“It’s very solo, it’s like the motorbike of record studios”, says Barney Packer, the third year Public Relations student set to release an album entirely recorded on an iPhone 5s.
Some of his work is already out on his Spotify, a showcase of the early stages of what can be achieved on an iPhone, and he has plenty more planned in the next few months, with the next installation coming January 12.
Despite being a young and poor student, Barney wanted to produce music, and so, saw the iPhone as a great alternative.
“I thought to myself, I might as well try and use my iPhone and it’s actually not as tricky as I thought, it started out as a way to record small riffs and little bits and I found myself wanting to go to the next step.”
That next step was an album’s worth of songs, released in three small EP’s – the first in the form of Gone, and the next editon, On Your Own, is set to come out in January.
The use of just an iPhone for production is a growing trend in the music world with Steve Lacy, producer for the likes of J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar being at the forefront, however, Barney seemed keen on rising to summit of this revolution too.
“All my songs were being recorded back in 2015 so I hate to stir up some beef, but hey, looks like he’s got some competition”.
In an age where everyone has some form of mobile phone, this could be the time where more musicians are competing than ever.
“I think this aspect of music is looking really promising because it’s letting people just try it. People get to go into these work spaces and understand how these instruments work and they can get to know the basics.”
‘It’s going to open up a spectrum for some new musicians to come in and released some great stuff.’
Maybe Barney’s new music could form part of that new surge of ‘great stuff’ as his album’s next EP is on the horizon. For now though, listen to his first tracks to get a taste for what can be accomplished with just an iPhone.
You can also find more about Barney on his Facebook page.