Easiest Way to Create a Backing Track in 10 Minutes Using Band in a Box

[@patspage]

I have so many questions, but I am so very new to Band in a BOX...I'll keep on watching in hopes to improve...many thanks for your time and effort...PEACE

[@henryclarke5407]

I personally think that if you're really new you start here and grow from there. kzbin.info/www/bejne/hXTcaKqknNd0qMU

[@DaveStygall]

Absolutely love your video tutorials. They are in easy to understand form, and best of all, it all works! Thank you Mr Clarke. Dave in Australia.

[@rev.yoganandajuste-constan1968]

Dear Henry, I heartily thank you for this short but fantastic tutorial. You have made my day, again. In a previous tutorial, you showed a different way to bring the Midi Files into Band In a Box. It did take a little time. In this new tutorial, you make it very clear and easy for all of us who follow your channel. Great work! And once again, thank you for your cheerful and wonderful way of sharing your knowledge with us. Kind regards and blessings to you and your loved ones. Yogananda+ From Australia

[@henryclarke5407]

You're very welcome!

[@rossminet]

Thank you! You converted a midi type 0 into individual midi tracks on different channels (I did not know how to do that), converted them to real tracks and then pasted these real tracks in you daw. It's much easier then to add effects. I have the inverse problem: converting real tracks into midi tracks to be able to use good VST plugins like Pianoteq, Addictive Drums or Amplesound Upright Bass. It's done by clicking on the Patches tab on the upper right corner.

[@danhargrave1018]

Love what you've done with that song! I was hoping from the title to find out how to create midi tracks from RealTracks. Great video!

[@henryclarke5407]

Thanks. Not sure why you'd want to go through all the trouble of creating MIDI tracks from real tracks. If you do that you need a great VST in order to capture the right sound. I find the realtracks more that suitable to capture the feel of the song.

[@LT-un1bf]

Dear Henry, thank you for this and for all your other great Tutorials. I have tried to do the same but after tracking the Master to the empty Cakewalk Project I only get one Audio Track in Cakewalk; it does not split to the single Audio Tracks. What am I doing wrong? At minute 6:20 of the Video you say "I put my thumb on the Control Button, my other Index Finger on the Up Control Button". What does this mean; what is the Up Control Button? May be there is a special combination of Keystrokes you use to get the Audio Tracks separated after tracking into Cakewalk? I would be very grateful for some further explanation. Thank you in advance. Best regards from Germany. P.S. May be meanwhile I have found the solution: You pressed the Strg + Shift - Keys; and it also works in Cubase that I normally use. Concerning Cubase you also have to press and hold the Strg + Shift - Keys and then you first have to track the Master to the WAV - Lettering in the "Drop-Area" of Band in a Box; as soon as it is finished you can drag the WAV into Cubase; Cubase asks to decide between separated Tracks or one single Track. Thats it.

[@advantechdesign2836]

Excellent tutorial Henry. Many thanks for your efforts.

[@peterbransche4674]

Hello Mr. Henry - any chance that you would make a video showing how you use Sonar/Cakewalk to import and mix your BIAB exports? I have thought about doing it myself, but you such a good teacher I know you would do the best job!

[@henryclarke5407]

Hi, See if his one helps. kzbin.info/www/bejne/iZ-vmKt8YrGcnKc

[@Link2theLinks]

Love it! Much easier, thanks for the video Henry. 👍

[@edmundverwey617]

Love the T-shirt my friend. "You're never too old to make music". I just wish many more people of ALL ages would try to play an instrument. The world will be a MUCH better place. Thank you for uploading. I just installed BB. I have NOOO idea how to start ANYTHING. So frustrating.

[@henryclarke5407]

You and me both!

