#462 App Episode Vol. 2 - With Marcos Torres!
Damon welcomes Marcos Torres back to the podcast to talk about apps you may want to use for your device.
Gig Alerts
Damon mentions new job opportunities posted to Jeffrey Barudin’s Website.
Marcos mentions he will be performing at Gonzalez Y Gonzalez this Thursday (the 13th) and next Thursday (the 20th). The 22nd, is Jeremy Bosch’s Album Release Party, at the Bronx Music Hall. Marcos’ father (Marcos Torres II) will be hosting and performing different events at the Park City Music Hall in Bridgeport, CT on Sundays at the end of the month.
Damon mentions Tapped in (dot) live. Marcos mentions Salsa Siglo 21 and Buscando Salsa NYC.
Educational Spotlight
The Guidebook App for PASIC 50 is out now and you can create your own personalized schedule, this is where you will find the many friends of the show who will be participating. Go to: https://pas.org/pasic/app/. You can also check out when the various committee meetings are happening and when if you need to attend or are interested in becoming a member on one (see image below).
Damon’s clinic is Saturday November 15th at 11am in room 201.
Damon brings up the Working Percussionist Podcast, episode 1 that is currently on YouTube. It is hosted by Conga Chops (dot com) that also has several masterclasses available.
Iconic Recording
Marcos chose, “El Son De La Madrugada” by Gilberto Santa Rosa from the album, ‘Auténtico’. Friend of the show, Johnny “Dandy” Rodriguez was a performer on this album.
Music News
The only thing for music news is the announcement of Grammy nominations. Congrats to everyone who was nominated. -Article.
Apps…
The song leading into the apps is called, “Su Gracia es Suficiente (2 Cor. 12:2-9)” by Jeremy Bosch from the album ‘The Gospel According to Salsa’.
Communication Apps
Texts/iMessage – Self-explanatory communication app. Some form of this comes with your device.
WhatsApp – Good for international messaging and end to end encrypted messages.
Viber – Good for international messaging.
Email – You should have some form of this to communicate.
Slack – A messaging app for business that makes it easier for in-person and remote teams to communicate. It's a more efficient way to correspond than email and texting, and using Slack will save you from getting stuck in endless text or email threads. It's faster, better organized, and more secure than email.
Facetime/Zoom/WebEx/Skype for video conferencing. You probably already use the first two a lot. The latter on occasion.
Google Translate or something like that (e.g. iTranslate, TripLingo, SayHi, Papago, Microsoft Translator, Waygo, iTranslate Voice, or Speak and Translate) When you travel internationally and don’t speak the native language, these can be very useful in navigating directions, reading menus, talking to people and much more!
Airalo is an eSIM (digital SIM card), you can connect like a local in 200+ countries and regions worldwide for your phone and/or tablet. Install an Airalo eSIM with call and text services to make phone calls without roaming fees when you travel.
Social Media Apps
Facebook (also the Messenger app). You can send messages, documents, money, search by location, and even call through this app. It’s not just for birthdays, pics of your kids, and angry rants from your crazy uncle. There are also groups you can join to stay up to date with your music community or fellow artists.
X (FKA Twitter) used to be a good place to follow and connect with journalists, celebrities and more. Chances are you would get roasted at some point. We’ll see what happens now that Elon is in control.
Bluesky is seen as a safer, more friendly alternative to Twitter. It seems to be a platform with less hate speech, more control over personal feeds, and it resembles what "old Twitter" was before the South African entered the chat.
Threads is the Meta version of Twitter which ties into Facebook and Instagram, and you can cross platform easily.
Instagram used to be a photography app. Now there are more videos than photos. A good place to showcase your talent. Not just for selfies, pics of your meal or pet. Give a follow to @Creators and @IGMusicPartners to stay current with how to navigate this platform best as a musician with different shortcuts and algorithm changes.
Tik Tok is not just for dance videos. It has a scarily accurate algorithm and has surpassed Google as the number one website visited. It can also be used as a search engine and an educational tool. TBD if it remains available to members of the USA.
Edits is Instagram’s (Meta’s) answer to Tik Tok and CapCut. It’s a shortform streamlined video editing app that allows creators to edit their ideas into videos on their device.
YouTube is great for tutorials, musical performances, and historical videos. It also hosts podcasts and has a TV option. Some festivals will also livestream from it.
Snapchat is a picture and video platform that has been a way for people under 30 to communicate and message.
