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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 8
Newbie
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OP
Newbie
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 8 |
!st, I am a newbie and i think the techs are tired of my questions so they sent me to the forums. I hope i don't wear out my welcome toooo soon with y'all because I've learned much reading the threads i've visited thus far.
I have read a previous thread on users frustrations with real drums, a frustration i have been experiencing in my own limited knowledge way. But, as a drummer by trade (and steel drum player by trying to keep up with all my band mates who go single act) one of my express purposes of getting band in the box was to be able to record my self as "the real drummer". I was not discouraged in this goal by the salespeople who sold me band in the box and as I have read more and more of the manual, and read some of forum an sews, it seems to be a feasible goal. My idea is to tweek the arrangement as much as possible, then record me playing with all drums separately miked into a mixer and send one line to Real band where the arrangement lies to a open track and sort of EQ my drums from here on separate runs of the song via the drum amplifier untill i get mix I like and get rid of the other mixes...Question...Is this valid approach? To qualify myself..I am a good drummer and know I could lay down a track better (for this here and now arrangement)then the limited couple of bars that terry Clarke is allowed(is he related to the famous drummer Kenny Clarke aka Klook, who played with Bird before Max and now of kenny Clarke Francy Boland big band fame?)
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: May 2002
Posts: 7,935
PG Music Staff
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PG Music Staff
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 7,935 |
Hello Trimble,
Just to clarify, are you wanting to use Band-in-a-Box / RealBand accompaniment for all your tracks except drums, then record your own drums for each song? Or are you asking if you can make your own custom RealDrums style that you could use with all your songs?
Andrew
PG Music Inc.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 8
Newbie
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OP
Newbie
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 8 |
The 1st..Use BIB/RB accompaniment for all tracks except drums, then record my own drums for each song thereby all tracks are computer generated except my own drums. In addition to asking weather it's feasible,i would ask for a few pointers as well, and also the pot of gold at the end of....
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: May 2008
Posts: 410
Journeyman
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Journeyman
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 410 |
Hi Trimble, I ran across this vid on YouTube a while back. The fellows name is Don Beem. Since you mentioned steel drums, I thought it might be a good demo to start with--also watch his vid entitled 'WX5 Vid 1', as it shows some of the equipment he is using. Hopefully this will help get us on the same page, because in my mind, you seem to be asking about the recording process more than any thing else. If I'm reading you wrong then feel free to toss this--it's just my 2 cents worth anyway and ymmv, and so on.  So--my answer to "..Question...Is this valid approach?" is --yes it is valid but can be improved on tremendously by adding more inputs into your pc. If you had, for example, an m-audio delta 1010lt, you could mike your drums and record your performance on multiple tracks. True, you will still have some bleed, but you can still (quickly) do a lot with your tracks, such as adding a little 'verb to the snare, etc,etc. The way you are thinking about doing it now will get you there, but I think you're going to find it very time consuming to get the exact mix you want for your recordings. I think you'll find RB to be quite capable for your daw. I know for a fact that if I wanted to make a backing track similar to the first vid, I could fire up RB and have it finished in short order. Of course, I have a very nice soft-synth also, so I'm not totally dependend on realtracks. But the nice thing abour RB is you can go all midi, all realtracks, or any combination thereof, whatever works. Hope this helps and welcome to the forums. links https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqECkw55vTY&feature=channelhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6486c7TnZE&feature=channelLater, Jim
I'd be completely happy if I had just one more guitar.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: May 2000
Posts: 22,650
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 22,650 |
You'll want to do it in RB, rather than BiaB for recording multitrack purposes. You can record multiple takes etc. with the 48 audio tracks. We have done this many times and it is a valid approach. We used the realdrums to build the idea, then called the drummer in. Do you have a multiple input soundcard, or are you going to mix them down to stereo? This is where some people get confused. If you have only a stereo soundcard you'll only be able to get a left/right mix of the drums. We use M-Audio Delta soundcards (mentioned in Jim's post) with 8 ins each so each drum can have a separate track.. which is preferable to me, but not a deal breaker if you can get a good mix. We would mic the snare (sm57), put a mic on the kick pedal (57 or 58), then use a speaker-mic in front of the bass drum (10"), then spread the rest of the mics out around the set. If using 'ambient' mics or overheads, try to keep them the same distance from the snare to avoid snare phasing. We usually tried to keep the close mics in a direction where they would reject the snare sound as much as possible, because that will be the one that bleeds over everything if doing rock. Another trick for rock drums (shhh) is to put a metal folding chair beside the snare drum and point a mic at it, to pick up the metalic ring and mix in to suit. Then remind the drummer to try not to hit any mics while he is flailing away...
