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www.reverbnation.com/tomjuarez

After 2 years of work, frustration, sweat and tinkering, I have produced an album of my original songs using Band In A Box.

All of these tracks use BIAB and except for the title track ONLY BIAB and Realtracks for the arrangements. All the vocals are me. The songs were all mixed using Samplitude Music Studio 14 which was a perfect compliment to BIAB as it easily utilized the PGMusic plug-ins (which were in many cases more reliable than Samplitude's built in ones). I have Native Instruments Bandstand as softsynth for the midi parts., and all the parts were rendered into WAV files to mix in Samplitude.

Here's a breakdown of the individual songs. I’ve tried to be as thorough as I can, though it’s been a while since I created some of the hybrid styles and frankly I can’t remember exactly how I did some of them:

1) Mens Rea

This is the title track. In legal parlance, "mens rea" is one of the components of a crime. In Latin, Actus Reus ("bad act") + Mens Rea (bad intention) = crime. I wrote this about a breakdown I had in San Francisco in 1996 and how the city ("she") brought it on.

This is an alt. rocker. I played the guitar parts on it because the first two chords are so wierd I couldn't really find an appropriate name for them. I eventually settled on calling them e5, and e9b5 but that wasn't quite it so I played the guitar into Samplitude using a MAudio fast track. I only have an acoustic guitar so I had to add distortion etc later.

The style is a hybrid ( I always seem to use hybrids ) as follows: Drums - Kelly2, Bass - CNorahP, no piano, Strings - CNorahP using the Church Organ patch) The second phase was kind of inspired by the Moody Blues and Helter Skelter (I know, but you'll see what I mean)

2) Breathe In

My songs are pretty consistently about 3 topics, Love, Politics, or Religion. This is a political anthem about the relief I felt (since tempered a little) upon President Obama's election. But it's general enough that I think it works on a number of levels.
Classic Rock style in the Hey Jude mode.
BIAB hybrid style again, though based on the AVRIL1 style. RT Soloist Cowboy Ev 165, ( besides not having the funds to buy all the RT I want, I find this is a really versatile track and can be used in many styles. )

3) Disagree

This is about the political conversation in the US – particularly as depicted on talk radio.
Style is R_SLOWHH.STY (Slow Hip Hop)
Style MIDI Instruments are : Finger Electric Bass (34), Rhodes Electric Piano (5), Muted Electric Guit (29), Slow Strings (50)
The solo is Rock Organ.
Interesting fact: I rendered the drums twice: once using the “room kit” and once using the “26 Rap TR 808” kit to add extra punch to the drums.

4) Slow Burn

Hard rocker about… well you figure it out. ;-)
Style is ALTROCK4.STY (Alternative Rock 4 style) Style MIDI Instruments are : Finger Electric Bass (34), Pad-Sweep (96), Church Organ (20),
RealTracks in song: 666:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm SouthernRock Ev 085 RealTracks in song: 396:Guitar, Electric, Soloist Metal Ev 085 RealDrums: RockThrashHalfTimeEv16^4-HoH,BlR
Love the way the guitar solo turned out!

5) Shutters
My college friend wrote this and was gracious enough to let me record it. He says it’s about discovering his catholic roots. I’ve done it as an alt country ballad. I put echoes on many of the country instruments and wah on the pedal steel which sounded really cool so I did it again in Yellow Sun Dress below. I think I’ve created a new Genre! Space Country!
Style is CC_GOO.STY (CC_Goo - 6/8 or 3/4 ev.8ths Grun)
Style MIDI Instruments are : Acoustic String Bass (33),
RealTracks in song: 370:Pedal Steel, Background Hank Sw 120, 408:Guitar, Resonator, Background Allis Ev 120, 409:Fiddle, Background George Ev 085, 854:Guitar, 12-String Acoustic, Rhythm RockWaltzA-B Ev 140.
MIDI Drums :41 Brushes Kit (41)

