Would this "sound better" for a live show?

[Ryst]

When my record is done, I want to start playing live as soon as I can. I know a lot of people who don't have backing bands will just have backing tracks and play guitar. But I would like to take that one step further.

 

Assuming I already have a drummer and I will be playing guitar:

I was thinking about buying a bass amp and another guitar amp. Then i would have the drummer play to a click track. I would have pre-recorded DI guitar and bass tracks that come out of my interface connected to my laptop (using Ableton Live) and have them go into real amps on stage. I am assuming this would sound better than having everything as backing tracks running thru the PA.

 

Has anyone tried this with any success?

 

I have a drummer but I want to be ready to play live while continuing to look for a guitarist and bassist.

[veracohr]

That could easily work. I saw a band do that at a place I did sound for a while in Seattle. They only did it because their bass player was out of commission or something, so they hung a bass off a coat rack and dressed it up like a person, and played the bass part from a recording. Pretty corny, but it worked.

 

Of course, you could leave out the coat rack.

[MikeRivers]

Did you play live before you made your CD? Why not just get some musicians and work with them? What you propose will sound better than bad musicians but decent musicians will always make a better impression on a live audience.

 

Of course if you're playing for drunks in a bar who aren't listening to you, you might as well leave the drummer at home, too.

[Heckxx]

Depending on your genre of music, this might come across audiences as incredibly fake, or on the other hand, incredible ingenious. Obviously, your drummer needs to follow the click track very well for this to work.

 

How are your tracks recorded on ur laptop, as dry instrument tracks? Otherwise the tones might be off.

[Ryst]

 

Did you play live before you made your CD? Why not just get some musicians and work with them? What you propose will sound better than bad musicians but decent musicians will always make a better impression on a live audience. Of course if you're playing for drunks in a bar who aren't listening to you, you might as well leave the drummer at home, too.

 

 

Oh yeah I have played live before. I took a break from playing to write/record new stuff and then get a new band. But it's the hassle of finding decent musicians that makes me very impatient. I know I will have to eventually, but I thought maybe this would be a way to start playing live sooner.

[Ryst]

 

Depending on your genre of music, this might come across audiences as incredibly fake, or on the other hand, incredible ingenious. Obviously, your drummer needs to follow the click track very well for this to work. How are your tracks recorded on ur laptop, as dry instrument tracks? Otherwise the tones might be off.

 

 

The tracks that would be sent out to amps would be clean DI tracks. My music is similar to Deftones, Cure, Weezer, NIN, Marilyn Manson and Bjork.

[MikeRivers]

 

Oh yeah I have played live before. I took a break from playing to write/record new stuff and then get a new band. But it's the hassle of finding decent musicians that makes me very impatient.

 

Well, that's a good start. I was afraid that you might be one of those musicians who has only constructed music, never really played anything like what you've done with your recording and writing tools.

 

You already have a drummer. How about finding one more musician, maybe a keyboard, guitar, or bass player (whatever you don't want to play on stage) and scale down your arrangements to fit a small group. You'll make a much better impression on the audience than with recorded tracks, you'll put on a better show, and you'll sell more CDs if you tell them that your CD has different arrangements than what they hear at the gig.

 

The sooner you get started playing with a band, the less likely you are to put it off indefinitely. It might be a little harder to get gigs (or be a little less lucrative) because you have one more mouth to feed or one more gas tank to fill, but the sooner you get accustomed to the real world of, the better. I'm not familiar with all of the "like" sources you mentioned, but the couple that I've heard deserve a band, not just a reading of the songs.

[veracohr]

My music is similar to Deftones, Cure, Weezer, NIN, Marilyn Manson and Bjork.

 

[Hard Truth]

The hard part is finding a drummer willing and able to play to a click track. In my experience they hate playing to a click and its hard to do.

[Ryst]

 

When you hear it, you'll understand.

[ggm1960]

I plan to be doing something similar soon except that I have a drummer and bass player and I'll be doing vocals while switching between guitar and keyboards. We'll probably work up some of my own stuff at some point but for the time being we'll be doing covers so that we can get paying gigs.