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OP
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"She Looked Back" (instrumental) 1 of 7 - Tangled Roots Project I plan to share all 7 tracks and welcome any feedback! Lead Guitar (clean): 511: Guitar, Electric, Soloist Dire Ev 140 (Darin Favorite) Lead Guitar (efx): 1530: Guitar, Electric, Soloist PopPower Ev 120 (Dave Cleveland) Rhythm Guitar: 1099: Guitar, Electric, Rhythm JazzSwingFreeComp Sw 110 (Oliver Gannon) Electric Piano: 1772: Piano, Electric, Rhythm JazzFunkMovin Ev16 130 (Jeff Lorber) Flute: 704: Flute, Soloist Bossa Ev 140 (P.J. Perry) Electric Bass: 1769: Bass, Fretless Electric, JazzFunkMovin Ev16 130 (Alex Al) Drums & percussion: Mino Cinelu (courtesy of Loop Loft) Additional Percussion, Keyboards, Composition & Arrangement: MW Gilbert https://soundcloud.com/mwgilbert/tangled-roots-ep-01-she-looked-backHere's some background; I'll post this once and link back with other tracks. Tangled Roots Project: I grew up listening to all kinds of American music, jazz, blues, rock, folk, bluegrass, R&B. When I started composing my own music, even though these many wonderful influences were shaping my compositions, I never worked directly in these idioms. Since my own music is a coming together of many tangled roots, I wanted to step outside my comfort zone and try to write pieces that went back to this rich pool of musical influences. The initial step of each piece was the entering of the music/changes (first worked out and hand-written) into the BiaB lead sheet view. As the instrumentation and the arrangement (in this case which instruments play in which bars) were also already worked out, these details were entered in the (mute/back to normal) dialogs for each relevant bar. After, there was a long time spent ‘auditioning’ RealTracks for each instrumental part. I ran three takes of each chosen part, exporting individual tracks as clean audio; each instrumental part had three audio stems. The stems were then imported into Pro Tools. The big task was editing each part, picking excerpts, bars, or phrases from each of the takes to create a hopefully coherent part for each instrument. This was done in an order allowing for some perceived virtual ‘interaction’ between instruments; a part being worked on could be edited to respond to an already completed part. Once the performances were set, in some cases I added additional parts, either live or sampled percussion/loops, or some other instrumentation or doublings. In one case I did not use the RealDrums part I started with, constructing a new drum & percussion part from samples and loops. Finally, the pieces were mixed in Logic Pro X using my usual array of plugins and techniques, and then mastered by Tom Waltz ( http://waltzmastering.com) in Boston, who had just done a phenomenal job on my most recent album release (Secret Stories http://www.mwgilbert.com/recordings.html) . While some things were done a little bit differently from piece to piece, the process overall was about the same for all of them. I invite anyone who thinks that this process has “the computer just writing all the music”, or thinks this will not be an incredibly time-consuming amount of work, to try it for themselves! Band in a Box is a very interesting tool, especially given the overall incredible quality of the RealTrack performances. Making these into real music takes a lot of work and artistic choice, but is well worth it. It became a challenge to myself to produce finished tracks that would honestly represent my musical intentions. It felt like the role of a producer working with session musicians and then slowly crafting the results into the final product. I hope you find that the results fit together as a project, and stand alone as representative of related but distinct genres. - MW Gilbert
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Welcome mw!! I think you did an amazing job linking these fragments into a very coherent musical piece. My only issue is the percussion seems too busy at times. For the most part, the segments work wonderfully. Looking forward to more!! Take care. Greg
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Hi MW,
welcome to the forum.
Great first post.
I enjoyed my listen.
Thanks for the background story.
Guenter
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Quote: "It felt like the role of a producer working with session musicians and then slowly crafting the results into the final product." is and excellent explanation of half of the Band in a Box experience. The other half is from the 'artist' who derives the melody, chord progression, lyrics and the vibe of a song. The one that gives life to the song, then the producer has to make sure the right energy is there to convey the intended mood and message.
You did a good job on both counts. I'm looking for to hearing more of your Tangled Roots Project.
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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Hello,
Welcome to the forum!
We tend to agree with Greg about the busy drums.
Apart from that, this is a very nice post, a professional sounding song.
Well done!
Rob & Anne-Marie
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Like it; seems to have a bit to much verb on it as a whole. Still outstanding programming here; thanks for sharing! One tip is try ducking instruments in and out of the mix as you do toward the end maybe either every 4 or 8 bars throughout. Sometimes just killing the drums for 1 bar changes the whole song feel. Do this with the lead instruments as well, Still outstanding work; thanks for sharing!
My TunesPsalm 57:7 My heart, O God, is steadfast, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make music.
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OP
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Thanks for all the feedback- it's especially useful as it comes from musicians who use BiaB and understand the way it works, and themselves work in a whole range of different kinds of music. I'm traveling so I will post the next track after the weekend.
I've also started listening to other forum members' music and have been impressed by the talent. I will try to take some time and weigh in on tracks I especially enjoyed.
- MWG
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MW,
I think you've done a great job with this - sounds great already, and the suggestions given may make it even better.
I enjoyed the description of the background and production of your song. I'm looking forward to hearing the rest of the project as well.
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I think you're going to be impressed by the journey you've decided to take. Enjoy the experience.
I found "She Looked Back" to be busy, unconventional and experimental but well crafted. The drums are too out front.
Dispite the negative feel of my feedback I had an enjoyable listening experience and I'm looking forward to hearing future releases.
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Expert
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gotta love that fretless bass! I enjoyed the song very much and like the tonal changes in the guitars as the song moved along
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Last Chance! The Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac® Special Ends Today (May 31, 2026) at 11:59pm PDT!
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Our new rock & pop RealTracks bring a powerful mix of requested favorites, fresh genres, and modern chart-inspired styles! We have more of our popular “Producer Layered Acoustic Guitars (15)” featuring Band-in-a-Box favorite Brent Mason. We’ve continued our much-requested disco styles (10), and added new Celtic guitar (5) with a more basic, accessible approach than our previous Drop-D or DADGAD offerings. There are also highly requested yacht rock styles (17), inspired by the smooth, polished soft-rock sound of the late ’70s and early ’80s — laid-back grooves, silky electric pianos, warm textures, elegant harmonic movement, and pristine production aesthetics. Fans of heavier styles will love our new glam metal (13), capturing the flashy, high-energy sound of ’80s arena-ready guitar rock. We also have a set of rootsy modern-folk rock (18), with a warm, organic sound combining contemporary folk textures and driving acoustic strumming. And we’ve added lots of new modern pop styles (16) — the kinds of sounds you’re hearing on the radio today, featuring exciting new drums, synths, and cutting-edge RealTracks arrangements.
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Our new country & Americana RealTracks deliver a rich collection of acoustic, electric, and roots-inspired styles! We have new country pop (9) with legendary guitarist Brent Mason. There is also a potpourri (14) of bouzouki, guitars, banjo, and more, perfect for adding texture and character to contemporary acoustic arrangements. We’ve added funky country guitar (5) with PG favorite Brent Mason, along with classic pedal steel styles (5) featuring steel great Doug Jernigan. There are more country songwriter styles (8) that provide intimate, rootsy foundations for storytelling and modern Americana writing. Finally, we have “background soloing” acoustic guitar (12) with Brent Mason — simpler, but still very tasty acoustic lines designed to sit beautifully behind vocals or act as a subtle standalone solo part.
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- MIDI Styles Set 92: Look Ma! More MIDI 15: Latin Jazz
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