PG Music Home Forums General Discussion User Showcase I Love Samba

Hello Everybody,
I am new to this forum.
I've just opened my channel on YouTube where I would like to present my tunes performed in our lovely BIAB.

The name of the tune is: I Love Samba

Style is _SAMBA_P.STY (Samba w/ Acoustic Bass & Piano)
SoloistCustom Synth is 057 - Trumpet, Jazz [SN0259]
Melody track is partially harmonized
Soloist track is partially harmonized.
RealTracks in song: 3838:Bass, Acoustic, Samba Ev 190 (16ths@95)
RealTracks in song: 1820:Piano, Acoustic, Rhythm SonMontunoComp Ev 165
RealTracks in song: 3238:Guitar, Nylon, Rhythm BossaBrazilRamon Ev 140
RealDrums in Song: BongosEv8
RealDrums in Song: CowbellEv[single]^1-quarters
RealDrums in Song: TimbaleFillsSka[single]
RealDrums in Song:SambaBrazilFastBrushAlex: a: SambaBrazilFastBrushAlexb: SambaBrazilFastBrushAlex

Here is the link:

Thank you for listening. I hope you enjoyed.
TomZ

BIG welcome to the forum, Tom. And what a good one with which to introduce yourself. Yes, I, too, love samba --playing it and listening to it. This one is a mover. It's the kind of music I use to clean my studio. I'm going back to listen to more. Keep 'em coming.

Hello, I really like this music and its arrangements. Welcome to the forum.
Laurent

Welcome, Tom! That's a real zippy samba tune. The piano and bongos sound especially cool. Not sure the harmonized lines are making the best use of that BiaB feature, but I have to admit that I've never been able to coax a great track out of that feature either. But I'd shoot for a harmonized sound closer to a horn section. Always something new to play with around here! Looking forward to your future tunes!

Thank you very much BabuMusic. Thank you for your kind words. I don't see too much jazz here.
I have been using the program since 1995 and in the past I thought it was made mainly for jazz given the people who have been working behind the scene. I will play another samba soon.
Thank you again.
TomZ

Thank you very much for your kind words.
TomZ

Thank you DC Ron. Thank you very much.
I don't see too much jazz here.
I have been using the program since 1995 and in the past I thought it was made mainly for jazz given the people who have been working behind the scene.
I will play another samba soon.

I am not sure if I understood you correctly. For me the automatic harmonization works very well. FINALE adopted BIAB harmonizations. Sometimes, I edit harmonization and commonly the problem is with the 5th or when I want to replace 1st note of a chord with 9th.
Also, I use lots of chords. Usually, two per single measure so the harmonization is vivid.
For illustration here:
especially part B of the song where I use even three chords per bar, a nightmare for a pianist given the tempo.
This harmonization is done by BIAB based on the melody and chords.
The flute line is mine.

I think the biggest challenge for an arranger is to write an independent melody line that is complimentary to the main melody line and this new line doesn't obfuscate the main melody line.

I wish the program had more soloist tracks to enable richer arrangements.
Now, I know that one can enter notes in the user tracks but at the moment I don't know how to assign an instrument to them.
Thank you.
TomZ

Thank you very much for your kind words laurent4114,
TomZ

Tom, thanks for the detailed description and the personal message. I'll be the first to say this: If what you're hearing is what you want to hear, ignore comments to the contrary, including mine. On the additional track you provided I'm again hearing less-than-optimal-musical results from the harmony lines. Some of it might be the instruments used, or the settings selected. At any rate, I've spent hours experimenting with these settings and never came up with anything that was great. FWIW, I spent over 20 years using BiaB to play jazz standards to the exclusion of most everything else, so understand, at least a little, the genre and the challenges. None of which I intent to mean as disrespect or discouragement. So glad you're here and participating! (It's worth repeating: See my comment about "if you're hearing what you want to hear...")

Thank you DC Ron. I understand and appreciate your comments. Also, I even agree. :-)
Yes, so much depends of the context and what sound ears carry from the previous chord.

