Below is a screen shot of Tracktion with one of my songs pieced together---the 7+ minute ballad that I spent 30 hours on in one particular week a couple of months ago. The first track is the drum track. It was produced from a single .WAV file from BiaB that I replicated six times. The reason I had to do this is that the primary down beat of the drums switched at various places in the song.
The second track contains two copies of a partial drum track that my producer had created for me so that I would know where the primary down beat of the drums was occurring in the verses. Appended onto the end of the second copy of his drum track are three copies of BiaB's drum track, which I needed to bump up the volume of the first track to match the volume of my producer's drum track.
The third and fourth tracks contain two copies of BiaB exported .WAV files stitched together. The third track is the finger-picking guitar and base guitar combined from BiaB, and the fourth track is the strumming guitar from BiaB.
The fifth track is a full-length .WAV file of an earlier version of the same song that I had previously exported from Traction after I had stitched together two copies of a BiaB exported .WAV file of all the instruments in my song except for the drums.
The seventh track contains four copies of a three note transitional drum section that I exported from MuseScore to emulate and replace the transitional drum sections in my producer's partial drum track. I created these to make it easier for me to adjust the location of these transitional sections if I needed to add or remove a measure before or after the occurrence of these transitional sections.
The eighth track contains a .WAV file of the melody of my entire song that I exported from MuseScore.
Mixers blend two audio clips together to create a continuous sounding audio sound by performing a cross fade (also written as crossfade). Track 1 audio is reduced while track 2 audio is increased. Band-in-a-Box and RealBand automatically cross fade when linking two audio clips together to create RealTracks. Many daws have an automatic crossfade feature that can be turned on while editing tracks together. I don't know if Traction has a crossfade feature.
+++ HERE +++ is a video by the University of Kentucky that demonstrates a cross fade.
Have you tried importing as a midi file as opposed to xml?
No because a midi file wouldn't have all the chords. Also, the melody is included in the .XML file as midi and ends up as Piano2 in Track 6 of BiaB. I always turn that off and import a .WAV file of the melody from MuseScore because it sounds much better than the midi track.
RB can interpret them. The melody wave is probably better because the synth in the notation program. Change the synth in RB to something better than the awful wave table. I assume your song is a complete score in the notation program.
<<< Instead of exporting multiple .WAV files from BIAB or RB and then stitching those separate files together into one full length song in a DAW, I've been exporting one .WAV file from BIAB that contains all the elements of my song after which I replicated that .WAV file two or more times in Traction and then stitched those separate .WAV files together (after cropping them properly) into one full length song that I could export as a single .WAV file. >>>
It's my suggestion you export multiple .WAV files from BIAB and stitch the audio files into your full length song in a DAW rather than attempting one .WAV file that contains all the elements of the song that you cut/paste/copy to increase the length of your song. Here's why. The elements of your song you are replicating are exact duplicates of the original audio you're replicating. What you are doing is looping the same audio. So if you copy a verse and paste that verse into another verse, it's the same audio. Whereas if you construct your song in BIAB with each verse having it's audio generated and rendered where each verse is constructed by its own .sgu file, no verses will be exactly alike. Your song will sound much better and also more human. The result will carry over into every section of your song, be it intro, chorus, verses, bridge and outro.
<<< My concern from the beginning of my use of BIAB was (and still is) that piecing together chunks of short BIAB generated song tracks into a single, long song arrangement would result in odd and/or glitchy audio seams occurring at the junctures of those chunks. >>>
This is one of the unique features of the intelligence of BIAB generated audio and should never be a problem or concern. Learning and applying proper multitrack recording techniques will virtually assure successful smooth transitions.
<<< No because a midi file wouldn't have all the chords.>>> BIAB automatically decodes and populates the Chord Chart. Since you've written the song, you will immediately detect any errors and can manually correct those you find.
Mixers blend two audio clips together to create a continuous sounding audio sound by performing a cross fade (also written as crossfade). Track 1 audio is reduced while track 2 audio is increased. Band-in-a-Box and RealBand automatically cross fade when linking two audio clips together to create RealTracks. Many daws have an automatic crossfade feature that can be turned on while editing tracks together. I don't know if Traction has a crossfade feature.
