www.reverbnation.com/tomjuarezAfter 2 years of work, frustration, sweat and tinkering, I have produced an album of my original songs using Band In A Box.
All of these tracks use BIAB and except for the title track ONLY BIAB and Realtracks for the arrangements. All the vocals are me. The songs were all mixed using Samplitude Music Studio 14 which was a perfect compliment to BIAB as it easily utilized the PGMusic plug-ins (which were in many cases more reliable than Samplitude's built in ones). I have Native Instruments Bandstand as softsynth for the midi parts., and all the parts were rendered into WAV files to mix in Samplitude.
Here's a breakdown of the individual songs. I’ve tried to be as thorough as I can, though it’s been a while since I created some of the hybrid styles and frankly I can’t remember exactly how I did some of them:
1) Mens Rea
This is the title track. In legal parlance, "mens rea" is one of the components of a crime. In Latin, Actus Reus ("bad act") + Mens Rea (bad intention) = crime. I wrote this about a breakdown I had in San Francisco in 1996 and how the city ("she") brought it on.
This is an alt. rocker. I played the guitar parts on it because the first two chords are so wierd I couldn't really find an appropriate name for them. I eventually settled on calling them e5, and e9b5 but that wasn't quite it so I played the guitar into Samplitude using a MAudio fast track. I only have an acoustic guitar so I had to add distortion etc later.
The style is a hybrid ( I always seem to use hybrids
) as follows: Drums - Kelly2, Bass - CNorahP, no piano, Strings - CNorahP using the Church Organ patch) The second phase was kind of inspired by the Moody Blues and Helter Skelter (I know, but you'll see what I mean)
2) Breathe In
My songs are pretty consistently about 3 topics, Love, Politics, or Religion. This is a political anthem about the relief I felt (since tempered a little) upon President Obama's election. But it's general enough that I think it works on a number of levels.
Classic Rock style in the Hey Jude mode.
BIAB hybrid style again, though based on the AVRIL1 style. RT Soloist Cowboy Ev 165, ( besides not having the funds to buy all the RT I want, I find this is a really versatile track and can be used in many styles. )
3) Disagree
This is about the political conversation in the US – particularly as depicted on talk radio.
Style is R_SLOWHH.STY (Slow Hip Hop)
Style MIDI Instruments are : Finger Electric Bass (34), Rhodes Electric Piano (5), Muted Electric Guit (29), Slow Strings (50)
The solo is Rock Organ.
Interesting fact: I rendered the drums twice: once using the “room kit” and once using the “26 Rap TR 808” kit to add extra punch to the drums.
4) Slow Burn
Hard rocker about… well you figure it out. ;-)
Style is ALTROCK4.STY (Alternative Rock 4 style) Style MIDI Instruments are : Finger Electric Bass (34), Pad-Sweep (96), Church Organ (20),
RealTracks in song: 666:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm SouthernRock Ev 085 RealTracks in song: 396:Guitar, Electric, Soloist Metal Ev 085 RealDrums: RockThrashHalfTimeEv16^4-HoH,BlR
Love the way the guitar solo turned out!
5) Shutters
My college friend wrote this and was gracious enough to let me record it. He says it’s about discovering his catholic roots. I’ve done it as an alt country ballad. I put echoes on many of the country instruments and wah on the pedal steel which sounded really cool so I did it again in Yellow Sun Dress below. I think I’ve created a new Genre! Space Country!
Style is CC_GOO.STY (CC_Goo - 6/8 or 3/4 ev.8ths Grun)
Style MIDI Instruments are : Acoustic String Bass (33),
RealTracks in song: 370:Pedal Steel, Background Hank Sw 120, 408:Guitar, Resonator, Background Allis Ev 120, 409:Fiddle, Background George Ev 085, 854:Guitar, 12-String Acoustic, Rhythm RockWaltzA-B Ev 140.
MIDI Drums :41 Brushes Kit (41)
6) Deny Me
Guess whose POV this is from? Hard rock blues.
Style is _POPORGN.STY (Pop-Rock with B3 Organ (120 RS))
Style MIDI Instruments are :
RealTracks in song: 701:Bass, Electric, PopHalfNotesSync Ev 085, 666:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm SouthernRock Ev 085, : 675:Organ, B3, Background Blues Monday Sw 065, 642:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm HardRockThrashHollow Ev 085, 396:Guitar, Electric, Soloist Metal Ev 085, RealDrums: RockBritDrivingEv16^1-SnCH,RdCym
7) So Fast
Never wrote this as a Country song, but it just fit. This song was originally called Jeannie, but it became about more folks than her ;-) nevertheless the hybrid style is still called Jeannie, though honestly the song is all RealTracks now so it doesn’t matter.
Style is JEANNIE.STY ()
Style MIDI Instruments are : Acoustic Piano (1),
RealTracks in song: 366:Bass, Electric, Country Ev 065, 368:Guitar, Acoustic, Strumming Ev 065, 377:Guitar, Resonator, Background Trav Ev 088, 369:Pedal Steel, Background Ev 065, 409:Fiddle, Background George Ev 085, RealDrums: RockEven16
8) Yellow Sun Dress
This is about the summer I met my wife (now of 13 years) .
I had to use MIDI drums at the end of this because I wanted the song to slow to a halt but the slower it got the choppier the RT sounded. I think I blended it almost to where you can’t tell. Cowboy soloist again –love that track.
Guit,El,Soloist Cowboy Ev165 (412)
Style is _FOLKRCK.STY (Folk-Rock Waltz Medium (150 RS))
RealTracks in song: 366:Bass, Electric, Country Ev 065, 864:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm PopRockWaltzPulsingClean Ev 140, 898:Guitar, 12-String Acoustic, Strumming FolkRockWaltz Ev 150, 675:Organ, B3, Background Blues Monday Sw 065, RealDrums: RockModernWaltz^1-SrClsdHt,RideC
9)When They Come Home
This song is pretty self explanatory, but is about the costs of war. Southern Country rock with a bit of inspiration from Bruce Springsteen. I had to shift to midi halfway through for a mood change so used the “cloud” style
Style is ELTON1.STY (Elton 1 - Ev. 8ths Rock)
Style MIDI Instruments are : Rock Organ (19),
RealTracks in song: 388:Bass, Electric, Metal Ev 120, 406:Guitar, Acoustic, Strumming Ev 136, 384:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm Rock Southern Ev 120, 412:Guitar, Electric, Soloist Cowboy Ev 165 RealDrums :RockEven8
10) Groove? Rut?
A funk ode to technology. I did the same thing with the drums as I did on Disagree above
Interesting fact: I arranged and sang all these harmonies myself and did not use the TC Helicon harmonizer. I love that effect but it wasn’t right here, and besides I wanted a little more freedom.
Hybrid style again made of too many R&B hip hop parts to remember.
Style is GRVRUT.STY ()
Style MIDI Instruments are : Slap Bass 2 (38), Bright Piano (2),
RealTracks in song: 666:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm SouthernRock Ev 085, 680:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm RockBritSoulful Ev 085, 416:Sax, Tenor, HipHop Rock Sw 100 (Bluesy), 675:Organ, B3, Background Blues Monday Sw 065 MIDI Drums :26 Rap TR808 Drums (26), and Room kit.
Thanks for listening and if you liked this album –consider purchasing it?
Thanks to all at PGMusic -without whom I can literally say this album would not have happened. You’ve opened up a whole new world of possibility for me and I’ll be forever grateful!