Mitch,

I approach songwriting in a few different ways. Whatever approach, though, I use BIAB pretty much entirely for the song development process. Sometimes, very rarely, I work on a keyboard. The work flow that I mostly use is as follows.
  • Load in a PG Music demo song or use chords from an existing song. This is the usual starting place for my chord progression. Often the chord progression ends up quite different from what it starts out as but I find it easier to begin with something.
  • Find a style I like.
  • Continually play the chord progression with the added style. Eventually snippets of lyrics pop into my mind. The lyrics at this stage are rhythmical only and have no melody.
  • Develop the lyrics from a rhythmical perspective.
  • When a verse and chorus of lyrics have grown, I then use Notation Editor to begin shaping a melody. First, I enter the notes rhythmically using chord tones ('cause the lyrics are only rhythmical at this point). Then I pull the notes up and down the stave to get a melody that I like.
  • As the melody grows, the lyrics change, the chord progression gets modified, and eventually a song evolves.
  • I then ship the song to Realband and dress it up a bit with other tracks.
  • Lastly I move it to Reaper, record vocals and mix it.
This works for me.

Regards,
Noel

MY SONGS...
Audiophile BIAB 2025