Gerard Mitchell (aka Jimmy Magee) and John Kevin (aka Middle Schoolfrown) recently won "Best New Band in Glasgow 2011" as part of a competition by Glasgow City of Music, (sponsored by UNESCO). Their winning winning song 'She Waits for Someone' was written using our studio.MX app for iPhone/iPod touch and MIXTKL.

They are currently working together under a collective banner called the 'Jimmy and the Magees Collective'.

We asked them a few things about how they started using studio.MX for writing (our questions are the "ST" bits :^>).

ST: How did you two meet and start writing together?

Gerard: I met John when I started working with him last year in addictions, here in Glasgow. We both discovered that we had a passion for songwriting and making music, and became good friends. John had an iPhone and he would come into work and show me the latest music app that he would download regularly. His favorite is an app called MIXTKL which he uses to make ambient beats.

ST: So how did you end-up using studio.MX?

He convinced me to invest in an iPhone, and I became especially keen to get one after he introduced me to your app, Studio MX. I was amazed at the possibility of recording music onto my phone with the help of a £4 app! I couldn't believe that something like this was available, and so cheap! I had used ProTools in the past, but it was quite complicated to use and needed a lot of power and storage space whereas your app didn't.

So I got started recording my music with your app, and in the meantime JK was making up ambient beats on MIXTKL.

ST: It sounds like you were coming at music from two different styles, when did you know it was working?

He came into work one day with a particular beat and I said that I was keen to use it in a song. So I went home and recorded his beat onto Studio MX and then wrote lyrics and worked out some chords on my guitar. The next day I took it into him and he was amazed how quick I had put it all together.

ST: How did you get the word out so others could hear your tracks?

A couple of hours later and it was on YouTube and SoundCloud.

Then we heard of the competition. Over 50 bands entered their songs and the competition was very strong. We were so pleased to hear that we had won! A very pleasant surprise and even better after we found out that Chris Geddes from Belle and Sebastien was the judge! Have a look on their page, it gives you some info on the competition and the result is there to see.

ST: You can imagine hearing news like this from our users makes we developers really happy. It feels great that our apps helped you to create and collaborate.

So, without your app this would not have happened. Previously I had been using my dictaphone to record my songs, which was fine. But after discovering your app I can now record very good quality demos and have them on my Itunes page in a matter of minutes, ready to be put onto a CD. I can also add effects such as reverb, delay, flanger and a lot more. And all of this on an phone, for £4! Im not exaggerating when I say that this is an outstanding piece of equipment. We would have not recorded this song without the help of Studio MX, it was made so easy. I needed something like this to turn my song ideas into a decent quality demo, quickly, and this does the job with ease.

Thank you to all at Sound Trends for providing us songwriters with these apps. You are enabling us to get our songs to a level where we can begin to see the true potential of our work.

You can see the winning song 'She Waits for Someone' on our SoundCloud and YouTube pages.

ST: What would you like to see added to the app?

Do you have more effects in your store? Such as chorus or hall?

ST: We have reverb, but no Chorus yet. That would be nice.

I really cannot think of anything that I feel would enhance the app for my purposes. It has all I need and its easy to use layout is the reason I use it. Don't complicate it would be my request, keep it user friendly!

ST: Thanks again for making great music with our app. We'll try to keep it easy.