Is there any way to get the band to ebb and flow with some dynamics? Especially with Real Tracks, it may be best to be able to set the band to go from mezzo piano to mezzo forte when a solo reaches it's apex. It's what really make a band groove.

I bring BiaB tracks into my DAW and use volume automation on each track. If you don't have a favorite DAW you can use RealBand as you already have it.

Also in your DAW you can use tempo automation to slightly increase the tempo during the lead.

I do not do these types of things in BiaB as I think a DAW is better equipped to handle them. YMMV

In Band-in-a-Box you can use the F5 settings to change tempo or instrument volume on any bar of a song.

In the screen shot below the top highlight is around the tempo choices while the bottom highlight is around the "change all instruments volume" selection. Changes takes effect at the beginning of the bar and remain until a new change is entered at a new bar.

You can (A) enter a new beats per minute (bpm) number into the top tempo selection or (B) change the tempo by a percentage ranging from -90 to 100. A setting of 100 percent doubles the original tempo, 0 returns to the original tempo while -50 slows the original tempo by half.

All instruments "change by" opens a text box where you can raise or lower the volume level of all instruments. The text box accepts entries between -127 to 127 with 0 equal to normal. Alternatively, apply volume changes to individual instruments.

I frequently use a change tempo setting to improve the ebb and flow of a song. A change of just a few bpm in a verse can add a very human feel while the percentage change is great for adding dramatic pauses at the end of a verse or chorus.

Subtle volume changes in instrument tracks can highlight each track during different parts of a song. Let the Soloist shine when it's their turn but when you raise the volume on one track lower the volume on the other tracks so the overall volume level doesn't change.

Great answers.

Two small additions:

1) Those who have the Mac version of BIAB do not have RealBand. They could use GarageBand, or a DAW.

2) When I use the adjustments Jim describes, I sometimes forget to set the original volume and/or tempo on the first bar that is repeated. Otherwise, you can get a runaway train...

If you use a DAW (Real Band or other) you may find Mario’s suggestion useful.

Jim Fogle provided a great explanation of how to manipulate the F5 key feature in biab. That’s how to get it done. I’ve just found it clunky when I change my mind.

biab will mark the bar you made changes (volume, tempo, etc)
its difficult if not impossible to know from inspection at chord chart level exactly what is going on at that particular red underlined bar. I hope this makes sense.

Automation within a DAW allows not only a good place to compartmentalize all these changes, but often allows quick visual inspection of the work performed on the instrument in question.

Now all my arrangements in BIAB are imported into my DAW with every instrument playing every bar flat with no volume/pan/mute/eq or reverb changes. It may sound like cacophony when you hear it in biab, but with a little eq, pan, and volume automation it comes right into focus. It’s easy to change your mind at this stage.

When you import into DAW, how do you specify that all dynamics and tempos are flat? Would this week well wth Real Band, or should I really be pulling the trigger on the Reaper purchase?

One point to make about tempo. If you are using RealTracks, I would think you would need to make all tempo adjustments in BiaB (or Realband perhaps if it can manipulate the realtracks). When I have my song finished and export the tracks into my DAW, Cakewalk, I load (not import) one of the MIDI tracks initially into Cakewalk even if I'm not using MIDI in the final product. That gives me the tempo map that I need for all the tracks - MIDI and Real - to line up.

Yes this will work well in RealBand.

If you want flat dynamics and tempos do not change them in BiaB. Just take what you have in BiaB and open the BiaB file in RealBand. I do my work in Studio One Pro but the process is similar. I don't use Realband that much but there are experts here that are will to help.

For tempos you open the tempo track. This is an independent track the controls the tempo of all other tracks. One reason I use a DAW is that you can change the tempo within a measure. In BiaB you can set the tempo but only at the measure level. So you change the tempo a the beginning of a bar and it can't be changed until the next bar. In a DAW you can have an even increase within a measure, say at the start of the measure the tempo is 100 and at the end of the measure it could be 103 so you can get a more smooth tempo transmission up or down or many measures.

Dynamics is also easier in a DAW IMHO. You can raise and lower each track as you see fit via a volume automation. For instance a string track and be low in volume for a verse, louder during the chorus, then lower again at the next verse.

In both cases you will see a tempo line and a volume line throughout your song, thus it is very easy to see the changes that you have made. You make these changes using nodes on these lines. You can have as many nodes as you like thus you can have many changes throughout the songs.

I do most all of my work in Studio One Pro as I find it much easier than working in BiaB. YMMV.

Good point for some DAWs. In Studio One Pro the tempo track also controls any audio tracks. I believe many other DAWs do the same.

Band-in-a-Box documents whatever F5 bar settings are made.

Select the "Song Memo" button then select the "Bar Summary" button and Band-in-a-Box provides you with a bar-by-bar description of every change made.

The summary makes it easy to discover where you made a change but then forgot to return to normal - just sayin' - not that I've ever made that mistake myself!

I guess at that point it depends upon who has the best time stretching/pitch adjusting algorithms. Cakewalk does have some audio snap features, but I figure some of that is happening on the BiaB side so I keep that to a minimum on the DAW side, since I'm dealing with mostly "acoustic" guitar and other instruments from BiaB.

It is just different workflows for different people. Neither is wrong and both are right.