Originally Posted By: JimFogle

The more instrument tracks or styles I try the more it seems I loose my vision for the song.


Jim, this one statement from your original post is likely at the root of the whole matter.

There have been several pieces of advice given about keeping things simple, or going with the flow.

Two different approaches, each with their own benefits.

You are trying to map out what you hear in your head to what you want the end result to sound like.

This will be very difficult with adding in any kind of auto-accompaniment, unless you start from there-that's my opinion.

The auto accompaniment has it's character and mindset of the player/programmer and you really have no direct way of communicating your vision to them other than through tempo, style selection, instrument selection - but you can't tell the player - stay off of these notes, do a parallel harmony to my melody that I'm singing, etc. like you can with a live band.

Totally o.k., but it will likely frustrate you if you are depending on the backing tracks to sound like your prescribed vision/audible idea of how the thing should sound.

The other folks say 'go with the flow' and this is probably going to be the better way to a pleasant result when using auto accompaniment - as you can riff off of the accompaniment ideas to take the song in a new direction, like you do when you sit and write with other folks.

One thing to also keep in mind, most pop music in any style these days is not 50 tracks/instruments stacked simultaneously on each other - quite the opposite. Now, they might be using tons of tracks total, but at any one time in the song, the arrangement is pretty sparse. I hear SOME users of BIAB/RB that think that since they put a fiddle track in, they need to let it be audible for the whole danged song, and mandolin, and piano and acoustic guitar and and and. The process of elimination naturally highlights what should really be in focus. Use elimination of tracks for large sections of the song - use a known arrangement/production as a guide.

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