Hi All, I wish to start on my 6/8 style song. But I have a little problem finding a drum beat that would suit the chorusus. To get a 6/8 feel, I understand I must use a 3/4 style and use 2 bars instead of one??( 2x 3/4 6/8)
I have found a few 3/4 time styles at 140 BPM which will be OK and useable for the feel I am after, but for the chorusus I need an extra beat or a something that sounds faster in the rythymn if thats the right terminology, somehwere in the drums.Otherwise my choruses wont be much different from the verse.
How would one go about making this extra beat? what would a drummer do in this scenario? more hits on a snare? Has anyone added exra beats with midi to make this work? I hope someone understands what I'm looking for and can point me in the right direction. Many Thanks in anticipation of your help. Paul
First, have you tried the A/B styles and variations for the ones you have (assuming you are using RealDrums)? If they are MIDI (instead of RealDrums) adding drums should be pretty easy.
Also, sometimes there are raw samples of the drums at the end of the WMA file that can be used/added to the existing beats.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome Make your sound your own!
I have delved a little more into the drum beats and what you suggested with the variations will work. I see that when you choose one from the Real Drums illustration you show above it is added to the blue or green (a or b style)in the chords section.
I find that when I then go into RB I put in another couple of drum tracks or other instruments and then have to chop/cut and edit with many styles to get near to the feel I am after, Is this usual for putting your tracks together? I dont see another way but its no problem, just takes a little time to do but as your statement says. ''Make the sound your own''
Slicing/Dicing, i.e., "comping" is the key IMO to getting RT's and RD's to fit "your" song. All of our productions contain tracks that are comped from multiple regenerations. Do folks notice? Dunno. But I enjoy doing it and attempting to get everything from solos to rhythm tracks to support Janice's vocal. FWIW, etc.,
Bud
Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more. If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks! Our Videos are here on our website.
Is there a song in 6/8 that you want to emulate? If you can import an audio file into some DAWs, you can overlay a MIDI grid on top of the audio and drop in midi where you hear the extra stuff that your drum track might not have in it. Of course the first step is matching the tempo of the project with the tempo of the audio file.
I would be careful making 6/8 too active, however. You might just need to swing it a little, if there's no swing in the beat.
Thank you for giving an idea to try, because I'm at a loss at the moment and going around in circles changing, cutting slicing dicing styling..............not to mention the odd cursing!
I didn't purposely set out to write a song in 6/8, it was only now when I am trying to put together a beat to my lyrics and melody that I realise it is 6/8 time.
The song is fairly folky when I sang it but it could be hard rock too.
Can you imagine a soldier in days gone by with red coats and the drummer boy beating on the snare going into battle, well thats the sort of image the song conjures up BUT I have tried nearly every pattern in BIAB and nothing matches, if I find a beat near the guitars are off etc etc. 3/4 just don't swing it for my song...............so
I have today, downloaded the free version of MT drums and just in the middle of experimenting with it in my Mixcraft DAW.
There are quite a few 6/8 versions plus fills. I have noticed that the 3/4 time in BIAB is now twice as quick as the MT drums. For example the 3/4 style I used in BIAB is 140BPM but if I wish to use the MT drums over the song it has to be 70BPM . I have only listened to it once but it seemed a little out of sync, but maybe it needs a tweek.
Before I go and spend another 3 days trying various styles has anyone come across the problem and would I be on the right course for finding a workaround to solve my little problem.
My other problem is of course I cant fingerpick the guitar well enough to give the groove I want so I must rely on my 'Band in a box' to do its best.
I have jumped from folk to country to hard rock to celtic, I can't shelf the song because I told my wife I had written it for her so I must continue.
I didn't purposely set out to write a song in 6/8, it was only now when I am trying to put together a beat to my lyrics and melody that I realise it is 6/8 time.
