BIAB 2015 for Windows Explained
PG Music’s Band-in-a-Box accompaniment software suite for Windows just got better, and music studio master Eli Krantzberg shows you why! Get up and running fast and start making ultra-realistic backing tracks easily for your songs today.
The Basics
• General Concepts (02:27) - A bird’s eye view of what Band in a Box is and does, and some the general concepts and nomenclature used throughout the application.
• Installation & Setup (05:09) - Learn about the different ways of installing Band in a Box, and how to set it to use your MIDI and Audio hardware.
• Deconstructing the Main Window (07:06) - Explore the six main areas of the Main Screen; the Status Bar, the Main Tool Bar, the Song Panel, the Function Tool Bars, the Mixer, and the Chordsheet area.
• Working With Songs (05:38) - Explore some of the various ways of searching, sorting, and loading songs either from the Open button or Song button, including using the custom file dialog, the SongPicker, and Song Finder.
• Getting Started with Styles (05:38) - Get started using the StylePicker to search, audition, and load various RealStyles and MIDI Styles, and learn how to create a customized MultiStyle using the ChordSheet Part Markers.
• Controlling Playback (05:51) - Learn to use the various transport functions, how to customize count in and metronome settings, and ways of controlling relative and absolute instrument volumes using the mixer and the floating mixer window.
Creating Songs & Arrangements
• Starting a New song (05:21) - Learn how to clear the chord sheet, set key signature, transposition, and tempo values, and how to “frame the song” by setting the first and last bars for each chorus, and the number of choruses.
• Entering Chords (04:21) - Learn how to enter chords by either typing them in on a qwerty keyboard or playing them on a MIDI keyboard.
• Cut, Copy, Paste, Preview, & Build (06:26) - Explore various ways of copying sections of a chorus, how to preview chords either after or as they are being entered, and how to use the Chord Builder to simultaneously audition and edit or create chords.
• Chord Editing & Repeats (06:16) - See how to change the look of the chord sheet, how to make global changes to either chord placement or chord qualities using the Nudge Chords and Search/Replace functions, and how to modify the song form using repeats and other related notation markings.
• Rest, Shots, Holds, & Pushes (07:39) - Discover how to create and edit breaks; points in a song when one or more of the instruments, rests, plays a shot, or holds a chord. Also, learn how to enter pushes (or anticipations,) where chords are played either an eighth note or sixteenth note before the beat.
• Part Markers, SubStyles, & Song Form (05:59) - Explore ways to expand the variety in your musical arrangement by using Part Markers to add drum fills and change sub styles. See how to use filters to search the StylePicker window for additional related styles; and how to use the Song form Maker to re-arrange the sections of your song.
• Using MIDI SuperTracks (03:20) - Learn how to customize a style by using MIDI SuperTracks, MIDI performances of live musicians, and how to customize the sound of the MIDI SuperTracks using third party VSTi instruments.
• Working with RealTracks (04:09) - See how to change the RealTrack instrument for the entire song, as well as how to use the Bar Settings window to change instruments or styles at specific bar locations.
• Working with RealDrums (04:35) - Learn to use the RealDrum Picker, the RealDrum settings, how to force MIDI drums to RealDrums, and RealDrums to MIDI drums, how to save specific RealDrum styles with a song, and how to change between RealDrum groove variations at specific locations in your song.
• Recording & Embellishing a MIDI Melody (04:23) - See how to record a MIDI melody in real time using the Thru instrument, assign a sound to the melody track, and use Band in a Box’s Embellish Melody feature to add ornamentation, grace notes, and more to your original melody.
• MIDI Harmony (03:43) - See how the harmonize function is used to generate multiple voice harmony parts for MIDI melodies, and learn how to customize the ranges, instruments used, and start times of the generated notes.
• Using the Soloist (05:32) - Explore the Best Soloist and Select Soloist features and see how to generate either MIDI or RealTracks solos at different locations in the song form.
• Intros & Medleys (05:23) - See how the Song Form function is used to generate customized song introductions, and medleys with automatically generated transitions.
• Recording Audio (02:53) - Learn how to add a live audio track to your song; including how to set the input and levels, and how to punch in or overdub.
• Using Audio Effects (02:13) - See how to add either built in or third party plug-ins to your Band in a Box tracks.
• Saving & Exporting (06:03) - See how to save songs with tracks either disabled or frozen, how to unfold an arrangement into one big chorus so it can be exported as a MIDI file, how to email song files and rendered audio recordings, how to export as video to YouTube, and how to export individual tracks as audio files.
• DAW Plug-In Mode (05:48) - Learn how to transfer either complete or partial tracks from Band in a Box into Sonar Platinum, and see how RealTracks can easily be converted to MIDI, and MIDI tracks to audio.