Daw : Workflow and Changes

Index

Print Thread

Go To

BiaB --> RB --> Daw : Workflow and Changes #266383 10/23/14 06:26 AM Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
Joined: Nov 2004 Posts: 221 semar OP Apprentice
OP semar Apprentice Joined: Nov 2004 Posts: 221	All, once generated all the backing tracks with BiaB, I'm ready to import each one in the Daw (FL Studio, or RealBand, depending on the song and on the mood :-). Now come the fun part 2. There is a lot to do in order to refine and personalize each single track. For example, I would like some drum solo here and there. How to obtain this in RB ? How do you usually apport such modifications to the drum part ? One approach I could imagine, is to let RB to generate some drum fills on another track, then 'cut' only the fills and paste it together at the right place, so that they are in sync with the track that needs a drum solo. The new material (the fills) should obviously override the one of the targeted track. While I find this a possible method, I think it's tedious and needs a try-and-error approach that could be painful. And it's obviously not guaranteed, that consecutive drum fills sound like a drum solo.. Another possible way would be the use of pre-made (midi or audio) drum solo/fills which are usually available in the Daw itself. But the drum kit used should sound the same of the BiaB drum track, which could not really be an easy task to accomplish. Would you like to share some experience about your workflow ? How would you for example insert a drum solo in the BiaB drum track ? And more in general, which changes do you usually apply to the backing tracks (if any.. they are already perfect.. 8-) ? Best regards, Sergio Music, games and more - Musica, giochi ed altro ancora

Re: BiaB --> RB --> Daw : Workflow and Changes semar #266407 10/23/14 09:39 AM Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
Joined: Aug 2011 Posts: 10,154 Winston-Salem, NC USA Jim Fogle Veteran
Jim Fogle Veteran Joined: Aug 2011 Posts: 10,154 Winston-Salem, NC USA	Obviously every song or project is different. Every person has different available resources and experience levels so you will receive vastly different responses. Here's how I would approach your drum tracks question. I would begin by trying to use midi drums instead of RealDrums. Using midi drums I can keep consistent drum instruments (sounds) no matter the source of the midi drum patterns. Also, midi drum patterns and instruments are more tolorant to tempo changes so that a midi pattern with an original tempo of 65 bpm may sound okay in a song with a 130 bpm tempo. If the original style used RealDrums there is a setting to force midi drums or you wait until you import into RealBand to mute the RealDrums then select a style with midi drums. This provides the foundation for the drum track. Usually a drum solo is fairly short so, if meshing fills together doesn't work, it wouldn't take too long to use the drum editor to create a solo. You could find some midi drum solos on the internet. Jim Fogle - 2024 BiaB (1111) RB (5) Ultra+ PAK DAWs: Cakewalk by BandLab (CbB) - Standalone: Zoom MRS-8 Laptop: i3 Win 10, 8GB ram 500GB HDD Desktop: i7 Win 11, 12GB ram 256GB SSD, 4 TB HDD Music at: https://fogle622.wix.com/fogle622-audio-home

Re: BiaB --> RB --> Daw : Workflow and Changes semar #266408 10/23/14 09:45 AM Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
Joined: Feb 2011 Posts: 81 J Jeff S Enthusiast
Jeff S Enthusiast J Joined: Feb 2011 Posts: 81	So here is one way to do it with just the BIAB drum real tracks. It takes some work and a lot of time but if you don't move the position of the tracks the timing part shouldn't be an issue. In BIAB first pick what drum real track you want to use for the initial style. Generate the track and render the WAV file and drag to the first track of your DAW of choice. This is your base guide track. Go back into BIAB and repeat the step but each time before you regenerate add markers at various points to get the different fills to generate. Also switch out to a similar real drum track just to get some variance in the fills. The idea behind this is to end up with a dozen or so (yes it sometimes takes that many) individual WAV tracks in your DAW that have as many variances as you can generate including other styles. It is time consuming but once your in the DAW your creativity is the only limit. Start at the bars in the song you want the solo at. Audition the tracks one at a time at first then start auditioning another or several at the same time. You will start to get a picture of how you want the solo to flow. Then its a matter of splitting the sections and pasting into the base track. If your DAW has a snap to grid feature you should be able to slice, dice and splice with out to many timing issues. If you have a nudge feature you can nudge the clips just a bit forward or back to try and humanize the sequence a bit more. You can pull bits and pieces from anywhere in the rendered tracks in fact if the solo is nestled as a bridge don't be afraid to try a fill that was generated in a verse. You wont get a Neil Pert or John Bonhamm drum solo but you can create some really nice 8 and 16 bar solos and its completely your creation. There is some satisfaction in that and makes the effort worth it in my opinion. I do the same with the guitar soloists. The only draw back is that if you want to use it BIAB you will have to import it into the audio track. I've never tried that so I don't know what issues would result from that. Also if you use several real track styles there may be some sonic sound differences. One other trick that works occasionally is to build 2 main drum tracks and overlay the fills or the move them a half beat. You can get some really busy solos that sound like roto toms and double kick drums. Careful its easy to go too far and then it just gets messy. Again this is just one way. This one works for me but some others may have a different way.