[@HerringboneRecords]

Henry, much appreciation for all your work here. I have a song C,Caug,C6,C7. The bass pedals on the Root C, and I want it to walk up. How? I'm retired studio owner in Nashville for 34 years and started gigging in my high school band in '65 when living in Woodstock NY. Btw our local Sax player was David Sanborn, local Harmonica player was Paul Butterfield. 73 now and still kicking...😂😂

[@henryclarke5407]

Hi. I think you can either try the chord slash root symbol, maybe Micro Chords to walk the bass, or you may have to resort to MIDI editing (which is something I rarely do because I hate doing so much programming). A lot of times if I want something special I'll play it myself in my DAW to lower my frustration level. David Sanborn !! WOW !!!!

[@HerringboneRecords]

@@henryclarke5407 yeah, he was in Paul Butterfield Blues Band and the Saturday Night Live band in the early 70s and not well known. He'd jam in town with Orleans, The Fabulous Rhinestones, Butterfield, The Full Tilt Boogie Band (Janis Joplin, Pearl album). Stuff was there a lot. Full Moon (Buzzy Feiten and Neil Larson, Freddie Beckmeier bass, Dennis Wilson drums,Brother Gene Dinwiddie Sax. Howard Johnson (Taj Mahal,The Real Thing, Gravity, a 16 Tuba band) was there a lot. Thanks for the tips, I literally just got BB, and your videos have been most helpful.

[@MrBoscoadama]

Thanks for the tutorial! I understand how Real Tracks rendered to audio clips but how did you render the midi tracks to audio? Were you using a software TTS-1 synth? Is there a better quality GM VST for BIAB that you would recommend? Thanks!

[@henryclarke5407]

I did not have to do anything different to render the MIDI tracks to Audio. BIAB's rendering process took care of that automatically. I could use a TTS-1 but I find the GMs adequate for my tracks. If I get more into a MIDI composition in Cakewalk I'll use something like the TTS-1, String Machine, Groovesynth, Syclone, or the Kontakt modules I have. But in all honesty I find MIDI to be a real pain and try to avoid it as much as I can. If I can get the song to work with Realtracks and MIDI renders I'm usually satisfied and I'll work on the vocals.

[@bodupre8738]

HENRY EXCELLENT!! Thank you for your work!! and knowledge sharing!!

[@henryclarke5407]

My pleasure!

[@boing93]

Hi Henry Thanks for this very useful tutorial. So dragging and dropping for seperate midi tracks is only available in BIAB 2021 and later ?? Thanks Dave

[@henryclarke5407]

Sorry. I'm not sure since I don't have any of the older versions loaded but I "believe" this function has been around since 2020 or so.

[@aldepi]

Excellent tutorial Henry, as usual. Thank you. An important point, IMO is the quality of the MIDI patches. What do you use? Probably the best solution could be to use Kontakt's libraries (very high quality!), but I'm rather confused about using them. Any other suggestion about MIDI sounds?

[@henryclarke5407]

To be honest the MIDI patches I use are just standard GM patches. I find they are more than adequate. Plus I also try to add realtracks to my songs so that sort of covers up the limitations of the MIDI sounds. However I have Kontakt's R/B and Sooul libraries but I don't use them very much. I find it way too much trouble unless it something that I really need in a song. Now when I do my own MIDI sounds I do those in Cakewalk and use a lot of their MIDI synths like TTS-1 or String Machine, etc...

[@danfrankum2947]

How have you setup CW before transporting from BIB? Are the number of tracks already prepared? Did you Add Tracks by; inserting as Instrument ? Did You Insert/Soft Sync BIB to tracks or Insert/Midi. Are bib tracks drag into CW as Audio files or Midi? Thanks, I appreciate you knowledge of these 2 programs.🎶

[@debbiewilliams2877]

Henry, great video! What is the name of the song you posted using this backing track? I would love to hear the finished product. Thank you!

[@henryclarke5407]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/e2bTfIqdr9t6n9U

[@waynemiller6070]

Very helpful Henry. Thank you, good upload.

[@henryclarke5407]

Glad it was helpful!