Later (dot) com, Hootsuite, Planoly, and Planit for scheduling content to be released at a later date.
Linkedin is the world's largest business professional network on the internet. You can use LinkedIn to find the right job or internship, connect and strengthen your professional relationships. You can search A&R reps, music supervisors and much more. This is where “the suits” tend to connect.
JammCard is a social media app for musicians started by and run by musicians for musicians. You can hire, collaborate, and learn from vetted pro musicians and your musical heroes. They also host live performance events around the globe and have a podcast “Go with Elmo!” They just added a new “Jobs” tab on their app where you can see and apply for jobs right on the site.
Giggs.Live is a website similar to JammCard in the fact that the people on it are vetted professionals in the entertainment industry, and the website helps them find gigs. This is not just limited to musicians, but also crew, management and much more.
That’s My Gig was an employment site for musicians and crew. You used to be able to sign up for a free profile & begin searching for paying gigs. I do not know if this is still a functioning site anymore.
Linktree/Many Chat are freemium social media reference landing pages that lead to a landing page containing multiple links to content relevant to your business. Including, but not limited to: your website, social media, a video, or even an affiliate discount link. You can even add a way for people to pay/tip you or buy your merch and more.
Meathook is a platform that bridges the gap between skilled professionals and their fans and followers, via one to one video calls.
Education Apps
Percussion Tutor, Djembeföla, Drum School, Drum Jam, Erskine Essentials, Conga Chops Practice Loops, Tonestro, Erol Singer’s Studio, Swift Scales, VoCo, Fender Play, Ultimate Guitar: Chords and Tabs, or whatever educational app you choose to have on your device for your instrument to continue getting better. There are so many to choose from.
Harmony Cloud is an ear training app to strengthen hearing chords, inversions, bass notes and more.
Cleartune/TonalEnergy or some sort of tuner for pitched instruments.
Metronome – Pick one that works for you and then use it!
The Clave - If you want to get better at phrasing in Afro-Cuban/Latin/Caribbean /South American music styles. This app plays several different incarnations of the clave at different speeds.
iReal Pro (The Real Book) – All sorts of chord charts, for all sorts of songs, in all sorts of styles.
Nashville Numbers – A shorthand system which puts chords into numbers 1 through 7, and streamlines the page into a simple and clean format. You can make form and song charts for the Nashville Number System.
forScore is a great app for organizing your charts on a tablet. You can pair this with a Bluetooth page turner pedal or AirTurn (Tap or Duo) to free up your hands or feet when turing pages.
Stage Traxx 3 is an audio playback app for musicians who use backing tracks in live settings. It helps manage backing tracks, lyrics, and more. It also has the ability to customize speed, pitch and volume.
Tempo SlowMo allows you to practice playing songs, dance routines or learning a new language by slowing down or speeding up an audio tracks BPM (beats per minute) without affecting its pitch. (You can also slow down or speed up YouTube videos with the settings cog)
Transcribe+ is an intuitive app that allows you to focus on specific parts of the music you're studying. Adjust speed and pitch effortlessly with simple swipe gestures. Tap the waveform to pause the track, then drag to listen at your chosen pace, even one note at a time!
Moises allows you to play with your favorite artists in any key, at any speed. You can remove vocals and instruments in any song.
Shazam is an application that can identify music, movies, advertising, and television shows, based on a short sample played and using the microphone on the device.
Spotify/Soundcloud/Apple Music/Amazon Music/Pandora/Tidal/YouTube/Sirius-XM are all music consumption apps. You should have one to be able to listen to music.
Decibel Meter – I use the free one from The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). This is great for determining how loud it is and when to put your earplugs in.
Live Mixing Apps are becoming a must with being able to adjust your own mix on smaller gigs (like weddings). There are plenty of options like: M32Q (MX-Q), QMix-UC, MonitorMix, Mackie’s Master Fader, iLive, OneMix, Mixing Station and more!
DAW (Digital Audio Workstation)/ProTools and Logic Pro X are all industry standard if you plan to do recording from your home studio or travel to a studio. They both have a remote version you can use as a controller.
Samantha Seiderman (aka Seids) has a Logic Pro Handbook you can download for tips.
Music Tech Help Guy is someone on Youtube to help you as well.
Abelton started as a DJ platform and then added features to use in a studio as well. This is a popular platform for running backing tracks and such. Ableset is the remote app you can use to jump to different sections in your setlist or song.