Can you imagine a soldier in days gone by with red coats and the drummer boy beating on the snare going into battle, well thats the sort of image the song conjures up BUT I have tried nearly every pattern in BIAB and nothing matches, if I find a beat near the guitars are off etc etc. 3/4 just don't swing it for my song...............so
There are quite a few 6/8 versions plus fills. I have noticed that the 3/4 time in BIAB is now twice as quick as the MT drums. For example the 3/4 style I used in BIAB is 140BPM but if I wish to use the MT drums over the song it has to be 70BPM . I have only listened to it once but it seemed a little out of sync, but maybe it needs a tweek.
Before I go and spend another 3 days trying various styles has anyone come across the problem and would I be on the right course for finding a workaround to solve my little problem.
My other problem is of course I cant fingerpick the guitar well enough to give the groove I want so I must rely on my 'Band in a box' to do its best.
I have jumped from folk to country to hard rock to celtic, I can't shelf the song because I told my wife I had written it for her so I must continue.
Paul
I definitely feel your pain. while BB is an excellent resource, sometimes to get what you want, you have to think and work out of the box (pun intended). Despite there being thousands of styles available in BB, there are certain to be some that they missed. I've tried the very thing you mentioned.... change BB tempo to try to get it to emulate a certain groove. That didn't work. When one or more tracks sounded good, the drums were so far off from the groove it wasn't funny and vice versa.
Since that song wasn't what I considered to be one of my better songs at the time, I just set it aside and let it collect dust.
If you are able to get one of the tracks to work.... maybe by soloing the drums and changing the tempo, export that track to a good DAW. Perhaps you will need to have several different BB projects to get all the tracks you want. Maybe you will need to call on the services of a real musician to play a certain guitar, or bass part, or maybe use a synth and midi to capture that drum track correctly with the right groove.
I mentioned a "good DAW". Having one is crucial to doing things outside of the box. Many DAW's have audio snap features where you can let the DAW snap or sync the audio that might be slightly out of time. Slicing, dicing, and gluing it all back together again is easy in a good DAW.
So... if you can get the groove you need from one or more BB tracks.... export those to a DAW. In the DAW, use a drum synth to get the drum track..... find live musicians to assist on the parts that you're not able to complete in software and see how it turns out.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.com Add 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.
Thanks GH for understanding my predicament. Having experienced something similar yourself I now know its not all down to my 'newbiness' and I feel reassured that what I am doing, albeit labourious, is kind of on the right track.
The feel for the song has changed many times and that hasn't helped my state of mind, however I imported a few instruments to my DAW again (for the zillionth time) and can now make a clean start with a goal in mind.
You mention a 'Good'DAW, I use Mixcraft 7. After trialing several DAW's this one was more user friendly for me, others were too complicated for my expertise, or lack of! Putting tracks down and cutting dicing n splicing is OK to do, the mixing and Mastering on the other hand is something I am still working on and trying to get my head around what all these things do, and I'm sure this is the case with every DAW. I must say your recordings are first class GH.
I would love to find a musician to work with me but my Bulgarian language skills leaves a lot to be desired and so unfortunatley I must plod on solo. I did do a couple of numbers with a friend of mine who still lives in the UK a couple of years ago. He is a great guitar player but he is also a very busy man and trying to peice things together 2000 miles apart was not easy for us.
Anyway thank you for your reply to the post. It has certainly reassured me that I am not alone in this scenario, but with a little thinking 'outside the box', somethings are still acheivable.
You mention a 'Good'DAW, I use Mixcraft 7. After trialing several DAW's this one was more user friendly for me,
I would love to find a musician to work with me but my Bulgarian language skills leaves a lot to be desired and so unfortunatley I must plod on solo.
Paul
A good DAW IMHO is any DAW that lets you work easily to accomplish the job. It should support the VST's you use and allow easy use of envelopes for automating the features in the mix.
Ever heard of the internet? I have collaborated with singers, and other musicians literally around the other side of the planet. As long as you both have a DAW and access to the net, you can work. For example, if you simply need a guitar solo in a song, you ask the guitarist to send you a full track starting at the first measure.... it can be silence up to the solo. That makes track alignment simple. I have had people send me just the clipped part they were playing and that is a PITA to line up 100% accurately.
Yep...sometimes BB forces me to have to think creatively to get things done or in some cases, to fall back to plan B and seek a different route.