Last edited by rharv; 07/17/10 05:22 AM.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 8,333
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 8,333 |
I played in about 8 "dance" bands. Every one had a drifting drummer. The worst was the older orchestra guys. Real curmudgeons, everyone of them. Except for 3 of us 'younger' guys. Man they eat drummers for lunch.
"What part of 120 bpm's don't you get son!", watch the baton. You are in an orchestra,not some rock and roll star now. I'm not up here to make a breeze..they can't dance if you don't keep the beat constant....", drummer starts packing up.....LOL.
I played with a really good group, except it was the drummer's group and man that guy was everywhere. As soon as the singer got near a long note it went 2 1/2 measures instead of one...and it was worse because he had a mic. The did me a favour and found a guy with a B3. 5 50 year old guys trying to find gigs and split what? 400 bucks. Setup by 10 and take down at 2 a.m. NUTS! Terry Clarke stays right on tempo and not one septuagenarian has complained about his tempo or lack of chops. In fact I played 4 hours with 2 breaks on Saturday aft. and a couple, both slightly hunched over and in their late 80's got up and NEVER sat down. Even through the faster Elvis tunes they swung hard. Twice a week all their lives.
John Conley
Musica est vita
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 7,697
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 7,697 |
Hi Trimble and welcome to the forum. There was a guy on the internet who's site has gone away now who is a killer drummer and he was selling his services to anybody who wanted to add him to their already completed recording. He advertised he could do this either as audio or midi. He had put up a collection of really good midi files that he did using a midi drum set. He kept the original drum track in there so you could hear the difference.
What you're asking about is routine, drummers have been playing and recording to a click for years. Biab only has one audio track you can record to so you would use Real Band for this.
The question is do you know how to record and mix and all that stuff? Rharv's description of how to mic a drum set is exactly how I do it too except I don't use a 10" drum mic although a drummer friend of mine has one he got from David Garibaldi. It's a Yamaha I think. Most of my recordings are with local live bands and I will use 4 mic's, one for the kick, one for the snare pointed up from the bottom under the hi hat and two overheads. If you really want to do it right then a full suite of mic's are in order. I'm sure that's what PG uses for the Real Drum tracks. RB will handle that just fine as long as you have a soundcard with enough inputs. The M-Audio ones are good, so is my EMU 1820M it has 8 ins too. I don't try to schlep my computer out to a live gig though, I use an Akai DPS16 hard disc recorder for that. It will mix 16 tracks and can record 8 at once.
Bob
Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 378
Journeyman
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Journeyman
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 378 |
Hey Bob, I don't suppose you visit my Akai forum- http://dpsworld.vibestudio.netI know the dps16 forum is slow, but the dps24 forum keeps busy. I use a dps24 and still love it. And I don't suppose you meant Pete Generous when you mentioned the drum service- http://www.generousgroove.com/He's still around and kicking. To the OP, the short answer is yes, you can add your own drums or create a drum performance from any of the big names in drum software, to your biab tracks. It's a question of function really and how best you choose to do it. If realband isn't hardy enough for you, there's plenty of other daws you can use to pull it all together. Having used realband quite a bit now, I find it good for assembling realtracks and such, but for the business of mixing down I choose another daw. But realband is capable enough to do what you want to do. Dan
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 7,697
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 7,697 |
You have DPSWorld? Wow, amazing who you find here. Sure, I've visited your site but I became familiar with the people on the Yahoo DPS group and keep using that one. I'll make sure to spend more time on yours. A 24 is a great unit but too much money for me right now, the 16 is plenty for what I need. The cool thing about the 24 of course is direct transfer of the tracks to a computer, the 16 has to burn them to disc which is time consuming. Still, the sound quality on my DPS is great and I put a 80 gig hd in it so I have plenty of space.
That drum site is the same idea as the other one but it doesn't look like the same guy. He called his tracks "Overlord Drums". Other than that I have no idea who he is, I just grabbed a bunch of good midi's off his site but when I went to his link a month or so ago to see if he had anything new up the site was gone. Might be another case of the lawyers getting after him for copyright infringement.
