I've got RealBand 2015. I'm curious if I can load a stereo recording into RB and add horns, strings, keyboards, etc., later. If I make a recording with my band, can I load it into RB, and have it sync up the measures, allowing me to write horn or keyboard MIDI parts to add to the recording?

Yes you can.

A number of members on here have done this very successfully.

I'm sure someone with more experience in this area than I have will come along soon. Until then, though, this is how I'd go about it...

1. Open the audio file you want to add instruments too using Audio Chord Wizard.

2. Set bar 1.

3. Play the song through and use F8 to mark beat 1 in each bar.

This is the important bit. Locating the first beat of each bar with F8 will create a tempo map. This tempo map is what will allows tracks that are generated from Realtracks to align with your band's audio.

4. Once complete, a chord chart will also be created from the audio.

5. Click "Send to RB"

6. Go to the chord chart and adjust any chords that may have been interpreted wrongly.

7. Play around with generating tracks.

To generate tracks, click on a blank track, use CTRL+A to select the track, select the Realtrack that you'd like to generate and generate it.

Regards,
Noel

• my Christmas peace song: Can You Imagine

Thanks, I'll give that a shot. I'm not really looking to add a Real Track, though. I'd like to add my own horn parts, which seems to be best done by entering my own MIDI track notes, correct?

You need to run it through the ACW first so that you can 1) get the chord progression (should you want to use some automated creation features, such as RealTracks) and 2) to get the tempo map so that any MIDI you add will line up properly with the audio. But once you've done that, you can add any additional audio or MIDI tracks you want to a maximum of 48 tracks.

This is old, (back when Audio Chord Wizard first came out), but it may help explain ..

http://www.masteringmatters.com/stuff/ACW_Tempo_Map_creation.avi

Shows how to open the ACW and use it to set Tempo/Chords.
Once you have that you can add whatever you want.

If you don't need Tempo/Chords, you can simply Import the file to RB and record more tacks in free time, which sounds like it may work just as well for you if you are going to do all the additional tracks 'live'.

However, the Bar line markers at the top won't line up, which can be handy when you get to any editing or Punch-In needs.
So I usually run it thru ACW anyway just to get everything to look right and line up while I work on the project.

Since you say you will be playing live the additional instruments rather than adding Midi or Realtracks its much faster and easier to do than using the Audio Chord Wizard.

Simply make a multitrack recording with a click track. (a click track is not absolutely necessary, but makes recording significantly more accurate and easy.

The steps:

Import your first audio track. Or, record your first audio track.

Create a click track if its pre-recorded material (Rt click on the audio track and select Click Track. This will allow you to manually count the beats or bars of your audio recording. If done accurately, you can add Real Drums. If you end up wanting to add RealTracks, Supermidi or Midi, You will need to either manually enter a chord chart or as suggested utilize the Audio Chord Wizard.

Record a click track if you begin with a live recording. This is easily done in Rb by generating a click track at the desired tempo with the metronome. It does not have to be rendered with the song.

Record your additional individual real instruments or the output of your midi device as you play to the click track.

Everything will sync just fine -

Export your song