PG Music Home Forums General Discussion Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production BIAB Made It to Music Supervisor

So as I understand it, music does not get forwarded to music supervisors for film or t.v. unless it sounds legit and meets spec.

These two things came straight outta Band in a Box. I guess it can be done. I don't really care if they finally end up in the film or not, I am just tickled pink that I have proof that a BIAB cut can make it to the front of the line. SongTradr also added these songs to a special playlist for this type of music for other music supervisors looking for this genre.

So, all this garbage I read on other forums about BIAB is just for "demos" or "not even for demos" is just that. Garbage. This proves it to me. Herb Hartley told me this a long time ago though when he uttered his immortal words in to me in 2014" "Let me tell you something about the best money you will ever spend..."

I'm sticking with BIAB.

Congratulations, David. Yep, BIAB is awesome!

Very cool. I would love to hear them. Can you provide the links?

They are on my page:

https://www.songtradr.com/user/profile/david.snyder

Running from the Law is on my profile page. Just type in Junk Yard Blues David Snyder and you can hear the other.

Let's hang together and follow/favorite one another. Send me your link so I can follow you, and favorite some of your songs. I think we should all do that. A rising tide lifts all boats.

I just got final selection for another one: a Kenny G replacement called Kenny Please!!!!

Please don't tell anyone in my family or anyone I know I just got picked for a Kenny G. replacement. Oh my God, what have I become!!!

lol, that's too funny. I won't say a word, but congratulations.

I saw that listing for slide guitar but thought they wanted more of a solo type deal from the demo.

My profile link is https://www.songtradr.com/user/profile/samuel.davis.jr

I followed you and I'll go back and favorite some of you songs when I have a chance to listen. Good plan

Well done David! That is such great news.. I wish I had time to submit to these opportunities but am working full time at the moment. I am doing weekly submissions to cover in a week and had some success with my first attempt. I think we should get other folks from the forum involved there to.

Here is the thread http://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=463253#Post463253

You can do anything with BIAB!

Will post the link to my songtradr profile a little later when I am at my computer.

Well done David, you are a very talented and clever man. BIAB has limitations and in my case they are huge limitations. One is imagination, that plus a little faith both of which you have in abundance.

Tony

Samuel,

Saw your site and started following you and favorited some songs. Will go back for a more in depth listen to all today.

You have a great looking site and a real "artist" flavor to your site and songs like you are a "Man on a Mission."*

It's only a matter of time bro.' Only a matter of time....

* In two or three editions, and

Everyday
Everyday
Everyday
Every I write the hook...

Nah.. it will never work

Thanks Tony!

I appreciate those kind words.

I guess I might be a little crazy but I have never understood what people mean when they use the word "limitations" in the context of band in a box.

I mean, you can slow things down, you can speed things up, you can solo instruments, you can bring parts in and out, you can alter styles in the middle of a tune, you have more than 3,000 instruments and styles at your disposal 24/7, you can add your own midi stuff. I don't see any limitations, especially when you go in there and start adding in your own guitars, piano, violin, bass, midi, strings, vocals, shakers, tambourines, harmonica, cello, whatever it is you happen to play over top of the the BIAB studio musicians.

For that particular song submission, I was in a really bad mood about something else unrelated to SongTradr, so when I saw that posting, and I went "Okay then, take this..."

And I turned in 14 submissions in about 3 hours.

3 of them stuck.

I don't see the word "limitation" anywhere in that scenario, is what I'm saying.



I say thanks Band in a Box!!! Thanks for helping me go to war!!

Congrats David! You definitely deserve it - and I listened to the sounds at that links. They sound top notch! Fingers crossed they make it in the film

You deserve it David!!! great work

Well... there you go....!!!! Next step is hearing that you got a cut.

Hello David- I recently purchased BIAB for windows 2018 Audiophile version.
It is on its way to me now. Found your recording of "Running From The Law"
and was impressed with the production quality. I assume you played the slide
guitar with BIAB being your backing tracks. Was wondering which version you use
and any tips for a new user?