I'm familiar with crossfading from the gradual transitions between songs on AM and FM radio and from creating my own custom compilation cassette tapes decades ago. Yes, Tracktion does have a cross fade feature along with several other fade features. Check out the section under the red arrow in the attached image below.
Thanks for the suggestion, silvertones. I may try that with my next song, but I doubt that RB's chord interpretation will match the chords that I've come up with from my own analysis of the melody and experimentation on my guitar. Even after I've figured out all the chords to my songs (I do that last after I've written the melody and lyrics and entered them into MuseScore), my producer will always recommend a few chord changes at various locations in my songs. Sometimes, he recommends that I change a melodic section to eliminate a chord or two or to change a strong chord progression to a weak one (or vice-versa), as he did with the last song I gave him.
Quote:
The melody wave is probably better because the synth in the notation program. Change the synth in RB to something better than the awful wave table.
That's a great idea! I don't know how to do that, but I can check the manual. This would eliminate a recurring step and save me some time.
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I assume your song is a complete score in the notation program.
Yep, it sure is. That's where I put most of my effort in the beginning of the songwriting process for precise documentation of the melody and lyrics to my songs because I'm not a singer. This reduces the amount of time I have to spend prepping my songs in BiaB.
It's my suggestion you export multiple .WAV files from BIAB and stitch the audio files into your full length song in a DAW rather than attempting one .WAV file that contains all the elements of the song that you cut/paste/copy to increase the length of your song. Here's why. The elements of your song you are replicating are exact duplicates of the original audio you're replicating. What you are doing is looping the same audio. So if you copy a verse and paste that verse into another verse, it's the same audio. Whereas if you construct your song in BIAB with each verse having it's audio generated and rendered where each verse is constructed by its own .sgu file, no verses will be exactly alike. Your song will sound much better and also more human. The result will carry over into every section of your song, be it intro, chorus, verses, bridge and outro.
Thanks for your suggestion, Charlie, but this would not be beneficial for demos of my songs that I take to my producer because he'll be creating his own arrangement for those songs. So, going through the extra effort with these additional steps would be a waste of time. However, your suggestion is great for demos of my songs that I want to share with other people besides him---especially if I'm pitching a song to an artist, label, singer, etc. with the goal of having them acquire or license it for their use. I have a couple of song demos that I need to redo in BiaB using your suggestion to make them sound even better than they already do sound.
Quote:
<<< My concern from the beginning of my use of BIAB was (and still is) that piecing together chunks of short BIAB generated song tracks into a single, long song arrangement would result in odd and/or glitchy audio seams occurring at the junctures of those chunks. >>>
This is one of the unique features of the intelligence of BIAB generated audio and should never be a problem or concern. Learning and applying proper multitrack recording techniques will virtually assure successful smooth transitions.
The key phrase here is "Learning and applying proper multitrack recording techniques . . . ." This is going to take some time for me to do as I become more and more familiar with the features and capabilities of both BiaB and RB by experimentation, by watching the tutorial videos on this website and on Youtube, by reading the manual as needed, and by reading the discussions in both the BiaB forum and this one.
Quote:
<<< No because a midi file wouldn't have all the chords.>>> BIAB automatically decodes and populates the Chord Chart. Since you've written the song, you will immediately detect any errors and can manually correct those you find.
Silvertones made the same comment about RB, to which I responded as follows:
"Thanks for the suggestion. I may try that with my next song, but I doubt that RB's chord interpretation will match the chords that I've come up with from my own analysis of the melody and experimentation on my guitar. Even after I've figured out all the chords to my songs (I do that last after I've written the melody and lyrics and entered them into MuseScore), my producer will always recommend a few chord changes at various locations in my songs. Sometimes, he recommends that I change a melodic section to eliminate a chord or two or to change a strong chord progression to a weak one, as he did with the last song I gave him."
<<< this would not be beneficial for demos of my songs that I take to my producer because he'll be creating his own arrangement for those songs.>>>
I don't understand what you mean by your statement above. What do you provide to your producer as a demo for him to create his arrangement? A single stereo audio file? an .XML file? A Pro Tools or other DAW session containing all the individual tracks?
