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Hi All Here is my April blog post. I definitely bit off more that I could chew with this one... any comments and feedback is appreciated. Options for mastering your band-in-a-Box album
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Another great blog Joanne. Lot's of good information and with your conversational style of writing, everything is easy to understand.
A few comments about Audacity. A shortcut to silence up to the intro is to select that area and hit ctrl-L keys. Very fast. At that point I may move the cursor to the edge of the selected area and the cursor will change to a pointed finger and I just drag the selection back to the point I want to delete the leading silence.
You may want to experiment with the method I use to normalize audio in Audacity. I select the entire track and select the compressor and lightly compress the entire track. I use the default settings for 1:5 compression. After compressing the stereo track, while the entire track is still selected, I select normalize and normalize the track. This results in normalizing the peaks down rather than upward. This appears to raise the overall volume more cleanly due to the compression lowering the peaks so the volume can be raised without raising the track noise floor...
Also, according to how a song begins, I sometimes select and use the fade in option to ease an abrupt beginning of a song. I do this before I delete the silence so I can experiment and choose the best fade in volume.
Audacity has some pretty nice plug ins and is quite a useful program.
Charlie
BIAB 2025:RB 2025, Latest builds: Dell Optiplex 7040 Desktop; Windows-10-64 bit, Intel Core i7-6700 3.4GHz CPU and 16 GB Ram Memory.
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Joined: Sep 2016
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PG Music Staff
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PG Music Staff
Joined: Sep 2016
Posts: 408 |
Great post, Joanne! Mastering is definitely something that needs a bit of demystifying and you do a wonderful job! I love the spreadsheet idea -- I never would've thought of something like that.
Will - PG Music
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Thanks Will and Charlie. Will post your comments to the blog if thats okay.
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Thanks Will and Charlie. Will post your comments to the blog if thats okay. It's ok with me. Never a problem with me for you to repost. I think what you're doing is great and helping numerous people around the world. I'm just riding your coat tail... You do all the work. Charlie
BIAB 2025:RB 2025, Latest builds: Dell Optiplex 7040 Desktop; Windows-10-64 bit, Intel Core i7-6700 3.4GHz CPU and 16 GB Ram Memory.
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Joanne,
Thanks for this easy to read guide...its a well thought out blog. I still go into a fog trying to understand some of the terms, but you held my attention and someday I`ll be back to the baby steps of the subject!
Robert
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Journeyman
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Hi Joanne,
Great teacher,I did a a quick read down through this guide and im listening to both your song its time.The Izotope version I know is wav but its clearly better to my ears than the landr mp3 (which was good until I played the Izotope option).Just wondering what your method or work flow on the lead vocals as they are so clear,Do you use Nectar.I got a song sung and am happy with the voice but getting it hard to be clear.
I bought the music bundle last month and am totally hooked as you said.
Im going take a more detailed look at your post,Thanks again and this guide is very much appreciated.
P.s love the song
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Joanne,
Thanks for this easy to read guide...its a well thought out blog. I still go into a fog trying to understand some of the terms, but you held my attention and someday I`ll be back to the baby steps of the subject!
Robert Thanks Robert. Glad to help and please shout if you need any more info
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Joined: May 2012
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Joined: May 2012
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Hi Joanne,
Great teacher,I did a a quick read down through this guide and im listening to both your song its time.The Izotope version I know is wav but its clearly better to my ears than the landr mp3 (which was good until I played the Izotope option).Just wondering what your method or work flow on the lead vocals as they are so clear,Do you use Nectar.I got a song sung and am happy with the voice but getting it hard to be clear.
I bought the music bundle last month and am totally hooked as you said.
Im going take a more detailed look at your post,Thanks again and this guide is very much appreciated.
P.s love the song Hi Hugh. Yes I didn't pay the $9.99 for the wave from Landr (I probably should have!) but I think the MP3 gives a good idea anyway. I am using Nectar for my vocals now but back in 2013 when this was recorded I did not have it. In fact I did not have much at all! This was recorded with a cheap dynamic mic via a mixer plugged into the microphone jack on my computer! Hit and miss processing was done with standard PG plugins.
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Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 114
Apprentice
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Apprentice
Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 114 |
I've just seen your notes on mastering. They are so helpful. Thanks for helping bring some demystification into all this stuff.
I always think your material has a nice production. How about another article but specifically on mixing - saying a bit about how much compression and reverb you used on tracks. Obviously there's no standard approach - but it would be good to know which tools you used and why.
Thanks again for all your shares.
Regards
Phil
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Ask sales and support questions about Band-in-a-Box using natural language.
ChatPG's knowledge base includes the full Band-in-a-Box User Manual and sales information from the website.
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New RealTracks Released with Band-in-a-Box 2025!
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- Look Ma! More MIDI 13: Country & Americana
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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!
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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 Windows!
We've just released XPro Styles PAK 9 for Windows & Mac 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!
Learn more and listen to demos of XPro Styles PAKs.
Video: XPro Styles PAK 9 Overview & Styles Demos: Watch 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.
Video: Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac®: VST3 Plugin Support
Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac® now includes support for VST3 plugins, alongside VST and AU. Use them with MIDI or audio tracks for even more creative possibilities in your music production.
Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Macs®: VST3 Plugin Support
Video: Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac®: Using VST3 Plugins
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