[@Sal_Sorice]

Hi Henry - thanks for the great tutorials! I saw the same question I have asked previously but not answered :^( Question: Looks like you did some prep work in Cakewalk before dragging he BiaB files over, as I see some Audio tracks. What did you do? Can you just drag the tracks over into a completely blank Cakewalk project as well?

[@henryclarke5407]

There's no prep work "6:05 in the video". I just start with a clean cakewalk slate and drag the files over. The only thing I find important is to make sure that your BPMs is set the same as in BIAB or you may have issues in lining the bars up.

[@williamshaneblyth]

awesome 1 quick question when you dragged to your daw the top tracks where the audio but the bottom tracks in yellow where MIDI tracks yet it converted all the midi into audio using what? the built in sounds from band in a box im assuming?. Thats something I would NOT want iI would want to leave the MIDI files as MIDI so i could choose my own VST instruments from inside the DAW So whats the trick to drag so the midi stays as midi tracks? cheers. your channels is the best

[@henryclarke5407]

If you have Bandlab you can drag the tracks to MIDI channels in Bandlab and they will transform audio tracks to MIDI. Personally I find it more trouble than it's worth. I also have VST libraries (Konkatk) but don't use them so much anymore. I try to keep it simple.

[@RobGerryJansbox]

I enjoy your explanation, it even makes me happy. Still one question. Can a midi instrument be added to an existing real track track? Sincerely, Robert

[@henryclarke5407]

???? If I hear correctly you can always add a MIDI track to a BIAB composition. Especially if you have a version with utility tracks.

[@mrBootsify]

Henry - can I ask where you get your midi files from, they sound great and it is hard to find the classic R&B type artists.

[@henryclarke5407]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/oKqZoZiarcurnpo

[@paulussantosociwidjaja4781]

Aha, this is cool. I used to use this idea on Roland Intelligent keyboards/&modules.

[@henryclarke5407]

Hope it works for ya !!

[@dennyps1]

Some great and helpful info! After watching part 1 it took some serious searching to find this vid. Both are great but... A suggestion for you take a link from this video with your intro & explanation and pin it to the top of you're part 1 video. It would be helpful for new viewer's like me. Great job

[@henryclarke5407]

Thanks for the tips! I think I'm going to take down the Part 1 video since the information is so dated. Thanks for watching.

[@Victor48323]

Great video! Thank you so much!

[@henryclarke5407]

Glad it was helpful!

[@abrahamben-zeev9142]

Superb explanation !!! I have a few questions for you and would be grateful for your help. 1. Can you force the BIAB to play a particular bass note that is not the root of the chord? For example: Play a Db chord with an F in the bass in a particular measure. 2. I use MuseScore to write lead sheets with chords. If I were to export a song as an XML file, can BIAB read it. My goal is to avoid having to re-enter the chords into BIAB for experimenting with playback styles. Thank you in advance for your help.

[@henryclarke5407]

If I understand you correctly you would type in DB/F where F is the bass note.

[@jazznuma73]

Hi, thank you for your tutorial!! I use BIAB 2016, I have tried what you do here and it does not work for me in that version, how can I do this in BIAB 2016? thank you :)

[@henryclarke5407]

I have no idea. BIAB 2016 is quite old. It's possible that this does not work in versions that old.

[@MrAnguyen]

Awesome tutorial Henry. This is exactly what i want to do. But first i need to buy Band in a Box; does the Band in a Box "MEGAPak" allows me to do all the things (realtracks etc...) you demonstrated?

[@henryclarke5407]

The basic functions of the program are the same. The realtracks included will vary depending on the BIAB pak you purchase. kzbin.info/www/bejne/sKGyhZapd8Sjftk

[@PITISAX]

What I need to know is if you can slide a track in real band or band in a box, thanks

[@catfishjohntisdell3578]

Nice job Henry, I'm enjoying your videos. Thanks for making them. I was wondering if I bought some of these high quality midi files can I use them to produce my own versions of cover songs that I can sell and post to pandora, bandcamp, spotify, ...? I would get the license to use the song through easy song licensing like I always do, but is using these midi files legal to do?