Re: BiaB --> RB --> Daw : Workflow and Changes semar #266446 10/23/14 09:09 PM Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
Joined: May 2000 Posts: 21,663 Mi., USA rharv Veteran
rharv Veteran Joined: May 2000 Posts: 21,663 Mi., USA	Yet another .. At the end of many Realdrum tracks (the actual original WMA file) you'll often find samples of each drum hit. They usually include the basic kit single hits, but you gotta look for them in the raw tracks. Then edit/save them as 'samples'. Using these you can can create whatever drum part you want by utilizing a sample playback plugin like DR-005/DR-008 or similar. Like other suggestions this takes a little effort but once figured out your possibilities become endless. I've suggested more than once that PGMusic include a sample playback plugin for just such purpose. Last edited by rharv; 10/23/14 09:11 PM. Make your sound your own! .. I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome

Re: BiaB --> RB --> Daw : Workflow and Changes semar #266456 10/24/14 12:27 AM Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
Joined: Nov 2004 Posts: 221 semar OP Apprentice
OP semar Apprentice Joined: Nov 2004 Posts: 221	Thanks for the interesting ideas so far, I would like to try each of them. The method with midi - suggested by JimFogle - makes me skeptical because of the quality of the sounds (midi drum compared with Realdrum !), but I guess that with a good drum kit the results are not bad. On the other side, the enormous advantage of a complete control over each beat and instrument is unvaluable. I think it's only a matter of finding a good sounding midi drum kit to overcome the first step that scares me a bit. The second approach - from Jeff S - is very interesting because the various fills - the little bricks of the solo - would be generated from BiaB/RB, which is a guarantee of good sound quality, and would be performed by a real drummer. It takes some patient indeed, expecially by cutting, pasting, slicing ant so on, but the result could be a killer drum solo. The third one - rharv - is also very appealing, the only difficult here is that I should self create the drum solo, or find a good midi solo groove to be used in the drum kit of the sampler. The advantage here is that such drum 'kit' contains the same drum samples of the Realdrum, hence it should merge perfectly in the drum track. Perhaps the process to prepare such a drum kit with the right sampler would take quite the whole time; more, in the midi solo groove, each single note should match the right instrument in the kit. Three different approaches, a whole field of opportunities :-) Quote: I've suggested more than once that PGMusic include a sample playback plugin for just such purpose. Indeed would be really useful. Furthermore, would be nice to have each 'note' of the realdrum on a piano roll editing view, where each note triggers the relative percussion instrument and can be edited/moved/added like midi notes. I know there are the RealMidi for that purpose, anyway would be nice to have a total control on the Realdrum performance of any Realtrack. Music, games and more - Musica, giochi ed altro ancora

Re: BiaB --> RB --> Daw : Workflow and Changes semar #266461 10/24/14 02:39 AM Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
Joined: Feb 2003 Posts: 2,426 Warwickshire, UK Skyline Veteran
Skyline Veteran Joined: Feb 2003 Posts: 2,426 Warwickshire, UK	I never use the RealDrums in BIAB for a number of reasons: (1) I can't tweak and control them. (2) I don't like some of the kit sounds. (3) Pushes are not very good at all. (4) I want full control so I can put in fills and lots of other things I think drummers would do in the piece. I use XLN's Addictive Drums which have amazing samples sounds, different kits, and MIDI patterns and fills which I can tweak easily. When I've got the tracks I need in BIAB (mainly RealTracks nowadays) I drag them into Sonar X3. I then add a MIDI drum track with Addictive Drums and all the tracks lock together nicely. I start with a bread and butter beat and then as I listen I add the fills, end of section crashes, punctuations, etc. that a drummer would put in. Years of playing in bands helps me to know what sort of things are needed. As I work on the project I always do a lot of tweaking to the drums; they're an extremely important element of pop/rock, etc. John Last edited by Skyline; 10/24/14 09:26 AM. Reason: Clarification Songs web site YouTube Channel BIAB 2019 Cakewalk by BandLab Studio One 4

