As a style author, I find it very difficult to categorize styles at times. Sometimes a style might fit in the Jazz, Latin, and Pop categories. Which should I assign?

And although there are some excellent RT styles, using an old MIDI style and a bit of imagination can transform a dance hip-hop style into a smooth jazz style. Choose a mellower drum set, change the synth bass to a fretless or acoustic, change the synth comp to a Rhodes or grand piano, and so on.

You can change rock, country, blues, and so many other styles into something else just by changing the instrument patch.

And someone mentioned similar styles with slight variations. I tend to like that. Sometimes those slight variations are just what are needed to accompany a certain song while another slight variation wouldn't work as well. As a career gigging musician, I know all too well that subtle little nuances can make a very big change in a song.

Of course the >3,000 PG Music styles plus the >600 Norton Music styles plus the Hawkesford styles, plus the Mayrent styles makes for a time consuming style search, especially for the newbie who is unfamiliar with how many of the styles sound. But IMHO it's good, quality time with a trusted friend, BIAB. Plus it's interesting, fun, and the results are worth it.

I use BiaB as a scratch pad for making backing tracks for my duo - here is how i make them and how I use them on stage http://www.nortonmusic.com/backing_tracks.html

Often times I learn a new song that has been requested by an audience member and there is simply no suitable style in BiaB to cover it. In those cases I have to sequence the tune from scratch, without the help of BiaB. That is much more time consuming than finding styles, and it's a lot more work too. So I jot that song down in my notes and there are hundreds of new styles waiting to be written.

For me >6000 styles probably would barely scratch the surface of what I need.

Insights and incites by Notes

Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com

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