Hi, Martin, Steve and all . . .

I'm a little late to this thread, but thought I'd chime in. As my esteemed friend and occasional collaborator, Mr. Rice notes, I am a BIAB user . . . though I'm not nearly as skillful using it as some that I've heard, Mr. Jane being among the best of them. Mike Zaneski is also incredibly talented using BIAB, and he's missed on this board. There are others I know of that put me to shame.

Martin, you've made the right choice with Ultra-Pack. When I first purchased it, I went with the low end option only because I wasn't sure I could figure out how to use it and didn't want to lay out the cash to no good end. It was frustrating at first (not because the software is all that difficult, but more because I'm technically challenged at times, and have no formal music training). But once I got a feel for it, I upgraded and continue to do so to ensure I have the most options open to me. My process for using BIAB, one which Mike Z. advocated and that works for me at least, is not to stay with any particular style, but to audition a myriad of different RealTracks to find which ones work best for the song and sound one has in mind. You'll enjoy the software, no doubt. If you have any questions, I'm happy to try to answer them. But PG Music has resources available to you as well to answer any questions you may have. And Vic is a great resource as well (he was a lot of help to me early on).

It's somewhat embarrassing to confess perhaps, but I only days ago learned the difference between a WAV and MP3 recording. I don't have the audiophile version, but I'd say that messing around with both types these past few days, I doubt most people would hear the difference. Though audiophiles perhaps would over the right equipment. But I doubt anything posted to, e.g., SoundCloud vs. SoundClick, on anything you link to this site and via Internet, would come across as meaningfully better to most.

Steve, I believe you've commented on a couple of my tunes, the last one being "Complete". All of them are 100% BIAB, I'm not playing a single instrument, a single note. And I can't remember the last time I've done a solo track to accompany it . . . actually I think it was "Pieces of You" because I couldn't find a fingerpicked guitar RealTrack that did what I needed it to. I play guitar, but really I'm not much more than a strummer, and with my lack of musical theory often play by ear; that is, sometimes I don't always know what chord I'm playing and, when programming into BIAB, I have to look it up. And as an amateur player, I often have challenges with keeping time throughout a song . . . so synching up multiple tracks for me got both frustrating and messy.

BIAB helps me showcase my song far more than I could do alone, allowing me to add drums, piano, lead guitar, horns, pedal steel, etc.,you name it, all in time. So once I get the sound and mix of instruments to my satisfaction, I move them over to my DAW, start mixing and lay the vocals. Of course, then the mixing becomes the hard part, lol!

BIAB does have its shortcomings . . . e.g., when it comes to trying to match a fingerpicked song to how I want it, it's a challenge sometimes and I have to go in a different direction than I would have liked. For example, "Because I Dream" is not how I play it on guitar . . . though I'm happy with the outcome nonetheless. And lead guitar solos can be hit and miss. Sometimes they just work perfectly--e.g., a song I did with Dave Rice called "Just a Dream" and the lead in "Girl with Dark Sunglasses," among others. But other times, as Vic mentioned above, you need to do a bit of cutting and pasting. I have a song I'm hoping to post in the next couple of days where I had to do just that. And sometimes, no matter how hard you try, you can't quite get the sound you want on a song--so you end up compromising and going a slightly different direction. That's probably more due to my lack of expertise, but it can still be frustrating.

But on the whole, I'm obviously a fan of the software. I'm glad JPF turned me onto it (Mike Zaneski, Vic, and others). It helps a musical hack like myself better present the song like I hear it in my head when I play it. It is pretty easy to use, and someone with your talent I think would take to it quite quickly.

I hope this is helpful. Again, happy to answer any questions you may have.

Regards to all,

Deej