I used to belong to NSAI (Pittsburgh Ares). This would have been a time saver for demos.
I still have everything from a TASCAM R2R 4 Track to various digital recorders but hope
this will be a time saver as I still work full time.

I may use it for producing a CD's to sell at gigs.
Good luck with your music endeavors. Excellent musicianship
and recording techniques

Thanks in advance for any advice. Kevin

Hey Fingers,

Audiophile 2018 is killer. All you have to do is type in steel guitar and you will come up with about 15 styles to audition.

One of those is going to fit.

The audiophile tracks need some Eq-ing but not much. It would be easier for me to explain it to you on the phone.

Then you go in and add your own parts, bass, cell, fiddle, whatever you play.

When you get done and you mix and master properly you have a professional recording--not a demo, a recording.

That is what drives me crazy when people keep saying Band in Box can only do a demo. It can do a production.

Film and movie people don't take demos. They take finished product PRODUCTIONS that meet all professional specs.

You can do this in Band to Box now with the vast improved quality.

That is the miracle.

Let me know how I can help.

David, I guess I said it wrong again. What I was getting at is BIAB is only as limited as ones imagination. Well done again.

Tony

Just curious, out of all your submissions to songtradr how many have been forwarded?

Best to you David! Creating specifically for a request is, I think, the shortest and best path to a license. And you are well equipped to do that.



We’ve made it through the finals (forwarded) 23 times on the “music wanted” side which is around 25% of our submissions. But we have yet to be accepted by the requesting company, i.e, their music supervisor. We’ve had more luck with ST’s “deals request” with 14 songs recently licensed by Mood Media. But if you are in it for the money the “music wanted” is where the bigger bucks reside.

J&B

Hey Tony,

No offense taken man. I understand what you are saying.

I only said that because some other people (not you) on other forums (not this one) keep talking incessantly about what BIAB can't do.

That really blows my mind because I am still in a state of pure dumbfoundment about what it CAN do.



Thanks for the post! We are good man!

I think about 3 or 4 in the past 4 days have gone to music supervisors. Maybe more. There have been a lot this week.

I think I have been shortlisted about 20 times now, something like that. Some of my early stuff was not right, but I think I am getting the hang of it now. You just have to dive in and start learning, and I am enjoying the learning process.

Here are a few things I have learned along the way.

1. ) When you are submitting, try and get as close to the exact sound and tempo of the sample as you can. Use a tool to inspect the BPM. If the sample is at 120 BPM and goes G C D, send them something at 120 BPM that goes G C D. Don't send anything at 80 BPM that goes Bm, Dm, Am, C#m7

2.) Send in various takes or different styles. Why not? One of mine taken for steel guitar was really stripped down but the other was a full country band. You can never be sure exactly what they are looking for, so try and get close and then send a few different approaches.

3.) Be REALLY careful on the mix. They use algorithms in this industry to test for loudness, BPM, dynamic range, things out of tune and everything else. Anything out of spec will not make it.

I am a big fan of Xtra Styles because they are sort of "pre-mixed" if you will. Everything I have had that was accepted used an Xtra Style and I applied only the most gentle mastering to it in Ozone, just the very light polishing stuff, none of the harsher ones that make it loud and over-compressed. That is the kiss of death. It has to be gentle on the ears even if it is rock. Make sure your .wav looks like a wave and not a brick. I am sure they are using an algorithm to see if the music rises and falls and has nuances and is not all at the same brick like loudness all the way through.

4.) It is totally possible to do work in BIAB with a home studio that will pass all the barriers to entry in music supervision. You just have to "trust" Band in a Box to do its thing, and be super careful in the mix. Spend a lot of time working out your drum, bass and guitar presets and get it down to a science. Then, go EASY on those mastering plug ins.

David- Thanks for your input on BIAB.

Here is my current computer setup. Let me know if I need a USB soundcard,
or specific DAW program to add my live tracks (I play guitar, keys, a little lap steel
and bass).

1. Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit, 4 Gig Ram, 500 Gig HD, 2 TB internal 2nd hard drive.
2. Sound Card is REALTEC High Definition Audio from 2009 - Set at 16 Bit 44100 Hz but can be set up to 16 Bit 192000 HZ
2. The only DAW programs I have are Audacity (Used for years) and Cubase LE (Never used it).
3. I have a Behringer USB mixer and a Soundcraft non USB Mixer.

Over the years, I have made track by track recordings using a drum machine and playing most
of the instruments with some help from friends on vocals and sax. Although I love the process, it can be time consuming. Looking forward to using BIAB to do some full versions of many tunes that I never got around to "arranging" I have written over 150 songs (and IMHO a few are pretty good).

Once BIAB arrives and I have spent a little time with it, I will contact you again for some tips.
Appreciate any advice on the computer, sound card and DAW. Kevin (Fingers55)

Your Band-in-a-Box for Windows purchase includes RealBand. You'll find the features of RealBand and Band-in-a-Box complement each other. Both are great additions to have in your musical toolbox.

Audacity is another tool many of us use but technically Audacity is not a DAW, it is an audio editor. It's not a DAW because DAWs work with both audio and MIDI. Audacity doesn't work with MIDI.

You may be able to use the Behringer USB mixer as an audio interface. If Audacity can use the Behringer USB mixer then Band-in-a-Box and RealBand will be able to use the mixer to move audio in and out of your computer.

Fingers,

I will try and make this as simple as I can. I am glad you have Audacity because that will come in handy toward the end. Everything I am saying is to help you stay within "spec" and not get kicked out. For stuff you want to play for your friends, you can do whatever you want. But if you want it to get passed on this is what I recommend.

1. Less is more. The more effects, or more tools you add to your process, the greater the risk you run of sounding thin and metallic. Same goes for tracks. Seven or eight are enough, though when you start getting fancy you may triple the vocals or double the drums, but in terms of instruments don't go over four or five. Deadly.

2.You need a simple decent DAW and an a good audio interface and a great condensor mic and good solid cables for your guitar. Everything has to be shielded. You have to spend at least $300 on the mic. Go to a music store and ask for help on buying a good condensor mic that has the different patterns, such as the cardioid pattern which you will use most frequently.

3. Get a microphone stand shield for your mic. This is critical. It will save you hours later trying to fix vocals or anything recorded with that mic. It traps the sound around the mic, short non-scientific version.

Mic Shield

4. Get a good audio interface like the Focusrite. That also comes with a bunch of free Eqing software to get your started.

5. Avoid mixers. Go straight into the audio interface. Anything that has electrical power that comes before the audio interface input will add some electrical noise and alter the cleanness of your signal. That will add to the brittle metallic sound later.

6. Your condensor mic will require "phantom power." That button is on the Focusrite. Remember to turn it on when you are using the mic. Turn it off for everything else going direct (like guitars.)

7. If possible, record all your parts dry (no effects) and then add effects to them later. In the free DAW "Real Band" that comes with BIAB, you get Amplitube for free. There are some awesome Band in a Box amp and pedal presets in the free Amplitube that comes with Real Band. Check out all of them. There is some stuff in there that will make your dry electric sound like Keith Urban but it is under control and won't make you sound metallic. There are some Amplitube bass presets that will clean up the bass part well.

8. If you are using a Real Track electric that already has an effect (Not a DI or Direct Input choice) leave it alone. Adding an effect on a track that has an effect is the kiss of death in mixing for these purposes. It will sound thin and metallic. You can add an EQ to it, but you can't add an amp effect on top of an amp effect unless you really know what you're doing. The explanation on that is too long for these purposes.

9. Keep it really simple and let Band in a Box do its thing insofar as the mixes that come with Xtra styles, which I highly recommend if you are going into production work. Get all 4 packs and buy all of them that come out. Trust me on this one. They are pre-mixed. They have all of the modern sounds and modern mixes you are looking for. Again, less is more. They have done the work for you. You can flip through the demos on the web real fast to find what sound you want for a certain sound that is being asked for.

