How to make Backing Tracks with B-I-A-B 

jammergreg ...I just watched this vid .. have been solo on and off for 30 yrs ... all by myself ..drum machine ( no bass ) a looper ( which is a pain in the ass ,,, always gets lost after 10 bars or so ) so this may be my next investment ..also , you can get some gigs that your band won't be hired for because of the cost of 4 dudes !! They won't be happy but those are the breaks ... good luck gigging !!!

Brian Donnelly, thanks buddy. I appreciate all the advice even though I've been playing 50 years as a hobbyist I'm not done learning

Besides, nothing stops you from creating part of your song with the Band in a box and then import it in a DAW e.g. Ableton and top it off with some production ready loops. La vie est belle.

My pleasure!

Thanks, it's a really useful program.

+Strat Cat It's very awesome indeed.

Glad it was helpful!

Jeff Dawdy You can record with BIAB, see bandinabox.wikia.com/wiki/Recording_with_Band_in_a_Box I prefer to export the backing track, and import it to another recording program (Logic in my case). From there, I add my guitar tracks, and vocals.

I think you should ask PG Music directly. They are better equipped to handle such questions.

docterblues It's mostly a matter of the number of RealTracks and styles available. To build backing tracks for practicing, the Pro version is definitely sufficient. You can always buy more RealTracks later if you want your tracks to sound like real musicians played on your recording. That IS pretty cool I think...

adavis1420 All the things you heard in the video came with the program I have, but it depends on which version you buy. Check www.pgmusic.com/realtracks.all.php

You can export it as an uncompressed audio file or as mp3 or m4a.

Yes of course.

See ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-qHrgavOG2Fk.html

+Alan Hebron It is fantastic software for jamming, for sure. I would recommend you get the Everything Pak - there are many songs that have real instruments in that one. They sound great.

Yes, the EverythingPAK.

No.

Not sure what you mean. Do ask PG Music support - they are helpful.

You can use either. RealBand is a DAW designed to work specifically with Band in a Box rendered songs. It will open a Band in a Box file but if you prefer, you can do your chord chart and generate styles from RealBand rather than in Band in a Box. Realband is designed to work with recorded midi or audio tracks you record yourself rather than generate pre-recorded Band in a Box tracks. RealBand can have up to 48 tracks for audio/midi tracks and Band in a Box works best with only 8 total tracks.

Join the Band in a Box Forum. Most of your questions can be answered quickly there.

The "College Course" angle is part of what makes this program so fabulous, I think. You can learn to enter 12 bar blues in about 5 minutes. If you knew the theory of arranging a classical suite or a jazz section soli, this thing could accommodate that as well. Literally like having a band in the room with you. With better players than you are, no matter what your current skill set. You tell 'em what to play, they do it. And just like any band, you can either tell them the rhythm, melody and harmony you want, or you can simply "Pass out charts" (use a pre-built song file). And once they know the song, you can tell 'em "Let's do it as a polka this time". They know every style you know, and a lot you don't. It works great no matter how familiar you are with all the bells and whistles. Fabulous stuff - Lumpy

The expensive one.

If you write the song, there is no copyright issue. All original music you create with BIAB is yours - there will be no copyright problems with the software. However, if you write a song identical to some other tune, you will be at risk of copyright violation. I hope I answered your question adequately.

@@Dolphinstreets OK, Thank You.

Thanks, no you don’t need internet to run the program.

@@Dolphinstreets Thanks a lot Robert,, cheers mate 👍

I'm not sure - ask pgmusic.com - they are very helpful.

Timmy the Woo You could put band in a box on an external hard drive without having to upgrade your computer. In fact, band in a box gives you an included hard drive if you get the really expensive editions.

I've run BIAB on a single core Windows XP machine for years and just recently installed it on a Windows 10 machine. As long as you have storage available, just about any processor will be fine. My version of BIAB 2010 needs about 80 gigs of hard drive for the complete install. Created songs, add-on styles etc cost a little more storage. Really not a factor these days since 1-2 terabyte drives are so cheap. It will run from the external USB drive that some versions come with, but mine has a wonky USB connector on the drive. Cable won't stay plugged in. As Maestro suggests in the video, this thing is fabulous. - Lumpy

I'm hopeless musician make my own backing tracks (drums bass etc ) , I learnt more about music doing that , than any software

mochi65 just convert it to what ever player you are using for your gigs! MP3 or wave!

You can only convert it to AIFF, M4a, or Wav in Band-in-a-Box for Mac and I have the 2017 version and is the latest version for Mac. The windows version has been updated to 2018. Check out the forum on pgmusic.com. I use it all the time and I love it.

No

I use lead sheets that have the chords written on them along with the melody and I input the chords based on the measure the chord appears. If the next chord doesn't show up right after the chord before it, I leave the measures blank. Band-in-a-Box will keep playing the same chord until you type in a different chord.

I don’t know. Better ask at pgmusic.com

Use a comma

+Wardiup It's an awesome program, tell them I inspired you to buy it!

Will do

I used to have Band in a Box about 15 yrs ago Robert Renman​ ! Sure, was kind of basic but the speed you could knock up a short backing track, change key, put in a new standard etc. was great. Really helped me a lot and saved me a fortune in Aebersold play a longs!

So how does it work? you pay them monthly from your credit card or is it a one time fee? can you tell us that, we would like to get this system?but don't have a cue of how to go about it

+Thomy Dell Well I think it is, because I value the great sounding real tracks. If you mostly use it for composition and practice and the quality of the sound is not that important, then you can save some dollars.

+Thomy Dell I use it to create backing tracks for my lessons. Really great for that.