How does his arrangement based from your demo and suggested changes to your demo affect how you created or will edit your demo?
It will. It'll interpret the midi notes in the score.If you get weird chords they will be technically correct but may not be pleasing. Those you can change. Btw also drop the use of biab. I did 10 years ago. Learn RB it does more than biab.The xml file should work the same. Before you import turn all bb tracks in RB to regular tracks.This should give you the whole song in midi format.Right click on a track in RB and generate any Real track. Forget about styles for RT. Just add 1 track at a time with musicians you want not those dictated by the style. Sidebar: I'm a pro player playing 4 days a week for 8 months. Then I go into new song mode. I have over300 songs done this way.
In these days if you don't submit a perfect demo to a producer he wont even listen. Even if the song than goes 180°. I also do some local producing. If the artist doesn't care about his demo why should I.
In these days if you don't submit a perfect demo to a producer he wont even listen. Even if the song than goes 180°. I also do some local producing. If the artist doesn't care about his demo why should I.
It takes less than 1 min. to generate a 320 bar Real Track track. BTW even though your tracks in RB have been made to regular tracks as long as they are REAL TRACKS you can still regenerate the whole track or just sections. You can also edit just like a word Processor. Make sure to use the "snap feature" You can cut, copy, paste etc.
Starting out with all regular tracks in RB and generating a track I noticed at the very top " generating 1/2. It generated up to bar 240 than 240 to the end. Small vertical bar at 240. Changed chord at bar 240 and it followed. It was seamless.I suspect the onger the song the more steps.
Once done there is also a feture to save all tracks as individual wav files. It even makes the folder. Then just drag and drop into Traktion. Easy peasy.
<<< this would not be beneficial for demos of my songs that I take to my producer because he'll be creating his own arrangement for those songs.>>>
I don't understand what you mean by your statement above. What do you provide to your producer as a demo for him to create his arrangement? A single stereo audio file? an .XML file? A Pro Tools or other DAW session containing all the individual tracks?
How does his arrangement based from your demo and suggested changes to your demo affect how you created or will edit your demo?
As I mentioned in a previous post (either in this discussion or in the BiaB discussion of my idea to fix the 255 bar limit), the last song I gave my producer two months ago is the first song for which I created a demo using BiaB and gave that to him instead of just a lead sheet with melody, lyrics, and chords. For the first six songs he produced for me since February 2017 when I started working with him, I only gave him a lead sheet and a midi file of the melody, and he created his arrangement from those. In other words, the lead sheet and midi file have always been the focus. All the changes that I make to my songs are put into the lead sheet.
But with my most recent song that I took to my producer, I used an .XML file of my lead sheet to create a basic arrangement and demo with BiaB so that my producer didn't have to play my song on his guitar (I don't play it for him). This made it easier for him to identify any potential problem areas that needed additional work done to them because he didn't have to learn how to play the song at the same time that he was critiquing it. However, I didn't just give him a stereo .WAV file for him to listen to. Instead, after I exported BiaB's arrangement minus the melody track to a stereo .WAV file, I imported the .WAV file into ActivePresenter as an accompanying track to the melody that already existed in a video that I had used ActivePresenter to create by capturing the lead sheet one section at a time using MuseScore's "Play" function. In other words, I used the demo arrangement from BiaB to enhance the video I had made of MuseScore playing the melody of my song as it scrolled through the lead sheet. This enabled my producer to see and hear everything that was going on in my song without him having to touch his guitar or my lead sheet by watching the video I had created.
Because this last song was the first song for which I used BiaB, it took me several weeks of going back and forth with my producer for me to realize that I needed to fine tune and simplify my BiaB arrangement so that it only contained four instruments---drums, bass guitar, and two guitars (one strumming the chords, and the other finger picking those chords). Keeping my arrangement simple and clean made it easier for him to focus on the lyric/melody/chord interactions in my song as he monitored the drum track for any primary down-beat switching that occurred. And when he discovered a problem (which there were a few), he told me what I needed to do to fix it either by modifying the melody, changing a chord or two, adding or removing a chord, adding or removing a measure, or modifying the drum track itself, as I illustrated in the Tracktion screen capture I shared a few posts ago. With the exception of the drum track issue, all of the problems I fixed were accomplished by making changes to the lead sheet and then using the .XML file of a new version of that lead sheet to create a new arrangement with BiaB and a new video with ActivePresenter.