10. Use audiophile version if you can. The sounds are ready to go and you don't need to hardly touch them. If you use the regular version, export the files for each track and then use audacity to do a gain change and shape the tracks until they sound great.

11. Inside your DAW (like Real Band) record just a few really good tracks on your own but KEEP IT SIMPLE. You HAVE to invest in some EQ tools, there is no way around it. I don't use Real Band for mixing, so ask people here who do what EQing tools they use in Real band on drums, Vocals, guitars bass. Create presets you can use over and over. Spend a lot of time finding those Eqing tools and building those presets. Again, I don't use Real Band for mixing, just track generation so I can't say. I use Sonar still for mixing and have about a thousand dollars worth of VSTs I suppose (or maybe more) so I am afraid I won't be of much help in the beginning stage set up.

12. Whatever you do, keep it very very simple and only add the effects you have to to give the vocals some richness, add sparkle and thump to the drums, or tame the bass.

13. Export.

14. Go into Audacity and look at that file. I almost always do three things.

A. I do a 1.5:1 compression on the file to bring it into line. Compressed based upon peaks box unchecked.

B. Then I do ONE pass at compress based upon peaks. "Check" the box.

C. Then I normalize to -0.9. That gives me some head room.

Finally, I go into Ozone and use the simple of very gentle polishing.

I use the TT_DR Meter to make sure I am not clipping, and that my dynamic range is at least 9 but preferably 12. If you can find this meter, get it. It will be your most valuable tool. If it says "over" on the TT DR meter they will kick you out. If the dynamic range is like "5" they will kick you out. Overcompressed. In audacity, if your .wav looks like a big blue brick they will kick you out. It is overcompressed and maxing out at every area of the loudness meters.

Making a production ready song BIAB is very possible, but it takes a village to raise a song.

Dive in and start learning and ask as many questions as you can of the pros and they will help you.

You can start right away using audiophile version if you are doing just instrumentals.

Just create a song in BIAB, let BIAB do its thing, export (save as .wav) go into audacity, do that compression routine, normalize, cut out the click track, give it a one sec moment of silence, a slight fade out at the end to get rid of any noise and a one sec or two sec silence at the end, print, and you are good to go.

Submit.

That's about it for the day.

Let me know how else I can help.

FYI: My song "Running from the Law" was mastered usually EXACTLY the same steps described in Audacity above with only a very mild polish in Ozone. I think it is now on about 15 internal playlists at SongTradr in addition to being forwarded. Check out the .wav form. If you ADD anything to BIAB you should not take a .wav form that looks like this and turn it into a brick or add anything that sounds harsh or metallic. You have to stay warm. The warmth of the tone is EVERYTHING.

Be careful.

https://www.songtradr.com/user/song/david-snyder/running-from-the-lawd120


https://www.songtradr.com/user/profile/david.snyder

Great info on your last couple of posts David!

For Fingers..... The RAM on your PC is a little low at 4 Gig. If you upgrade some of those software tools that David referred to, you may need to at least double your RAM. Some software eats a lot of resources.

Yeah, Steve you are right. 8 gigs of RAM is what you will need. Your computer uses 2 while it is idle.

But 8 is more than plenty for what you will be doing, as long as you aren't running Google Chrome in the background.

David brings up another good point with his Google Chrome remark. Have nothing running in the background that can interfere with your recordings. That is disable your Ethernet card and turn off you anti-stuff like anti-virus, anti-spyware etc. Just be sure to turn them back on when you are finished with your music session.

Well, I am not sure I will ever turn off my firewall while I was connected to the Internet, or EVER, or not sure you need to turn off Norton (I wouldn't ever), but definitely go into task manager stop all that other junk that gets going if it isn't a system program. Mario has a point there.

Some people don't realize that if you have 8 tabs open in Chrome you have 8 instances of Chrome running.

