Apple Shares Behind the Scenes Look at New Holiday Ad 'The Song'

[MacRumors]

Over the weekend, Apple released a touching new holiday ad called "The Song," focusing on a woman who found an old record of her grandmother singing a love song to her grandfather, which she then enhanced with her own vocals and musical accompaniments using Apple's tools.

Apple has now released a second video, which offers details on how the spot was created. As explained by the musician who starred the ad, Dana Williams, and vocalist Rhiannon Giddens, a series of recordings were made with a voice-o-graph, a 1940's booth for recording short spurts of audio directly onto a record.

"The Song," which highlights both GarageBand and the iPad mini, follows in the footsteps of last year's sentimental holiday ad, "Misunderstood,", which focused on the video recording capabilities of the iPhone.

Article Link: Apple Shares Behind the Scenes Look at New Holiday Ad 'The Song'

 

[filmantopia]

Ah how cool. My sister's boyfriend is signed with Third Man.

 

[teknikal90]

how about you lower the price to make it not such a hard decision to choose iphone over top line android competitors

 

[Aluminum213]

So laughably hipster

 

[pondhopper]

Love this Ad

It's a fabulous ad, makes me feel good.
*spffst spffst*
(spraying for trolls and other such gremlins).

 

[Armen]

how about you lower the price to make it not such a hard decision to choose iphone over top line android competitors

I'm glad Apple did EXACTLY the opposite of what you suggested. Otherwise they wouldn't be as successful as they are today as a company.

Don't believe me? Ask HP and Dell how they are doing.

 

[Tankmaze]

Last year ad "misunderstood" is much better then this one. Imo.

 

[laurim]

how about you lower the price to make it not such a hard decision to choose iphone over top line android competitors

Says the guy who spent $140 on Beats headphones when audio professionals I know say they aren't very good if you care about accurate sound. If you like a ton of bass, great. If you want to hear the music as it was intended, no.

Buy a used iPhone if you don't like the price of a new one.

 

[Armen]

It's a very touching ad.

But of course every complaining MacRumor user had to come and lay down their negative opinion which has NOTHING to do with the commercial.

 

[laurim]

So laughably hipster

I've come to the conclusion that everything good in the world is "hipster". The term is thrown around so often I really don't know what's not hipster anymore. But I guess if it replaces the offensive "That's gay" slur I can support the usage.

 

[teknikal90]

Says the guy who spent $140 on Beats headphones when audio professionals I know say they aren't very good if you care about accurate sound. If you like a ton of bass, great. If you want to hear the music as it was intended, no.

Buy a used iPhone if you don't like the price of a new one.

cool stalking there buddy. im a recording engineer. professional.
I like the sound of the beats solo 2. it's one of the best if not the best on-ear headphones in existence.

look it up. inner fidelity, headfi, whathifi, whatever. if you actually know what you're talking about.

also, it's nice having earphones that everyone else will be listening on when you're mixing.

 

[ForzaJuve]

I feel like about 5 years ago Apple used to make commercials that compared them to other products or companies. Now they moved away from that and grew up and started focusing on their own products and their capabilities and tools that they make available to everyone. They don't even acknowledge the existence of the other companies. Everyone else is still working on the comparisons and bashing Apple products which in turns becomes free advertising for Apple.

 

[itguy06]

how about you lower the price to make it not such a hard decision to choose iphone over top line android competitors

Which ones would those be? Cause in the phones, the Android Flagships are just as expensive as the iPhone. A GOOD tablet is just as expensive as an iPad, etc....

 

[laurim]

cool stalking there buddy. im a recording engineer. professional.
I like the sound of the beats solo 2. it's one of the best if not the best on-ear headphones in existence.

look it up. inner fidelity, headfi, whathifi, whatever. if you actually know what you're talking about.

also, it's nice having earphones that everyone else will be listening on when you're mixing.

Ok, I went on Head-fi and someone asked in the forums what headphones professionals use in professional recording studios. No Beats were mentioned. Sony, Sennheiser, Beyer, AKG, others. No Beats. But if you like them, fine. As long as you never mix for cds or radio play, I'm sure that would be good enough. I would highly doubt a professional would want to mix to a distorted version of their music, burn it and then have it sound bad to someone not wearing the same headphones.

P.S. Did you assume I was a guy when you called me "buddy"? lol

 

[Swift]

I've come to the conclusion that everything good in the world is "hipster". The term is thrown around so often I really don't know what's not hipster anymore. But I guess if it replaces the offensive "That's gay" slur I can support the usage.

Yes, sir. Now, I've never heard anybody saying "I'm a hipster" like people used to proudly say they were hippies. And I've heard some pretty wacky ideas sold as hip. If you get specific, we can discuss and debate anything. But what is the disdainful use of "hipster"? Apparently, it's something that "sensible" people can't do.

 

[laurim]

Yes, sir. Now, I've never heard anybody saying "I'm a hipster" like people used to proudly say they were hippies. And I've heard some pretty wacky ideas sold as hip. If you get specific, we can discuss and debate anything. But what is the disdainful use of "hipster"? Apparently, it's something that "sensible" people can't do.

Geez, I guess I need to choose an avatar that's even more feminine than a heart apple, lol.

Near as I can tell, "hipster" applies to anything that is more creative than the boring normal and non-"hipsters" intimidated by people who stray from boring "normal" had to create a label for it to be able to insult anything they deem too "different" from what they would do. It's sad but true. I wish I was unique enough to call myself a hipster but I'm pretty much as boring and predictable as most people. I'm just not intimidated by more creative people and don't feel the need to insult them with stupid names.