[@henryclarke5407]

No. I'm no lawyer but as I understand the licensing agreements the reproduction of the music is for entertainment purposes (karaoke, etc..) and not for generating revenue. What you can try to do is use the MIDI files to recreate some of the patterns with other instruments and if using BIAB use RealTracks that are similar to the original song. That way you can create your own version and probably not encroach the limits of the license. Also you cannot post to Pandora unless they are already playing your music. You will have to submit your music for consideration and they will determine if they will allow it on their platform.

[@catfishjohntisdell3578]

@@henryclarke5407 Thanks for letting me know. I think I'll stick to using BIAB to create my rhythm section parts using real tracks ( which are amazing). I am on Pandora already by submitting my music to CD Baby, then they send it out to a lot of different streaming services. Keep up the great work !

[@henryclarke5407]

@@catfishjohntisdell3578 You're welcome. Glad they help. Again you can try the mix of a little MIDI with some realtracks and get pretty close to the song.

[@djba]

Hey again Henry …. Have you found any good sources of HIGH QUALITY midi files?

[@henryclarke5407]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/oKqZoZiarcurnpo

[@kishsaintjean6101]

Hi, Henry , I have One question , Is it Possible to Change Midi Tracks in Realtracks in Realband and to after to play the new song in BITB ? Thanks a lot for your answer?

[@henryclarke5407]

I'm not sure. I don't use realband for anything. I find the product not suitable for my production needs. However, you can always add realtracks to your composition in BIAB and mute or even delete the MIDI tracks if they don't play the type of sounds that you want. You may lose a bit of nuance doing this but it can come out quite well at times.

[@kishsaintjean6101]

@@henryclarke5407 Thanks a lot, Henry 👍

[@Victor48323]

At 3:36 you drag and drop the midi file to biab to get separate tracks. I have BIAB 2018, it won’t do that. Is there any other way to separate the midi tracks in BIAB 2018? Thanks.

[@henryclarke5407]

Yes. You have to go into the sequencer, find your MIDI tracks and channels, and do a copy move. I had a video that describes the process but it was so messy I took it down. Also I don't think 2018 had Utility tracks so where you gonna put the separate tracks? Not sure it's a good solution for you.

[@eggsclusive12]

I have one question. Why drag the midi tracks across to BIAB if you've got the realtracks generated ?

[@henryclarke5407]

I don't. I drag the MIDI tracks over to BIAB "BEFORE" I have selected a style. That way I can compare the style I select against the track to see if it works.

[@johnsinclair73]

Do you have a video on creating a song in 6/8 time?

[@henryclarke5407]

Why would you need a video for that? It's just a matter of selecting the right time signature, style, and using the realtracks appropriate for that style. kzbin.info/www/bejne/l6TaXq2Ke9aeY9Esi=gDj8G8H6xY2eq9zP

[@benjaminbarrington7721]

Amazing hack!!!!!!!!

[@henryclarke5407]

Thanks

[@djba]

Also … I wonder if the Band in a Box count in is what is causing the tracks not to come in on Bar 1?

[@henryclarke5407]

Not sure.

[@metubetomuch]

I use Reaper and it does the same thing. I don't know why either. I just do what you did. It's easy enough.

[@TonyThomas10000]

That sounds like: "Too late to turn back now" - Cornelius Bros and Sister Rose

[@henryclarke5407]

It is. It's an old favorite !

[@RobGerryJansbox]

I mean a realtrack song

[@duesenberger]

Thanks for this video. At 3:20 You drag in the MIDI file again. I tried this myself, but when I do this, the dragged in MIDI file is slower tahn the opened MIDI file from the first place. Here is a video that shows my problem: kzbin.info/www/bejne/raCqgpx8i8dpra8

[@henryclarke5407]

You should start from a clean slate and make sure you have no styles enabled. Also you should try another MIDI file to make sure that it's not the actual file itself. MIDI file should be Type 1 and not Type 0.