Re: BiaB --> RB --> Daw : Workflow and Changes semar #266465 10/24/14 05:13 AM Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
Joined: Apr 2009 Posts: 9,413 Middlesex, NC Guitarhacker Veteran
Guitarhacker Veteran Joined: Apr 2009 Posts: 9,413 Middlesex, NC	The quality of the sounds of midi drums..... you must be using the default GM wave synth drum sounds. Yeah, they sound really bad and mostly fake. Real drums in RB or BB is a really nice, quick, acceptable, halfway decent sounding drum track, but.... as you know, it's not all that easy to edit it or to control a certain part of the kit. If the snare is too loud or not loud enough, or the cymbals.... you can try to fix that with EQ, which sometimes works but there are other times where the track is useless if you're looking for a certain something from it and it simply can't deliver. There are some drum synths, quite a few actually, that hands down, flat out beat real drums quality with one hand tied behind their proverbial backs. Most of them require you to input the notes and fills. My reason for using the real drums in BB/RB is simple. I'm lazy and it's quick. It also does a decent job. If I wanted to take the time, I could have a better sounding drum kit, but as a songwriter, I'm not looking for a drum track that shows off the drummer's skill..... I'm looking something that keeps the time and fits the groove well and I don't have to spend a bunch of time creating. It's totally possible to create a Pert style solo, but, to do it, you have to know your synth and more importantly, you have to be able to think like a drummer. The second best drum synth to me is Jamstix. Everyone has their favorites. I use this on some of my tracks since it has the ability to create a track for me based on my input parameters and then I can edit it after the fact or ask it to recreate a certain section.... very nice piece of kit, but it does take some time to get in there and make those edits. It incorporates over a dozen "famous drummer" playing styles, and dozens of kits..... plus you select a style of music from a long list and then let it create a track for you. Everything in it is editable and I mean everything..... you can tweek the tuning of the drum heads in the kit and change their diameter and depth if you want.....decay, timbre, attack.... everything...plus effects like verb, compression, room .... I'm no expert on it. I use it at a very shallow level to get what I need. Some of the things the folks who know it and use it create with it are freaking amazing. Go check out the sample tunes made with JS here>> http://www.rayzoon.com/jamstix3.html That's my 2 cents You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.com Add nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.

Re: BiaB --> RB --> Daw : Workflow and Changes Guitarhacker #266517 10/24/14 05:30 PM Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
Joined: May 2000 Posts: 21,663 Mi., USA rharv Veteran
rharv Veteran Joined: May 2000 Posts: 21,663 Mi., USA	The issue I confronted with other drum generators was that while Jamstix (or comparable) is nice, but if you have a desired Realdrum track already and want to match it, finding a combination of Jamstix Kit/Style that works with the existing Realdrums proved difficult for me. All it takes is a sample playback synth to make your own 'JamStix type synth' that matches the sound of your existing Realdrum track. And uses BiaB styles.. If the Realdrum individual samples were simply available in a MIDI synth plugin .. Then you can could, edit, delete, mix Realdrums as needed. I know the old DR-005 does 90% of what I want, and I have used it. I even got approval from the company to use and distribute it for such use. There was a small learning curve, but I can make a kit pretty quick now (as long as the samples are available), and the possibilities are huge. It's a whole 'nother world waiting to be explored if you have the inclination. Want a certain Ending for the drums .. use the samples! Make your sound your own! .. I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome

Re: BiaB --> RB --> Daw : Workflow and Changes semar #266566 10/25/14 06:03 AM Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
Joined: Apr 2009 Posts: 9,413 Middlesex, NC Guitarhacker Veteran
Guitarhacker Veteran Joined: Apr 2009 Posts: 9,413 Middlesex, NC	One of the things I'd like to see in future editions would be the ability to have a composite drum track as we now do but also to be able to control or edit the individual drum kit parts/tracks. Jamstix and many other drum synths have that ability. You can output the entire kit or split it into multiple outputs so that each part of the kit is assigned a unique track..... very nice if you need that functionality. You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.com Add nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.

