Hi flyphish,

A BIAB "Chorus" means "once through the entire song." This is the more general use of the word "chorus".

When you start BIAB with a new song, it will typically default to 3 choruses (that is, 3 repeats of what you put in). Located to the right of the song tempo there are 3 buttons with numbers in. These are,
  • Button 1 = bar at which the first chorus starts. This allows for an introduction and the intro bars will not repeat in chorus repetitions. Initially this will be set to 1.
  • Button 2 = length of song in bars. Initially this will be set to 32.
  • Button 3 = number of choruses. Initially this will be set to 3.

If these buttons are set as (say) 5, 36, 3, it means there's a 4 bar intro; the first chorus starts at bar 5; once through the song is 32 bars (namely bars 5 to 36); there are 3 repetitions of these 32 bars. With all this in mind, the song would be 100 bars long.

When I build songs, I prefer to use a single chorus and I use part markers to define each of my sections. As an example, if I wanted to make a song that had a 4-bar intro, 8-bar verse, 8-bar chorus, 8-bar verse, 8-bar chorus, 12-bar bridge, 8-bar chorus, 4-bar ending (a total of 60 bars), I'd set it up as follows.
  • Left-click on each of the buttons mentioned above and set them to 1, 60, 1, respectively. Note: the song will be 62 bars long even though you entered its length as 60 because BIAB puts in a 2-bar ending.
  • Click on the "5" of bar 5 so that a blue part marker occurs. This will separate the intro from the verse.
  • Click twice on the “13” of bar 13. This will separate the verse from the chorus with a green marker.
  • Click once of 21 (blue marker) and twice on 29 (green marker) to separate the next verse and chorus.
  • Click once on 37 (blue marker), twice on 49 (green marker), and twice on 57 (green marker). This will separate bridge, chorus and ending.
  • Enter a suitable chord progression for each musical section.


A NOTE ABOUT MARKERS
Blue markers define an A-style and green markers define a B-style. Generally, A-styles are a little simpler than the B-styles and, by varying the styles, the song develops musically. Also, because BIAB sees a marker as beginning a section, it will put instrumental and drum breaks in the bar immediately before the marker. This also helps to define these sections musically.

Hopes this gives you some ideas.

Regards,
Noel

Last edited by Noel96; 11/06/09 02:12 PM.
MY SONGS...
Audiophile BIAB 2025