BIAB SongS - A place to demonstrate the good and the bad of BIAB

[rayc]

I was, earlier this week, involved in a quick collaboration with two people in BIAB world.
A french fellow wrote a melody and then arranged a backing for it in BIAB.
He had neither lyrics nor a vocal and asked for collaborators.
I've not collab with a BIAB person before so gave it a shot - I jotted down some lyrics to fit the mood and flow of the melody and sent them to the fellow. Another bloke offered to sing.
The resulting track was VERY thick and stereo image quite narrow.
I asked for a chance to mix it and had to pull out a few tricks as the drum track was sent as a mono file.
Here's the result - mainly "realtracks" as mentioned before.
It's alittle more open and wider than the original.
the soloing guitar is quite low in the mix but that is as directed by the main writer.
Not as sterile as most BIAB things but still VERY safe.

Chris n Misha Bgd.mp3

Here're the lyrics as Misha has, in some parts a strong accent &/or varied pronunciation.
The participants
Vocals : Misha
Lyrics and Mix : me
Music : Christian Devienne

Words, they’re just words
But they show the workings of my mind
Ghosts, they’re just ghosts
They’re the only memories I can find
Nothing else makes sense
Just memories I can rewind
Thoughts, they’re just thoughts
But they make me feel I’m going blind
Play, through the day
To this repetition I’m resigned
Nothing else makes sense
The world inside is defined
Words, not just words
They describe the contents of my mind
Ghosts, not just ghosts
They’re the only loves that I could find
Nothing else makes sense
My ghosts keep all that we find

This is the BIAB data.
All realtracks - so phrases recorded in a variety of keys and styles then assembled by the computer to match chords, style, tempo etc:

RD BluesRockSlowEv^4
RT 572 Electric Bass
RT 1037 Acoustic Guitar
RT 1038 Acoustic Guitar
RT 1676 Acoustic Guitar
RT 1537 Electric Guitar
RT 1834 Electric Guitar
RT 1542 Piano
RT 2667 Pedal Steel
RT 1835 Solo Electric Guitar
Interestingly a user can record their own RealTracks, as described above, and use them in the program. An insurance policy against arthritis or worse I suppose.

[Armistice]

Eek.... that voice!

Sorry ray, but it sounds to me like something you'd hear at 3am on and All Croatian All Of The Time radio station where the DJ, who has a drinking problem and mother issues - hence his relegation to the graveyard - slips on a track from his friend Misha, a heavyset man with bad teeth, a big moustache and a blonde girlfriend named Yanka with tobacco stains on her fingers and an uncanny physical resemblance to a younger Marianne Faithful if Marianne Faithfull was transgender.

But so long as you're having fun out there in BIAB land.

[rayc]

Eek.... that voice!
But so long as you're having fun out there in BIAB land.

Yes, David,
His eastern euro accent is as I described, often strong.
Miro had a fair touch of that in the one track of his I heard.
Misha's enthusiastic and quite creative though he merely sings on this one.
Fun? It was just a set of on the spot lyrics BUT I had to fix the mix - it was truly not fabulous.
There's a LOT of Ozone plug one button "mastering" over there.
I visit there, amongst other things, to listen for new tricks for BIAB drum track management but it would appear there're none to be had.
This fortnight has been "tribute to..." time over there - that and instrumentals.
I've learnt which ones to bypass.

[rayc]

Here's another this time written by the singer and I did the majority of the lyrics.
Misha wrote the music, melody, recorded and mix.
I just took a couple of quick 1/2 liners he suggested and plopped some words in.
Only BIAB Drums on this - he can play stuff, (mind you a lot of it's midi).

Panacea_r8b.mp3

People playing robots playing people
Each in search of a magic panacea
Cast their votes in simplistic transactions
Like beetles crashing into light bulbs.

Inside the tiny horror
Mirrors reflect the monster within
That’s fighting to get outside
But the easy life is what their minds detected

People playing people playing people
Each in search of a graphic panacea
Sending the ranchers into rain forests
Like beetles crashing into light bulbs.

Acts printed on a circuit
Hidden in folds of skin and carbon
Programmed by the flashing screen
Sublimation says where their mind’s directed

Volume and delay
Making real monsters of the rumors
That still grow within
Consuming all life is what the time’s perfected

Robots playing people playing robots
Each in search of a caustic panacea
Celebration of the darkness inside
Like beetles crashing into light bulbs.

Shout me alive
Shake me from death
Tell me of hope
And each borrowed breath.

Shout me alive
Wake me from death
Give me some hope
With each shallow breath.

[rayc]

I scrawled a cranky set of words a week or two ago. My former European American friend decided he wanted to turn it into a song...
Misha used Midi and BIAB to compose the backing and recorded his own melody/vocal on top....