And you go, Gosh, why is my computer not running???? Is it something evil???

Amazon "music helper" or whatever it is called is atrocious. Yeah, suck up all my memory and CPU. Very helpful. Thanks Amazon.

Jim Fogle - Thanks for the information and input.

I was under the impression that BIAB being a 32bit application it could only access up to 4gig. Even though other applications could use more. Limiting the number of plugins and/or rendering tracks can greatly reduce memory use. Having a really good sound card however is paramount.

My thoughts

Tony

David-

I really appreciate you taking the time to give me all this information. I just met you but, in my life. I have found that people like you who are generous with their time and talents will have great blessings & positive outcomes in their endeavors. Best of luck with your submissions.

If you want to hear some of my previous home studio recordings, go to this link

http://www.theskynotes.com/new.htm

(This is a website for a band I play in once a month.)

(I am addressing your comments below in parenthesis)

1. Less is more. (I agree with this philosophy).

2. Mics & DAW (I have some great mics and will get a decent DAW.)

3. Get a microphone stand shield for your mic. (Have one of these as well).

4. Get a good audio interface like the Focusrite. (I will check this out)

5. Avoid mixers. Go straight into the audio interface. (Kind of figured this)

6. Your condensor mic will require "phantom power." (Got it - been there done that)

7. If possible, record all your parts dry (no effects) and then add effects to them later. (Always have recorded this way)

8. If you are using a Real Track electric that already has an effect (Not a DI or Direct Input choice) leave it alone.
(I try to use minimal effects)

9. Keep it really simple and let Band in a Box do its thing insofar as the mixes that come with Xtra styles, which I highly recommend if you are going into production work. Get all 4 packs and buy all of them that come out. Trust me on this one. (I will check this out)

10. Use audiophile version if you can. (OK will do)

11. You HAVE to invest in some EQ tools, there is no way around it. (Got it - I have 100's VST's from my days of using Yamaha DSP FACTORY with Minnetonka MTRAX software They might be outdated but I have them somewhere)

12. Whatever you do, keep it very very simple and only add the effects you have to to give the vocals some richness, add sparkle and thump to the drums, or tame the bass. (AGREE)

13. Export.

14. Go into Audacity and look at that file. I almost always do three things.

A. I do a 1.5:1 compression on the file to bring it into line. (I usually do 1:2:1)

B. Then I do ONE pass at compress based upon peaks. "Check" the box. (I will try this)

C. Then I normalize to -0.9. That gives me some head room. (I will try this)

Finally, I go into Ozone and use the simple of very gentle polishing. (I will try this)


Making a production ready song BIAB is very possible, but it takes a village to raise a song. Dive in and start learning and ask as many questions as you can of the pros and they will help you.

(Thanks again for your encouragement and advice. I did submissions for NSAI reviews 4-5 years ago, entered song contests etc. Have some friends who have gotten songs on TV through TAXI and also and a friend with a connection to NEW LINE CINEMA.

Right now, I am looking to make some great recordings of my originals and to be inspired to write new ones with BIAB. I do have 8-10 instrumentals to do with BIAB and may consider sending them off them to
some song submission sites.

Have a great weekend - FINGERS

32gb here. I like having BiaB, Logic Pro X, Ozone 8, Nectar 2, Neutron 2, a few Waves products and Safari open simultaneously with no speed issues. FWIW I just bought a new iMac with 8gb and upgraded it myself for < one half what Apple wanted.

Bud

Sounds great Fingers!

I went your site. Hey, I like your songs man. If you ever want advice on NSAI give me a shout. I am a coordinator.

Sounds like you are off to the races. Let me know how I can help.

BTW, I see I have 64 new messages from SongTradr. Looks like 6 more songs just got forwarded and made the final cut and are being listened to by people all over the place and have been added to 8 to 10 more internal playlists.

Hmmmmmmm. I'm starting to really like Band in a Box.

You are an animal Bud.

I was just sayin' I think for what Fingers is doing, 8 is all he needs.