Last edited by Guitarhacker; 03/18/1702:36 AM.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.com Add 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.
Mixcraft is a very capable DAW, complete with notation capability. I am pretty sure you can line up audio tracks over or under midi tracks and help you to add in midi notes where you can see audio cues.
I worked with Mixcraft for almost two years before migrating to Studio One. In fact it was Mixcraft that helped me actually get comfortable with the "Language" of mix engineers and helped me get my head wrapped around a lot of technical stuff that just plain confused me at first. Anyone new to In The Box mixing (and uses Windows of course) I would recommend Mixcraft to. I looked into other DAW's like Reaper, but for me Reaper was way too over the top. Linda & I are a songwriting team, so often times she would write lyrics, and I'd have an instant idea of the arrangement. Reaper by it's very nature kills that instant spark thing as it requires a lot of pre recording set up. DAW's like MC and Studio One allow for nearly instant tracking when the spark of creativity occurs. So it was almost a natural migration from MC to S1. In my opinion only, S1 takes the best part of MC and Pro Tools and found a way to make them converge. When you add Band in A Box and Real Band to the forumula you almost have a total studio environment with top flight studio session players waiting in the room to record your music. Can't see anything but "up" from this amazing combination of software. Almost like they are married.
I looked into other DAW's like Reaper, but for me Reaper was way too over the top. Linda & I are a songwriting team, so often times she would write lyrics, and I'd have an instant idea of the arrangement. Reaper by it's very nature kills that instant spark thing as it requires a lot of pre recording set up.
All you needed to do was set up a template ...essentially you set up a project to record and you do it one time. Add the synths you like and get it ready to go. Save it as a BLANK TEMPLATE and when you get ready to start a new project you simply load it and waaa laaa,,, it's ready to go in seconds.
No setup time required when the muse hits.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.com Add 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.
XPro and Xtra Styles PAKs Special Extended Until August 31st!
XPro & Xtra Styles PAKs Special Extended Until August 31st!
The XPro Styles PAKs and Xtra Styles PAKs special offers are now available until August 31st at 11:59pm PDT!
Ready to take your Band-in-a-Box® 2025 experience to the next level? Now’s the perfect time! Expand your style library with XPro and Xtra Styles PAKs—packed with a wide variety of genres to inspire your next musical creation.
What are XPro Styles and Xtra Styles PAKs?
XPro Styles PAKs are styles that work with any version (Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition) of Band-in-a-Box® 2025 (or higher). XPro Styles PAKS 1-9 includes 900 styles!
Xtra Styles PAKs are styles that work with the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box® 2025 (or higher). With over 3,500 styles (and 35 MIDI styles) included in Xtra Styles PAKs 1-20, the possibilities are endless!
Get the XPro Styles PAKs 1 - 9 for only $29 ea (Reg. $49 ea), or get them all in the XPro Styles PAK Bundle for only $149 (reg. $299)! Listen to demos and order now! For Windows or for Mac.
Note: XPro Styles PAKs require Band-in-a-Box® 2025 or higher and are compatible with ANY package, including the Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, and Audiophile Edition.
Get Xtra Styles PAKs 1 - 20 are on special for only $29 each (reg $49), or get all 19 PAKs for $199 (reg $399)! Listen to demos and order now! For Windows or for Mac.
Note: The Xtra Styles require the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box®. (Xtra Styles PAK 19 requires the 2025 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.
Don’t miss this chance to supercharge your Band-in-a-Box setup—at a great price!
Mac 2025 Special Upgrade Offers Extended Until August 15th!
It's not too late to upgrade to Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac® and save! We've extended our special until August 15, 2025!
We've added many major new features to Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac®, including advanced AI tools like the amazing BB Stem Splitter and AI Lyrics Generator, as well as VST3 plugin support, and Equalize Temp. Plus, there’s a new one-stop MIDI Patches Picker with over 1,100 MIDI patches to choose from, all neatly categorized by GM numbers. The MultiPicker Library is enhanced with tabs for the SongPicker, MIDI Patch Picker, Chord Builder, AI Lyrics Generator, and Song Titles Browser, and the tabs are organized into logical groups. The Audiophile Edition is enhanced with FLAC files , which are 60% smaller than AIFF files while maintaining identical audio quality, and now ships on a fast 1TB SSD, and much more!
