New tune- just for groovin

[shockwave199]

This was just for pure fun, while learning new software. It's a nice tune to groove to while I drive too!

http://www.songramp.com/mod/mps/listenrm.php?Download=56698

Dan
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Vibe Studio

[Tightrope]

Very relaxing - and some nice "licks" in there. Tell us about what you were doing. That has to be a real sax player, no? If not, I want to know everything about it!
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- Larry

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[Peakly]

[exmark]

Hi Dan -

What a really wonderful tune; great tracks and tones throughout. We'd all like to hear what software you used - but I admire your playing as well as the beautiful packaging. Thanks.

Dave Wiegand

[lopingbuzzard]

Tasty, Dan! My mouth is watering and I'm licking my lips. Delicious.
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[Cidy Zoo]

Cool. Real nice guitar.

Now give up the back story on the tracking.

~ Bill
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[Don]

More.

Really enjoyed that Dan. Very nice Steely Dan feel to it.

And I have the same requests as the others..........what's the story the backing tracks?
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Regards,
Don

[cmaffia]

Let's try to guess the software. I am going to guess the software is the new version of Band in the Box

[Havlicek]

Super tastey tuneage Dan-O. You and the boyz dun reeeeel good! I also dug the mix and there really isn't anything that stands out as being not up to the rest of the parts. As a personal thing, I wouln't have minded a little more extension on the LFs...not louder...just lower. Is there any kind of mastering EQ or filtering going on down there to gain headroom? Great stuff as always!

-john
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[shockwave199]

Charlie guessed it- it's biab! I didn't play a note, nor did anyone else in my studio. This is comprised of 'realtracks', which is players on real instruments following MY original chart. It's really quite slick the way it works. I got this software because I wanted to see if it could help me fill in my rhythm sections and save me a boatload of recording and/or programming things myself. I don't want to replace ME mind you. But honestly, I just want a way to get my material done in less than a year or more. If that means biab can spit out an acoustic guitar strum track so I don't have to do it for the umpteenth time, than I'm sold! If it means I don't have to program midi drums, or piano, beautiful! If the bass part is making it, it saves me having to play bass. And the HORNS, well, they speak for themselves. There's a TON of realtracks for jazz and country, including amazing steel pedal guitar and fiddle. As you can hear from just this sample, it's hella powerful and it's refreshing to have real players and instruments to work with. And since I'm beyond recording every little freakin thing myself just to eek out a song, this is looking promising. It's not without limitations of course, but biab is not what it was 12 years ago. It's now viable enough for me to use.

John-o, I did extend the low shelf on the bass guitar higher than I usually do. That may have sucked some wind out. I did mix to sound good, but it wasn't the primary goal on this one. I probably would have done better by cutting around the freqs I wanted, rather than shelving out too high. But all in all, it translates well. And might I add, you have superlative ears my friend!

I have a lot more experimenting to do with biab. So far, it's a TON of fun! It's gonna allow me to expand my genera horizons without stressing over my ability to record every part well, or without bugging a lot of other people to do so for me. And that is worth it's weight....

Dan
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Vibe Studio

[exmark]

Its sad when a lump of silicon plays better than we do, but alas, it seems so.... I've been using Band in a Box version 12 as a practice tool for jazz standards, via a laborious process of exporting the BIAB arrangement as a multi-track MIDI file to Logic, and using the Logic synthesized instruments to generate the backing tracks. It looks like BIAB has integrated all that to directly provide very realistic instrumental sounds, so - thanks to you - I ordered the upgrade to the current version. Maybe someday I'll play as well as my Macbook Pro, but I doubt it.

Thanks for the interesting post!

Dave Wiegand

[althemusicwizard]

Oh! Dan.....you don't know how happy I was to hear that was BIAB........I'll tell you why.

To me it didn't sound like music. It sounded like a bunch of pro musicians (well jazzers) who have just been given a bunch of chord changes and asked to solo over them. There's no initial theme or melody that I could discern therefore there was no move away or return to that theme because there wasn't anything holding it all together to begin with.

Now granted it all sounds well recorded (well doesn't sound it....it is!) but there's no soul to it. To me it's just muzak.....wallpaper. And maybe that's the whole idea, that you pick and mix the wallpaper to suit. I've a feeling that you may have trouble taming the beast to do what you want it to do and like some 'revolutionary' Roland products, the demos and videos are out of this world but when you get them in the studio you begin to see their weaknesses or their limitations etc.

