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Using loops for inspiration seems to be very productive for me. I haven't written so many songs in a long time! Here's another... I started writing "Can You Imagine" just before John Lennon's birthday. As the song title indicates, that event provided a bit of inspiration, too. In addition to creating a video using BIAB, I have also included a lead sheet that was generated by BIAB. I've provided this so that anyone interested can get an insight into what bar settings I used in the software. (This lead sheet can be found on Soundcloud via the audio link below.) BIAB-made Video:Can You ImagineAudio (Soundcloud):Can You ImagineRecently I bought Miroslav Philharmonik and I used this and Roland VSC/DXi to create the midi sounds heard in the arrangement. Comments and criticisms welcome. Regards, Noel BIAB DetailsStyle: _PNO16BR.STY (16ths Piano Pop-Rock [85 RS]) RealTrack 1759: Bass, Electric, Pop16ths Ev 085 RealTrack 1767: Piano, Acoustic, Rhythm Pop16 Ev16 085 RealTrack 1764: Guitar, Electric, Rhythm Pop16thsA-B Ev16 085 RealTrack 1761: Guitar, Acoustic, Strumming Pop16ths Ev16 085 RealTracks 1856: Cello, Background PopCountry Ev 085 RealDrums: RockBritDrivingEv16^1-a:Snare, HiHat , b:Snare, Ride LyricsCan you imagine a scene like this? We're standing with one another, side by side And singing together in harmony With confidence, heart and a mountain of pride Can you imagine a sound like this? An ocean of people who sway and sing In chorus together, friend with friend Making the heavens reverberate and ring It all begins with a single voice One voice to lead the way Sooner or later another joins in Then it starts to grow And hundreds join the show Can you imagine the power and strength If a world full of people were singing strong Flooding the planet in the sounds of peace And everyone singing the same song [Instrumental] It all begins with a single voice One voice to lead the way Sooner or later, another joins in Then it starts to grow And millions join the show Can you imagine the power and strength If a world full of nations were singing strong Flooding the planet in the sounds of peace And everyone singing the same song Everyone singing the same song
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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Wow Noel, not only have you stepped up production but you are also maintaining your normal well thought out lyrics, melody and production.
IMO, your lyrics match well with John Lennon's Imagine and it's easy to imagine this doing quite well commercially recorded by a major artist.
Because of the arrangement and your slight accent, I also could hear this with Barry Gibb doing the honors. That would be a nice birthday tribute to the late Mr. Lennon.
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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Very nice Noel. It's refreshing to hear a song about peace. There used to be a lot of them.
Enjoyed it.
Regards,
Bob
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Nice Noel
I really like the use of non-even bar numbers. It introduces an interesting level of anticipation.
Yes the Miroslav Philharmonik really provides a fantastic dynamic, rich and full.
Did I notice a choir sound in the background too? It worked perfectly.
Top job.
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
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Hi Noel,
very uplifting song! Like your lyrics and
delivery. I especially like the part where the
choir comes in.
I enjoyed my listens a lot.
Guenter
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Noel, If everyone had your attitude the world would be a much better place. I am beginning to think that you never get depressed. I like the unusual chord progression and the unusual rhyme scheme. (at least to me anyway) The dropping of the drums except the snare during the cello solo was inspired arranging. And what a big big overall sound! The choir sounded great-money well spent. You keep moving forward in your singing, writing, arranging and production. I can hardly wait to hear what comes next. Excellence lives here. Bravo! Tom
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Hello Noel,
This is the perfect Christmas song!
Appropriate lyrics, beautiful music and vocals (yes, nice chorus!).
We could imagine John Lennon singing it.
Very well done!
Rob and Anne-Marie
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Love the chord changes and the melody of this, so nice, not to mention the lyrics. enjoyed.
Kenny
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Hi Noel.
A beautiful song with admirable sentiments.
The cello solo was perfect.
Great production and mix.
ROG.
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nice song and great voice as usual.
I like the real tracks you choose.
Sergio
Sergio
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Wow Noel, not only have you stepped up production but you are also maintaining your normal well thought out lyrics, melody and production.
IMO, your lyrics match well with John Lennon's Imagine and it's easy to imagine this doing quite well commercially recorded by a major artist.
Because of the arrangement and your slight accent, I also could hear this with Barry Gibb doing the honors. That would be a nice birthday tribute to the late Mr. Lennon. Hi Charlie, Thanks for taking time to have a listen. I enjoyed putting this one together. What BIAB makes possible these days is just brilliant! It's such an amazing tool. Thanks for the visit, Noel
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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Very nice Noel. It's refreshing to hear a song about peace. There used to be a lot of them.
Enjoyed it.
Regards,
Bob Hey Bob, Good to see you. There have been some fantastic songs written about peace. Some of them have really made a difference, too. As a theme, I sure it will be recycled again one of these days - most things seem to come and go like a merry-go-round. All the best, Noel
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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I agree with all the comments that everyone else have submitted. To me, your harmony at bars 56 and 57 sounds very much like the Beatles harmony on "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". I had noticed that in another song that you did. You do a superb job on everything that you write.
Sonny
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A very nice write, Noel. It has the feel of a classic "group sing" type song..."We Are The World"..."I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing"... the melody goes to all the right places for that...
The background voices are a nice touch. The drums are especially nice, too.
By my third listen, I could hear the world singing along...
floyd
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Nice Noel
I really like the use of non-even bar numbers. It introduces an interesting level of anticipation.
Yes the Miroslav Philharmonik really provides a fantastic dynamic, rich and full.
Did I notice a choir sound in the background too? It worked perfectly.
Top job.
