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#538680 05/29/19 08:59 AM
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sj1 Offline OP
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Hi,

Can anyone suggest a good style to use for Moondance?


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Style Picker suggests 4/4 Swing at 135bpm.

Now you can choose from a large number of styles that match these parameters.
It just depends on what you want it to sound like. BIAB does not produce an exact replica of a song, but gives you the option to create your own.

If you want to duplicate a known song, check the web for a Karaoke track or a midi equivalent.


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I think you can use the title of the song in style picker to search for a similar style to the title song.


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Thanks for the comments above, I had indeed overlooked the Suggestion mechanism, and that is cool!

Still though, the resulting list is pretty long. If anyone wants to mention a favorite Style(s) they use for playing along to the Moondance progression which has a feel close to the recording, I'm all ears!


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_JAZFRED.STY @ 142 works for me.... let me know if you want me to send my SGU file...

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type in the chords to the start of the song.... then run through the various styles presented.... and choose the one that fits the best


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There are no styles that are close to Moondance because it has a ton of song specific licks in it starting with the bass line then it has the horns and punches on the bridge. Here's a backing track I found on YouTube that illustrates this:



What are you planning on using this for? How close do you want to get to the original? Is this for playing around at home or do you gig and want this for that? If it's a gig then I would find different backing tracks online and use that, much easier than trying to create it in Biab.

Biab PG styles are not for making covers of classic songs, it's for giving you something in the "style" of classic songs to practice along with. However, you can modify a style to get closer. Take the bass line for example you can go into the Stylemaker and write in the bass line there then save it as a User Style. If you do that it has to be either an all midi style with no Real Tracks or a hybrid style with both midi and RT's. Or, you can keep one of the PG styles and write in that bass line by making the bass a midi track then freeze the track. If you don't freeze it then the next time you generate the song Biab will create it's own bass line and erase what you just did. If you create the bass line as a new Style then freezing the track is not necessary. The punches can be handled by using Shots and Holds. Check those out in the Help files. If you're brand new to the program what I just wrote is probably very confusing, just watch the video tutorials and read the manual, this is doable.

If you're like a lot of us then it's fun to see what you can do with this. You can recreate this in Biab and it's a good test for you to learn the program.

Just to add to the confusion you also have Real Band which is a 48 track DAW. You could probably find a midi file online, load that into RB and work it that way.

I just had the idea to do a Google search using Moondance and Band in a Box and found this thread from 2012. It expands on what this thread says.

https://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=160635

Bob


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That's a very nice backing track, thanks for pointing it out!

FWIW, intuitively if someone were to say to me "in the style of Moondance" I feel like I'd have pretty good idea of what was intended. That would include the basic rhythm of the comp in the verses, the often walking (but not always) bass line, and the way horns and punches are used to end sections. This is not to say that I would expect to push a button in BIAB and get either the original recorded performance or even the backing track above as the output, but I would -think- that there -could be- a style that would cause a BIAB generation to which one would listen and think immediately "Oh, that's like Moondance!".

However, I say that as someone who has never authored a BIAB style, so again FWIW!

Thanks again for your reply.

Last edited by sj1; 06/10/19 02:09 AM.

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Here's the thing about styles. The ones that come with the program, "factory styles" specifically cannot sound too close to a classic song because of copyright issues. But, some still do. Years ago a thread was created where us users listed the styles that matched a bunch of songs fairly well, I think we found around 50. Some of them were just the chords where PG put in different melody lines in the demo. We could hear the chords to All Of Me but with a different melody. The Herbie style uses the piano lick from Cantaloupe Island for example. The AWB style is similar to Pick Up The Pieces. Still, similar only means similar, not exact. If you want exact you have to create the style yourself.

Styles like that must be midi because you cannot write in specific rhythms, or instrument lines using Real Tracks. This is where a hybrid style can be the best way to go. The RT's sound awesome they just cannot be modified to play exact things because they're prerecorded in a studio but there's nothing stopping you from using a midi bass or midi horn lines in a hybrid style.

One thing to keep in mind, if you create a style that closely matches one song, you can't really use it for anything else, it's a one trick pony. PG gives us styles that can be used for lots of things.

Bob


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Can you insert a measure of a midis bass line in a real band arrangement ? For instance, I may want a specific line played by the bass but only in a couple of measures. The real band bass lines are fine for the rest of the tune.

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Originally Posted By: mwgkeys
Can you insert a measure of a midis bass line in a real band arrangement ? For instance, I may want a specific line played by the bass but only in a couple of measures. The real band bass lines are fine for the rest of the tune.

mwgkeys, welcome to the neighborhood.

It is not possible to mix'n'match RealTracks and MIDI tracks in the same track for the same song.

However, you can have a MIDI track on one track and a RealTrack on another, and mute one/play the other at specific bars using the function key <F5> on the required bar(s).

I think this would achieve what you're looking for.

(Incidentally, friendly advice only smile : Posting a new request based on your subject would be a slightly better approach to take, as the subject line doesn't really match your requirement) Maybe that's not possible at this time though.


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