Furthermore, so much depends on the style of music. As you know, in jazz, usually melody is written outside or on extensions of a regular triad. This is why jazz harmonies have broad sound. [which I love]

In “I Love Samba”, at the beginning, I purposefully use dissonant chords to build some tension. Cursed b5.:-)
I think you would rather refer to what is happening after….. Yes, harmonization for each chord should be scrutinized and various techniques of harmonization could be used to get maximum smoothness.
In this situation for each note of a given melody a chord should be written. I think this is what you refer to.

In this type of music I often accepted the fact that if a melody note belongs to the chord scale it is OK. I think you would like to hear more passing chords. Therefore more chords should be used especially when melody is played by a group of instruments and this should be done separately from the chords that are played by the rhythm section. So we end up with a full musical score.

In conclusion, automatic harmonization not always works because humans have individual taste and humans decide what sounds best, how many chords to use and which harmonization technique to employ.

In one of my song that I already posted, :-( I have a problem with situation where 6th is in the melody and two other voices play 3 and b7 which is absolutely correct. BTW I love the major 7 interval between b7 and 6, however, in that musical context it sounds harsh and I feel that b7th should be replaced by likely root. Yet, I let it go because I also thought that this sound could be interpreted as an “artistic expression” to imitate a detuned chimney of the ship the song is about.
Well, it is not what Tchaikovsky would do :-) He would rather use a passing chord but it is jazz and I don't expect perfect smoothness or perhaps I got used to rough harmonies.
In the past, in music schools it was forbidden to play and/or even to listen to jazz from this very reason, I guess, and perhaps people don't like jazz because they feel it is sometimes “slightly out of tune” :-).
I hope I am on track.
Thank you DC Ron,
TomZ

Good job, good groove, enjoyed listening.

Thank you for your kind words.
TomZ

Tom, welcome to the forums.
A super instrumental! We need more instrumentals here!
Nice mix.

There has been a lot of discussions about harmony lines. Have you thought about playing or writing them yourself? You sound like you have more than enough music theory to do just that.

Also what MIDI sound source are you using?

Thank you MarioD. Thank you for listening.
MIDI sources – I use only BIAB.
As to arranging – arranging consumes lots of time!!!! I wish BIAB had more soloist tracks.
It would be easier with arrangements. I wrote to BIAB about this. Probably, we need some group activity here.
In the past, I was interested in the Big Band arrangements. Maybe, the curiosity will come back.
Thank you for your kind words.

Hi, Tom

Welcome to the forum!

Nice song, pleasant to listen to.

Some unsolicited thoughts to ignore...

The horns felt a bit too tight in the center to sound like a section. Some widening them out across the speakers and adding some reverb to place them into a room would have helped make them feel like I group of instruments, instead of a thickened line.

But whatever makes you happy!

Hello David,
Thank you for listening, compliments and much appreciation for the hint.
Honestly, I don't know how to do it. Saxophone section is on melody track and brass section is on the soloist track.
Probably, I would need to use Real Band and multiply tracks there and then reopen in BIAB. I don't know if this would work.
Is it the way you would proceed? Maybe you have some other idea? I think we need more soloist tracks.
Thanks,
TomZ

Nice job and welcome to the forum Tom!!! I love Latin jazz, and this is a really cool tune! Looking forward to hearing more!! Take care. Greg

Thank you very much Greg, especially because you love Latin jazz.
Everything Antonio Carlos Jobim.
Take care,
Tom

Hello,Tom.

Welcome to the forum. Good to have you with us. I.love just about all Latin music. This was a great listen. Will beback in a minute to continue - keyboard problem.

Okay. Got the keyboard issue under control. As someone else mentioned, I'd spread the pan of the horns a little and add a small amount of reverb to them. That's an easy fix. But all considered, I liked it as lot. It gave me slight feel of scene intro music for scenes on the old TV show Loveboat.

I like it a lot. Hope you continued to post.

Best to you.

Alan