But since you are recording Rush in your living room and need 32 mics for the drums I can see how you need the extra horsepower.

I can't wait to hear Xanadu Redux: Return of the Steely Eyed Gargoyle and the Crimson King on Bastille Day: Part Five.

Get on with your bad self.

Well, thanks to this thread, I joined the Songtradr site today and will be getting some of my stuff uploaded over the next few days. Although the site recommends highest quality possible - they list 48kz I usually save my files at 44.1/16 and will continue to do so and see how that flies.

I've followed a few BIAB forum members I've found on the site so far and a few have already followed me in return. Thanks for that.

David,

Congrats on your songs getting through to music supervisors. That's no easy feat to accomplish these days!

Also, thank you for taking the time to post such explicit information on software, settings and how to use. This insight into your recording and processing techniques provides very valuable information for all of us.

All the best,
Noel

David- Congrats on your songs making it to the final cut. Glad you enjoyed my tunes. Have not had time for NSAI but if I get back into it, will hit you up for advice. Thanks again, Kevin (Fingers)

David, after reading your post earlier about Songtradr possibly using analizers for loudnes I took a closer look at the songs I was uploading and submitting today. After making the adjustments I ended up having 3 out of six songs shortlisted and 2 forwarded.

I look at my other songs on there and I came to the realization that I need to remix a lot of them. Luckily I just got some new VSTs that will help with this.

Thanks for sharing your tips and observations on this.

That's great Charlie. Hey I followed you too! Hey man, you need to post a pic! Everybody else has one!!

Thanks great Samuel. Which category was that?

I am really happy for you. We all need to hang together. It's us against 100,000!



Hey I see there is a Hank Williams request going on. I KNOW there are some people on here who could slam dunk that one!

Yeah everyone out there selling plugins is telling you need to max it out and make it as loud as you.

No---you don't. You don't need to do that at all. That trend is going backwards.

Let's do this together y'all!!!!

Thanks Noel.

I have always found that success is a team sport.

Yes I saw that you followed me. All of the BIAB Forum members I found, I followed and they reciprocated. Great fellowship. Thank you for following and thanks to the others as well.

I also saw that Hank Williams posting and submitted "My Sad Story" after uploading it. I now have 3 songs uploaded with more to come.

Picture? Hmmm that's a challenge but my page on that site is still a work in progress.

I also agree 100% with you that BIAB is completely capable of producing top level, commercial releases. On many different levels.

The songs forwarded were for the Irish music wanted.

I saw the listing for Hank Williams alts last night and got excited. I need to remix a bunch of my songs for that one and might even write a new one for it.


I agree we all need to stick together. I've tried to start that trend in the Songtradr Facebook group too. So far a couple people have jumped on board.

That's great Samuel. I got a few on that one too.

Good job.



P.S. If anyone could do Hank that would be you man!!

**

Ok, Hey Pretty Hazel eyes is GREAT. You do that Irish singing PERFECTLY. Ha ha. Awesome.

What was the other one??

Charlie,

That's a great song. Good luck with that! Going to listen to it now!

**

Ok, Just listened to it.

Write five more just like that in the same style while you have a chance and a I think you are shoo in.

Sounds just like him.

Hahahaha! Me? Four-five tracks Bud? I just like to not have to close things out if I want to do something else...like check some things on the net or maybe even open a photo or video editor. And you are right...if I just run my DAW and a boat load of plug-ins I'm hitting around 6-7gb fo my ram...but even that is going to cause a lot of swapping out to disc given the overhead of the OS.

A big ole FWIW.....I think that it helps if you can establish yourself at ST as a specialist, so to speak, in a certain genre -- not that you shouldn't have a lot of other stuff in your catalog. Without even informing us ST featured three of our blues songs in different blues styles sections under their consumer page genre section. Under the Roots section we are in three very short playlists within Delta Blues, Contemporary Blues and Louisiana Blues. We didn't use any "points" to submit to one of their showcases or anything like that. They just appeared there. We would never known it if we had not just been looking around their genre section on the opening buyer's page.