Bob
Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 378
Journeyman
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Journeyman
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 378 |
Yep, small world! I'll keep it at that so I don't hyjack the thread.
Dan
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Ask sales and support questions about Band-in-a-Box using natural language.
ChatPG's knowledge base includes the full Band-in-a-Box User Manual and sales information from the website.
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Last Chance! The Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac® Special Ends Today (May 31, 2026) at 11:59pm PDT!
Time really is running out! Save up to 50% on Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac® upgrades and receive a FREE Bonus PAK—only when you order by 11:59 PM PDT today!
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Another exciting new addition is the amazing new AI-Notes feature, which can transcribe polyphonic audio into MIDI. View the results in notation or play them back as MIDI, and choose whether to transcribe an entire track or transcribe specific parts like drums, bass, guitars/piano, or vocals. There's over 100 new features in Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac®.
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There are over 100 new features in Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac®.
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202 New RealTracks Released with Band-in-a-Box 2026!
With Band-in-a-Box® 2026, we've released 202 incredible new RealTracks (in sets 468-488) in a variety of genres—featuring your most requested styles!
Jazz, Funk & World (Sets 468-475):
Our new jazz, funk & blues RealTracks include a groovin’ collection of RealTracks and RealDrums! These include more requested “soul jazz” RealTracks featuring artists Neil Swainson (bass), Charles Treadway (organ), Brent Mason (guitar), and Wes Little (drums). There are new “smooth jazz” styles (4), which include a RealTracks first: muted trumpet, as well as slick new smooth jazz brushes options for drums. Blues lovers will be thrilled—there are more “classic acoustic blues” styles, including guitar (5), bass (4), and drums (10) with blues master Colin Linden, featuring understated and tasty background acoustic soloing, plus brushes drums and acoustic bass. There are also new electric blues RealTracks, including electric blues with PG favorite Johnny Hiland (3) and soulful electric slide guitar from Colin Linden (4). If you love funk & gospel, there are great new options this year, including gospel organ (3) from Charles Treadway, as well as new funk, tango, and rock ’n’ roll drums (3) and bass (1). And for big, bold arrangements, we have uptempo soul horns (4) featuring a three-part hip horn section with options for a full mix or stems of each individual horn — plus an accompanying rhythm section (4) of drums, bass, guitar, and electric piano!
Rock & Pop (Sets 476–482):
Our new rock & pop RealTracks bring a powerful mix of requested favorites, fresh genres, and modern chart-inspired styles! We have more of our popular “Producer Layered Acoustic Guitars (15)” featuring Band-in-a-Box favorite Brent Mason. We’ve continued our much-requested disco styles (10), and added new Celtic guitar (5) with a more basic, accessible approach than our previous Drop-D or DADGAD offerings. There are also highly requested yacht rock styles (17), inspired by the smooth, polished soft-rock sound of the late ’70s and early ’80s — laid-back grooves, silky electric pianos, warm textures, elegant harmonic movement, and pristine production aesthetics. Fans of heavier styles will love our new glam metal (13), capturing the flashy, high-energy sound of ’80s arena-ready guitar rock. We also have a set of rootsy modern-folk rock (18), with a warm, organic sound combining contemporary folk textures and driving acoustic strumming. And we’ve added lots of new modern pop styles (16) — the kinds of sounds you’re hearing on the radio today, featuring exciting new drums, synths, and cutting-edge RealTracks arrangements.
Country, & Americana (Sets 483–488):
Our new country & Americana RealTracks deliver a rich collection of acoustic, electric, and roots-inspired styles! We have new country pop (9) with legendary guitarist Brent Mason. There is also a potpourri (14) of bouzouki, guitars, banjo, and more, perfect for adding texture and character to contemporary acoustic arrangements. We’ve added funky country guitar (5) with PG favorite Brent Mason, along with classic pedal steel styles (5) featuring steel great Doug Jernigan. There are more country songwriter styles (8) that provide intimate, rootsy foundations for storytelling and modern Americana writing. Finally, we have “background soloing” acoustic guitar (12) with Brent Mason — simpler, but still very tasty acoustic lines designed to sit beautifully behind vocals or act as a subtle standalone solo part.
Check out all the 202 new RealTracks (in sets 468-488)!
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-For UltraPAK customers, this includes 12 new RealStyles.
- 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)
- iOS Android Band-in-a-Box® App
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- 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)
Learn more about the Bonus PAK and 49-PAK for Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac®!
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