[Harp-L] Re: [HarpTalk] backing tracks

["Alexander Savelyev" <Alexander.Savelyev@xxxxxxxx>]

Hi Chris, 

BIAB is a very capable program for what you are trying to do - I guess it was developed just for that purpose - assist in practising and allow to develop your own arrangement on the basis of the pre-cooked styles. 

I've been using it since 2002 and i must say it's worth every penny - it has a great Yahoo group list http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/Band-in-a-Box/ (including a separate Yahoo group with the BIAB songs - several thousand: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Band-in-a-Box-Files/ ) and the software goes with tutorial videos, the latter save you time and you are ready to do you work within an hour. 

A couple of years ago, 'pgmusic' came up with the real drums styles, which use sampled drum sounds to imitate real drums, which is fantastic if you compare with the regular styles. They also offer real instruments - real guitar, bass, etc. That means that all you have to do is just to enter chords, finetune the song - intro, ending, adjust the speed within some bars, etc., - and then apply any of the real styles, and you have your arrangement ready without extra fuss with the VST/VSTi's in a multitrack software. 

In contrast, if you work in a muli-track software, then you'll have to mix the whole arrangement, which, IMHO, is worth doing only if you deal with the real record (time consuming). I tried to compare arrangements produced with the help of BIAB (some 15 minutes per song) and the same arrangement in a multitrack software (1 hour if all goes well:),  I exported multitrack midi file out of BIAB, and then imported each track into my DAW. Then I applied VSTis where appropriate and mixed the whole thing). Not that I'm very bad at mixing, but my conclusion was that it's better to use the BIAB arrangement as it sounds tight, well mixed (panning, volume, effects) and all the styles/parts are compatible, which was not the case within my DAW (some VST didn't want to adjust  - some discrepancies in rhythm or pattern, etc.). 

And in BIAB you are free as a bird to arrange your song and come up with something unique - meaning you can use a regular arrangement and finetune it for your purposes. You can also enter - note by note - any exercise you'd like to, assign a certain instrument for solo and/or certain style for backing rhythm part and export it to Wav and then convert to mp3 and finally use it in your iPod. I found it extremely useful to download songs from the BIAB yahoo group and learn them using the music sheet view in BIAB (you can slow down the tempo and play a certain part from A to B in a loop - which helps a lot: you see the notes, you follow the rhythm and you repeat everything at a comfortable tempo - best conditions for your nerve system to absorb new material). 

In fine, I'd say that BIAB is a must for practising/ simple arrangement and given its latest features, including real drums, real instruments, it's no brainer anymore (some of my friends use it for producing backing tracks for their solo performances in clubs). Go for it! 


Hope it helps, 

Alex  

P.S. and if you have kids and/or would like play yourself, there are a couple of games included that will develop your ear in terms of intervals, chords, etc. 



>>> Chris Reynolds <c_reynolds2571@xxxxxxxxx> 05/04/2009 23:33 >>>
I was just wondering. I've been trying to spend more time playing and practicing and I was wondering what you all like to use for backing tracks. I've been thinking about getting band in a box so I could put in chord changes from some of the sheet music I have and then play along with that. But I wanted to get some input from other list members. I already have multi-track software, a drum machine, keyboard, guitars, etc. but I would really like to get something that would allow me to create backing tracks by putting in chord changes. 

 Chris 


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