6) Deny Me
Guess whose POV this is from? Hard rock blues.
Style is _POPORGN.STY (Pop-Rock with B3 Organ (120 RS))
Style MIDI Instruments are :
RealTracks in song: 701:Bass, Electric, PopHalfNotesSync Ev 085, 666:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm SouthernRock Ev 085, : 675:Organ, B3, Background Blues Monday Sw 065, 642:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm HardRockThrashHollow Ev 085, 396:Guitar, Electric, Soloist Metal Ev 085, RealDrums: RockBritDrivingEv16^1-SnCH,RdCym

7) So Fast
Never wrote this as a Country song, but it just fit. This song was originally called Jeannie, but it became about more folks than her ;-) nevertheless the hybrid style is still called Jeannie, though honestly the song is all RealTracks now so it doesn’t matter.
Style is JEANNIE.STY ()
Style MIDI Instruments are : Acoustic Piano (1),
RealTracks in song: 366:Bass, Electric, Country Ev 065, 368:Guitar, Acoustic, Strumming Ev 065, 377:Guitar, Resonator, Background Trav Ev 088, 369:Pedal Steel, Background Ev 065, 409:Fiddle, Background George Ev 085, RealDrums: RockEven16

8) Yellow Sun Dress
This is about the summer I met my wife (now of 13 years) .
I had to use MIDI drums at the end of this because I wanted the song to slow to a halt but the slower it got the choppier the RT sounded. I think I blended it almost to where you can’t tell. Cowboy soloist again –love that track.
Guit,El,Soloist Cowboy Ev165 (412)
Style is _FOLKRCK.STY (Folk-Rock Waltz Medium (150 RS))
RealTracks in song: 366:Bass, Electric, Country Ev 065, 864:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm PopRockWaltzPulsingClean Ev 140, 898:Guitar, 12-String Acoustic, Strumming FolkRockWaltz Ev 150, 675:Organ, B3, Background Blues Monday Sw 065, RealDrums: RockModernWaltz^1-SrClsdHt,RideC

9)When They Come Home
This song is pretty self explanatory, but is about the costs of war. Southern Country rock with a bit of inspiration from Bruce Springsteen. I had to shift to midi halfway through for a mood change so used the “cloud” style
Style is ELTON1.STY (Elton 1 - Ev. 8ths Rock)
Style MIDI Instruments are : Rock Organ (19),
RealTracks in song: 388:Bass, Electric, Metal Ev 120, 406:Guitar, Acoustic, Strumming Ev 136, 384:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm Rock Southern Ev 120, 412:Guitar, Electric, Soloist Cowboy Ev 165 RealDrums :RockEven8

10) Groove? Rut?
A funk ode to technology. I did the same thing with the drums as I did on Disagree above
Interesting fact: I arranged and sang all these harmonies myself and did not use the TC Helicon harmonizer. I love that effect but it wasn’t right here, and besides I wanted a little more freedom.
Hybrid style again made of too many R&B hip hop parts to remember.
Style is GRVRUT.STY ()
Style MIDI Instruments are : Slap Bass 2 (38), Bright Piano (2),
RealTracks in song: 666:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm SouthernRock Ev 085, 680:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm RockBritSoulful Ev 085, 416:Sax, Tenor, HipHop Rock Sw 100 (Bluesy), 675:Organ, B3, Background Blues Monday Sw 065 MIDI Drums :26 Rap TR808 Drums (26), and Room kit.

Thanks for listening and if you liked this album –consider purchasing it?
Thanks to all at PGMusic -without whom I can literally say this album would not have happened. You’ve opened up a whole new world of possibility for me and I’ll be forever grateful!

Oh and I forgot to mention that all of the vocals on this album were treated with liberal use of one of my favorite features in Samplitude: "Elastic Audio Easy" which allowed my to fix any vocal clunkers. You can use it as an auto-tune, but I'm not THAT bad a singer ;-). Seriously though, with a lighter hand you can make your vocals sound great with it.

Hi Tom,

Congratulations on a fantastic effort. I've just had a listen to Mens Rea and Deny Me. Talk about very different stylings! To my mind, you've really demonstrated just how versatile Band In A Box is in the hands of a skilled musician.

All the best with the album.

Noel

Great job on this album Tom. Great singing, and lots of great hooks on those songs!

