I've been a long time user of BIAB. Since the advent of Real Tracks & Real Drums I've spent most of my time using the pop, rock, and country blues tracks to create backing tracks for my guitar playing. I've now started to experiment with creating some jazz backing tracks as I dapple in jazz guitar. I'm interested in how to set up the relative volumes of my backing instruments (mainly drums,bass,and piano) in BIAB. I'm a huge jazz fan and have listened to many jazz recordings over the years. To me there doesn't seem to be a standard for the volumes of the backing instruments in relation to the lead instrument. In some records I hear mainly the bass with the drums and piano more in the background. More often, such as what I hear in a lot of classic Blue Note recordings, the drums and bass are out front with the piano almost sounding like it's in another room.

I know that there are quite a few jazz players using BIAB, and I'm curious as to how our Forum jazzers like to set the volumes of their backing instruments in BIAB in relation to the lead instrument.

Thanks.

Frank, many RealTracks seem to differ in their levels. But as a general rule I start with the piano at 90, bass at 80, and drums at 70. Then I tweak to taste.

Note, I favor piano in my mixes so that might not work for others.

I also pan the piano to one side a bit, like 15 - 20. The drums and bass stay in the center.

Probably the most important change from the default settings is that I remove the reverb on the bass and drums, and reduce it by at least half on the piano. There is a global setting somewhere for reverb level, so be aware of that. In other words, my 40 may not be the same as your 40.

I like to pan instruments to extremes. That way it sounds more like you are playing with musiicians in the same room as you.