Check out all the new features in Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac® here:
Purchase your Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac during our special to save up to 50% off your upgrade purchase and receive a FREE BONUS PAK of amazing new Add-ons. These include the 2025 RealCombos Booster PAK, Look Ma! More MIDI 13: Country & Americana, Instrumental Studies Set 22: 2-Hand Piano Soloing - Rhythm Changes, MIDI SuperTracks Set 44: Jazz Piano, Artist Performance Set 17: Songs with Vocals 7, Playable RealTracks Set 4, RealDrums Stems Set 7: Jazz with Mike Clark, and more!
Upgrade to the 2025 49-PAK for just $49 and add 20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and 20 RealStyles, FLAC Files for the 20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks, Look Ma! More MIDI 14: SynthMaster, MIDI SuperTracks Set 45: More SynthMaster, Artist Performance Set 18: Songs with Vocals 8, and RealDrums Stems Set 8: Pop, Funk & More with Jerry Roe.
Learn more about the Bonus PAKs!
We’ve expanded the Band-in-a-Box® RealTracks library with 202 incredible new RealTracks (in sets 449-467) across Jazz, Blues, Funk, World, Pop, Rock, Country, Americana, and Praise & Worship—featuring your most requested styles!
Jazz, Blues & World (Sets 449–455):
These RealTracks includes “Soul Jazz” with Neil Swainson (bass), Mike Clark (drums), Charles Treadway (organ), Miles Black (piano), and Brent Mason (guitar). Enjoy “Requested ’60s” jazz, classic acoustic blues with Colin Linden, and more of our popular 2-handed piano soloing. Plus, a RealTracks first—Tango with bandoneon, recorded in Argentina!
Rock & Pop (Sets 456–461):
This collection includes Disco, slap bass ‘70s/‘80s pop, modern and ‘80s metal with Andy Wood, and a unique “Songwriter Potpourri” featuring Chinese folk instruments, piano, banjo, and more. You’ll also find a muted electric guitar style (a RealTracks first!) and “Producer Layered Guitar” styles for slick "produced" sound.
Country, Americana & Praise (Sets 462–467):
We’ve added new RealTracks across bro country, Americana, praise & worship, vintage country, and songwriter piano. Highlights include Brent Mason (electric guitar), Eddie Bayers (drums), Doug Jernigan (pedal steel), John Jarvis (piano), Glen Duncan (banjo, mandolin & fiddle), Mike Harrison (electric bass) and more—offering everything from modern sounds to heartfelt Americana styles
And, if you are looking for more, the 2025 49-PAK (for $49) includes an additional 20 RealTracks with exciting new sounds and genre-spanning styles. Enjoy RealTracks firsts like Chinese instruments (guzheng & dizi), the bandoneon in an authentic Argentine tango trio, and the classic “tic-tac” baritone guitar for vintage country.
You’ll also get slick ’80s metal guitar from Andy Wood, modern metal with guitarist Nico Santora, bass player Nick Schendzielos, and drummer Aaron Stechauner, more praise & worship, indie-folk, modern/bro country with Brent Mason, and “Songwriter Americana” with Johnny Hiland.
Plus, enjoy user-requested styles like Soul Jazz RealDrums, fast Celtic Strathspey guitar, and Chill Hop piano & drums!
With your version 2025 for Mac Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, Audiophile Edition or PlusPAK purchase, we'll include a Bonus PAK full of great new Add-ons FREE! Or upgrade to the 2025 49-PAK for only $49 to receive even more NEW Add-ons including 20 additional RealTracks!
These PAKs are loaded with additional add-ons to supercharge your Band-in-a-Box®!
This Free Bonus PAK includes:
The 2025 RealCombos Booster PAK:
-For Pro customers, this includes 33 new RealTracks and 65+ new RealStyles.
-For MegaPAK customers, this includes 29 new RealTracks and 45+ new RealStyles.
