Originally Posted By: Joe Ramsay


So my question to the BIAB community is really 2-fold. 1) are there any of you singer/songwriter types who have written some original music and then "published" your BIAB recordings through a commercial medium (like iTunes, CDBaby etc). And 2) do you think it is possible to use BIAB recordings (rather than studio productions) to publish songs through iTunes or CDBaby as "demos" for the purpose of teaching songs for congregational singing to musicians leading music in churches (assuming the chord chart, tabs, etc will also be provided via on a web site).

Are BIAB recordings "good enough" to sell commercially as downloads, in general, and more specifically, for the application that I have described. (All of this assumes quality songwriting and skillfully created rendition of the song in BIAB).

Thanks in advance for sharing your opinions and experience in this topic.


I will answer an unabashed MAYBE.

Let me explain. The tracks BiaB gives you are generally pretty stiff and bland sounding compared to what you need in the real world. Using Real Band to render ALL the tracks to audio moves you up the ladder a step or two.

At this point, you still have raw tracks. These raw tracks need proper quality polishing and editing to get them ready for prime time.

Knowing what you're doing when it comes to production.....what instruments should be playing and what ones should not be at a given time in the song, volume levels of the tracks, FX like reverb, delays, compression and EQ and how much to use and where, how the vocals set in the mix, and are the vocals pro sounding??? are the vox in tune or off key, are the harmonies synced with the lead vox????? all these things, and more, are the things that will determine whether the songs are ready for prime time or not.

SO if you know what you're doing, and just because you play music 5 days a week doesn't necessarily make you a producer..... then yes, it is possible to create radio ready music with BiaB.

For a feel of what can be done.....check out the users forum. there, you will hear everything from the raw track demos that need lots of tender loving care up to the professionally sounding ready for radio stuff that some of the folks here are capable of producing.

I personally do not post my songs for sale to the public. I do however, plug my songs to publishers and libraries for use on artists CD's and for Film & TV. Film & TV require broadcast quality music..... no excuses and nothing that is "demo quality". I have a large number of songs signed by both publishers and libraries. All of it contain Biab tracks.

Take a few minutes and click on my web site link and then My Music link and listen to some of the tunes I have recorded and produced in my studio using Biab as the basis of the songs.

So..... MAYBE..... but once you learn how to produce the music and master it properly.....maybe becomes ......a SOLID YES.

Last edited by Guitarhacker; 08/21/14 12:34 PM.
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