Abelset. This allows you to run everything from your device of choice. You can create a setlist, change or reorder quickly and if you have it marked in the Abelton session, you’re able to define the different songs and sections, and add comments, loops, stop points, and so much more.
Audiomovers for home recording is a way for a client to listen in on the session you’re recording “in real time”.
Session Studio is a mobile, desktop & web app for music creators and side-people to collaborate, organize song credits & splits, share releases. This is FREE!
Apple ‘Notes’/Evernote/Voicenote are all ways to jot down different ideas and snippets or make lists or record quick tidbits.
Password Keeper – Pretty self-explanatory.
Finance Apps
Damon mentions the book “I Will Teach You To Be Rich” by Ramit Sethi.
Banking App with Zelle is a bank-to-bank transfer of money. I try to use this first, before resorting to the third-party apps. (You can print a QR code if you need to collect tips or merch payments)
Venmo/CashApp /PayPal are third party banking apps. Pretty common in transferring funds to people or for goods and services. They are also starting to have a credit option. (You can also print QR codes if you need to collect tips or merch payments)
Note: Venmo, PayPal, Cash App used to report $600+ in business transactions to IRS for taxes. As of 1/1/2026 this limit has been increased to $2,000.
Square is a (POS) Point-of-Sale app, good for selling merch and other items using your phone or tablet.
SumUp is a good substitute in Europe for the third party Venmo like apps. They also have the option for card readers like Square.
Wave (receipts) is an app that lets you upload receipts and attach them to transactions. You can enter transactions in Wave by connecting a bank account, uploading a statement, using Wave connect, or manually creating transactions.
Calculator – Self-explanatory
Digital Wallet – This allows you to keep your various card information on your phone. You can also add things to this like your boarding pass for flights and more! An example would be the Apple Wallet on iPhones. Note: By the end of 2025, iphones will let U.S. citizens add their passports to the apple wallet so you can travel domestically with just your phone.
Tip Calculator – easier than counting on your fingers.
My Currency Converter – for sorting your money/exchange rates in different countries. Don’t cry when you see the US dollar depreciate before your very eyes.
Travel Apps
Maps/Waze/City Mapper – Very useful in getting around on foot or in a vehicle.
Rome2Rio is a trip planner that gives you some of the quickest, cheapest and most convenient transport options to get you where you need to go, anywhere in the world.
Parkmobile lets you Easily pay for street, lot, or garage parking right from your mobile device. You can also reserve parking ahead of time near garages and stadiums across the country (USA).
Parkwise is a crowd-sourcing parking app providing drivers with real-time info about free and soon-to-be free street parking spots nearby.
Park NYC is an app to pay for parking in NYC. Park NYC Pay or Dispute, is for when the meter maids are too lazy to check that you have paid on the app and have written you a ticket that you need to dispute.
Marcos mentions Spot Angels. This app helps you find free parking & garages near you.
Marcos also mentions ParkWhiz. This app you can find parking in any major city, compare prices, plus save up to 50% when you book in advance.
EZ Pass/Toll NY are toll paying devices for your vehicle to travel smoothly on highways.
As far as which transponder works were, check out this list below…..
· E-ZPass – Delaware, Georgia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York*, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, West Virginia and Utah
· I-Pass – Illinois
· QuickPass – North Carolina
· Toll Road Pass – Indiana
· River Link Pass – Kentucky and Indiana
· Sun Pass – Most of Florida
· E-Pass – Central Florida (also works in Georgia and North Carolina)
· Peach Pass – Georgia
· FasTrak – California
· TxTag – Texas (also works in Oklahoma and Kansas)
· K-Tag – Kansas
· Geaux Pass – Louisiana
· Palmetto Pass – South Carolina
· PikePass – Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado and parts of Texas and Florida
· EXpress Toll – Colorado (also works in Kansas, Texas and Oklahoma)
· GO-Pass – Washington State
· Best Pass – is a great option for commercial vehicles
All-In-One Pass – is offered through Best Pass and allows you to travel with nationwide toll coverage in all states.
Momondo is a global travel search site comparing flights, hotels, and car rental deals. They show you an overview of available travel options, the latest available prices and let you choose the offer you prefer.
Hopper predicts prices for flights and hotels, with 95% accuracy up to 1 year in advance. You can watch a trip right in the app and they’ll send you a notification when it's the best time to buy — recommending you to: book now or wait just a little longer.