HERE'S THE UNCENSORED VERSION. Misha uploaded to Souncloud for the BIAB User forum which is quite tight on censorship - business page et al...

hubris.mp3

Hubris is a word
That doesn’t rhyme with turd
But they meet in the same shit sandwich.
Where an arrogant display
Arrives on time each day
And your every word makes me twitch

But, you know that you’re a pain
And still you’re dumb and numb
Like you’re sipping novocaine
You can’t see your life

V2 Mongrel is a mutt
The sort who’ll crack your butt
But they eat in the so cool cafe.
Where a selfie marks the spot
Whether they piss or not
And think breeding is sipping a latte

C2 But, you know that you’re a pain
Self-doubt means you’ll succumb
Till you’re sipping novocaine
You can’t see your way

Though the fjords get in your way
You are colder at the end of the day
Waiting in silence
Defying compliance of mold.

Narcissist’s a label
Price tag you got from Babel
But they meet in the “vita di merda”
Where a mirror makes your day
Or the echo chambers pay
And your image couldn’t be absurder

But, you know that you’re a pain
And still you’re dumb and numb
Like you’re sipping novocaine
You can’t see your life

[vomitHatSteve]

Whu... why would you censor it?

[rayc]

Whu... why would you censor it?

[mention]vomitHatSteve[/mention] Misha censored it for the BIAB forum - that's where this version was 1st posted.
The BIAB-PGMUsic people are tight censors - it is a product promo page in the long run.
I'll post a non edited version this evening.

[rayc]

Jere's another - same singer, music by the French fellow. Of late I've been in my 70s role as lyricist to various writers.
It's a far less stressful role and leaves the hard yards to others - or to BIAB depending on your perspective.
This tune, Sheets Of Rain, really suits Misha's Eastern European accent as it's a Traveler/Gypsy story...
Sheets of Rain
_{Music: Christian Devienne & Lyrics me.}
Pulling sheets of rain
So snuggly up around my chin
A blanket of snow
All there is to keep the warmth in

There’s nothing true
But that in which you believe
There’s nothing real5
But what you willingly conceive

Pulling sheets of rain
So snuggly up around my chin
A blanket of snow
All there is to keep the warmth in

So again we sail
Into a mist of our devising
No way through is known
Not without you compromising

Pulling sheets of rain
So snuggly up around my chin
A blanket of snow
All there is to keep the warmth in

There’s nothing true
But that in which you believe
There’s nothing real
But which you willingly see

Sheets of rain.mp3

[rayc]

[BBvideo=560,315]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4lZIhpxOWM[/BBvideo]
Some BIAB but mainly keyboard & MIDI stuff. I just wrote the lyrics.

[vomitHatSteve]

Cool.

Who's the person playing the robot in the video?

[rayc]

Cool.

Who's the person playing the robot in the video?

The chap is the composer/performer/recorder/arranger etc.- Misha.
I don't appear - though my cat does.

[WhiskeyJack]

[BBvideo=560,315]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4lZIhpxOWM[/BBvideo]
Some BIAB but mainly keyboard & MIDI stuff. I just wrote the lyrics.

WHERES THE BASS???????????

[rayc]

WHERES THE BASS???????????

Keyboard bass is there in the wav and here in the chorus. Not as prominent as I'd have it.
The next track, (almost finished), has me playing bass to ensure it's apparent as well as real.

[rayc]

Here're a couple more - one with the same singer - I only did the lyrics and the other with a different collab. and new singer...
Both are ALL BIAB except the vocals.
This is with Misha - I wrote some junk lyrics but he decided to experiment with them and came up with this...

File These Memories
I’ve never been someone that you could talk to
And I communicated like a bad mime
And our life together seems like a walk through
Burning minutes while you’re still in your prime

It’s time we both just walk away
And leave these memories in the ground
Neither has anything to say
Nothing to keep us hanging round

I remember when the passion could burn through
The apathy that filled up most of the day
Now the burning leaves scars it didn’t use to
Afterward there’s nothing left to say

It’s time we both just walk away
And leave the licence in the drawer
Neither has anything to say
No point us hanging round for more

Both you and I have clearly seen this coming,
Both you and I believing it was a crime
Neither wanted to be first to start running
It seems we’ve found a mutual starting time

It’s time we both just walk away
And filed these memories in the past
Neither has anything to say
And now the used by date has passed.

I’ve never been someone that you could talk to
I’ve never been the partner that you need
Oh no, this life’s a nightmare to walk through
That’s something which both of us should concede

It’s time we both just walk away
Let’s file these memories in the past
Seal them in a lost yesterday
And hope the pain won’t last.


and this is the 1st bloke I collaborated with in BIABland - well, with him & Misha at the same time. With this one Chris wrote the melody and prepared the backing & asked for lyrics. I wrote a set and requested he a) extend the song to suit the narrative and b) toss in a modulation to stop it getting to mundane due to the length...

