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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Aug 2014
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I'm a brand new BIAB user and I must say I absolutely LOVE the product. It's amazing just how quickly you can create a song that sounds like it was recorded with a group of studio musicians and not some computer program. I'm working on a new, original song and I got the rhythm track down and it's sound really good. I found the "record audio" button and so I plugged in my mic and did a vocal track. I may be mistaken but it sounded like BIAB even did some really nice compression and limiting on the vocal track as it made it sound like it was a "part" of the song and not just a dry vocal track appended to a rhythm track. I ran into one problem, however, when I attempted to save the completed composition. I saved the song and then I exported to MP3. Much to my surprise, the backing track was there but my vocals disappeared. I went back to BAIB and hit the <PLAY> button and my vocals were GONE!!! I'm guessing this has something to do with saving the performance versus saving the track or something along those lines, but I haven't been able to figure it out by reading the manual. Has this ever happened to any of you when you were newbies? What steps do I need to take to create an MP3 with BIAB 2014 that includes the vocal track? Yours in the muse, Rutherford
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Dec 2002
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Your vocal track should still be there. Look in the same folder as the BIAB song with the identical name but with extension .wav. Hint: it will be a very large file.
To make the mp3 you need the lame mp3 codec. It is available for download in many places just google it. Or look for the K-Lite Codec Pack which has been reported to work nicely with BIAB.
Welcome to the forum
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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>>>...Has this ever happened to any of you when you were newbies...>>>
Yes! LOTS of times, and not just for recording audio. There are lot of dialog boxes in BiaB and each one has lots of options. Just for an example, when you go to "Audio" then to "Render MIDI to..." you get a dialog box. The dialog box has a checkbox that says "Merge in Audio Track."
Did you check the box?
Did you even see it?
...thats just one example. It very often takes a couple of tries before I get a feature of BiaB to work the way I want.
Anyway, welcome aboard. You will find this a very friendly and helpful chatroom.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Aug 2014
Posts: 24
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OP
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Thank you for the speedy reply! I did see in the manual where it said it would save the audio file separately but I can't find it anywhere and I've done all kinds of Windows Explorer searches. I'm sure it's just a user error on my part. :P
As far as the MP3 conversion, I don't know if it's new to BIAB 2014 but there's an option that says Export to MP3 that I've used for tracks with no vocal recordings and it seems to work quite nicely.
Thank you again!
Yours in the muse,
Rutherford
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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OP
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Thanks for getting back with me so quickly!
As far as what I did and didn't see, I didn't even see a "Render MIDI to..." option! I'm not introducing any new MIDI tracks to the song but I am using BIAB-provided drums. Is this something I have to do any time I have a vocal track?
All I did was build the backing track, do the record audio thing, kept the take and then saved as both a BIAB song and exported as an MP3.
Thanks again!
Yours in the muse,
Rutherford
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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At the very top of the screen there is a line that gives the file name of the current song. Below that there is a series of dropdowns labled "Files..Edit..Styles..Opt.." etc. Clink on the one that says "Audio". Then click the choice that says: "Render MIDI to Steroe .WAV..."
This is the menu I mentioned earlier. Try all the different options. BUT .. dont try to have the new audio file be created in any folder other than the one where the BiaB song resides. Weird stuff happens when you do that.
Then remember that once the AUDIO song is created, it will play every time the original BiaB is played. You can change this by changing the file name of either song.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Thanks for getting back with me so quickly!
As far as what I did and didn't see, I didn't even see a "Render MIDI to..." option! I'm not introducing any new MIDI tracks to the song but I am using BIAB-provided drums. Is this something I have to do any time I have a vocal track?
All I did was build the backing track, do the record audio thing, kept the take and then saved as both a BIAB song and exported as an MP3.
Thanks again! First you have to have the vocal audio track, have you been able to find it? Did you change the name or file location of the biab file after you recorded the vocal, cause if you didn't the vocal is sitting as a .wav file right next to the file.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Wow! That Render MIDI to Stereo WAV option has a BUNCH of options under it! The pieces are starting to make sense to me now. You said that when I hit play that the wav file will play right along with the rest of the "band" but is there a way to have the whole "package" which includes the BIAB tracks AND the audio exported together as an MP3 file that I can then drag and drop into my handy-dandy MP3 player and impress alla my friends? *lol*
...or do they have to come over and here the complete "package" in BIAB?
Yours in the muse,
Rutherford
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Got to run, but the answer is Yes you can combine them.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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OP
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I got a kick out of you saying "weird stuff" happens because, coincidentally enough, after I did try to save the song and the MP3 some VERY "weird stuff" started to happen to my song. When I hit <PLAY> the click track lead-in started clicking in at 43 BPM instead of 86 BPM like the song was set to do. Also, every track had this weird reverb and some instruments were following the chord progression in correct time and others were in half time. I ended up having to scrap the whole thing and I'm starting over. That's what prompted me to consult the forum. I'm of the mindset that BIAB fools me once, shame on it. BIAB fools me twice then shame on ME! *lol*
Yours in the muse,
Rutherford
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Once you have your backing tracks together, you may want to open the BiaB song in Realband (comes free with BiaB and is more geared toward adding additional audio tracks easily).
You can record 40 more tracks of audio in Realband, whereas in BiaB you get one.
Also, in RB you can regenerate parts still, so you get most of the BiaB features too.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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OP
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Wow! RB rocks! It's such an intuitive digital mixer! Thank you.
Yours in the muse,
Rutherford
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Hopefully, when you get it completed you will share with the BIAB forum over on the User Showcase.
Charlie
BIAB 2026:RB 2026, 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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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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OP
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I didn't realize there was such a thing, but I sure will! Thanks!
Yours in the muse,
Rutherford
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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>>>... I ended up having to scrap the whole thing and I'm starting over...>>>
Yeah, thats going to happen. There is a lot to know and a lot of mistakes to be made. BiaB has been around a long time and has had a lot of features and options added along the way. You are already out of the shallow end of the pool, so allow plenty of time to get acquainted, and get good with the SAVE commands.
The advice about learning Real Band is spot on, but you have to learn both. When you get BiaB working the way you want, you will be amazed at its speed and ease of use.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Wow! RB rocks! It's such an intuitive digital mixer! Thank you. You will find RealBand (aka RB) much more like a conventional DAW but still keeping the accompaniment of BIAB. And if you are going to be recording this is definitely the way to go. And here is the best part.. you say you like "weird stuff", then you will really be happy over in RB.  Enjoy the ride.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Wow! RB rocks! It's such an intuitive digital mixer! Thank you. Glad you like Realband. Unlike many here, I prefer RB to BiaB. BiaB is quicker to generate the original idea, but once I have that I really like working in RB instead; the flexibility of being able to record other tracks, regenerate new tracks or sections, etc, .. mix and match any of them .. it makes me wonder why RB isn't promoted more. It makes BiaB so much more valuable.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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