-For UltraPAK customers, this includes 20 new RealStyles.
Look Ma! More MIDI 13: Country & Americana
Instrumental Studies Set 22: 2-Hand Piano Soloing - Rhythm Changes
MIDI SuperTracks Set 44: Jazz Piano
Artist Performance Set 17: Songs with Vocals 7
Playable RealTracks Set 4
RealDrums Stems Set 7: Jazz with Mike Clark
SynthMaster Sounds and Styles (with audio demos)
128 GM MIDI Patch Audio Demos.
Looking for more great add-ons, then upgrade to the 2025 49-PAK for just $49 and you'll get:
20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums with 20 RealStyles,
FLAC Files (lossless audio files) for the 20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums
Look Ma! More MIDI 14: SynthMaster,
Instrumental Studies Set 23: More '80s Hard Rock Soloing,
MIDI SuperTracks Set 45: More SynthMaster
Artist Performance Set 18: Songs with Vocals 8
RealDrums Stems Set 8: Pop, Funk & More with Jerry Roe
New! Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Band-in-a-Box 2025 and Higher for Mac!
Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Mac & Windows Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher) is here with 200 brand new RealStyles!
We're excited to bring you our latest and greatest in the all new Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Band-in-a-Box! This fresh installment is packed with 200 all-new styles spanning the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres you've come to expect, as well as the exciting inclusion of electronic styles!
In this PAK you’ll discover: Minimalist Modern Funk, New Wave Synth Pop, Hard Bop Latin Groove, Gospel Country Shuffle, Cinematic Synthwave, '60s Motown, Funky Lo-Fi Bossa, Heavy 1980s Metal, Soft Muted 12-8 Folk, J-Pop Jazz Fusion, and many more!
All the Xtra Styles PAKs 1 - 20 are on special for only $29 each (reg $49), or get all 209 PAKs for $199 (reg $399)! Order now!
Note: The Xtra Styles require the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box®. (Xtra Styles PAK 20 requires the 2025 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.
New! XPro Styles PAK 9 for Band-in-a-Box 2025 and higher for Mac!
We've just released XPro Styles PAK 9 for Mac & Windows Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher) with 100 brand new RealStyles, plus 29 RealTracks/RealDrums!
We've been hard at it to bring you the latest and greatest in this 9th installment of our popular XPro Styles PAK series! Included are 75 styles spanning the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres (25 styles each) that fans have come to expect, as well as 25 styles in this volume's wildcard genre: funk & R&B!
If you're itching to get a sneak peek at what's included in XPro Styles PAK 9, here is a small helping of what you can look forward to: Funky R&B Horns, Upbeat Celtic Rock, Jazz Fusion Salsa, Gentle Indie Folk, Cool '60s Soul, Funky '70s R&B, Smooth Jazz Hip Hop, Acoustic Rockabilly Swing, Funky Reggae Dub, Dreamy Retro Latin Jazz, Retro Soul-Rock Fusion, and much more!
Special Pricing! Until July 31, 2024, all the XPro Styles PAKs 1 - 9 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!
XPro Styles PAKs require Band-in-a-Box® 2025 or higher and are compatible with ANY package, including the Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, and Audiophile Edition.
New! Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Band-in-a-Box 2025 and Higher for Windows!
Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Windows & Mac Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher) is here with 200 brand new RealStyles!
We're excited to bring you our latest and greatest in the all new Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Band-in-a-Box! This fresh installment is packed with 200 all-new styles spanning the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres you've come to expect, as well as the exciting inclusion of electronic styles!
In this PAK you’ll discover: Minimalist Modern Funk, New Wave Synth Pop, Hard Bop Latin Groove, Gospel Country Shuffle, Cinematic Synthwave, '60s Motown, Funky Lo-Fi Bossa, Heavy 1980s Metal, Soft Muted 12-8 Folk, J-Pop Jazz Fusion, and many more!
All the Xtra Styles PAKs 1 - 20 are on special for only $29 each (reg $49), or get all 209 PAKs for $199 (reg $399)! Order now!
Note: The Xtra Styles require the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box®. (Xtra Styles PAK 20 requires the 2025 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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