

For a USB-C capable audio interface, what about the $170 Focusrite Scarlett 2i2? There are two input ports that can be used for microphones and instruments, and with a 24-bit/192kHz converter, you can get sound quality equivalent to that of a professional recording studio. Moreover, it is compatible with iPad Pro, which is the perfect device for you reading this article.

If you record music, you'll love the ability to connect MIDI instruments and controllers to your iPad Pro. MIDI keyboards like the $149 Arturia Keystep allow you to type using familiar keyboards and offer more flexibility than the iPad Pro's on-screen controls. It's small, programmable, and connects directly to your iPad Pro. There are many other such devices.

If you want to edit audio with decent quality, you need decent headphones. There are various ways to connect, such as USB-C connection, Bluetooth connection, USB hub or audio interface. See our Buyer's Guide a while back for specific product recommendations.

An indispensable device for editing audio on the iPad Pro is the Apple Pencil. Whether you're trimming tracks with precision or adjusting volume in real time, Apple Pencil is a great helper. The recommended audio editing app allows you to customize finger operations and shortcuts assigned to the keyboard in addition to the Apple Pencil, which leads to more efficient work.

Which audio editing app should you use?

For iPad recording software, we recommend the free GarageBand. Not only is it easy to use for beginners, but it also meets the needs of advanced users with features such as 32 independent tracks, multi-take recording that allows you to repeat recording until you're satisfied, professional-level mixing effects, a wide variety of instruments, and a variety of loops. will give you GarageBand should be enough for many people.

If you want something more advanced than GarageBand, it's $20, but what about the AUM Audio Mixer? From the built-in software instruments to the plethora of external sound sources you can connect to, it has you covered. It's a great tool for recording and manipulating sounds, and works great with other iPadOS apps.

Cubasis 3 is another feature-rich audio editing app that I recommend, although it costs a hefty $50. Multi-track editing and audio processing, built-in instruments, loops and effects, and more are second to none in professional-grade digital audio workstation (DAW) software for iPad Pro. It is the best in terms of drawing out the performance of the iPad Pro and utilizing the screen.

The $14 FL Studio Mobile also puts Cubasis 3 on par with all the features you need for recording, editing, sequencing, mixing and mastering. The effects and samples are good enough, and you'll be happy with the built-in instruments, MIDI compatibility, and sequencing. It is also a recommended point that the iPad Pro's screen, which has limited size, is used very effectively.

For recording audio, the freemium version of Ferrite Recording Studio is a favorite among professionals due to its sleek interface and high degree of customizability. Operations such as adding tracks, cutting and editing, and applying effects can be performed intuitively. Bookmarking, silence removal, crossfades, level monitoring and more are also fully featured, making it perfect for podcast production.

Hokusai Audio Editor, also freemium, excels in that it has plenty of filters and sound effects to manipulate the sound to your liking. It's a great app for quickly merging tracks for editing, fine-tuning volume with normalize and fade operations, and more.

If you need to pass audio between apps, you should install the $10 Audiobus Mixer. Set up a pipeline that connects multiple apps, giving you full control over incoming and outgoing audio. The pipeline may or may not include an Audiobus Mixer.

The task of managing audio files on the iPad Pro is left to AudioShare, available for $4. Take audio clips with you to other apps and environments, or easily cut, convert and normalize them. As it is a professional tool, sample rate and bit depth can also be changed.

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