Re: BiaB --> RB --> Daw : Workflow and Changes semar #266709 10/27/14 06:46 AM Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
Joined: Nov 2004 Posts: 221 semar OP Apprentice
OP semar Apprentice Joined: Nov 2004 Posts: 221	Quote: One of the things I'd like to see in future editions would be the ability to have a composite drum track as we now do but also to be able to control or edit the individual drum kit parts/tracks. I definately second that. Anyway, I've downloaded the demo version of Jamstix. First of all, I had to install two DLLs that were missing in the O.S. (Win 7) to make it working :-/ It tooked me quite a while to figure out how to let it play a selected drum section. There are two buttons (!) that have to be pressed, one has a 'lock/unlock' icon, the other looks like the curved arrow of a browser page-reload button ! For my taste is missing a simple "play" button with the green right arrow, you know.. More, the demo version adds random noises here and there during the execution thus disturbing the audition and making quite difficult the evaluation of the product :-(( The XLN's Addictive Drums seems promising, I'll give it a try. By the way I've also discovered EZDrummer 2, which also seems quite popular in the drum world :-) Later. Music, games and more - Musica, giochi ed altro ancora

Re: BiaB --> RB --> Daw : Workflow and Changes semar #266711 10/27/14 07:26 AM Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
Joined: Dec 2003 Posts: 21,074 Hamlin NY MarioD Veteran
MarioD Veteran Joined: Dec 2003 Posts: 21,074 Hamlin NY	If you have good drum sound sources like Addictive Drums, EZ drummer, or Steven Slate's SSD Drums, http://www.stevenslatedrums.com/# you can have drums as good as RDs IMHO. Along with BiaB's MIDI drum tracks you can purchase third part MIDI drum parts from Groovemonkee, http://www.groovemonkee.com/collections/midi-loops and others. These grooves will work in SSD4 and Addictive Drums as I have these so I think they should work in EZ drummer. I work almost exclusively with MIDI drums as I can copy, write, modify and/or play the parts the way I want them. You know you're getting old when a recliner and a heating pad is your idea of a hot date! 64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware

Re: BiaB --> RB --> Daw : Workflow and Changes semar #266718 10/27/14 09:32 AM Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
Joined: Mar 2011 Posts: 123 Upstate NY Dan45 Apprentice
Dan45 Apprentice Joined: Mar 2011 Posts: 123 Upstate NY	If I may throw in a random question here while the OP considers all the many options-- I too have EZ Drummer but I still use RealDrums wherever possible to save time. However in my quest for more percussion sounds I am pondering the EZX Latin add-on from ToonTrack. However in my search I have come across Native Instruments Cuba and West Africa libraries. Tempting enough to make me want to jump ship, to say the least. Does anyone here have experience with the NI stuff and their player? It's all new to me. Or, another percussion fill sampler I may have missed that is cheaper than say $80-100 US? BiaB 2024 Reaper v7.15 Melodyne Essential 5.3

Go To

Moderated by Andrew - PG Music, Blake - PG Music, Callie - PG Music, Catherine, PeterGannon, pgmoderation

Link Copied to Clipboard

ChatPG

Ask sales and support questions about Band-in-a-Box using natural language.

ChatPG's knowledge base includes the full Band-in-a-Box User Manual and sales information from the website.

PG Music News

June 10, 2024

User Video: Band-in-a-Box® + ChatGPT = Impressed the BOSS!

Since AI is now readily available online as a resource for many things, we recently put together and shared a video where we demonstrated how to create a song using Band-in-a-Box®, ChatGPT, and Synth V; we've also shared a Bob Doyle Media video, Convert MIDI Chords into AI Vocal Harmonies with ACE Studio and Band in A Box, showing how they utilize AI for their song projects. Now it's time to share Henry's video, Band-in-a-Box + ChatGPT = Impressed the BOSS!, where he demonstrates how to use ChatGPT and Band-in-a-Box to whip a song project together in only 3-4 hours.

Watch the video.

Visit Henry Clarke's YouTube Channel, Henry Clarke - Senior Musicians Unite, to find a large collection of tutorials showing the viewer how to achieve amazing results using Band-in-a-Box®!

