PG Music Home Forums PG Music Wishlists Band-in-a-Box Wishlist Make BIAB more useful to contemporary pop songwriters.

I wrote and posted a detailed comment earlier and deleted it because the conversation at that time was mostly in another direction. That post was my thoughts and comments based on Lazarus's first two posts and five suggestions. Lazarus said," If I am missing something and anyone reading this is using BIAB to write contemporary pop, I would be delighted to be proved wrong and learn how they do it."

After reviewing, auditioning and downloading two featured songs from Jetracks.com and another couple from the Adult Contemporary artist/song list Lazarus provided, it was obvious that BIAB can easily and quickly replicate 'Modern Pop' style music just as the program exists now or in 2020, 2019 and many years of prior BIAB versions. I replicated 2 Jetracks and 3 AC songs in less than an hour.

Lazarus is correct that it's easy to "generally lose creative focus and get disappointed, in the endless search for a useable style." However, that's a workflow issue and not a BIAB feature flaw. The human brain cannot keep track of the original song idea when it's being bombarded hearing style after style after style. Auditioning styles is a great method to generate song ideas and for inspiration. It's not an ideal way to match a mental song idea. A mental song idea should be constructed and founded first, then match and rough sketch styles to a static foundation.

Regardless if you develop a song idea from auditioning styles or mentally develop a song, use the StylePicker to select the best style that's "in the style of" and not the best that matches a karaoke version of a song. A songwriter is attempting to write original material and not a cover version.

Some tips for using the StylePicker specifically for songwriting.

1. There are columns in the StylePicker that aren't necessary to the songwriter and can be hidden from view.
2. Make use of the Play over Current Song feature and the Play 4 bars feature. Styles can and do sound dramatically different playing the current chord chart than how the demo sounds. Also utilize the 4 bars feature to quickly see how different sections of the song sound in the current selected style. Those 4 bars can be any part of your song, not just the intro. The Part Markers, chords and tempo can be temporarily changed on the Chord Chart for testing.
3. It's notable to observe the differences between the genre suggestions of MIDI styles and RealStyles. There are normally many more RealStyle 'Other Genre' suggestions than are found in the MIDI styles 'Other Genre' column. This is due to MIDI styles are composed more specifically for "in the style of" a song or artist than RealTracks are. This can be a very helpful feature when the songwriter is attempting a result closely resembling a song or artist's style where the RealTrack instruments have much greater versatility when the attempt is more generic and original. This difference is apparent when auditioning styles and the dramatic difference heard between the demo and the Chord Chart. Genre suggestions are just that, suggestions. The songwriters Chord progression, tempo, key signature and feel and groove being attempted to capture will determine a specific RealTrack instrument's suitability for a song project, not the genre.

<< One significant element that makes tracks for toplining qualify as 'production-ready' is risers, transitions, reverse cymbals and things like string runs and slides. >>

This statement by Lazarus is what prompted me to post a recap of my earlier comments. For optimal songwriting results, I strongly recommend separating the Songwriting process from the demo creation or 'production-ready' tracks. They are two different things and each process detracts from the other. Write your song and if it's good enough, create a demo or 'production-ready' track regardless if you use BIAB or not.

I suggest the songwriter remain in just the BIAB program if possible. There are many elements and additional tracks, busing, overdubs, special effects, sound samples and other details that are unnecessary when writing the song. Working across several different software programs also interrupts and detracts from the songwriting workflow.

All versions of BIAB are capable of creating a stereo master file consisting of dozens of instruments over dozens of tracks. Programming instruments and tracks in this fashion using only BIAB program can generate a very complex track in minutes that would take hours to replicate by exporting individual instruments and tracks over to a DAW. Programing a song solely in the BIAB program allows the program to automatically do many tasks that have to be done manually in the DAW. BIAB can automate smooth transitions, fade in's fade out's, intro's, outro's create grace notes, automate volume changes, pan tracks, buss tracks, bounce tracks, add effects, overdubs, punch-in's/out's, record vocals, double vocals, stack vocals, add background vocals, mix MIDI and RealTracks, Multi riff a track, allow up to 10 instruments per BIAB Legacy Mixer track or in 2021 versions, to utility tracks, edit audio, allow audio tracks on every track, add samples, loops and special sound effects. BIAB can do all of these and more in a first generation, single render of the song project. Any songwriter should be able to rough out a song idea using these tools and features of BIAB without the need of a DAW and also remain on focus and save a lot of time. Older versions of BIAB are not restricted to 7-8 instruments across 8 mixer tracks. Using BIAB to make a demo is where BIAB users can add modern flourishes and sauces to existing BB styles and song projects.