The program is the same for all versions. Robert Renman stated correctly, the additional cost is for additional content such as additional RealTracks, Supermidi tracks, and RealStyles. My version has over 2,000 Realtracks and 6,000 Styles.

Yes, you type in the chords, and choose a style. The software does the rest.

@@Dolphinstreets That's "normal" load. I would like to load the software "without": the preloaded music on the tracks. I would like to be able to import my own music, that I created, that's a full song. Then, I'd like to sing a lead vocal, and afterwards, add harmonized vocals, using the harmony feature of the software. I don't want the music that comes with the software, and I don't want my own music split up into bars as it is done with the prepackaged music that comes with the software. Thank you so very, very much for your valued time and efforts in helping me out in this solution Sir.

como veo que nadie te responde amigo, yo te pregunto: ¿Que quieres saber? yo se un poco acerca de este programa y te puedo servir en algo.

Yes, as long as you create original music with the program.

I use ChordPulse and BIAB.The interface on ChordPulse is very easy to master.Your track will be Piano (or keyboard), Percussion , and Bass.I am starting a channel her on RU-vid to share some of my original tracks.ChordPulse got me off to a faster start then my other software.All the best.

thank you very much

Digitech Trio is a hardware backing track generator that uses Band in a Box bass and drums to create bass and drums for backing tracks to your song.

Look at pgmusic.com

I've been playing ~ 3 years, on my own for one, with instructor for almost 2 now. Gone from crappy to less crappy... BIAB is fantastic once you get to a place where you can play chords & change smoothly & maybe start to want to solo. I bet you can learn scales etc but probably better places to go for that. I use BIAB now a lot. Been doing jazz and I'll put in say a Bb 12-bar with a ii-V-I turnaround and maybe use a VI for the 8th bar and loop it, and just pick out notes from Bb pentatonic for a while, then maybe try some other things. I don't know modes well yet (got some theory but not in my fingers) but can make a track to help me practice. Easy to test out things. Does that G7b13#9 (xx3446) work? :-) Not for total novice but very useful at advanced beginner & above. I've only scratched the surface. This video helped me learn to drop out guitar parts for me to play, or, e.g. in the blues shuffle (a) drop the organ and play the solo or (b) drop the rhythm and play chords I know a singer who uses it for backing tracks. She picks a pop song, finds the chord progression, puts it in, chooses style & tempo and has instant accompaniment for singing.

Sorry I don't speak Spanish. Maybe someone can add a translation for this video for Julio?

Robert Renman He likes what he sees but doesn't have enough English to understand the explanations. Is there a way to get Spanish subtitles or dubbed.

www.PGmusic.com

I turned on the track with the resophonic, also known as a Resonator, or Dobro.

OK, so the resophonic/dobro sound is part of the "stye:" and uses the "strings" label on that track to include the resophonic sound and when you change styles, the instrument on that track isn't necessarily the resophonic or any instrument at all - however, screen resolution is still not high enough to read the label on the mixer track It appears that the label "strings" remains no matter what the actual instrument is - so, do you know if there is a listing somewhere that contains the actual instrument mixes for each style?

Each style has an info box that tells you the instruments included.

In newer versions of Band in a Box the mixer displays the actual name of the instrument chosen for the track. You can also overwrite and insert your own text for a track.

Yes you can.

@@Dolphinstreets Thank you.

@@Dolphinstreets My plan is to make some Blues and instrumental tracks for some of my songs. Do you still still see BIAB as a great way to lay down very simple blues and instrumental tracks for non techie's like myself , or is there something else you would recommend.

1) I am not selling BIAB. 2) This is a video showing how to use the program. 3) I am not in control over RU-vid's search algorithm. 4) Have a great day!

+omitself This program is great for songwriters who want to preview what their ideas sound like. For example, I don't play trumpet, but maybe I want a trumpet track. Your argument is similar to ones used by people who maintain that bread is not homemade if you didn't grow the wheat and mill the flour.

hardly a comparable analogy. you edit and tweak with MIDI, but you're still (mostly) playing...with band in a box you could create an entire album without playing a note or doing much of anything frankly, other than selecting a style and some chords. ie you didn't play it, or by and large even create it...the computer did. if people want to pretend it's really them, whatever, play that pretend game, but the reality is there and deep down I think they know it. that said, I can see using it to create some drum tracks or whatever, but again the reality is there about what they really did or didn't play or create.

br That's all very well if you are seeking to produce material for paid public consumption, but, as Robert's video focuses on, BIAB is a massively useful tool for practice, rehearsal and arranging/composing. It is also perfect to supply the missing band members for hobbyist youtubers.

Band in a Box is not necessary to create an entire album without playing a note or doing much of anything. There are many artists that are singers only or only play a single instrument that publish entire albums that are comprised of many instruments. I've never seen a video where Frank Sinatra plays an instrument or solo. The Beach Boys used session musicians for most of their studio backing tracks. When you select a RealTrack and Band in a Box plays the instrument over the chord chart, the computer did not create that sound, a real session musician, playing a real instrument that is sounding that real chord, and the chord prior to it as well as the chord after it. The computer did not create anything. The chord is real, the instrument is real, the sound is real. If Robert inputs a chord chart, (that is not anything the computer creates, it simply records the keystrokes), Robert selects a Style(again, the computer does not create the style, it exists prior to being included in the Band in a Box program) and then Robert creates and records a guitar solo over the Band in a Box backing track. That recording is just as original and real as if he had hired session musicians to play the chord progression in the key and tempo he desired. Actually, Robert does not have to select a style at all, he can create a custom style from scratch if he desires to do so. Check out the Band in a Box User Showcase Forum where there are thousands of original compositions and songs created with Band in a Box. Many are as professionally written and recorded at a quality as any song you hear on commercial radio.

Promoagent?