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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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I just wanted to comment on the BIAB vocal remover plug in. I have tried some other vocal removal programs but I am very pleased with this one. I find that the fine tuning controls for the vocal removal work really well. Of course, the panning of the vocal track is key to being able to do a clean removal but I have had some decent luck with vocals don't appear to be panned to the center. I resort to doing this when I just cannot create a decent backing using BIAB syles.
I would love to hear your comments on this plug in and how, when and if you use it.
This is one (of the many) features of BIAB that drew me to it. I went through the cycle that some of you probably did before landing on BIAB of trying free or purchased backing tracks (limits us to what is available out there, hard to synchronize with count-in, intro, etc.), trying to use vocal removers to render good backing tracks, etc.
Any comments on ethics when doing this? I don't make any $$ performing (yet) just do gigs for free for my own and the audiences enjoyment.
Todd
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Todd
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One post about removing vocals. Ok but I don't.
Next about adding harmonies? Odd? I don't either.
I just roll 90% real tracks. Press play.
John Conley
Musica est vita
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Removing vocals from an existing recording and just using the accompaniment with you singing along is still using a copyrighted piece of material.
Will the copyright police show up at a small venue of friends? Probably not, but it's your decision. Me, I would rather use ACW to get the chord progression (or find it in a fake book) and create my own original arrangement of the song. If all they want to hear is the original CD, then they can play the original CD. But that's just me.
John Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 12TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 12TB SATA BB2026/UMC204HD&404HD/Casios/Cakewalk/Reaper/Studio One/Notion/Dorico/Noteworthy/NI/Halion/IK http://www.sus4chord.com (under rehosting/construction)
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Fact is that if you create your own backing track for let's say "Hotel California", you're still performing copyrighted material.
Cheers, Mike My Music * Asus ROG Strix G15CF 32 GB DDR4 4TB HDD + 1 TB SSD NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 8GB Win 11 AKAI EIE PRO Sound Interface. BIAB/RB 2024 UltraPak Build - Latest
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Hi,
Whats the name of this plugin in biab, is it actually called "vocal remover" or is it the ACW we are talking about here?
Thanks
Musiclover
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Quote:
Fact is that if you create your own backing track for let's say "Hotel California", you're still performing copyrighted material.
Correct, but venue licensing agreements permit cover songs to be played (otherwise, every cover song you hear at any venue is breaking the law). But using the non-vocal portion of an existing [mechanical] recording is blatant infringement, unless you have permission from the originator to do so (as I understand it).
John Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 12TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 12TB SATA BB2026/UMC204HD&404HD/Casios/Cakewalk/Reaper/Studio One/Notion/Dorico/Noteworthy/NI/Halion/IK http://www.sus4chord.com (under rehosting/construction)
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Quote:
Quote:
Fact is that if you create your own backing track for let's say "Hotel California", you're still performing copyrighted material.
Correct, but venue licensing agreements permit cover songs to be played (otherwise, every cover song you hear at any venue is breaking the law). But using the non-vocal portion of an existing [mechanical] recording is blatant infringement, unless you have permission from the originator to do so (as I understand it).
You are correct as I understand it as well.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Thanks for the responses. Especially nicely stated jford. I needed a morality check from others and I agree that using the recorded backing is infringement. I love working with BIAB and Realband so there is my answer! Dig in, work diligently and create the best arrangements of my favorite songs to the best of my ability. More satisfying anyway.
Todd
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legality issues aside, the vocal remover is great for creating practice songs. In my experience, however, the overall quality gets compromised quite a bit when you remove the vocals. That limits the end result's usefulness as a backing track you'd want to use in front of an audience.
But the good news is that BIAB and RB make it so easy to produce excellent backing tracks, there is no longer any compelling reason to use vocal redux.
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I use the ACW for every new song I do. I have for some time. I'll DL an MP3 from Amazon for $.99 . A little trick I learned about the ACW.
1. Visually set bar 1
2. Hit play and use F8 to tap in EVERY first beat of each measure. You get better chords I've found.
3. Go through and correct the chords while the song is playing
4. Go through and set part markers while the song is playing.
Add RTs & RDs as wanted.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Right John. I use the same method.
