I'm still not totally clear on using the a b or blank at the start of a bar.
I can't find a video that explains this very well.

-I understand the Intro (ie:start at bar 5)
-I understand "a" could be verse
-I understand "b" could be chorus


How do you mark a section as a middle 8 or pre chorus?

I like the idea of working with the "a" and "b" markings because the drums react properly with fills.

Thanks

I think you have a good start.

A(blue part marker) and B(green part marker) are called "substyles" and yes, A is typically the verse and B the chorus, because the B substyle is generally 'busier' or more intense.

While the change to a different substyle results in a drum fill, that can now be turned off if you have a recent version of BIAB. Also, the intensity of fills depends greatly on the style selected.

In jazz, a form of Intro, AABA, Tag might be done as B,A,A,B,A,B

There is a possibility of using a style with more than two substyles, called a Multistyle. BIAB introduced some of these quite a few years ago, but if I recall correctly, they were MIDI-oriented. It was possible to click through more than A and B; you could get C, D and more and they used different colors.

I believe if you wish to build and save your own style, it should be possible to combine RealTracks in a way to construct a user style that would allow you to do this. Often just changing the drums used makes a major difference in the feel of a song.

You can read more about this by going to Help, Help Index, Substyles. They discuss pre-verse, interlude, drum fills and more.

Also note, you do not have to change the feel of the song by using substyles. You can press F5 (Bar Settings menu) and change the style at any measure. I suspect this technique is used more often than multistyles.

Let me know if this helped you, and ask your questions.

Band In A Box is not designed to follow a pop style song form as in Verse - Prechorus - Chorus - verse - prechorus -chorus - bridge - chorus - etc...
It follows a traditional jazz and blues form where a chorus means one time through the entire main section of the song. Then it allows you to add repeats of the chorus, intro, tag, ending and such.
Best to expand to one big chorus and ignore BIABs use of the term "chorus". 100 bars is usually enough for a moderate tempo song.
But, as you build the song you might find it helpful to keep the bars to a minimum for faster regeneration up to the section you are working on.
Set your final last bar when you approach completion.
Most of my songs are done this way.

You can use Bar Based Lyrics to designate your form.

Many styles allow you to change the drum pattern and rolls used by right clicking on the A or B part marker.

The A Blue and B Green part change markers are used to change the A - B style for verse and chorus and to force a drum roll just before the part marker.

To create a blank bar or blank beat's in a bar insert a chord with a period and make it a rest. "C." It will rest until your next chord.

Right click on the bar for more on bar settings.
right click on the blue or green substyle part marker for more on drum pattern and other choices.

Thanks for the suggestions. I will try them all.

Do most people work with BIAB without using the "a" and "b" markers?

I would really like the option of being able to name and tag a section chorus, or bridge or Intro with a different letter and have BIAB react to that labeled section.

Here's how I look at it.
It's simple, but I try to keep things organized in my head at a basic level before expanding.

Any time you put a marker (an A or B change) in the song, the preceding measure will get a drum fill at the end of it (or a 'lead in').

Whether it is two A's in a row or A/B changes or two (or three) B's in a row.
In my simple mind, this is how I can force/control a fill. Whether I call them chorus or prechorus or George, I control the drums/fills for a given section with this one simple rule.

There are also actual literal 'Markers' where you can label a section whatever you want, but the above is how I control the drums, which is what I think you were asking.

That's a good way to think about it, thanks rharv

Can someone tell me how to label a bar? I'm using the Mac 2016 version

I'm not using MAC so I don't want to how to label a bar. And, I don't normally label the bars in BIAB. I label them in my DAW, Reaper.

rharv said;
"Any time you put a marker (an A or B change) in the song, the preceding measure will get a drum fill at the end of it (or a 'lead in')."

But in BIAB2016 for Windows I can right click on the style change marker or blank space where the style change/part marker would be and in the dialog I can remove the check mark for "Allow Drum fill before this part marker (normal)" and no drum roll/fill when I don't want one. I'm not sure if this is true for all styles but so far so good.

Not sure about the Mac, in the PC version you can add a letter to a Bar (with or without a part marker). Right-click where the part marker displays, and choose Bar-base Section Letters:

I did start marking the sections with the optional letters. This will work fine, Thanks

I love the Bar-Based Section Letters. My songs are labeled with I(intro), A, B, C, T(ag), S(olo), things like that.