All meaning that I'm guessing that the number of blues songs we have submitted must have triggered somebody at ST to take a look at our catalog and pull a few to feature. Worth considering, I think.

Congrats David!! Great info too. If I join, there appears to be two options. Is the free okay or are the real opportunities limited to the paid one? What is the difference?

TIA,
Josie

Hi Josie,

Free is same as paid, but you get to see a few more opportunities for music wanted with paid I believe. Free allows you about 5 submissions per month, 4.99 gives you about 245 credits vs. 35 for fee and it takes 6-7 credits for a submission. I made about 20 submissions this week and have had about 13 forwarded to music supervisors, 65% hit rate (hard to keep track though, but it's been good.) I don't think that's bad. Yeah BIAB.

I only go for the music needed section (right hand side) for two reasons.

1.) It is where the money is.

2.) Under "monetization" or blanket licensing it is impossible to track and I don't know anyone who has ever made a dime on blanket licensing deals of this sort with anyone.

BUT, I have my own Spotify artist account and I get paid every month there so I don't need it.

We’ve been paid for years via CD Baby through what I would consider to be a blanket license. The invoice shows a world of streaming entities I’ve never heard of in addition to the bigger players. And this was all for one CD that was released in 2003. It’s only $50-80 a check but somebody is collecting it and CDBaby is getting it to us.

I’m clueless as to how it works Our licenses from Songtradr are with Mood Media. They are the largest providers of overhead music in the world and own a zillion other companies and have half a million customers. I suspect they will pay up - albeit small amounts but hopefully at least a dime!

And I think having a song licensed even if it’s a blanket license gives it at least a little cred to perhap a music supervisor on the music wanted side who’s looking at it. But what the hell do I know? For practically nothing a month I’ll play the game for a while.

Glad to see the folks going over to songtradr! Let’s start a Biab revolution! Let’s show them exactly what this wonderful tool can do!

I have had loads of songs selected for the “deals” with the first being nearly a year ago but have yet to see any money. The guy who mixed some of my stuff got a $80 payout the other day,

Looks like an interesting place.

Can you upload music to songtradr that you have already released on other platforms?

We have music up on CDBaby and that automatically goes to all the digital sites, iTunes, spotify, etc. Can I upload those same songs to songtradr?

Joanne,

Send me your link. Let's all follow, favorite and help one another.

Dave,

Don't know about CD Baby, I do mine through Reverb, and I have all my songs published through my own publishing company, and I own everything, so I can do whatever I want, so I would guess you could do.

One catch, I only do the music wanted stuff, I don't do the blanket licensing, though maybe one day I will get over it. My own Spotify account through Reverb is pretty active.

Yeah, I am using Songtrader and sentric, just started have not had any luck yet, I would like to hear from anyone who actually gets selected on these songs. Keep us posted. My concern is , do they actually select someone and pay them on all of these listings?

As far as selecting goes ST has a daily feed of licensed songs. But that could include a license for a one time event, a blanket license or a film placement. There is obviously no way to tell how much anybody got paid or for what nor should there be IMO. We are contracted with Crucial Music and we had to sign a LONG non disclosure agreement. If a company licenses you for background music they aren’t interested in you posting everywhere “that’s me on tv!”

Also you mentioned do “they” select someone. Songtradr reviews your submission and rejects it or “short lists” it for further review. That further review may result in it becoming a “finalist” which means it is then submitted to the music supervisor of the company that requested the song. Of course the music supervisor has probably looked at other song libraries. Meaning their ultimate choice may likely not even be from ST’s referrals. It’s a long shot.

Regarding our eight months on ST we have been shortlisted 59 times, made the finals many times and been licensed 14 times (all for a blanket license). Our nearly 300,000 views/plays come from being added to various playlists - some featured by ST and others for which I’m clueless as to the origin as they do not let you know anything other than you were added.

ST apparently wants you to submit your whole catalog and use them like SoundCloud. I have some doubts regarding their longevity but hope they do well.