This is quite a collection of songs! Awesome work! I listened to many of them. Lots of skill and talent there. This must have been a hell of a mountain to climb and finish. Been there! You should be proud...and a bit exhausted! Rest, and enjoy the rewards too!

Dan

Wow. Tom...

where to begin..? SUPER JOB! exactly what this forum hopes to showcase! you started with BIAB and made the sound your own (quite effectively I might add. ) Your songs are a real testimony to the power of PGMusic products in the hands of someone who knows what he wants to achieve.

I could go on and on (and usually I do) but your work speaks for itself

Great job! Thanks for posting!

I listened to several and these songs are great.

Hi Tom,
Very nice work. I really like your vocals if a bit too processed for me (sometimes).
Here are my efforts with BIAB.

http://www.reverbnation.com/playlist/view_playlist/1270430

Keep up the great work!

Chris

http://www.myspace.com/chrisvoice
http://www.uk.singerspro.com/chris.davies123
http://uk.youtube.com/user/ceedav
http://www.soundclick.com/store/byArtist.cfm?bandid=889...
http://www.garageband.com/user/CeeDav

Thanks for the support all!

@Peter -that's a huge compliment coming from the man who taught me what a "hook" was (took your songwriting tutorials on CDROM).

@Chris - You're right I do tend to hide behind the vocal effects a bit. 2 reasons:

1. I'm a big chicken ;-) but more importantly,

2. my vocal recording setup is not ideal. I have a pretty crappy mike and the room I have to record in is noisy -so it's also a way to clean up the noise a bit.

Still -you're the second person to point this out to me so it's a good point. Maybe I'll be a little more confident on the next album (which I've already started writing!!)

Cheers, T.

Tom,

I liked each and every song. They are all well written and you have done a great job performing them. Your vocals are simply too good to bury them in effects.

I'd like to give you some positive constructive criticism on the album. (not meant to bring your work down!) Most of it has to do with the production. In the vocals there are quite a lot of pops and other artifacts. These will no doubt all come from the mike set-up you're using and the room you're recording in. Most songs sound "compressed" to me. There's hardly any air in the sound. This has to do with giving each instrument it's own space in the mix and on the virtual stage. This can be done by cutting certain frequencies from each instrument, so that they don't get in each others space. Here's a link to an interactive EQ-sheet Very useful in determining which instrument needs which frequency-range.
After the mix is all done the production needs mastering.
In the song "deny me" I would have left the organ out in the intro and first verse, but that's personal taste I guess.

All in all you did good work on your album, you wrote solid and good songs and you have the vocals to back it up. Congratulations!

Thanks Mike,

Any help with mixing/mastering is greatly apreciated as I'm self taught. Fantastic chart! Question: what does "fundamentals" mean in this context? Thx, T.

Yes, these great tracks are quite compressed. I didn't mention it because it's a personal preference usually. Some people love that sound. These tracks would do well if the compression was lessened a great deal, and some dynamics were allowed to breath back in. Great collection of writing for sure though!

Dan

Hi Tom,

I listened to several tracks and really enjoyed it. You have great material and the project is engaging. I really appreciated the variety of styles and arrangements. You really know how to use BIAB to it's full potential. I look forward to your next project.

Rodm

Hi Tom,before I give an honest critique of your songs first let me say I think you have great talent and your lyrics and arrangement are excellent.Why the songs remind me of the Beatles Im not sure but they do.But I have to say that Im not a big lover of over compressed sound and all the tracks I listened to were.Again it seems you used a lot of effects which sounds interesting on one or two but then they started to lose me.You have a great voice and I wondered why you would use so much effect on it.Im from an older generation and maybe this is a sound that takes some getting used to I dont know.But out there are a&r people who might feel you have something different and so I wish you the best of luck.Thanks Frankie

2 years well spent Tom.
All music boils down to taste as far as the listener is concerned, so no critique from me, I just like em.
I like what you've done in BiaB etc. very creative. As far as the vocals are concerned I think you did very well with the effects. After all, a song is a short theatrical piece, and just as the actor disguises himself to fit the role, you can take on different roles for each song using effects. Not everyone's cup of tea, but I like it. You've set a high standard for your next work, good luck.