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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 436
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OP
Journeyman
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 436 |
I'm going to try some vocals and live guitar this week, and have some questions before I start. . .
1. If I use up all the tracks, including melody and soloist, does that leave nothing for the audio to be recorded on? Doesn't it try to put it on either soloist or melody tracks?
2. If I just want harmony on the chorus, is there a way to add it there if I just sing the entire song in one cut? Or would it be better to go to RB and put the harmony and lead on separate user tracks, then add the harmony?
3. Does RB have the same harmonizer available?
4. When I add effects to the synth track under the tracks area, is it the same as adding them in the plugins area?
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 12,674
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 12,674 |
BIAB only includes one single stereo audio track, which is completely separate from the MIDI track, so it won't use the melody or soloist track. If you are doing vocal and guitar, keep this in mind, since the only way to capture that is to either over-dub one with the other, or play both together and don't make any mistakes.
RealBand does not have the TC-Helicon harmonizer; however, PowerTracks does. So (if you purchased PowerTracks), you could do your harmonization there and then open the file in RealBand, since both use the .SEQ file format. RealBand is really where you want to your audio recording (except for the harmonization, since it doesn't include it). With RealBand, you can record each audio track onto it's own separate track, as well as even open the original BIAB file in RealBand (with some limitations). Doing audio in BIAB, to me anyway, is just to get a quick idea of what it's going to sound like. If I want any more than that, I would use RealBand and/or PowerTracks.
John Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 2x2TB, 1x4TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 2x1.5TB, 2x2TB, 1x4TB SATA BB2025/UMC404HD/Casios/Cakewalk/Reaper/Studio One/MixBus/Notion/Finale/Dorico/Noteworthy/NI/Halion/IK http://www.sus4chord.com
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: May 2000
Posts: 38,502
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Joined: May 2000
Posts: 38,502 |
Quote:
1. If I use up all the tracks, including melody and soloist, does that leave nothing for the audio to be recorded on? Doesn't it try to put it on either soloist or melody tracks?
There is still the one Audio track in BB, over on the RH side. Melody and Soloist recording is MIDI stuff.
Quote:
2. If I just want harmony on the chorus, is there a way to add it there if I just sing the entire song in one cut? Or would it be better to go to RB and put the harmony and lead on separate user tracks, then add the harmony?
3. Does RB have the same harmonizer available?
TC Helicon is not in RB. Workaround is to use it in BB and then export to RB. Go back, Jack and do it again in BB to obtain other harmonized or nonharmonized vocal tracks to export, then use the editing power of RB to bring one in and the other out as desired.
Quote:
4. When I add effects to the synth track under the tracks area, is it the same as adding them in the plugins area?
I like to use the "main" effects for effects like the Reverb so that I can use them via the AUX bus on the mixer. This frees resources by running only one instance of the reverb effect. Use the Send and Return controls to adjust the amount for each track.
--Mac
Last edited by Mac; 03/02/09 09:59 AM.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 1,815
Expert
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Expert
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 1,815 |
Why not just sing the harmony parts yourself? I have only heard a couple of examples of "TC-Helicon" harmonies and they were robotic and pretty awful. Does "TC-Helicon" work off just audio or do you have to supply the original vocal audio and then the midi notes to sing? I can't find info on it at the PG site.
Kevin
Last edited by Kemmrich; 03/02/09 12:10 PM.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 1,696
Expert
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Expert
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 1,696 |
Kevin - I find singing harmonies is not an easy thing for me - so I tend to use the TC but depending on your voice it can leave you with some strange artifacts. I keep wondering - am I better off to use the TC or sing them myself and use a pitch corrector like GSNAP if necessary.
The TC can work off both a midi melody line phrased like your recorded voice or be voice based with harmony clues taken from the chord progression.
Either way, I prefer to use the TC only in PowerTracks - more audio tracks available.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 12,674
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Posts: 12,674 |
While TC-Helicon can sound somewhat robotic at times, it can also work fairly well if you follow a few basic ideas.
1. Make sure your original vocal recording is in tune. You're not going to get in-tune harmony with an out-of-tune melody. You may have to use GSNAP or some other auto-tuner if you are having problems here.
2. Try to sing it straight; avoid vibrato or scoops or any of the other things you might do. I've found the harmonizer seems to work best when the original is sung pretty straight. Besides, you can always have two versions of the melody (one straight to create the harmonies, the other for the final recording in the manner you normally sing it - of course this version has to be in tune, as well). Base your harmony on the straight version. You can add vibrato to the harmony part when you create it (a whole list of choices there).
3. Keep the TC-Helicon part farther back in the mix. The more you bring it to the forefront, the more robotic it sounds.
4. Use it sparingly.
5. Try to keep the harmony part mostly in the same range as the melody part (within a third or fourth on either side). The further away from the melody it gets, the more chipmunky it gets.
John Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 2x2TB, 1x4TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 2x1.5TB, 2x2TB, 1x4TB SATA BB2025/UMC404HD/Casios/Cakewalk/Reaper/Studio One/MixBus/Notion/Finale/Dorico/Noteworthy/NI/Halion/IK http://www.sus4chord.com
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 1,815
Expert
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Expert
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 1,815 |
Quote:
1. Make sure your original vocal recording is in tune.
Dang, that leaves me out!
Kevin
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 436
Journeyman
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OP
Journeyman
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 436 |
Jford, Mac, Kevin, and Ian.
Well thank you all for your input. I don't sing very well, kind of like Neil Young, at best. So It sounds like I will record a song all the way through, and harmonize it in BB. Then import to RB and sing another one all the way through. Then chop it up so the choruses or wherever are harmonized, and delete the unwanted harmony parts, and hope I get a good cut and paste. Then I should just be able to do a guitar in RB, and effect it from there. I miss my hardware harmonizer. I will at least have to get a mixer, I guess, because I can't hear anything to record vocals and guitar right now with no monitor feature.
Anyway, the longest journey begins with the first step. Thank all of you for sharing your knowledge. I love this forum. I hope to have something by this weekend. These no vocal songs get old quick.
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Ask sales and support questions about Band-in-a-Box using natural language.
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