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Hello Forum members I'm a newbie here, having only recently purchased BIAB. I've been writing for a couple of years now and been using Cakewalk mainly for recording and production. A good friend of mine has used BIAB for a long time now and recommends it highly. Attached is my first recording using BIAB and I love the extra dimension it has given this song, especially the solo during the outro... its outstanding. (only wish I could play it myself). The vocals not perfect and I don't have the greatest voice, but i'm very happy with the music production. Can't wait to see what BIAB can give to my next song. BIAB is a big program...huge learning curve! Lights - Soundcloud Lights -Youtube LIGHTS INTRO: Aaah… aaah… aaah… aaah. Aaah… aaah… aaah… aaah. VERSE 1 I was thinking ‘bout all the highs and lows out on the road, Crowd reacting to our songs, friendships under heavy load. Played them all, woo-ooh-ooh, arenas to village hall. Tens of thousands, maybe more, fields of green they are no more. CHORUS Lights go down upon an empty stage. Lights go out, turn another page. VERSE 2 Had the sound and the pose, the hair and some fancy clothes. Girls and powder for our nose, money yeah, well that soon goes. Time slips’ easy, woo-ooh-ooh, band mates long gone. Hear their song, shed a tear, on my shoulder I can feel you near. CHORUS Lights go down upon an empty stage. Lights go out, turn another page. BRIDGE I don’t know what’s left for me to play. We followed the path but somehow lost our way. Spotlight falls hard upon the ground where I stand. Here and now, no longer in demand. VERSE 3 Time has come, woo-ooh-ooh, to clear the stage. One more chorus, take a bow, that’ll have to do for now. And ever more. CHORUS Lights go down upon an empty stage. Lights go out, turn another page. OUTRO …lightsss…. shine on through. …lightsss…. on an empty stage. …lightsss…. shining on you. …lightsss…. turn another page. BIAB song details: _HROCKLA.STY LA Hard Rock Bass:995 Drums:^7 a:snare, Bell ride, b:snare, crash ride Guitar 1: 999 Guitar 2: 996 Guitar 3 (solo outro): 1835 Soloist pop modern groove gritty EV 16 075 Vocal Aahs: 3063 Rhythm pop3 part ev085 Human interventions: Main Vocals: my dulcet tones! Rhythm Guitar 1: Seagull Coastline Rhythm Guitar 2: Maton SRS70C
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Andrew
PG Music Inc.
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Welcome to the forum, Knee Wobbler. Nice song, definitely better than my first outing here  I especially like your vocals and the chorus. Well done!
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Hi Lee - welcome to the forum! There are many members here who are very encouraging and supportive, and will also lend you their discerning ears.
I think you’ve made good use of texture (if that’s the right word) - differences in dynamics between the verses, bridge and chorus. I love your use of the vocal aahs in the chorus, and that outro lead guitar choice fits nicely.
Being another Aussie, you’ll have to get used to many members posting overnight while you sleep, but also many from Europe and elsewhere, including a contingent of Aussies and kiwis.
Looking forward to seeing more of your song posts in future.
Andrew
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Thank you for the welcome and the encouragement. I’m really pleased with how BIAB has given extra layers to the sound. I’m a guitarist and have been using Cakewalk exclusively. Trying to create a drum track or a piano track from scratch in Cakewalk was painstaking and because I’m neither a drummer or pianist, they turned out amateurish. With BIAB I don’t have to worry about those elements so much….BIAB is those missing band members. Thank you.
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Hi Andrew, thank you for the welcome.
It certainly seems to be a proactive community here. Lots of advice, tips and tricks being offered freely. Yes, I was really pleased how this all blended together. It blended so well that you can barely hear the three rhythm tracks I recorded at times! I guess that’s all part of the learning curve, making sure that each element has its place and isn’t outweighed by another.
Yes, I was wondering whether my post had been received and had considered reposting, but thought I’d wait 24 hours in case the moderator had gone night-night. Thanks for all your support throughout the years and my journey Andrew. Couldn’t have done it without you. Love our sessions together. You’re a great mate.
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... Thanks for all your support throughout the years and my journey Andrew. Couldn’t have done it without you. Love our sessions together. You’re a great mate. Ahh - thank you my long-term friend! I know the appreciation works both ways! Songwriting, coupled with tech like DAWs, BIAB and LOTS OF GUITARS is: - Expressive
- Creative
- Therapy
- A rabbit hole
- Collaborative
- Sometimes expensive
- Eye-opening
- Common ground of shared interests
- Life-long learning
Andrew
Last edited by Andrew Dee; 08/08/25 12:37 AM.
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Lee, nice song with a cool, Ziggy Stardust swagger. Super production. Really like the BGVs. If the SoundCloud graphic is supposed to align with the song, then I'm not listening to the song correctly. I'm just hearing a wistful sadness, artfully performed.
My early BiaB songs didn't sound nearly this polished, but then again I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer. Kudos!
DC Ron
BiaB Audiophile
Presonus Studio One
ASUS I9-12900K DAW, 32 GB RAM
Presonus Faderport 16
Too many guitars (is that a thing?)
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Hi Lee,
Welcome to the community! Wow, that chorus is really beautiful. It brings to mind a band from Canada that I really liked called Grapes of Wrath. I really like the use of Aahs on the outro too.