Todd
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Journeyman
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Mike, I've been in the music publishing business for 15 years in a rather significant way (we own a share of the current Tim McGraw #5 song and have had quite a few #1's on the country charts including Song of the Year with George Strait.
Your comment was partially correct but not entirely.
1. It is virtually impossible to copyright a series of chord changes. There would have to be something UTTERLY DISTINCTIVE about them and that is almost never true. There are literally thousands of blues and jazz tunes that have EXACTLY the same changes and they are not copyright violations.
2. You are correct that you cannot PERFORM a copyrighted work without a license because performance is one of the "exclusive rights" granted to authors/publishers under the Copyright Act. But the TRUTH is that performances of copyrighted works are virtually never enforced AGAINST THE PERFORMER. Performances ARE enforced against the VENUES...bars, night clubs etc. that are often attacked by BMI or ASCAP and required to obtain BLANKET licenses that allow them to perform any and all copyrighted works in their catalogs. But I've never heard of a BAND getting busted for performing a song in public venue for pay or otherwise.
3. So, you can create an arrangement of the CHORD CHANGES in BIAB to virtually any song without running afoul of the Copyright Act...as long as you don't include a MELODY track.
But the poster who stated that removing vocals from records and using them IS a copyright violation. In fact, it is TWO violations. One, the song itself is being infringed upon...assuming the original melody and/or lyrics are used and two, there is a SEPARATE copyright vested with the RECORD LABEL for THEIR particular version of the song.
Best,
Jim
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Quote:
Hi,
Whats the name of this plugin in biab, is it actually called "vocal remover" or is it the ACW we are talking about here?
Thanks
Musiclover
reading through the responses I noticed this question was never addressed.
We're not talking about ACW... the vocal remover can be found among the PGMusic plugins. ( I think it *IS* named "vocal remover") It works by applying it to an audio track, same as all the other audio plugins.
As stated many times in the past, all of the PGMusic dialog boxes have a HELP button that leads to information on how to use the feature.
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Thanks Pat, I did actually find it and out of curiosity loaded an mp3 in biab on the audio track just to see what it could do, adjusted a few of the settings on it, but totally useless, maybe I'm doing something wrong.
The help won't open in windows 7 says something about downloading another program to view it
Musiclover
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Quote:
Thanks Pat, I did actually find it and out of curiosity loaded an mp3 in biab on the audio track just to see what it could do, adjusted a few of the settings on it, but totally useless, maybe I'm doing something wrong.
The help won't open in windows 7 says something about downloading another program to view it
Musiclover
I had high hopes for it, but have never gotten results from it that I would be willing to use in public. Success really depends on the way the recording was made more than on the plugin. I have had redux songs that sounded totally vocal free, no residue whatsoever. MOST songs, however, leave residual reverb and the vocals are still noticeable in the reverb trail.
But even when vocals are completely eliminated, the overall sound quality is degraded more than I would like.
One thing I DO find useful about it: When I send vocal redux songs to ACW I get better results, because in the absence of vocals there are fewer notes to confuse the chord generating algorithm.
I also notice that if I continue developing the song with the tempo mapped version of the redux song as my guide track, I can hear the instruments better and it helps me to figure out the parts when I play along. Oftentimes I can hear details in the redux that I completely missed in the version with vocals.
Upshot is, if you consider the PG Music suite of programs as a complete music making package, the vocal reducer can still fit into a niche that makes it useful
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Quote:
Mike, I've been in the music publishing business for 15 years in a rather significant way (we own a share of the current Tim McGraw #5 song and have had quite a few #1's on the country charts including Song of the Year with George Strait.
Your comment was partially correct but not entirely.
1. It is virtually impossible to copyright a series of chord changes. There would have to be something UTTERLY DISTINCTIVE about them and that is almost never true. There are literally thousands of blues and jazz tunes that have EXACTLY the same changes and they are not copyright violations.