I Know the Pilot is a good place to check out last minute cheap international and domestic airfare deals. You can receive instant alerts the moment they find a new deal, so you can check it out and book before anyone else does!
Flighty is an app that tells you everything about your flight. It has real-time updates, the alerts as well as delay predictions. There are free and paid versions of this app.
Travel-Safe makes it easy to avoid danger zones in bad neighborhoods while traveling.
TripIt is a travel organizing app that keeps all your details in one place. It allows you to organize your trips and access your travel itinerary on your mobile device.
Airbnb/Hotel Tonight/Vrbo are apps for finding a place to stay in advance or last minute.
Hotel reward apps (Hilton Honors, IHG, Marriott BonVoy, etc.) – Get those points and perks!!!
Also get them for Airlines too! (Delta, United, Southwest, American Airlines, Lufthansa, British Airways and more!)
The Points Guy (Brian Kelly) – for maximizing travel and earning perks! Lots of great tips and suggestions. Points by J (Jess Bohoroquez) and Zachary Burr Abel also help you find deals and maximize your points.
Humphrey Yang (Humphrey Talks), Erika Kulberg, Vivian Tu (Your Rich BFF) are great financial people to follow online.
ExpertFlyer: This useful tool helps you search for award seats and upgrades for $4.99 a month. The $9.99-a-month subscription will alert you when new award seats become available on specific flights. The free version lets you set up seat alerts to help you snag a window or aisle.
FlightAware: A free flight tracker with the most up-to-date information since it gathers data directly from air traffic control systems around the world.
LoungeBuddy – Find the closest lounge to your gate, what amenities are available, how much it will cost and how other users rate it. It also tracks which lounges are free if you have elite status or access with a credit card or other rewards programs.
Priority Pass, is the world's largest independent airport lounge access program, providing members with quick and easy access to 1300+ airport lounges and other experiences worldwide.
SeatGuru – Get accurate seat layouts and other information for your next flight before selecting a seat. Don’t get stuck in a narrow seat that doesn’t recline.
Award Mapper: A simple website with a map-based interface that tells you which hotels belong to various rewards programs.
Uber/Lyft – if you don’t feel like calling a cab or taking public transportation isn’t an option.
Gett – If you’re trying to “get” a black cab in the UK.
Waymo One – If you’re brave enough to ride in an autonomous vehicle. Read: driverless/self-driving car.
Master Tour!!! (Essential for the side-person) Usually the side-person is invited to a specific tour by the tour manager. This app provides access for you (and the crew) to the itinerary, schedules, travel details, contacts, hotel reservations, maps and more from your device. The app is designed to provide quick access to the critical information for each day. You can add guests to the guest list or see highlighted spots from other users for things to check out in the area you’re traveling in (like coffee shops or restaurants).
Sign up for TSA Pre check or Global Entry to avoid long lines at the airport and keep on your shoes. But you can keep Mobile Pass on your device as well to help reentering the USA (if you’re a citizen there).
My TSA is a government app that provides airline passengers with 24/7 access to the most frequently requested airport security information on any mobile device. Save time and money with their helpful tips for preparing for security, including a searchable database of items that can and can't go in checked or carry-on bags.
Mobile Passport Control (MPC) is the official app of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. It allows eligible travelers to submit their travel document, photo, and customs declaration information through a free, secure app on their smartphone or other mobile device. The use of MPC streamlines the traveler’s entry process into the United States by reducing passport control inspection time and overall wait time. Sometimes this might get you back into the country faster than the Global Entry line.
Pro-Tip: Messaging with iMessage (not SMS texting) the flight info on an iPhone to yourself or someone else will give up to date flight information including on-time status, departure and arrival times, duration, and gate and baggage claim information. You can message three ways:
· Airline + flight number: Delta Airlines 405 (must include the word airlines)
· Airline abbreviation + flight number (with a space): AA 9461 (e.g. American Airlines)
· Airline abbreviation + flight number (no space): VS4030 (e.g. Virgin Atlantic)
Other airlines (in the Domestic USA)
AA: American Airlines
AS: Alaska Airlines
B6: JetBlue
DL: Delta Air Lines
F9: Frontier Airlines
G4: Allegiant Air
HA: Hawaiian Airlines
NK: Spirit Airlines
UA: United Airlines
WN: Southwest Airlines
You’ll know the format is correct if the text is underlined (hyperlinked) once the message has been sent.