Thanks, Trevor. I've always been impressed with David Cuny and his arrangements using Miroslav. So when the software was $49 recently, I purchased it. Talk about a bargain! The sounds are amazing. The choir comes from this software. I used the 'Female Ah' sound and wrote a couple of small sections of 2-part harmony. I wasn't sure how it would work but it seems to have done the job. Also, part of the "anticipation" you feel with the 9th bar in some sections is certainly due to the odd number of bars (although 9-bars per section was not unusual in Bach's day), it's probably also enhanced by the fact that the 9th bar is 2/4. I've heard the song so many times now that I can no longer feel this sort of movement. Your comment gave me an insight and I appreciate it. Thanks for taking the time to listen. All the best, Noel
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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Hi Noel,
very uplifting song! Like your lyrics and
delivery. I especially like the part where the
choir comes in.
I enjoyed my listens a lot.
Guenter Hi Guenter, Thank you for visiting, listening and commenting. The choir and church bell were late additions to the arrangement. My main reason for adding the Miroslav Philharmonik vocal sound was because I couldn't get my own vocal harmony to work effectively and I really wanted to use voices to lift the last section of the arrangement. When I wrote a couple of simple midi counter-melodies and channeled them through the Miroslav plugin, it sounded good so I left it. Thanks again for taking the time... Regards, Noel
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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Noel, I can think of nothing much to add to the other comments except to say having watched the video a few times that the presence of Bar 13 initially threw me and I thought that as this song would fit as "the last dance" type of song this would not make dancing easy, but then I am no Astaire. The 2/4 bar seemed to work better before the chorus. I also thought the song would sound great with just a solo acoustic guitar, no other instruments, in verses 1 and 2. Then a build up. Up to your normal standards  Alyn
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Noel, If everyone had your attitude the world would be a much better place. I am beginning to think that you never get depressed. I like the unusual chord progression and the unusual rhyme scheme. (at least to me anyway) The dropping of the drums except the snare during the cello solo was inspired arranging. And what a big big overall sound! The choir sounded great-money well spent. You keep moving forward in your singing, writing, arranging and production. I can hardly wait to hear what comes next. Excellence lives here. Bravo! Tom Hey Tom, hmm.... I suspect that 'me' in real-life and 'me' in my songs might be two different people! ... LOL ... I'll keep that just between you and me, though. Thanks for passing through. I always look forward to reading how you hear my work and I appreciate the insight you give me. In relation to the chord progression, I wanted to use the flat seven chord.... I, bVII, V7.... (in this song that's G F D7). It's a chord that I picked up from Jai Josef's book "Writing Music for Hit Songs". Once I became aware of it, I realised that I'd heard it a number of times over the years but never appreciated what it was. I'm glad the choir worked for you because I was in two minds about using it! Onto the next song now.... (I've already got the loop happening!) All the best, Noel
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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Hello Noel,
This is the perfect Christmas song!
Appropriate lyrics, beautiful music and vocals (yes, nice chorus!).
We could imagine John Lennon singing it.
Very well done!
Rob and Anne-Marie Hi Rob and Anne-Marie, Thank you for your uplifting thoughts. Thanks for the idea about Christmas, too. That wasn't something that occurred to me as I wrote it. I appreciate the visit. All the best, Noel
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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Ask sales and support questions about Band-in-a-Box using natural language.
ChatPG's knowledge base includes the full Band-in-a-Box User Manual and sales information from the website.
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Introducing XPro Styles PAK 11 – Now Available for Mac Band-in-a-Box 2026 and Higher!
XPro Styles PAK 11 for Mac & Windows Band-in-a-Box® version 2026 (and higher) is here with 100 brand new RealStyles, plus 31 RealTracks/RealDrums!
Guess who’s back again? That’s right! It’s our XPro Styles PAK’s triumphant return with the 11th edition in this series! 100 new styles are coming your way spread across the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres. And this edition's wildcard genre explores the immense and far-reaching catalogue of electronic music! The included 31 RealTracks and RealDrums can be used with any Band-in-a-Box® 2026 (and higher) package.
Special offers available until August 31st, 2026!
All the XPro Styles PAKs 1-11 are on sale for only $29 ea (Reg. $49 ea), or get them all in the XPro Styles PAK Bundle for only $149 (reg. $299)! Order now!
Learn more and listen to demos of XPro Styles PAKs.
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XPro Styles PAKs require Band-in-a-Box® 2026 or higher and are compatible with ANY package, including the Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, and Audiophile Edition.
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It’s time to celebrate! Xtra Styles PAK 22 for Band-in-a-Box® is here, and we've got 200 brand-new styles coming your way!
No Xtra Styles PAK is complete without the classic rock & pop, jazz, and country volumes you know and love, and we’ve got plenty to share, with 150 styles spread across too many genres to list! Of course, it also wouldn’t be complete with our special wildcard volume to add a little spice and pizzazz to the mix. This year, because we loved it so much the first time, we’ve decided to make the second iteration of our SynthMaster volume, full of new sounds, interesting genres, and 50 engaging styles, all making use of the diverse SynthMaster plugin! Here you can find genres such as airy yacht rock, sultry electrotango, and even some synth soca funk. Don’t wait, pickup up Xtra Styles PAK 22 today!
In this PAK you can find: dulcet folk ballads, funky gospel country, Brazilian jazz fusion, upbeat 1980s pop, classic Americana, a plethora of breezy bossa novas, indie singer-songwriter, scintillating synthwave, exuberant electronica, and many, many more!
Special offers available until August 31st, 2026!
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Learn more and listen to demos of the Xtra Styles PAK 22.
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