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Hey friendly folks. Seems like a nice community here so I trust you'll all be gentle. smile I bought BIAB 2020 back in May. Life's been crazy so I haven't had much time to play with it, but I finally got around to recording one of my songs into some semblance of complete. I don't really know what I'm doing, but having fun with playing around. Anyway, this is a silly little song called Best Song Ever. I recorded the vocal and did the mixing and editing in Mixcraft 9. I imported the instrument and solo tracks from BIAB using the VST plugin, that's a pretty cool little integration. Getting a vocal take I was satisfied with was challenging, and I still don't really know if it's "done". I might still play with it some more, but anyway, would love to hear what you folks think of it, and also any tips on mixing etc would be most welcome.

Best Song Ever

Lyrics:

Well I wrote a song about you, it's the best there's ever been
But you don't get to hear it cause you're over there with him
I told my friends about it and they all think it's a sin
It was the best song there's ever been

Well you think you're oh so clever now but that won't pay the rent
You've burned up all your bridges all your IOU's are spent
Too late to talk it over now to late to try again
It was the best song there's ever been

And like Tenacious D said, this is not that song
You'll never get to hear it, never get to sing along
It was the best song there's ever been
It was the best song there's ever been
It was the best song there's ever been
But now it's gone, oh now it's gone

Well I can see you reconsidering, since you may have judged me wrong
But mostly just because you want to hear my awesome song
Well you don't get to hear it, but I'll tell you once again
It was the best song there's ever been

And like Tenacious D said, this is not that song
You'll never get to hear it, never get to sing along
It was the best song there's ever been
It was the best song there's ever been
It was the best song there's ever been
But now it's gone, oh now it's gone

There are many here among us who have felt this kind of pain
We don't deserve the hurt you cause, that intimate refrain
And though you walked away, it is you who've lost the game
It was the best song there's ever been

I bet you wish that this was over, but we've got one verse to go
Telling you how great it was and how you'll never know
Well you can ask your sister, ask your mom and ask your friends
It was the best song there's ever been.

And like Tenacious D said, this is not that song
You'll never get to hear it, never get to sing along
It was the best song there's ever been
It was the best song there's ever been
It was the best song there's ever been
But now it's gone, oh now it's gone!

The band was _BANJBAL style, plus I also added the oooh's, fiddle solo and harmonica solo using the "solos" functionality. Thanks for listening.

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Hey! I really enjoyed the freshness of that 1st tune! For a 1st release this is pretty good. You already know how to use some important features and put everything together nicely. In terms of mix I think I would have put the instruments louder, I find them a bit behind but maybe this is the effect you wanted. Really encouraging to keep on composing with it!

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If that's your first effort, keep going!!! That's a strong first song.

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Mike,

A good first song. The Best One smile

The vocal is strong. The backing track could come up just a bit in volume.

Welcome to the Showcase.

fj

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You have a very good voice and you are a very clever wordsmith.

Like others I think you need to bring up the backing tracks.

A very nice first song.


I think my wife has started to show the first signs of dementia.
She said she can't remember what she ever saw in me!

64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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Thanks folks, I really appreciate it! I'm already keen to get going on my next one.

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Welcome to the forum. Loved you vocal. I got a 60's folk vibe. Very well done


Scott Collingwood
https://soundcloud.com/scottt709
https://soundcloud.com/spiritlevel-ca
https://www.youtube.com/@SpiritLevel-ge3hm/
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Nice bit of humour.
Yep, backing should come up, (remember to turn off the reverb and EQ inside BIAB before going to the VST), and adjust the vocal level in the choruses...the change in level isn't smooth and is way too loud given the backing level.


Cheers
rayc
"What's so funny about peace, love & understanding?" - N.Lowe
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Originally Posted By: Scott C
Welcome to the forum. Loved you vocal. I got a 60's folk vibe. Very well done
Thanks a lot! This is exactly the vibe I was going for.

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Originally Posted By: rayc
... and adjust the vocal level in the choruses...the change in level isn't smooth and is way too loud given the backing level.


Yeah, I played with this a bunch before I posted here, trying to get a bit of a doubling effect on the chorus required me to copy that part of the track and add different effects inside mixcraft. I'll definitely play with it some more and bring the vocals down and/or backing levels up. Thanks for the feedback.

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There are a couple of free Automatic Double Track (ADT) plugins around that'll do that for you.
Try looking for airwindows for a start.
Singing a double is always the best answer but also the hardest to do right.
To get that effect you're after the simplest way is to duplicate, add some wow & flutter plus the tiniest amount of delay through a plug in and blend the effected track into the original slowly until it is audible and then pull it back a little.
OR
Duplicate & heavily compress, high pass above 200 add a bunch of high end EQ and then blend as above. That is based on the Motown Exciter Compressor - it adds "life" to the vocal without getting fat or loud.
Exciter


Cheers
rayc
"What's so funny about peace, love & understanding?" - N.Lowe
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Best first song I heard all day!

Really pretty good, congrats.
I'm sure you'll have many more.

I've been pecking away at the edges of BIAB myself, I have know idea what I'm doing either.
Quite frankly, I'm intimidated by all it has to offer and envious of all the folks here who've become experts.

My suggestions align with the others, bring up the instruments and smooth out the vocals.

You're on your way, keep them coming.

moto

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Hi Mike,

Wow! That is a really good first song with BiaB - I really enjoyed listening to it. Well done!

About the mix I think the music could be a little louder compared with the voice/singing, but that is just my opinion - and it doesn't take much away from the fact that you got a very good start with BiaB.

Looking forward to hear more songs from you!
Will

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