I have really enjoyed listening to everyone's creativity in the User Showcase, and it has me wondering something...how do you BIAB arrangers organize the RealTrack instruments? Are any of you willing to share your strategy? Have you created a comprehensive list with some organizational system? Have you rated the patches? Did you list patches that work well together...or which instruments sound similar enough to be strung together...or which are great on their own?

So, how 'bout it? Any great tips out there?

Jeff, some others may chime in here that are more organized than me. I don't have any particular "go to" RT's because each song is different. The only exception up to now would be that I usually but not always gravitate toward the simpler bass RTs. I always start my songs in BIAB only because I'm used to doing it that way.

Once I bring the song into RB, I audition a large number of RTs for a song by generating a few bars. I undo what I don't like and make a note of what I like. Some get generated for the whole track. Others are either regenerated only in the bars where I want them to go or I'll generate a whole track then cut and paste what I like to a new track. With 2011 the RT's on my computer now actually generate faster in BIAB so I may change my workflow and try more of the tracks there before moving into RB.

As for organizing - I just use the sort feature so I can search by instrument, bpm, and even or swing. There are more choices now with the new time stretching engine which is good because the choices used to be more limited. Sometimes I experiment with something different just to hear how it sounds. The more I use RTs the more I know which likely won't work for my song but I don't keep a list per se.

Hope that helps a bit.

Hi Jeff. I read your post last night but did not answer, because as a composer and arranger, the beauty of music is indeed as Josie said well: every song is different. When choosing RealTracks, I follow the adage by Duke Ellington: "If it sounds good, it is good".

You asked about patches that work well together. Do you know that BIAB has RealStyles, and these load pre-defined RealTracks that PG Music thinks go well together. You can also create your own RealStyle once you find a combination you like.

Perhaps, though, I am not really understanding what you want.

Each song is different. Some I use just the basic Biab combo. Sometimes I will edit tracks using the piano roll. Some I take into realband and add other complementary tracks. A nice tip is to take the original Biab into realband and then just start adding real tracks. 2 or three for each instrument and then go back and listen to each in a version and then choose the best. It can be time consuming but also very effective at times. I hope this helps!

My Music/url]
Read My Blog

My Reverbnation

Thanks for sharing your secrets, Josie, PgFantastic, and Matt. I, too, like to "throw some paint on the palette" and mix and match to see what I come up with. It can be as simple as choosing a different RT instrument or as subtle as panning two similarly-ranged instruments to separate them. Fortunately, you can always go back to your BIAB song where the mix sounded so sweet to see how you made it happen--unlike my "paint palette" metaphor.

Regarding Matt's comments:

Quote:

---

You asked about patches that work well together. Do you know that BIAB has RealStyles, and these load pre-defined RealTracks that PG Music thinks go well together.

---

Absolutely. Use those all the time. I'm trying to become more creative: e.g. enhancing styles that sound too repetitive for a whole song, using more fine-tuned control to have an RT instrument "solo" around a melody, etc.

Quote:

---

You can also create your own RealStyle once you find a combination you like.

---

This is a cool feature that I have not taken advantage of yet, but it is still the same problem of being fixed to a set of instruments for the whole song (looking into sub-styles).
____

Are there others of you out there itching to chime in?

Jeff