Out of interest, are the licks being played 'full samples'? What I mean by this is do you choose a Gmin chord with say the sax, choose Blues lick 1 for that bar (or a few depending on sample) and then it plays back? I'm presuming that you didn't program via individual midi notes and expression, everything the sax played........if so surely that would take a long time (even if it were possible to do so)?

Al

[shockwave199]

You pick up on one pretty big limitation Al, as far as real tracks [RT's]are concerned. It's not really possible to create signature licks with RT's. I suppose you can if you copy and paste like mad to comp something into a signature lick, but that's not really practical. You can create parts via midi within the software though, and have any dxi or vsti play it. That's not really what I'm after though. If I write a tune, say a country tune, and write up my chart in biab, I can put in strum guitar, piano, bass, drums, steel pedal, etc, and drop them into my multitrack daw, be reaper or the deeps. Or maybe even just steel pedal to take a quick solo if I have everything else covered- or even that instrument to noodle in the holes. I'm hopeful it will augment what I record on my own. We'll see. This song I did here was all RT's. I had planned on recording a guitar part myself but didn't. The distorted guitar is cool but it wasn't cutting what I consider to be a melody theme. And then I thought shit, what IS a melody. Who's to say that isn't the melody of the tune. It's consistent enough. Plus I wanted to see what only RT's would give me. I plan on doing a whole bunch more of just RT arrangements. A cd of them in fact. And I plan on using it for dinner music when we entertain! LOL! I dig it, really I do. Souless? Not to me, and especially not if I leave room for my own guitar work on all of it.

In short how it works- you write a chord chart. Choose the instruments you want. Press play and and it generates a full performance of each instrument. If you like what you hear, you freeze the track[s]. If you don't, hit play again and it will regenerate another performance, per instrument. Or you can keep some instruments frozen, etc. Part markers will force drum fills where you want them, as well as change the playing style, such as a marker for intro, verse, chorus will change the style in which they play a bit to match the intensity for that. There is no micro management of sample building to get a performance- it's all auto sequenced and generated behind the scenes. Don't like it, regenerate, or regenerate a region, or freeze it all. A total trip really! With drag and drop into whatever daw you want for serious editing and mixing, it's pretty powerful. And if it doesn't hold up to what I want to use it for, I'll just pump out cool ditties like this and have some fun with it.

Btw- this dude is my inspiration for biab. This is a nicely integrated track between biab, his own guitar playing, which is outstanding, some vsti, and some midi guitar for the violin solo. It's still just a jam kind of thing Santana style, but integrating everything is really where it's at.

http://sitiopro.com/pgmusic/music/

Dan
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Vibe Studio

[althemusicwizard]

Thanks for that Dan.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and music I feel works in the same the way. What one person perceives as simple and beautiful, another person can perceive as trite and worthless. Likewise, music that stimulates the cerebral parts of one person by being intelligent, humorous even challenging can be perceived by someone else as an unintelligible mess. What I referred to as 'soul' in the music probably works in the same way, i.e. everyone's 'soul' is different.

I take it from your description that every time you hit play, another set of recordings (samples) are substituted. Does that mean BIAB comes with a DVD library (say 4Gb or so) of recordings? I also presume these recordings are fixed to the key, as otherwise 'Mickey Mousing' would occur?

Anyway, going back to your 'dinner time' accompaniment, the proof will of course be in the pudding

Have fun.

Al

[shockwave199]

I picked up the ultra package on ebay for short bucks, which is why I'm even noodling with it in the first place. I don't think I'd have gotten it at full price for the package I got, which is pricey. 80 gigs of files comes on a very portable usb drive. I run all the RT's from it. They are not fixed keys or tempos and are remarkably stretchable. Noodled some more tonight. Cool stuff!

Dan
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Vibe Studio

[cmaffia]

Dan,

If used in a certain way, this software package can be extremely useful. Software can have a soul if you work with it. I've researched BITB and there are many ways to integrate this into your work flow.. Excellent choice!

[cmaffia]

[althemusicwizard]

Been on holiday for a week.......

80Gb of files.......that's a lot of stuff to wade through....good luck Dan.

I hear you Charlie. If it provides inspiration to tempt the muse to give up her offerings all well and good.......there is of course a similarity here to just doodling with a synth, making a sound which then leads onto writing a part for the sound, or a complete tune, so I don't dismiss it out of hand.

All is good.

Have fun.

Al