I'm not keen on the vocal performance and am scouting around for someone to give it the Francoise Harding feel. I'm not keen on the emotive stuff and was after a more ingenue vibe.
At Top of the Stair
Mornings, I sit here and I think of you
Mornings, I think things through
Mornings, I wonder if it was all true
Mornings, each day without you
Mornings, I sit just like we used to do
Once a day I feel bad
Once a day I get sad
Once a day I recall
Once a day but not all

Mornings, I sit here and I think of you
Mornings, I can’t get through
Mornings, I stand at the top of the stair
Mornings, I see you’re not there
Mornings, I drink coffee brushing my hair
Once a week I feel bad
Once a week I get sad
Once a week I recall
Once a week but not all

Mornings I sat here just biding my time
Mornings I planned my crime
Mornings, I stood at the top of the stair
Mornings, I push you from there
Mornings, I drink coffee brushing my hair
Once a month I feel bad
Once a month I get sad
Once a month I recall
Once a month but not all

Mornings, I drink coffee brushing my hair

[rayc]

Here's the 1st, and probably only, time I've deliberately done a piece in BIAB with no intention of redoing it for real.
I took the work file Misha created with the above File These memories and learnt how he did it and how the prog works when using it as the beginning and end - except for vocals - as most BIAB users do.
The rests and stops are all built into the program!
ALL of the tracks I used are "RealTracks" being snippets of audio recordings laced together in the prog.
I worked my way through a few different styles and decided to build a version, (sans vocals at this point as Misha hasn't sent me his vox tracks as yet), that had a bit of a 60s soul ballad feel.
[mention]Lt. Bob[/mention] There's a horn section and a baritone sax solo. I cheated with the section by cloning it and using an ADT to give it more power.
Here's the result...

FTMgd.mp3

[Greg_L]

Here's the 1st, and probably only, time I've deliberately done a piece in BIAB with no intention of redoing it for real.
I took the work file Misha created with the above File These memories and learnt how he did it and how the prog works when using it as the beginning and end - except for vocals - as most BIAB users do.
The rests and stops are all built into the program!
ALL of the tracks I used are "RealTracks" being snippets of audio recordings laced together in the prog.
I worked my way through a few different styles and decided to build a version, (sans vocals at this point as Misha hasn't sent me his vox tracks as yet), that had a bit of a 60s soul ballad feel.
@Lt. Bob There's a horn section and a baritone sax solo. I cheated with the section by cloning it and using an ADT to give it more power.
Here's the result...
FTMgd.mp3

It sounds kind of disjointed to me. Strange that a computer made all of that. Maybe vocals will tie it all together, but right now it sounds like....you know when a symphony warms up before a performance and it's just a racket of random stuff? That's kind of what it sounds like, at times. The individial sounds sound good. It just doesn't sound locked together to me.

[rayc]

It sounds kind of disjointed to me. It just doesn't sound locked together to me.

That may be my mixing - probably is - OR my lack of understanding of the program.
The guitar at the beginning doesn't belong - it's just there to demo a guitar solo.
The program has preset styles so I could've pulled up "60s soul" and it would have had an ensemble ready for me to enter chords etc.
I know a couple of the things I used had alerts that they didn't match the feel etc. which may be part of the problem but I blundered on regardless - just to make the demo. Some of them had to be adjusted up or down in tempo by the prog as I'd selected mismatched items on that level too. I'm not sure that the stops or holds work all that well either but, again, there to show it can be done relatively easily.
Weird stuff really.

[Greg_L]

That may be my mixing - probably is - OR my lack of understanding of the program.
The guitar at the beginning doesn't belong - it's just there to demo a guitar solo.
The program has preset styles so I could've pulled up "60s soul" and it would have had an ensemble ready for me to enter chords etc.
I know a couple of the things I used had alerts that they didn't match the feel etc. which may be part of the problem but I blundered on regardless - just to make the demo. Some of them had to be adjusted up or down in tempo by the prog as I'd selected mismatched items on that level too. I'm not sure that the stops or holds work all that well either but, again, there to show it can be done relatively easily.
Weird stuff really.

Wow. Alerts, huh? That's some crazy AI.

Yeah to me it does seem a little jumbled at times. Just keep tweaking it. You'll get it there.

[vomitHatSteve]

There's also some horizontal clips when instruments come in and out. Is that common in BiaB?

[rayc]

Horizontal clips? Hmm - if it's in and out it's probably my mixing/volume editing.