On an Android device, text Google by using the shortcode 466453 (which spells Google on most phones), and enter the abbreviated airline (e.g. American Airlines is AA) along with your flight number, and Google will respond promptly with an updated departure and arrival time, leaving a text message on your mobile device.
A weather app (of which there are several). Get one of these so you can prepare for the climate wherever you’re going.
My Shake tells you all you need to know about earthquakes. Are they in your area? How big are they? And more pertinent info.
Watch Duty is an app that tracks, monitors and updates for wildfires in real time.
Emergency: Alerts, is an app you hope you never have to use, but when disaster strikes, you'll be glad you have it. It is supported by the American Red Cross and it keeps tabs on everything from hurricanes and floods to extreme heat and winter storms.
Various train apps, like the one for the MTA (Metro Transit Authority). You can also buy tickets in advance.
Campermate (if you choose to use campsites while touring or days off)
Food Apps
Coffee Apps - Dunkin’ Donuts/Starbucks etc.
Find Me Coffee/Closest Cup/Cuppings are apps that show you where to find a coffee shop that is close to your location.
Yelp/Open Table/Tasteful help you find restaurants and food near you.
Happy Cow is for finding vegan and vegetarian eating establishments.
Atly to find gluten-free eats near your location.
Gluten Switch to see if the food products you’re purchasing/eating are gluten-free.
Spokin, Allergy Eats, and Find Me Gluten Free are great for helping you navigate dietary restrictions or special needs with food.
Postmates/Grubhub/Door Dash/Uber Eats/Seamless/Zomato (formerly Urbanspoon) are for getting food and drink delivered to you.
BarHopper (aka Happy Hour Finder) is an easy way to find Happy Hour specials in the city near you! You can search by location, cuisine, day and time, your cravings, neighborhood and more!
Resy is a reservation management system that connects diners with restaurants and provides tools for restaurants to manage bookings.
The Michelin Guide app lets you find and reserve restaurants and hotels near you or in your travels.
Photography Apps
Quik is the app for controlling your GoPro camera.
Color Splash is for altering the color of your photos.
Over is for making quick poster/flyer type posts out of your photos.
No Crop helps add a border to your photos, so they don’t get cropped on social media.
Pic Stitch (and others) let you make photo collages.
In Shot, CapCut, and Video Shop (among others) for making Instagram posts and videos with templates.
SnapSeed a photo editing app developed by Google for both iOS and Android.
Physical Health Apps
My Fitness Pal/Apple Health-Fitness are health and fitness tracking smartphone apps and in some cases an accompanying website.
Strava/Map My Run/ Trail Link allow you to keep track of your runs and bike rides. They also allow you to pick routes in cities you might not be as familiar with.
NY Times 7 min workout is on YouTube and great for quick workouts that you can do in your hotel or apartment.
Manpo-kei (not an app) which means 10K steps a day in Japanese, is a good goal to have! That you can track on your various fitness apps.
Train Heroic is the app that Marcos uses. It brings performance to the people with the leading training app and program marketplace with training plans from real coaches.
Mental Health
Backline, Talkspace, Headspace, BetterHelp are Mental health apps that can help keep you grounded and your brain in check. Some apps can connect you to a therapist. Others have options like meditation, yoga, help you sleep better.
For Stress Relief: Sanvello
For Addiction: I Am Sober
For Better Sleep: Calm
For Anxiety: Worry Watch
Not Me a 100% anonymous reporting app for misconduct in the workplace from your phone.
Sonic and Endel do things like generate custom frequencies, drive away insects, train your dog, and test stereo channels, bass, and sound levels with clear sound wave!
Damon mentions getting a grocery store app like Whole Foods or Sprouts for an option that isn’t fast food.
Planning Center Services is something both Damon and Marcos use with different musical organizations. It was originally for church services, but now it has expanded to wedding and corporate bands and more.
Marcos mentions DistroKid, formerly titled Fandalism, is an American independent digital music distribution service, founded in 2012 by entrepreneur Philip Kaplan.
He also mentions Dropbox secure, easy cloud storage for file sharing and collaboration.
Marcos also mentions Rocket Money. it is the easiest way to find subscriptions, manage bills, and even cancel recurring charges with a single click.
Not mentioned, WeTransfer for sending files over the internet. The free version lets you send up to 2GB in one email. The paid version is unlimited.
The song leading out of the interview is, “Acércate Feat. Issac Delgado” by Jeremy Bosch from the album, ‘Epílogo: La Clave del Tiempo’.
