Thanks for the responses from people detailing their work process.

Tips I give to myself:

1. I audition new styles when I update and limit myself to picking a small handful that I will use. It is better for my creativity to put limitations in place than to consider abundance. With that limited subset picked (when I am not composing) I am set to work fast and finish projects while the creative juices are correctly flowing.

2. I get to know the players names on the real tracks and can call them into a recording session through a short list of real track variations by right clicking in the mixer on a drum part, or a bass part. Again I keep this a short list in my head of one or two guitarists, one or two drummers, etc.

3. Like Noel said above I will sometimes go through styles by tempo and look at things within 10-15 BPM of what my composition is. If I select by tempo range and 8th or 16th feel I am usually only looking at 5-10 styles on the picker.

4. I use Band in Box also for backing tracks for when I play live and for that purpose I pick a handful of styles that complement how I play (Eagles, Americana, pop country). Because I play guitar, I up the volume on the bass and drums and drop the volume on the guitars in the style. As the end of the day what the audience hears live is going to be bass, drums, my live guitar and singing, and some lower in the mix flavoring of some of the other tracks (piano or synth pads). When that ends up being the final mix, the choices of styles is fairly simple.

That's all I can think of for now.

Tom Laskey