Originally Posted by DC Ron
... I'm not using the inspirational or educational aspects of BiaB much except by occasional accident. BiaB is certainly a Swiss Army knife with a dizzying array of blades...
Thanks Ron - yes, I love the occasional accidents that occur with BIAB - as if you’re playing in a band and a band mate does something unexpected “Hey, what did you do there?”

Originally Posted by Guitarhacker
I had several notebooks with songs and song ideas and no real way to record them to a professional sounding level. ...
Hi Herb - I hope you still have those notebooks - I occasionally look through my own as a reminder of where I’ve come from.

Originally Posted by MarioD
... The rest of my story is virtually identical to yours. Other than generating great backing tracks the main thing about BiaB for me it allows me to play in genres I generally wouldn't use. Without BiaB I doubt that I would be playing today.
Thanks Mario! I honestly say I didn’t think consciously about genres until BIAB - I was in my own little world.

Originally Posted by BYOBand
Just thought I'd quickly chime in here to also say without BIAB, I would still be a completely frustrated vocalist with no expressive musical outlet. It's been awesome and not just in terms of being able to accompany myself and bring tunes to fruition. It's also been a very appreciated forum experience. When I think of other "environments" and how people treat one another, it deserves to be acknowledged how the culture here is so supportive and cordial. I've learned so much from the folks here. And if it were just that it would have been more than enough, but I also love hearing the original music of others instead of that stuff that all sounds alike out there. So Andrew, I'm really glad it's done so much for you and that we all get to see and hear your progress.
Hi Beth! I wholeheartedly agree about this encouraging and inspiring forum. I’m so glad you found BIAB and are able to put shape and form around your ideas so we can hear them.

Originally Posted by chulaivet1966
…I currently have 50 originals finished/recorded which averages out to (1) song a year since I started song writing back in 1974.
I only have about 35 or so uploaded to Soundclick/Soundcloud.
I can honestly say that 20 of those (all done with my collaborator-in-chief guitarist Ken Lasaine) 50 would have likely never been written if it weren't for such a stellar program to flesh out my song writing efforts.
…
Admittedly, even though I have a few topic titles written down, I've been in a creative deficit lately. smile …
Thanks Wayne! Hoping you find your spark of inspiration soon. It was good to hear that BIAB helped your collaborative efforts also.

Originally Posted by B.D.Thomas
For me, the most important change was that I changed from a instrumental-first person to a lyrics-first person.
With BIAB, it's totally easy to find an arrangement that fits the lyrics.
Thanks B.D.! I tend to be music-first, but when I have gone lyrics-first, BIAB has been very helpful - but not enough to break me out of my stubborn ways! Your approach has certainly led to some impressive results!

Originally Posted by Janice & Bud
... But unlike our bandmates we also listened to multiple genres including rock, country, big band, jazz and blues.

Bud had mixed since the mid 60's and discovering BiaB and the forum in 2011 allowed us to explore and create productions in the aforementioned genres ... something we never dreamed of. So to the topic, it certainly forced huge changes in our song writing!

And we met folks who have become true friends as mentors, partners and both.
Hi J&B! I didn’t know about your bluegrass background, so good to hear BIAB opened up your horizons. I love hearing about the friendships through the forum. If ever the forum arranged a Zoom meet of members, I’d be there to meet people ‘face-to-face’ - but probably hard when we are all around the globe.

Thank you all for your comments and sharing your own stories!

Andrew

Regards,
Andrew D
Adelaide, Sth Aust
Soundcloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/SQE4btVvNVkLq74e9
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@andrewoftheantipodes