So as I understand it, music does not get forwarded to music supervisors for film or t.v. unless it sounds legit and meets spec.
These two things came straight outta Band in a Box. I guess it can be done. I don't really care if they finally end up in the film or not, I am just tickled pink that I have proof that a BIAB cut can make it to the front of the line. SongTradr also added these songs to a special playlist for this type of music for other music supervisors looking for this genre.
So, all this garbage I read on other forums about BIAB is just for "demos" or "not even for demos" is just that. Garbage. This proves it to me. Herb Hartley told me this a long time ago though when he uttered his immortal words in to me in 2014" "Let me tell you something about the best money you will ever spend..."
I'm sticking with BIAB.
David Snyder Songwriter/Renaissance Man Studio + Fingers
Running from the Law is on my profile page. Just type in Junk Yard Blues David Snyder and you can hear the other.
Let's hang together and follow/favorite one another. Send me your link so I can follow you, and favorite some of your songs. I think we should all do that. A rising tide lifts all boats.
I just got final selection for another one: a Kenny G replacement called Kenny Please!!!!
Please don't tell anyone in my family or anyone I know I just got picked for a Kenny G. replacement. Oh my God, what have I become!!!
David Snyder Songwriter/Renaissance Man Studio + Fingers
Well done David! That is such great news.. I wish I had time to submit to these opportunities but am working full time at the moment. I am doing weekly submissions to cover in a week and had some success with my first attempt. I think we should get other folks from the forum involved there to.
Well done David, you are a very talented and clever man. BIAB has limitations and in my case they are huge limitations. One is imagination, that plus a little faith both of which you have in abundance.
Tony
HP i7-4770 16GB 1TB SSD, Win 10 Home, Focusrite 2i2 3rd Gen, Launchkey 61, Maton CW80, Telecaster, Ovation Elite TX, Yamaha Pacifica 612 BB 2022(912) RB 2022(2), CakeWalk, Reaper 6, Audacity, Melodyne 5 Editor, Izotope Music Production Suite 4.1
I guess I might be a little crazy but I have never understood what people mean when they use the word "limitations" in the context of band in a box.
I mean, you can slow things down, you can speed things up, you can solo instruments, you can bring parts in and out, you can alter styles in the middle of a tune, you have more than 3,000 instruments and styles at your disposal 24/7, you can add your own midi stuff. I don't see any limitations, especially when you go in there and start adding in your own guitars, piano, violin, bass, midi, strings, vocals, shakers, tambourines, harmonica, cello, whatever it is you happen to play over top of the the BIAB studio musicians.
For that particular song submission, I was in a really bad mood about something else unrelated to SongTradr, so when I saw that posting, and I went "Okay then, take this..."
And I turned in 14 submissions in about 3 hours.
3 of them stuck.
I don't see the word "limitation" anywhere in that scenario, is what I'm saying.
I say thanks Band in a Box!!! Thanks for helping me go to war!!
David Snyder Songwriter/Renaissance Man Studio + Fingers
Hello David- I recently purchased BIAB for windows 2018 Audiophile version. It is on its way to me now. Found your recording of "Running From The Law" and was impressed with the production quality. I assume you played the slide guitar with BIAB being your backing tracks. Was wondering which version you use and any tips for a new user?
I used to belong to NSAI (Pittsburgh Ares). This would have been a time saver for demos. I still have everything from a TASCAM R2R 4 Track to various digital recorders but hope this will be a time saver as I still work full time.
I may use it for producing a CD's to sell at gigs. Good luck with your music endeavors. Excellent musicianship and recording techniques
Best to you David! Creating specifically for a request is, I think, the shortest and best path to a license. And you are well equipped to do that.
Originally Posted By: rockstar_not
Just curious, out of all your submissions to songtradr how many have been forwarded?
We’ve made it through the finals (forwarded) 23 times on the “music wanted” side which is around 25% of our submissions. But we have yet to be accepted by the requesting company, i.e, their music supervisor. We’ve had more luck with ST’s “deals request” with 14 songs recently licensed by Mood Media. But if you are in it for the money the “music wanted” is where the bigger bucks reside.
J&B
Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more. If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks! Our Videos
I think about 3 or 4 in the past 4 days have gone to music supervisors. Maybe more. There have been a lot this week.
I think I have been shortlisted about 20 times now, something like that. Some of my early stuff was not right, but I think I am getting the hang of it now. You just have to dive in and start learning, and I am enjoying the learning process.
Here are a few things I have learned along the way.
1. ) When you are submitting, try and get as close to the exact sound and tempo of the sample as you can. Use a tool to inspect the BPM. If the sample is at 120 BPM and goes G C D, send them something at 120 BPM that goes G C D. Don't send anything at 80 BPM that goes Bm, Dm, Am, C#m7
2.) Send in various takes or different styles. Why not? One of mine taken for steel guitar was really stripped down but the other was a full country band. You can never be sure exactly what they are looking for, so try and get close and then send a few different approaches.
3.) Be REALLY careful on the mix. They use algorithms in this industry to test for loudness, BPM, dynamic range, things out of tune and everything else. Anything out of spec will not make it.
I am a big fan of Xtra Styles because they are sort of "pre-mixed" if you will. Everything I have had that was accepted used an Xtra Style and I applied only the most gentle mastering to it in Ozone, just the very light polishing stuff, none of the harsher ones that make it loud and over-compressed. That is the kiss of death. It has to be gentle on the ears even if it is rock. Make sure your .wav looks like a wave and not a brick. I am sure they are using an algorithm to see if the music rises and falls and has nuances and is not all at the same brick like loudness all the way through.
4.) It is totally possible to do work in BIAB with a home studio that will pass all the barriers to entry in music supervision. You just have to "trust" Band in a Box to do its thing, and be super careful in the mix. Spend a lot of time working out your drum, bass and guitar presets and get it down to a science. Then, go EASY on those mastering plug ins.
David Snyder Songwriter/Renaissance Man Studio + Fingers
Here is my current computer setup. Let me know if I need a USB soundcard, or specific DAW program to add my live tracks (I play guitar, keys, a little lap steel and bass).
1. Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit, 4 Gig Ram, 500 Gig HD, 2 TB internal 2nd hard drive. 2. Sound Card is REALTEC High Definition Audio from 2009 - Set at 16 Bit 44100 Hz but can be set up to 16 Bit 192000 HZ 2. The only DAW programs I have are Audacity (Used for years) and Cubase LE (Never used it). 3. I have a Behringer USB mixer and a Soundcraft non USB Mixer.
Over the years, I have made track by track recordings using a drum machine and playing most of the instruments with some help from friends on vocals and sax. Although I love the process, it can be time consuming. Looking forward to using BIAB to do some full versions of many tunes that I never got around to "arranging" I have written over 150 songs (and IMHO a few are pretty good).
Once BIAB arrives and I have spent a little time with it, I will contact you again for some tips. Appreciate any advice on the computer, sound card and DAW. Kevin (Fingers55)
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Band-in-a-Box 2026 Video: AI Stems & Notes - split polyphonic audio into instruments and transcribe
This video demonstrates how to use the new AI-Notes feature together with the AI-Stems splitter, allowing you to select an audio file and have it separated into individual stems while transcribing each one to its own MIDI track. AI-Notes converts polyphonic audio—either full mixes or individual instruments—into MIDI that you can view in notation or play back instantly.
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