PG Music Home Forums PG Music Product Forums Band-in-a-Box for Windows Finshed demos using BIAB 2010 and real tracks...please post

i feel compelled to comment..lol.
as everyone knows... biab and the real tracks together with realband
is very much unique in the music creation market.

to create a song one either has to go thru the laborious
days n days n sometimes weeks n even months (which some people ive met do.)
laying down bed traks and getting them right.
ie..the traditional approach.
or one can use pre canned loops n midi patterns n go and paint such on tracks.
or one can start a song in biab/rb combo and even finish it.

in summary..3 options.
1. traditional (a la the old 2 inch tape multitrack days)
2. loop painting.
3. biab/rb approach.

each approach has plusses and minuses.
option 1 can be lengthy.
in the past gold records (oodles of them) were done useing this
approach.
but often in megabuk studios and often with hot dog session musicians.
like the funk brothers etc.
the problem is most people cant afford such.
ive used session cats in the past, superb folks, but today on a pension..
no can do..lol.
the other basic problem is , even if one is a multi instrumentalist
and a superb musician who can play geetar/piano/drums and a couple of other
instruments to boot , one cant know every instrument.
so option 1 can be limiting unless one has a group of session musicians on
tap 24/7.
i did option 1 for the longest time..firstly tape based ,
and then once the pc became more powerfull installed powertraks.
and i can say from experience of oodles of songs n demos etc
often one can loose ones spur of the moment creativity ..
eg laying down midi traks.

option 2. sample/loop painting.
i'm not frankly in favor of the loop painting approach.
mebe its my biases showing. but no gband or acid for me thanks.
its ok for roughing out ideas i guess. and i have gigs n gigs of samples n loops
here. but frankly i find it a bore.
one has to search thru sample libs figuring out which samples n loops fit the song
idea in ones mind. then one goes thru such things as can i match the tempo ??
or hmmm...
ive got this great piano chord sample in Dflat minor, but dang gonna have to change that
down a semitone cos i want a Cminor. no biggies..but it all takes time.
painting the drum loops n samples, then the darn bass loops n samples
and then building other traks to get a decent sounding bed trak going.
it all can take lots of time searching thru libs of loops n sounds.

DO YOU GET THE IDEA HERE ?? SONGS ARE WORK WORK WORK..
LOTSA WORK WHICHEVER WAY YOU SLICE THE COOKIE.

now ..
3. biab/rb combo.
the advantage of this approach is..in the right hands it can be a time saver.
but as someone said to me one still has to find the right style of the many available thats most appropo
for the song (and of course select the instruments for sound picture).
but what i like about the concept is its like haveing a group of session musicians always
on tap to create songs with.
how i look at biab/rb is like a marriage.
biab for flushing out the song idea fast while the muse hits and then
bring the song into rb for finishing off //lead upfront traks//song icings.
(or D n D into ones fav daw software).
now let me say ive come across in my net and other travels two
DIFFERENT OPPOSING CAMPS.
some people have said , will never use it. or sounds cheesy,
or sounds like musak. they are very firm in their beliefs.

when people say this to me i know they have not properly delved into the products
in an open minded fashion...to realise
what can be done useing them.
because as any experienced user knows its all in how one
sets about useing the products.
of course it will sound cheesy if one uses the darn MS on board synth sound chip.
but use realtraks and/or a wonderfull synth engine and a whole new universe opens up.
the other camp are those that love the products and know how to use them.
and this is the nub of it imho. cos in many respects from looking at the demos etc etc
n reading tons on google these products are CHAMELEONS.
they can be used in lots of different ways.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
bottom lining the whole topic.
i dont think there will ever be a perfect solution/approach.
cos music creation at best is WORK as i said.
but i do think pg have done a breakthru with these products from
a software engineering standpoint.
my only nit pik is i wish the pricing was less for those of us on a
pension..lol.
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now the original poster asked for songs.
one problem of course is realtraks are a new phenomena.
so i'm sure its taken awhile for people to get familiar with all the
possibilities.
there will be songs made that run the whole gamut from brilliant
right thru basic guide trak ruff demo.
some people use biab just to rough out guides for musicians
in studios to play over the top of.
this really depends on the users aims.

i would also like to bring up another important point.
years back occasionally i would have discussions with folks in big studios.
sometimes biab would be used in the song creation process.
eg a jingle or tv ad or a proper song or whatever.
but often it was kept as sorta an inside secret.
some folks just dont like to give out how they did things.
or their tricks etc etc ive found.

all i'm trying to say is, if one hears a poor song..
one cant say "oh boy" ya know that biab.."man it sucks".
believe it or not ive seen such daft posts on the net.
cos mebe it was a poor song concept or the song wasnt produced correctly.
bottom line is biab n rb are just TOOLS.
some architects build beautifull buildings with the same tools as
other architects that build ugly office buildings we all dislike.


now if pg would just offer pensioner discounts...lol.