Hi Folks,

I've been using BIAB in my songwriting for about 5 years now so I thought it was overdue for me to post a link to one of the tunes that feature BIAB instrumentation.

So here is my Christmas tune for your enjoyment. It uses a laid back jazz style suitable for a smooth crooner style performance. It uses all real tracks and is sung by a British session singer by the name of Stephen Simms. I found him via the SoundBetter website. All tracks were exported and the mix done in Reaper.

Title: Every Day Is Christmas
Genre: Jazz/Blues
Song link: https://soundcloud.com/ironbarkmusic/everyday-is-christmas

BIAB Style: _BALFRED.STY Jazz Ballad w/ Piano & Fred Guit
Real Tracks:
~481:Bass, Acoustic, Jazz Ballad Sw 085
~487:Piano, Acoustic, Rhythm Jazz Ballad Sw 085
~555:Guitar, Acoustic, Rhythm Jazz Ballad Freddie Sw 085
2375:Sax, Alto, Soloist JazzBalladPhil Sw 085
JazzBrushesSticks#1

Best Regards,
Tim

Tim,


Welcome to the Showcase.

A really nice Christmas song. Your vocalist is outstanding.

The instrument backing is good.... but the brushes are at too high a level - they almost sound like distortion. You might consider lowering them.

fj

Welcome I did hear the same as Floyd and they are over powering your tracks , definitely one to do as the song has a nice flow along sound, vocals are proud and upfront.

Locking forward to finishing my listen later.

Thanks

Great song and singer, I liked the stops and then the bass leading into the key change. I have never been able to make the brushes sound right, I'm sure others have, but I can't get them to sound good. If you get them so low they don't sound bad, you can barely hear them, so what's the use? Anyway, you got a winner here.

Thanks for your comments Floyd, appreciate you taking the time.

I take your point re the brushes, will have another listen in my DAW. Generally speaking I find mixing the drums straight of BIAB a challenge as what you you hear is what you get - fixed relative levels.

In the case of the drums in my song though there's not much happening apart from the brushes so maybe I can tweak them.

Best Regards,

Tim

Hi Tunemonger, thanks for your comments.

I know what you mean!

I find that there are some real tracks where the quality of the instrument is not as good as it should be. I put that down to the quality loss that come with compressing the audio file. I've just ordered the audiophile version of BIAB to hopefully get around that issue.

Also some drum tracks don't have the balance right between the drums, e.g. the kick is too loud relative to the other drums. Not much can be done there except maybe some eq tweaking and/or using the BIAB instruments as triggers for drum samples in your DAW of choice.

Best Regards,

Tim

I agree with all that!! Very nice song!! The mix is a bit jumbled, particularly the brushes. I think the vocal is a bit boomy too. Really pretty!! Take care. Greg

Tim,
Strong arrangement! Mr.Simms done very nice vocals. I agree with "brushes" comments, but it should be not difficult to fix. Enjoyed it! Thank you for sharing.

Misha.

Nicely done - the vocals sound outstanding and the mix is concise and professional. Definitely has the Christmas spirit behind it, and it flows tremendously well.

Thanks for sharing

Wow what an excellent vocal. Welcome to the forum. Super Christmas song. Well done

Great song. I really like the stops too - it adds a lot of suspense. It's definitely a crooner type song too, and well suited to it. It's got a very enjoyable laid back sound - the acoustic back RT and the rhythm acoustic guitar really set the stage well. I could imagine this playing in the background while doing holiday decorations, or hanging out with friends or family while enjoying some eggnog or a glass of wine around the hearth.

A very nice laid back Christmas song...
A bit of old Christmas time nostalgia...
Very suitable to my taste...

Stephen Simms did a great job on the vocals...

Welcome to the forum...
And I hope I hear more of your songs!

Thanks for your comments Beatmaster, have tweaked the rack and think the brushes are more in the back seat now.

Cheers,

Tim

Thanks Jim! definitely more to come.

Cheers.,

Tim

Well done - and Merry Christmas to you!

Tim, that is some classy stuff! A very good arrangement with a stellar vocal! I feel once you iron out some of the mixing issues others have mentioned, you with have a top shelf tune here! Thanks, Torrey