Hi Tony,

I use BIAB, RB and Reaper.

I too use BIAB to compose and construct my songs. When I have the chord progression, melody, lyrics and style finalized, I then move to RB.

In RB, I play around with adding different Realtracks and Realdrums and until I get a sound that works best for me. I also use RB to piece together solos and fills for my final mix. In addition to this, I find using TC Helicon for harmonies is much easier in RB than BIAB.

While I have mixed songs in RB, the reason I use Reaper is because I like using envelopes to control my sound. Mostly I use volume envelopes on individual tracks to balance the mix but sometimes, I use envelopes on controls of my plugins. Reaper is very good at this. I also find the pitch correction plugin (Reatune) very valuable for manually correcting notes that might not be quite right. I record vocals in Reaper and when I have the vocal track exactly how I like it, if I need to add harmony, I take it to RB and use TC Helicon and then bring the harmony tracks into Reaper for mixing with the vocal.

I find all three pieces of software indispensable.

Regards,
Noel

MY SONGS...
Audiophile BIAB 2025