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Great first outing with BiaB. As someone recently wrote on another post, I'd rather hear a real voice than a SynthV one. I had to smile when the outro lead came in as it's session musician Dave Cleveland who has an amazingly unique style and I've used his samples on a few of my own tracks, which are mostly instrumental. Probably still on the 1st page of this forum thread is my song "Flowing Lady Deya [rock version]" with Denisse Ferrara vocals - it'll be further down than the "[smooth version]" as it was posted some weeks ago - and the middle 3rd of the track is a long Dave Cleveland solo which I had to use in full as it's just so very good, but there's probably at least one phrase in that which also appears in your song. For me, particularly as I use so many solos, a downside of BiaB is that one inevitably gets the same solo phrases recurring in different tracks. With many instruments it's not so noticeable, but it's very noticeable when sampling Dave Cleveland guitar solos as his style is so unique. Where I've used his samples I've sometimes had to regenerate and regenerate to avoid getting the same phrases I already have in other tracks. Whatever, great first post for the forum!
Some favourite Waoist Adages:
#1: Play on the Way.
#13: Ask not for whom the flower blooms, it blooms for you.
#58: Bring consciousness to it.
#63: On the road to effortlessness, effort must be made.
#92: Be Love Now, the rest will come on its own.
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Welcome Lee. This is a very polished first post, much better than my first post! You have a very good voice so showcase it more. Great backing band and mix also. ...........................................................I’m a guitarist and have been using Cakewalk exclusively. Trying to create a drum track or a piano track from scratch in Cakewalk was painstaking and because I’m neither a drummer or pianist, they turned out amateurish. With BIAB I don’t have to worry about those elements so much….BIAB is those missing band members. You path is identical to mine, i.e. creating tracks in Cakewalk to BiaB, although now I use Studio One Pro. BiaB sure beat doing it all doesn't it. Plus it sounds a hell of a lot better! I really enjoyed this song - great work.
I'm in a fitness protection program. I'm been hiding from exercise.
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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High praise indeed, to have a Ziggy Stardust comparison. Thank you DC Ron.
Yeah, the whole song, as you can probably tell, was about great bands losing band mates along the way and ultimately giving it all away. Written literally weeks before Ozzi passed away. But as it is with my generation it seems like there’s someone of note from our era passing weekly. Mores the shame, but that’s the beauty of music. We can all relate to it over shared experiences.
Cheers
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Thank you BYOBand
Yeah the chorus really worked well considering it’s only a two line chorus. I did think about extending it, but it just seemed right to leave it as it was. I’m not aware of Grapes of Wrath, I’ll check them out. I was going to leave the outro as just the aahs, but singing ‘lights’ over the first two bars and punching in the lyric ending also seemed to work really well. I think I was very fortunate with how this all came together.
Kind regards
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Thank you Waoband
I’ll check out Flowing Lady Deya shortly. Yes, I could hear when I created the outro how different phrases were being re-used when regenerating. I’ve not heard of Dave Cleveland, but I really love this style of playing. As I’ve said in a previous post, only wish I was at that level….even with the use of tab! But it’s great that BIAB can give you the tab.
Kind regards.
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Thank you Mario
Yes I am very pleased with it. I mentioned to Andrew Dee when I played it to him, that I thought it is at the top of my songs/recordings. Thank you for the praise on the vocals. Vocals are my Achilles heel as I have a limited range and not always a lot of strength/power. Thank you, glad you enjoyed it.
Kind regards
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Hi, Lee.
Welcome to the forum!
Nice song - catchy and well sung.
You mentioned you thought the chorus might have been too short, but for me it did what a chorus needed to do. No reason for it to be any longer than it was.
No need to have perfect vocals - as someone who uses synthetic vocals myself, I'm well aware of the pitfalls of a "perfect" voice. It really is nice to hear a real voice, imperfections and all.
-- David Cuny My virtual singer development blogVocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?BiaB 2025 | Windows 11 | Reaper | Way too many VSTis.
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Thank you for a warm welcome.
You’re right, a chorus just needs to have a hook that the listener can connect with. As with other things, length isn’t important!!
Perfect vocals for us mortals ain’t gonna happen…but it’s nice to have it as a goal and a dream.
Kind regards
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That's a good song.
Coming from a background of playing guitar in a full time traveling band, in my younger years, I can relate to your lyrics. I always enjoyed being on stage and that silence after the show was..... Is depressing the right word? Disappointing?
I really like that LA hard rock style. I've used it multiple times and even for country tunes. It just depends on the other instruments you add to it. To my ear, that is a country rock song. But everything sounds like a country song to me.
Your raw vox reminded me in places of Neil Young. I like it.
Nice first song from the box.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd 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.
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Thank you for your kind comments Guitarhacker. Glad the song resonated with you. I can certainly sense a country rock feel, but it certainly wasn’t intended to be. The nearest I get to country rock is Shania Twain…thinking about it, I can almost hear her singing it.
High praise too, comparing my Vox to Neil Young, but he had/has a richer timbre than me.
Kind regards
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YES! That's the word that got Lennon to fall for Yoko while he stood at the top of a ladder with a magnifying glass in hand. It's also my welcome to you, Lee. What a wonderful entry. I love the changes, the dynamics, the vocals, the BGVs, the instrumentation and mix. Listened to a few more on your YT channel, and we are all in for some special treats. Keep 'em comin'.
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Ask sales and support questions about Band-in-a-Box using natural language.
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