I'm new to this program, and I got it originally to have something to practice shedding my Swing guitar chops with...running those changes with the chords in your head is good practice but not always terribly satisfying. But now that I'm getting started using it I can see a LOT of different applications - fleshing out and testing arrangements, making quick demos of my songs for the band, putting together archives of compositions (I write a lot), possibly even using some or all of BIAB tracks for finished recordings, as a kick-ass teaching tool...plus, of course, it's just a lot of fun...there's lots of possibilites, I can tell.
My real question is what kinds of things do YOU folks wind up using it for? And what do you think that it does really well? I'm just curious...I know that a lot of you have a great deal of expertise with this program and understand it's capabilites really well, I'd appreciate your insights.
Beowulf,
I think you've answered your own question.
For me, I use it to create backing tracks to play along with.
Gary
*Don't neglect the EAR TRAINER in BIAB. Start with simple interval identification from the same root and play the game. Ten minutes a day or so is all it takes to develop a monster pair of relative pitch identifying ears.
*I use BIAB for PRACTICE. Of all sorts. Drillin' on the changes, drillin' on things like the ii-V-I's in rotation, the auto transpose feature found in the Prefs for practicing a song in all keys in rotation, with BIAB keeping perfect time plus having a backup band of at least bass, drums and sometimes a rhythm part is super shortcut to getting it down right. Being able to up the BPM as you go and all just adds to the accelerated learning curve that BIAB can provide.
**I'll never forget how much better I learned to time things after seriously using BIAB for less than one year. All of a sudden live musicians I was playing with were obviously rushing, slowing down at more difficult passages, the whole nine yards. But I was not, because I'd been practicing at home with BIAB.** <-- And that was a long time ago, back when BIAB did a lot less than it does today and soundcards with built in cheezy FM MIDI synths ruled the roost!
--Mac
Well, that's quite a good Old English name. Welcome to the forum.
Gary nailed it - you already know what can be done. I use it for composing. Look for a thread augmented yesterday and started by Mel that asked people details about what they use BIAB for. Interesting read.
Thanks, I'll check that thread! And I wasn't even aware of the ear training function. I know I need that!
Just being able to program in Swing songs the band is working on and being able to work with backing tracks (at various different tempos!) is such a luxury...and I know it's gonna improve my phrasing and my time.
What do I do with BiaB?
- I write aftermarket (add-on) styles for BiaB - you can hear them at: My mp3 Demo page
- I make fake disks (songbook disks) for Band-in-a-Box - you can check them out here: My Fake Disk Page
- Use them to help me make backing tracks for my duo - more details are here: My How-To Make Backing Tracks with BiaB page
- I use it as an accompaniment to practice improvisation on my sax, flute, wind synth and/or guitar
Insights and incites by Notes
I've been using BIAB since 1995 to accompany me on solo piano gigs. I just use Real Bass and Real Drums. Recently I bought an EWI USB, so I've started a new folder with trio accompaniement, (piano, bass and drums), all Real Tracks. Since the Real Tracks came out I have no use for the midi sounds. Just my preference. Later, Ray
Yes, Ray, I'm using RealTrack Bass and Drums more and more in my live jazz gigging folders, but I still take my Ketron SD2 to the gig because I have lots of older jazz songfile folders that are all or at least part MIDI.
And certain things can only be done using MIDI bass and drums...
The obligatory MIDI sleighbells at xmastime, open and closed triangles in some of the newer smoothjazz things, stuff like that keeps me using MIDI as well as the Real Instruments in BIAB.
Of course, the better sounding the MIDI synth available, the better this tends to work. I've even kludged together some BIAB songfiles that contain both RealDrums AND MIDI drums in the same song by moving MIDI drums to the Soloist track. RealDrums typically provide the kit while the MIDI drums provide the virtual percussionist, adding bongos, congas, etc.
--Mac
What I do with BIAB?
Firstly I use it to generate backing tracks to practice with (either for me or my students). I make sure EVERY SINGLE EXERCISE I practice has got harmonic content (ie chord accompaniment).
Secondly I've programmed a couple of 'drum only' styles - where i get clicks on beats '2' and '4', or beat '2' only, or beat '2' only of alternate bars which i use to play grooves with. Man, these have improved my time out of sight.
I'm looking forward to new Mac version for ear training, and for generating backing tracks for practice with real band - OR IF I CAN'T WAIT, I'l buy a PC just to run BIAB.
Cheers
Paul
Welcome, friend! I've done most of the basic arranging on my last several albums with BIAB. Mostly I render with Forte, which does just fine; sometimes I combine that with MIDI and/or loops. My finishing work is done in Acid Pro. Lots of examples on the Free Stuff page at my web site, below.
In short? I simply make music. Well, BIAB is my composition and arrangement tool, then I add live instruments to that composition (either myself or collaborators). Whenever I do not feel like composing with my guitar or KORG KB, that's when I usually hit BIAB (such amazing sounds with RD's and RT's)!
Cheers,
Mike
Primarily BIAB is a practice aid - meet my "Electronic Ensemble".