Bud

Hi Guys

Here is my profile on ST.
http://www.songtradr.com/joanne.cooper

Okay, I joined but just the free for now until I find my way around and understand it all better. I haven't uploaded any music yet. I've followed Joanne and David. I tried to follow others but unsure what names to search for ...so if you want me to follow you, please put your link on here or just follow me and I'll follow you back.
http://www.songtradr.com/josie.beck

Okay, I just followed you and favorited your first song. Will go back and do more later.

Sounds great!

Feel free to follow me too!

Josie,

I am now following you and I DEMAND a song to favorite!!

Thanks for the info Bud, I think this is my address on ST. www.songtradr.com/cliff.dykes

I am following you Cliff. Your first song is great and I favorited it.

Will listen to more later.

All for one and one for all!!!

David that made me laugh. Thank you.

Congratulations David, my songs aren't worth posting on that site yet, but you definitely have some skills.

Thanks Cool Breeze,

Can't wait to hear your stuff.

If you are like the rest of us, you are probably a lot better than you think.

FWIW, and this is but a tangent just to weigh in, YMMV: 4 Gigs of ram seems to work fine for me...nary a glitch, low latency, running lots of tracks and effects. Reaper, Focusrite (firewire), Windows 7 Pro (64), Intel 2.67 GHz processor

I had 6 gig but after many years (this is a really old machine...like well over 10 years now maybe?) had to pull two bad sticks..and I found that 4 gigs seems to work just fine, at least so far. Weird.

That is not strange at all actually.

I read a post on another forum not too long ago where someone was bragging about having 16 gigs and a producer/engineer posted back:

"16 gigs? Who do you think you are, Max Martin?"

It’s more than simply whether it will work. It’s how tolerant one is of slow routines. How long do you want to wait to regenerate multiple realtracks. How long to render a video for test purposes. It’s all in what you do. I just happen to like minimal disc swapping out, etc. I’ve run maxed out ram home computers for 30+ years. It’s nothing to brag about - the is cost not much if you do the installation. If you don’t need more horsepower no worries.

For me patience has always been a virtue hard to come by.

FWIW!

It seems unlikely that anyone has less patience than I, but I'm willing to concede the remote possibility.

But seriously, good point J&B. My implausible patience is probably this simple: I don't use BIAB all that much; and, now that I think about it, it is the only tool in my music production pipeline where there's any kind of waiting around. Not a whole lot, but some. In Reaper or elsewhere, even final renders are really fast. In fact, only with renders is there ANY waiting! Everything else happens in a blink, or less.

But now that I'm thinking about it, there's no need for me put up with it if I decide it's a problem (here's hoping for a flush of inspiration if not impatience) ...it's so easy to install some memory, and it would only cost me...hold on a sec... 46 bucks for 8 gigs of brand new ram.

David,

Did you opt for the free or pay version of Songtradr? Just wondering if there's any real benefit to paying for their perks.

Thanks,
Buford

I used up all of my submission credits last month to submit about 40 songs I guess, of which half got forward to music supervisors.

That was 240 credits used. Free is 35 credit. I am playing the numbers game.

Since I never visit Starbucks even once a month I am breaking even at 4.99

If I had joined another place I won't mention to submit some songs that might not have gone anywhere I would have spent $300 pus 5 x 40 which I believe is $500.

Any more questions?

Yea...I tried the "other place" on and off over the years. I always thought it was a rip. Just taking advantage of songwriters desperation, whatever, to line their own pockets. The proof is in the pudding. If you get a check, that's the proof. I watched this review before I joined and opted for the free version for the time being. We'll see what happens. Here's the review.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk3_9exuR-M

Newbies to the music biz still think it's a shortcut to fame and fortune. If it EVER was, those days are long gone. Especially with the advent of streaming and the pitiful returns to songwriters. Seems there's always someone coming up with a new way to rip the poor old musicians and songwriters. Gotta be a labor of love to keep you in it.