One final point I need to make. I am primarily a songwriter and a mediocre guitar player. I am not a singer, performer, arranger, or producer, and I don't know if I'll ever be any of these (although anything is possible, so I won't rule these out). So, for the songs that I take to my producer, I don't need or want a top-notch arranged and produced demo of those songs. But for my other songs that I probably won't be taking to him, I want to create a decent enough demo of those songs that I can share with family and friends and also present to others in the music industry with the goal of finding a way to get those songs professionally produced, performed, and released to the public. Currently, my main focus is on finishing the album project that I started over two years ago. At the same time, however, I want to use BiaB, RB, and any other helpful program to continue the development of other songs I've written that won't be going on this album. In the process, I'm willing and eager to learn to use these programs to their full potential in all the ways that will meet my needs. But I don't want to get bogged down in learning skills and procedures that I don't really need to learn and won't end up using on a regular basis.
There are over 30 new features to RealBand 2024, including 256 available tracks, 32 VSTi/DXi synth instances, modern color scheme for some windows, Playable RealDrums support, new arrow buttons to change the current time, chord symbols to display in the Track window, 48 tracks to display in the Mixer, the ability to hide any extra masters or auxes in the Mixer, improved handling of VU levels in the Track window, better VU levels display when recording to mono tracks, song preview in the StylePicker, the ability to initiate track generation from the StylePicker, and much more!
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Band-in-a-Box® 2023 for Mac is macOS Sonoma Compatible!
We're over the moon to announce that the latest Band-in-a-Box® 2023 for Mac Build 707 is compatible with macOS Sonoma!
Refresh your Band-in-a-Box® 2023 for Mac today with this free update to resolve visibility of notation in the Notation Window, apply smoother use of notation features, update to the Drums VU meter, and add the newest version of the DAW Plugin (5.5.13).
Revisit: Eyes on Success featuring PG Music Inc., Band-in-a-Box®, and the Updated JAWS Script
In the past, Eyes on Success featured an episode that discussed our company history and Band-in-a-Box® program with Tobin, our chief development officer, including how Band-in-a-Box® is even more accessible with the help of their JAWS screen reader scripts!
Later on this month, Eyes on Success will be releasing an episode that features Gudrun Brunot talking about her new tutorials about how to use Band-in-a-Box® with JAWS.
It's a great idea to pair the two episodes together!
Eyes on Success is a weekly radio show / podcast geared to the visually impaired called "Eyes On Success" and that can be found at www.EyesOnSuccess.net.
Find out more about the show and get links to past episodes at www.EyesOnSuccess.net
User Tip: How to add drum fills without changing any other tracks
MarioD has shared some great advice when it comes to adding drum fills without changing any other tracks in your song:
There have been a number of questions asking how to add drum fills without changing any other tracks in a song. This is especially important if one is holding a chord for a few measures and wants to add a drum fill prior to the next chord. The following is how to accomplish that:
1-get the instruments/tracks to play like you want but don't worry about the drums for now.
2-generate the song.
3-freeze all tracks
4-unfreeze the drum track
5-add your fills where you want them
6-generated the song again - note this will only generate the drum track and not the frozen tracks
7- when you get the drums like you want them freeze the track
Review - Band-in-a-Box® 2023 for Windows is Overflowing with Features!
Dennis posted his very thorough Band-in-a-Box® review recently, where he dives into some of the new features added with version 2023: Sound-Guy's Band-in-a-Box Review
Read his thoughts on the Download & Install Manager, partial track regeneration, Playable RealTracks, Audio Editing, the addition of SynthMaster, the VST DAW Plugin, and more!
"Band-in-a-Box continues to be an expansive musical tool-set for both novice and experienced musicians to compose, arrange and mix songs, as well as an extensive educational resource. It is, without negative connotation, a monster of a program. Yet, so is any DAW that I have used. No DAW can do some of the things BIAB does, while BIAB can do a lot that DAWs do."
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