Thanks all for the listens and encouraging comments. Yes, this is indeed different from most things I've done before, BIAB or not. I love rock music, but I am no rock singer.

Though I opened the program with the thought of trying out a chord progression idea, I didn't have it written down. I kinda found my way within BIAB, auditioning chords as I went. So, obviously, there was a lot of "regenerating" in the beginning. Thankfully, after I had a progression worked out, the last "regeneration" produced this set of rhythmic licks that hooked me.

Unfortunately, the "song" hadn't really been written at the time. I "heard" a simple rock melody and knew that if there was going to be a lyric, it would be delivered with short phrases that played against the rhythm of the two electric guitars (primarily) so as not to "cover them up" and to get a vocal that acted as a rhythmic call-and-response to accentuate them instead.

The ZuZu chorus came first, as that which inspired it was fresh in my mind. The rest of "lyric" was mostly a bunch of nonsense (cauliflower, if you remember that thread) that held the "rhythm of the words" and the basic melody.

It's kinda dangerous with BIAB to fall in love with a certain set of licks (especially when they come from more than one instrument) before a song is fully developed. It's hard to "multi-riff" for two instruments playing well together. Maybe one day there will be a way to "preserve" some things even if generation is necessary as the song develops. But I jealously guarded those licks and pasted together in DAW the final structure of the song.

Originally Posted By: Janice & Bud

And for us who think vocal processing only is a smidgeon of reverb and compression it would be fascinating to know the number of tracks and what they were run through.

J&B


J&B, once I have the "rhythm of the words" in my soul, I can record multiple takes easily with only slight variations. I'm not quite so consistent in actually hitting the notes dead on. Here, there were three main vocal tracks (besides the harmonies) consisting of the entire song. The third was the "best" overall.

I had to run a noise gate on all of them as there is just too much computer and room/ambient noise in what passes for my "studio". I did this in Acid Pro where I also recorded. I've not yet figured out how to record in reaper. Every attempt so far has resulted in the backing tracks getting bounced to the new track with no vocal at all. In addition to the noise gate(s), I manually tamped down the worst of the "plosives" and more "evened out" the levels between the various sections.

Those tracks went to Reaper. Mostly I used the third (best) take. I did a pretty "strong" hi-pass/lo-cut EQ filter and my best stab at compression, and finished with a light delay rather than a reverb. I used pieces of the other two takes to "double/triple" certain sections, but my EQ, compression, and delay/reverb settings were different for each.

Stacking them (rhythmically close, and Note-wise not too far afield) in slightly different stereo positions and at different volumes gives a lightly flanged, lightly-delayed, lightly spread effect without the use of any bus-effects.

Bud, I can't see you ever having to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear Janice vocal like I have to do, but you've maybe encountered the issue of when to "stop" with the process. For me, that's when attempts to "improve" begin to make other things worse. Then it's time to put it to bed and say "this is the best I can do with my tools and skills with them at present. It may be ugly, but I'll call it art.

I know Dave loves the blues and plays lights-out, but I also know he knows how to "phrase" and not just noodle. So it was no surprise to me (except the pleasant kind) how great he sounded plugged into DAW the first time. Even he didn't escape the "restructuring" I did in DAW, but his long solos are intact as he played them. All I did was carve out a little EQ and "verb" him a bit. I listen for licks and tone, so I'll leave it to others to contemplate on his place in the mix.

I'd love to send the dry edited stems to a more experienced and capable "mixer", but I don't think I'd want to send the base tracks and say "make a song". I love wearing that hat.

Last edited by Tangmo; 07/16/19 05:40 PM.
BIAB 2021 Audiophile. Windows 10 64bit. Songwriter, lyricist, composer(?) loving all styles. Some pre-BIAB music from Farfetched Tangmo Band's first CD. https://alonetone.com/tangmo/playlists/close-to-the-ground