 

[teknikal90]

Ok, I went on Head-fi and someone asked in the forums what headphones professionals use in professional recording studios. No Beats were mentioned. Sony, Sennheiser, Beyer, AKG, others. No Beats. But if you like them, fine. As long as you never mix for cds or radio play, I'm sure that would be good enough. I would highly doubt a professional would want to mix to a distorted version of their music, burn it and then have it sound bad to someone not wearing the same headphones.

P.S. Did you assume I was a guy when you called me "buddy"? lol

i dont use beats in the studio...
sigh.

1st of all you never mix using just one output medium. second of all i really dont think you've heard the beats solo 2. third, you can brand-name drop all you like but at the end of the day you have no idea what you're talking about. buddy.

yes, buddy is gender neutral, get your political correctness anal retention out of here.

 

[sseaton1971]

cool stalking there buddy. im a recording engineer. professional.
I like the sound of the beats solo 2. it's one of the best if not the best on-ear headphones in existence.

look it up. inner fidelity, headfi, whathifi, whatever. if you actually know what you're talking about.

also, it's nice having earphones that everyone else will be listening on when you're mixing.

In defense of the person replying to your message, it is not "stalking" when using the forum's tools to click on a user's name to see other posts. In fact, I believe it is a good idea to see who you are dealing with when posting a reply.

To get back on topic... I liked the ad, and I found the "making of" video pretty cool.

 

[laurim]

i dont use beats in the studio...
sigh.

1st of all you never mix using just one output medium. second of all i really dont think you've heard the beats solo 2. third, you can brand-name drop all you like but at the end of the day you have no idea what you're talking about. buddy.

yes, buddy is gender neutral, get your political correctness anal retention out of here.

Ok, I stand corrected. I figured if you were so worried about paying for an iPhone you probably weren't really at a professional level and buying a Beats headphone was an amateur move you should be encouraged to rethink.

P.S. Calling a woman "buddy" must be a Canadian thing because it just doesn't happen in the US, at least not in my 50 years. I'll have to ask my Canadian friend who is a professional audio engineer aboot that.

----------

In defense of the person replying to your message, it is not "stalking" when using the forum's tools to click on a user's name to see other posts. In fact, I believe it is a good idea to see who you are dealing with when posting a reply.

To get back on topic... I liked the ad, and I found the "making of" video pretty cool.

Thanks for the defense. Before responding, I pretty much always check a person's history of posts to assess their age, technical knowledge and how they tend to operate on the forums (trolling, non-Apple user just starting arguments, etc.). Then I decide whether I want to engage with them.

 

[PJWilkin]

It's a fabulous ad, makes me feel good.
*spffst spffst*
(spraying for trolls and other such gremlins).

I like the fact there is a Behind the Scenes video, it shows makes the Ad even better, and puts faces (and names) to people in the Ad.

Well done Apple.

 

[576316]

Very moving advert. It's always nice to have a good cry at Christmas!

 

[teknikal90]

Which ones would those be? Cause in the phones, the Android Flagships are just as expensive as the iPhone. A GOOD tablet is just as expensive as an iPad, etc....

in canada, if i want an iphone, i would have to go on a 'max' plan contract - $85/month for a 1gb plan. Plus the $300-$400 upfront.

in contrast, for a high end android - HTC One M8, S5, I don't have to go on that 'max' plan' and can instead go for a more reasonable plan of around $75/month for a 2gb. With a lower up front cost to boot - $250-$300.

you might say, what about the older 5s? still, same $85/month 'max contract', just a lower up front cost.

----------

In defense of the person replying to your message, it is not "stalking" when using the forum's tools to click on a user's name to see other posts. In fact, I believe it is a good idea to see who you are dealing with when posting a reply.

To get back on topic... I liked the ad, and I found the "making of" video pretty cool.

the issue was that that beats post was made a long time ago...

----------

I'm glad Apple did EXACTLY the opposite of what you suggested. Otherwise they wouldn't be as successful as they are today as a company.

Don't believe me? Ask HP and Dell how they are doing.

actually, the iphone only took off when it became $199 as opposed to the $599 original asking price.

$199 was more in line with competitors.

same story with the ipod, the macbook, everything.

you cant price something above market if you dont have differentiation. in the past, that iphone differentiation was there, today, i argue, not so much.

people dont really see iphone as the superior product anymore - as in the past.

the purpose of adverts like this is to reintroduce that differentiation, more in the angle of experience vs. specs and features. but i think this ad isnt really effective in that way - how many normal pople will actually use their phone as portrayed?

last year's was more realistic.

 

[iolinux333]

I've been waiting for days for someone to bring up the copyright violation issues demonstrated in this ad and can't believe no one has brought them up yet.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I like the ad and the follow-up. Well done, Apple.

 

[mwchris]

Ok, I stand corrected. I figured if you were so worried about paying for an iPhone you probably weren't really at a professional level and buying a Beats headphone was an amateur move you should be encouraged to rethink.

P.S. Calling a woman "buddy" must be a Canadian thing because it just doesn't happen in the US, at least not in my 50 years. I'll have to ask my Canadian friend who is a professional audio engineer aboot that.

----------



Thanks for the defense. Before responding, I pretty much always check a person's history of posts to assess their age, technical knowledge and how they tend to operate on the forums (trolling, non-Apple user just starting arguments, etc.). Then I decide whether I want to engage with them.

Off topic but I agree that when I mix audio or edit video I always do a test with consumer grade gear. If it only sounds/looks good on my studio monitors that means little when most folks are viewing on a horribly color or sound inaccurate device. Is it going to change my final mix substantially? Doubtful, but it lets the client/me know what to expect and I can make changes if necessary.