2. You are correct that you cannot PERFORM a copyrighted work without a license because performance is one of the "exclusive rights" granted to authors/publishers under the Copyright Act. But the TRUTH is that performances of copyrighted works are virtually never enforced AGAINST THE PERFORMER. Performances ARE enforced against the VENUES...bars, night clubs etc. that are often attacked by BMI or ASCAP and required to obtain BLANKET licenses that allow them to perform any and all copyrighted works in their catalogs. But I've never heard of a BAND getting busted for performing a song in public venue for pay or otherwise.
3. So, you can create an arrangement of the CHORD CHANGES in BIAB to virtually any song without running afoul of the Copyright Act...as long as you don't include a MELODY track.
But the poster who stated that removing vocals from records and using them IS a copyright violation. In fact, it is TWO violations. One, the song itself is being infringed upon...assuming the original melody and/or lyrics are used and two, there is a SEPARATE copyright vested with the RECORD LABEL for THEIR particular version of the song.
Best,
Jim
This is pretty much what I thought however getting an explanation from some one closer to the issue was nice. Thanks.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Hey Pat,
That's a great idea to use the vocal remover before using ACW. I often get some strange chord results I am sure from ACW becoming confused with the harmony parts.
Todd
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XPro Styles PAK 11 for Mac & Windows Band-in-a-Box® version 2026 (and higher) is here with 100 brand new RealStyles, plus 31 RealTracks/RealDrums!
Guess who’s back again? That’s right! It’s our XPro Styles PAK’s triumphant return with the 11th edition in this series! 100 new styles are coming your way spread across the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres. And this edition's wildcard genre explores the immense and far-reaching catalogue of electronic music! The included 31 RealTracks and RealDrums can be used with any Band-in-a-Box® 2026 (and higher) package.
Special offers available until August 31st, 2026!
All the XPro Styles PAKs 1-11 are on sale for only $29 ea (Reg. $49 ea), or get them all in the XPro Styles PAK Bundle for only $149 (reg. $299)! Order now!
Learn more and listen to demos of XPro Styles PAKs.
Video: XPro Styles PAK 11 Overview & Styles Demos: Watch now!
XPro Styles PAKs require Band-in-a-Box® 2026 or higher and are compatible with ANY package, including the Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, and Audiophile Edition.
Introducing Xtra Styles PAK 22 – Now Available for Mac Band-in-a-Box 2026 and Higher!
Xtra Styles PAK 22 for Mac & Windows Band-in-a-Box version 2026 (and higher) is here with 200 brand new RealStyles!
It’s time to celebrate! Xtra Styles PAK 22 for Band-in-a-Box® is here, and we've got 200 brand-new styles coming your way!
No Xtra Styles PAK is complete without the classic rock & pop, jazz, and country volumes you know and love, and we’ve got plenty to share, with 150 styles spread across too many genres to list! Of course, it also wouldn’t be complete with our special wildcard volume to add a little spice and pizzazz to the mix. This year, because we loved it so much the first time, we’ve decided to make the second iteration of our SynthMaster volume, full of new sounds, interesting genres, and 50 engaging styles, all making use of the diverse SynthMaster plugin! Here you can find genres such as airy yacht rock, sultry electrotango, and even some synth soca funk. Don’t wait, pickup up Xtra Styles PAK 22 today!
In this PAK you can find: dulcet folk ballads, funky gospel country, Brazilian jazz fusion, upbeat 1980s pop, classic Americana, a plethora of breezy bossa novas, indie singer-songwriter, scintillating synthwave, exuberant electronica, and many, many more!
Special offers available until August 31st, 2026!
All the Xtra Styles PAKs 1-22 are on special for only $29 each (reg $49), or get all 22 PAKs for $199 (reg $399)! Order now!
Learn more and listen to demos of the Xtra Styles PAK 22.
Video: Xtra Styles PAK 22 Overview & Styles Demos: Watch now!
Note: The Xtra Styles require the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box®. (Xtra Styles PAK 22 requires the 2026 or higher UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition. They will not work with the Pro or MegaPAK version because they need the RealTracks from the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition.
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