Other than that I often export MIDIs from NWC (Noteworthy Composer) and use BIAB to add a drum kit and occasionally a bass line - sometimes some ideas for brass as well, but mainly the drum kit - which I re-imort via MIDI - much easier than typing it in... This is for the home grown stuff some of the more creative muso's at my church write.
Hey Lawrie
Don't know how 'serious; you are with what you're doing - but if it's mainly drums you should check out a program called SUPERIOR DRUMMER. I had it demo'd to me by a keyboard player/arranger friend of mine. He does commercial recordings (as in, CDs sold by companies like SONY and stuff, mainly in the classical/crossover market) and he uses this program exclusively. You have to see (and hear) what it can do to believe it (and it's not expensive for what you get.
If you google it, you'll find it, made by a company here in UK called ToonTrack.
Thanks Paul,
but my needs are more modest than that. We have a couple of talented songwriters at church and while I prepare scores of their songs, the MIDI/MP3s I create are purely for rehearsal purposes - just to help our vocalists and musicians learn the song basics. Once learned, the MIDI/MP3s are pretty much never played again.
Perhaps a better question would be: "What did you try to do with BIAB that you could not do?"
I believe that list would be a lot shorter than the 'can do' list for BIAB...
Hi Beowulf!
Since I got biab I've been able to put together 8 arrangements of my favourite trad gospel songs - I'm still tweaking the intros and endings (dire!!!!) and of course I've gotta sing 'em (gulp!).
Without biab I would have to have paid a bunch of musicians and gone into a studio for at least a week to get these results. Which I can't (and have never been able to) afford to do. Apart from which I would have had a tough time trying to explain to everyone what I wanted.
More than this - I can keep changing the arrangements to my heart's content, change the feel, the instrumentation etc.
I've also learned musically as well, using the Ear Training and the help from musicians and experts on the forum.
Hope you have great fun with biab!!!
Well this week I am fortunate enough to be playing 3 Mardi Gras Gigs in and around Nawlins.
Later,
I follow Mr Peter Gannon's instructions...... I "Have Fun!!!"
I find that there is an endless niche need for specialty songs... and, believe it or not, people will pay for them. For example...
Joe is retiring. His friends are having a retirement party, and they want a song about all the crazy things he's done during his career..They'll chip in and dig deep to get this song, and BIAB will create it in minutes.
Superbowl party... Ed is a fan of team XX, and he wants a song to play to his buddy who likes team YY. Only requirement is that the song must instult team YY and praise team XX. He will pay any amount of money to make his buddy cringe
(likewise any other sport)
A local cartoonist has just bought animation software so he can create short animated features like commercials etc... he needs music tailored to the content of the cartoon, but doesn't have a big budget...
Local businessman needs to make a sales presentation in powerpoint, needs a song to make a point
Mary just turned 40, and we need a song to remind her how old she is...
Grandma died. Relatives will be converging from all over the country. They want a sad song that commemorates the value she added to all their lives.
the local rest home has an entertainment budget.. but it's not huge. However its enough to pay a single entertainer to come and play oldies once a week
Somebody at work just did something monumentally outrageous and everybody is talking about it. They just need a song to immortalize it
the local political parties will both pay for songs that push the agenda du jour
the common denominator in all these niches is that the need arises and vanishes in a moment, and you need to fill it very quickly or lose the opportunity. BIAB is a rapid development system for musical ideas. Such applications don't require the technical mastery of commercial music. It just requires an agile mind and a sense of what pleases the audience without mortally offending the subject of the song. If you play your cards right, after you roast somebody in song, he'll pay you to roast somebody else.
Lather, rinse, repeat
for any person who may have just lost his job due to a slow economy...
I bet you could make a reasonable side income by joining all the poetry newsgroups you can find and offer the service of putting their poems to music for a fee.
I know several women who have paid what I consider to be large amounts of money to have their poetry set to music. I heard the songs, they were not as good as BIAB would have generated.
People will always spend money on an ego-enhancing hobby
that's interesting.
Any words can be set to music.
I read a review/article on Elton John, who gave a songwriting masterclass in London last year. Basically he was asked about the relationship between words and music, and he said he could take any words and make a song out of them. Someone in the audience challenged him to do it on the spot, so they found a book, took a page at random and he wrote a song on teh spot and sang the words from the book as the lyrics! (It's apparently how he writes all his songs - someone does the lyrics and then he turns them into a tune).
Quote:
that's interesting.
Any words can be set to music.
I read a review/article on Elton John, who gave a songwriting masterclass in London last year. Basically he was asked about the relationship between words and music, and he said he could take any words and make a song out of them. Someone in the audience challenged him to do it on the spot, so they found a book, took a page at random and he wrote a song on teh spot and sang the words from the book as the lyrics! (It's apparently how he writes all his songs - someone does the lyrics and then he turns them into a tune).
In interviews, Elton John has explained that in most of his classic hits, his famous lyricist - Bernie Taupin - always wrote the words first. He then added the music right before the recording session - in an hour or two. This is obviously very easy for him to do. The two never worked together.