Determining which style to use

Henry Brooks · Post by **Henry Brooks** » 24 Mar 2010 2:06 pm

I am not all that experienced with using BIAB. I bought the program to make backup tracks for learning the steel. The songs aren't all country some are Praise songs and some are pop standards. I am finding it very difficult to find a style that fits the songs. Would appreciate any tips or tricks that you use in selecting a style.
Henry

Graham · Post by **Graham** » 24 Mar 2010 3:03 pm

It can involve some trial and error, Henry. If you have an idea of the flavour you want, load up the track in BIAB and then click on the word "style" to the left of the title bar. This will open a box showing all the styles you have in BIAB in the right column and the catagories in the left. Click on a catagory and when the styles open in the right box, you can highlight them individually and then click on the word "Preview" at the top and your track will play with that style.

For best results, click the "loop" box for the track so it will keep playing over and over until you settle on a style.

Andy Sandoval · Post by **Andy Sandoval** » 24 Mar 2010 9:22 pm

Here's a little trick that might help. When you open the style window click on the search button and type in a song title. Sometimes, but not always you'll get a suggestion for a style. Click on search again and do the search a second time with the same song title entry and you might get another different style for that song.

Henry Brooks · Post by **Henry Brooks** » 25 Mar 2010 10:49 am

Thanks guys for the replies. Andy, I will give your suggestion a try. I tried to search for a Buck Owns style but no matches were found. Next I tried searching for Owns and still no matches. Finally, I entered Buck and one style matched but to me it didn't sound like anything I've ever heard the Buckroos play. Another thing I have noticed is that many of the styles seem to be too busy. By that I mean over played.
Henry

Andy Sandoval · Post by **Andy Sandoval** » 26 Mar 2010 4:39 pm

Henry, I know what you mean by "too busy". You can mute some of the instruments by right clicking on the instrument radio buttons up at the top and choosing mute. Also, try the sub styles by clicking on the pot markers A or B. Sometimes a sub style will have the right sound. I try to keep it simple. Drums, bass, guitar or piano and usually mute the strings and other frilly sounds.

Henry Brooks · Post by **Henry Brooks** » 27 Mar 2010 12:02 pm

Andy I think I understand what you mean by "pot marker". It's the "a" at the beginning area for entering the chords. Is that correct?
Henry

Andy Sandoval · Post by **Andy Sandoval** » 27 Mar 2010 12:57 pm

That's correct Henry. Some styles have up to 4 different sub styles. Each time you click it, it toggles between the different sub styles or no substyle. You'll notice that the measure before the part marker will contain a drum fill too. When your lookin for a certain sound from a style sometimes one of the substyles will have the exact sound your lookin for.