This project was certainly a lot of fun and a lot of work. Indeed, Everyone showed up here at my farm in central NC and the location of Kill Branch Studio for a day of just getting to know each other better in person, and playing some music and hanging out in the woods and on the farm. Several folks drove a considerable distance to be here. We all had a good time. I think, and the others will correct me if I'm wrong.... but the main instigator of this video and the song was David. So blame him as it's all mostly his fault. The rest of us were to one degree or another, willing accomplices. Some more..... some less.
With the disclaimers out of the way.....
Let me give you some of the background specifics of the music.
There is a total of 19 tracks in this project.
7 tracks are vocal tracks.
6 tracks are live guitar tracks.
The band is:
Dave on lead vocals, background vocals, and guitar. Herb on bridge lead vocal, background vocals, and guitars. Eddie on background vocals Pat on Background vocals Charlie on background vocals
Glen Duncan on fiddle RT #1754 Rob Ickes on Dobro RT #2040 Gene Rabbai on Hammond B3 RT #686 John Jarvis on Piano RT #2046 Tobin Frank on Bass RT #684 Ricky Lawson on Drums RT # NTN127
Style is Groovy Piano Pop @ 110bpm
Composed in Band in a Box, Real tracks rendered in Real Band, and mixed in Sonar.
Kudos to Eddie on the work he did putting all the video segments together into a cohesive, watchable, video.
The individual artists worked remotely after we had our reunion day and writing/recording session. The studio version was recorded in each participant's home studio and sent to be mixed at Kill Branch Studio. All sorts of black box magic was applied and the result was the song you heard in the video.
Band in a Box and Real Band played a huge part in being able to do this song the way you hear it.
THANKS PG MUSIC!
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.com Add nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both.
The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
Love this! Thanks everyone for putting that together. I'm really sad that I couldn't be there, it looked really fun.
Originally Posted By: Guitarhacker
We all had a good time. I think, and the others will correct me if I'm wrong.... but the main instigator of this video and the song was David. So blame him as it's all mostly his fault.
I would concur based on what I saw. I did like his voice to the song, I get the Randy Newman/Bob Dylan vibe that I've heard on his other songs.
I really liked that everyone was able to jump in on the background vocals. This helped seal the whole song together. Guitar playing by all real and BIAB guitars was mixed really nice too. Great work guys!
We had a stone-cold blast doing this, and it was done with a laughing spirit, but also a heart full of gratitude for our numerous Band-in-a-Box forum friends and for the PG Music team members, who have done so much for so many people.
There is one thing Band-in-a-Box enables that is truly priceless and I will explain it with a story.
When I started as a Regional Coordinator with the Nashville Songwriters Association about 10 years ago (about the same time period Herb turned me on to BIAB) a leader of that prestigious organization took me aside in Nashville, sat me down, looked me in the eye, and uttered these words:
"Dave, here at Nashville Songwriters, we like to say there are 5 secrets to becoming a better songwriter.
"1. Collaboration.
"2. Collaboration.
"3. Collaboration.
"4. Collaboration.
and finally, and it may come as a surprise,
"5. Collaboration."
The collaboration on this forum is simply remarkable, and BIAB is the great enabler of so much of that.
I am a huge fan of this product and this community.
And yeah, we had fun.
Can't wait 'til next year!!
David Snyder Songwriter/Renaissance Man Studio + Fingers
My dog had his first test of extended off-leash time and I was pleased to see how he stayed near by and didn't get distracted and wander off. We were busy doing our thing for maybe what, 4 hours, and the dog pretty much laid on the ground outside of where he knew I was, making short trips to the water bowl and to visit with other people who were around, but always returning to the place he knew the guy who feeds him was sitting. There were a few scenes we had to do a second take on, some discussion of what the next segment needed to include, and things like that, so that particular day was a fairly intense day. I had to shoot some establishing footage, and enough drone shots to be able to have them for the "dead spots" where there was really no action to match the audio.
As the video assembly went on I vacillated between "WHY did I say I would do this" and "Man this is a great opportunity for me because I am learning so much about Vegas Pro". I won't bore you with the details other than to say there was a LOT of stitching, editing, stretching the tiles in the "how to assemble a song" section, syncing things to the audio... But I will say that the learning angle made it all worth while for me. Everybody had their role and did them well. The conceptual and writing side, the technical/audio side, the video side...
At the core though was the opportunity to meet people who had in the past contributed parts for my songs and offered advice in the forums. We would be remiss is we didn't make sure to point out that Jim Foley was 100% in on the concept but had some personal level things come up that prevented him from physically contributing. We all felt his presence as we worked though. In fact I think he stepped on my toe once! And maybe helped keep my dog close by. All in all, I'd do this again without as much as a second thought. Good ol' bunch of good ol' boys!
A. nice job B. looks like a lot of fun C. Nice setting 4. What a Jack a$$ way to end it <grin> (that's all I got)
and lastly, that looked like a lot of fun and nice job.
.. oh, one more thing for the PG web team; add "?rel=0" to the end of the embed link so when it ends it is showing appropriate next videos previews (minus the quotes of course).