June 05, 2024

Band-in-a-Box User Video Tutorials!

If you've reviewed our Support page, you've probably noticed the Videos page, which separates our Band-in-a-Box® tutorial videos by category: Overview, VST DAW Plugin, Setup, Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, and there's even an Archive category to go down memory lane... (You'll also find these videos on our YouTube Channel.)

It's always great to hear how other Band-in-a-Box® users create their songs, especially when they explain in detail what they're doing. Like Henry Clarke's YouTube Channel, Henry Clarke - Senior Musicians Unite! There you'll find his ALL Band-in-a-Box Tutorials playlist with over 50 videos! His top-three most watched videos include "How to Get Started with Band-in-a-Box," "How I use the Audio Chord Wizard in Band-in-a-Box," and "How to Create An Effective Solo Using Band-in-a-Box" - however he touches on many other topics and also demonstrates his own Band-in-a-Box® songs in the Band-in-a-Box Created Songs playlist!

You're guaranteed to find some helpful videos when you visit Henry Clarke's channel!

May 30, 2024

Band-in-a-Box® 2024 Italian for Windows is Here!

Ci siamo dati da fare e abbiamo aggiunto oltre 50 nuove funzionalità e una straordinaria raccolta di nuovi contenuti, tra cui 222 RealTracks, nuovi RealStyles, MIDI SuperTracks, Instrumental Studies, "Songs with Vocals" Artist Performance Sets, Playable RealTracks Set 3, Playable RealDrums Set 2, due nuovi set di "RealDrums Stems", XPro Styles PAK 6, Xtra Styles PAK 17 e altro ancora!

Tutti Pacchetti | Nuove Caratteristiche

May 27, 2024

Band-in-a-Box® 2024 French for Windows is Here!

Band-in-a-Box® 2024 apporte plus de 50 fonctions nouvelles ainsi qu'une importante de contenus nouveaux à savoir : 222 RealTracks, des RealStyles nouveaux, des SuperTracks MIDI, des Etudes d'Instruments, des Prestations d'Artistes, des "Morceaux avec Choeurs", un Set 3 de Tracks Jouables, un Set 2 de RealDrums Jouables, deux nouveaux Sets de "RealDrums Stems", des Styles XPro PAK 6, des Xtra Styles PAK 17 et bien plus encore!

Tous Packages | Nouvelles Fonctionnalités

May 22, 2024

Video: Making a Song with Band-in-a-Box®, ChatGPT, and Synth V

Take your Band-in-a-Box® project to a whole new level when you incorporate ChatGPT and Synth V to add lyrics and vocals to your song!

We wanted to demonstrate how this is done with our video, where we show you how to go from nothing to a finished "radio ready" modern pop song by combining the features of Band-in-a-Box®, ChatGPT, and Synth V!

Listen to the finished song, so you get a listen to the finished product: https://demos.pgmusic.com/misc/behindthefame.m4a

If you like it, watch the video. Either way, let's hear your comments!

May 10, 2024

Henry Clarke: Revolutionize Your Band-in-Box® Tracks with Regenerating Function

One of the new features added with Band-in-Box® 2024 is the Tracks Window, which will look familiar if you've worked with other DAWs.

Henry Clarke explains why he loves the Re-generation function within the Tracks Window in their video Revolutionize Your Band-in-Box® Tracks with Regenerating Function.

Watch video.

Learn even more about what the Tracks Window can do with our video Band-in-a-Box® 2024: The Tracks Window.

April 25, 2024

User Video: Convert MIDI Chords into AI Vocal Harmonies with ACE Studio and Band-in-a-Box®

The Bob Doyle Media YouTube channel is known for demonstrating how you can creatively incorporate AI into your projects - from your song projects to avatar building to face swapping, and more!

His latest video, Convert MIDI Chords into AI Vocal Harmonies with ACE Studio and Band-in-a-Box, he explains in detail how you can use the Melodist feature in Band-in-a-Box with ACE Studio. Follow along as he goes from "nothing" to "something" with his Band-in-a-Box MIDI Melodist track, using ACE Studio to turn it into a vocal track (or tracks, you'll see) by adding lyrics for those notes that will trigger some amazing AI vocals!

Watch: Next-Level AI Music Editing with ACE Studio and Band-in-a-Box

More News