Charlie,

Thanks for jumping in. You're the expert on ACW and I always pick up things when I read your posts.

Wendy,

it didn't occur to me to mention this but like Charlie, once I have the chords, I also kill the audio because I no longer need it. In addition, again like Charlie, I remove the tempo map and just set BIAB to a tempo that I like.

The reason that using F8 is important is twofold. One: aligning beat 1 creates a tempo map that BIAB can use if it is to play along with the audio. Two: ACW's interpretation of chords is often dependent on what it interprets as beat 1 in a bar. By making sure that the beats 1 align, the best chord interpretation is obtained.

My experience is that chord interpretation depends on many things and some genres interpret better than others. Country songs with simple chords are highly accurate. Jazz songs with complex chords, though, often need user input to adjust chords when the chart is returned to BIAB. This is understandable given that a melody note can belong to numerous chordal possibilities.

In a nutshell, this is my process...

1. Open the audio file w/chords (under "Open | Open Special").

2. Set bar 1.

3. Press F8 to align beat 1 for most/many/some bars (this depends on the rhythmic accuracy of the audio).

Once the beats 1 are entered, it's possible to adjust them by simply dragging the bar line to a position of more accurate placement.

4. When the song is finished determine the key and set it.

The root key chord most often occurs: (a) as the last chord in the chorus; (b) the first chord of the verses; (c) at the end of the song. Since the initial key may not always be the ending key (as in the song you are describing), I always try to home in on the first time in the audio that I hear the complete feeling of resolution that comes when the chord progression reaches 'home base'. This is the key that I set in ACW because BIAB requires the starting key. Key changes in BIAB are set using F5.

5. When I've finished the song, I send everything back to BIAB.

6. If I need to adjust BIAB's key, I use the right column of the key settings so that the chord names are not transposed.

7. I kill the audio and delete the tempo map. (To delete the tempo map, go into Bar Settings (F5) and press "Reset all bars" at the bottom of the bar settings window.)

8. Now I enable the style because it is automatically disabled by ACW when the chords are sent to BIAB. When it's disabled, there's an X in front of the style's name.

Hope this helps a bit more.

Regards,
Noel



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