Lots of good work crammed into this. Would have been fun to participate.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome Make your sound your own!
p.s. With David's seriously exaggerated speaking accent, I was half-disappointed there wasn't a single "ye-haw!" in there at some point or another
Just because you can, doesn't mean you should! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- BBox 2022 Audiophile, Mac Pro Intel, OSX 10.6.8, 800x600 (TV VGA)
"And the Yank who drove, with a trailer and a dog, to escape the snow'. I'm still smiling....
And everyone was in correct uniform. Nice touch.
Great effort, everyone. Y'all should be on stage.
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
It's hard to say how much fun, Floyd. The way the day flowed, the laughter all day long, the comfort level of where we were at... it was all great. This mattered to me personally on a couple of levels. The main one is that this kind of event is the kind of thing I have to force myself to attend. I deal with PTSD, and Bud may weigh in here to note that PTSD can manifest itself in many ways. With me it has affected me in a way that I am always "on guard". I am not comfortable in crowds, so I don't go to concerts, movies, bars... When I do make myself go to a bar to see a songwriter, I stay one set and leave because being in even small crowds make me nervous and anxious. I am an extreme loner who, at almost 71, has a grand total of 4 people I feel correct to call friend. With these guys it was different. THESE guys... I was comfortable and at ease all day. The personalities involved, while varied, were such that I was not the least bit uncomfortable. Herb was an extremely gracious host. Charlie is funny as hell. Dave is both bombastic and gregarious. Pat, an introvert like me, was wide open and also very funny. It truly felt like a group I have known my whole life. I was truly grateful to be involved in this from the personal level as much as the musical level.
The song flowed from everybody and it was collaboration in the purest form. Herb did a large part of the writing. Dave added some tweaks. I put in the part about being the one who escaped winter and driving from Ohio. Charlie's scene in the rocking chair was great. It was like sitting at grandpa's knee learning about life.
.... I put in the part about being the one who escaped winter and driving from Ohio.
Eddie, was that you? I never would have guessed
Ha Ha, a great collaboration. Herb provided the perfect setting (thanks), and you guys all landed on your feet (and in uniform, so some planning was clearly involved).
Top show. No question.
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
Band-in-a-Box 2026 for Windows Special Offers End Tomorrow (January 15th, 2026) at 11:59 PM PST!
Time really is running out! Save up to 50% on Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows® upgrades and receive a FREE Bonus PAK—only when you order by 11:59 PM PST on Thursday, January 15, 2026!
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There's an amazing collection of new content too, including 202 RealTracks, new RealStyles, MIDI SuperTracks, Instrumental Studies, “Songs with Vocals” Artist Performance Sets, Playable RealTracks Set 5, two RealDrums Stems sets, XPro Styles PAK 10, Xtra Styles PAK 21, and much more!
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Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows® Special Offers Extended Until January 15, 2026!
Good news! You still have time to upgrade to the latest version of Band-in-a-Box® for Windows® and save. Our Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows® special now runs through January 15, 2025!
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There are over 100 new features in Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows®.
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Band-in-a-Box 2026 Video: The Newly Designed Piano Roll Window
In this video, we explore the updated Piano Roll, complete with a modernized look and exciting new features. You’ll see new filtering options that make it easy to focus on specific note groups, smoother and more intuitive note entry and editing, and enhanced options for zooming, looping, and more.
Band-in-a-Box 2026 Video: AI Stems & Notes - split polyphonic audio into instruments and transcribe
This video demonstrates how to use the new AI-Notes feature together with the AI-Stems splitter, allowing you to select an audio file and have it separated into individual stems while transcribing each one to its own MIDI track. AI-Notes converts polyphonic audio—either full mixes or individual instruments—into MIDI that you can view in notation or play back instantly.
Bonus PAK and 49-PAK for Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows®
With your version 2026 for Windows Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, Audiophile Edition or PlusPAK purchase, we'll include a Bonus PAK full of great new Add-ons for FREE! Or upgrade to the 2026 49-PAK for only $49 to receive even more NEW Add-ons including 20 additional RealTracks!
These PAKs are loaded with additional add-ons to supercharge your Band-in-a-Box®!
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MIDI Styles Set 92: Look Ma! More MIDI 15: Latin Jazz
MIDI SuperTracks Set 46: Piano & Organ
Instrumental Studies Set 24: Groovin' Blues Soloing
Artist Performance Set 19: Songs with Vocals 9
Playable RealTracks Set 5
RealDrums Stems Set 9: Cool Brushes
SynthMaster Sounds Set 1 (with audio demos)
Android Band-in-a-Box® App (included)
Looking for more great add-ons, then upgrade to the 2026 49-PAK for just $49 and you'll get:
20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums with 20 RealStyle.
FLAC Files (lossless audio files) for the 20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums
MIDI Styles Set 93: Look Ma! More MIDI 16: SynthMaster
MIDI SuperTracks Set 47: More SynthMaster
Instrumental Studies 25 - Soul Jazz Guitar Soloing
Artist Performance Set 20: Songs with Vocals 10
RealDrums Stems Set 10: Groovin' Sticks
SynthMaster Sounds & Styles Set 2 (sounds & styles with audio demos)
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