Two for One - 10/18/10 01:18 PM
Hi all
By "Two for One" I mean two tunes out of the same chord sequence.
Been busy over the last couple of weekends having fun going through a lot of MIDI material, throwing various styles at it, when I stumbled over the chord sequence of an old song done by Jackie Wilson (Baby workout). I liked this Rock’n’Roll'ish sequence and started to mess around with BIAB's MIDI Melodist and Soloist. Changed next to nothing, extended the lenght by some bars and let BIAB compose a nice melody over it. Did some finetuning of the drum pattern (on a separate copy) and voilà, a new tune was born. I find the Melodist and Soloist being truly great features in BIAB and they can musically absolutely amaze at times. The MIDI-Piano was recorded out of BIAB (GM Acoustic Piano / Ketron SD2). The Bass track is a mixture of RealTracks and MIDI (also SD2). The rest is all Realtraks, mixed and blended in Samplitude, seasoned with some plug-ins to taste.
http://www.songramp.com/mod/mps/viewprivtrack.php?trackid=56888
Did I mention I like this chord sequence? So, for the fun of it (and I love the BIAB Soloists), I tried to create some sort of jammin’ in a bluesy style over the same chord sequence. At the end it grew into something more rocking than bluesy (turn-up the volume!). It's all BIAB RealTracks and Soloists. The harmonica track (clean harmonica) was run through a guitar amp.
http://www.songramp.com/mod/mps/viewprivtrack.php?trackid=56891
I hope you have as much fun listening as I had compiling them.
I'm still not quite sure about the mix and levels. After the usual tests with ear-buds, cans, car-stereo, home hi-fi and computer speakers I cannot decide on the low end and on the level of the solo instruments. The mix translates differently everywhere (typical rookie shortcomings and insecurity). Anyway, I would like to hear from you if I could improve them sound wise. The arrangements were done on the fly, both tracks have been done on a Sunday afternoon (finished “Second Round” at about 1.30 a.m.). My partner thinks I’m crazy. She’s jealous for I spend way more time with BIAB than with her (besides my daytime job). I guess I will have to change this, I know I know..
Cheers,
Daniel
PS, on a side note: The more I dig deeper into BIAB the more I wonder and ponder about the musical power as well as the programming skills and the amount of features in this one software package. I guess you all know this. It's not just RealTracks, also MIDI can be very strong on the musical side. I'd just like to mention that I think BIAB is an absolute production tool for anyone looking for inspiration (and fun). I wonder if and how many "Pro's" use this tool (maybe secretly) to come up with an inspiration for a melody or a phrase or riff. Probably not so much for Hip-Hop, Rap, Grunge and all the Trance/Dance/Acid/House/Goya/Techno stuff. I love the melodic and the jamming stuff and I wish I had discovered it a long time ago. But then I'd have lost my partner a long time ago as well..
By "Two for One" I mean two tunes out of the same chord sequence.
Been busy over the last couple of weekends having fun going through a lot of MIDI material, throwing various styles at it, when I stumbled over the chord sequence of an old song done by Jackie Wilson (Baby workout). I liked this Rock’n’Roll'ish sequence and started to mess around with BIAB's MIDI Melodist and Soloist. Changed next to nothing, extended the lenght by some bars and let BIAB compose a nice melody over it. Did some finetuning of the drum pattern (on a separate copy) and voilà, a new tune was born. I find the Melodist and Soloist being truly great features in BIAB and they can musically absolutely amaze at times. The MIDI-Piano was recorded out of BIAB (GM Acoustic Piano / Ketron SD2). The Bass track is a mixture of RealTracks and MIDI (also SD2). The rest is all Realtraks, mixed and blended in Samplitude, seasoned with some plug-ins to taste.
http://www.songramp.com/mod/mps/viewprivtrack.php?trackid=56888
Did I mention I like this chord sequence? So, for the fun of it (and I love the BIAB Soloists), I tried to create some sort of jammin’ in a bluesy style over the same chord sequence. At the end it grew into something more rocking than bluesy (turn-up the volume!). It's all BIAB RealTracks and Soloists. The harmonica track (clean harmonica) was run through a guitar amp.
http://www.songramp.com/mod/mps/viewprivtrack.php?trackid=56891
I hope you have as much fun listening as I had compiling them.
I'm still not quite sure about the mix and levels. After the usual tests with ear-buds, cans, car-stereo, home hi-fi and computer speakers I cannot decide on the low end and on the level of the solo instruments. The mix translates differently everywhere (typical rookie shortcomings and insecurity). Anyway, I would like to hear from you if I could improve them sound wise. The arrangements were done on the fly, both tracks have been done on a Sunday afternoon (finished “Second Round” at about 1.30 a.m.). My partner thinks I’m crazy. She’s jealous for I spend way more time with BIAB than with her (besides my daytime job). I guess I will have to change this, I know I know..
Cheers,
Daniel
PS, on a side note: The more I dig deeper into BIAB the more I wonder and ponder about the musical power as well as the programming skills and the amount of features in this one software package. I guess you all know this. It's not just RealTracks, also MIDI can be very strong on the musical side. I'd just like to mention that I think BIAB is an absolute production tool for anyone looking for inspiration (and fun). I wonder if and how many "Pro's" use this tool (maybe secretly) to come up with an inspiration for a melody or a phrase or riff. Probably not so much for Hip-Hop, Rap, Grunge and all the Trance/Dance/Acid/House/Goya/Techno stuff. I love the melodic and the jamming stuff and I wish I had discovered it a long time ago. But then I'd have lost my partner a long time ago as well..