Backing Tracks?

[pogo97]

 

I just saw a guy last night using backing tracks. Yeah they sounded great, but he was barely playing his keyboard. I could not even tell if it was plugged in! Yeah I left.

 

 

Dropped into a restaurant last night. Young guy (late teens) playing keys and singing stuff like "Bye Bye Blackbird." His playing was uninformed but competent and he sang like a teenager. But he was doing it and he was doing it himself! Yeah I stayed.

[skybluegary]

P.m'd

[dboomer]

I just saw a guy last night using backing tracks. Yeah they sounded great, but he was barely playing his keyboard. I could not even tell if it was plugged in! Yeah I left.

 

 

So the question would be ... did the rest of the audience leave too?

[fingerpicker]

It was the typical noone really paying attention older crowd with a few hags dancin' around. No one leaving, and in all honesty I would have left anyways UNLESS there was some entertainment I liked.

[Potts]

I started using them sometime around 1995. At one point I was using as many as I could. Now not so much. I probably play about 70% of the night acoustic and the remainder with tracks. I wont use midi tracks because they always sound like midi to me and I just cant deal with it. I use Karaoke tracks but I'm such a snob I won't use any song that has backing vocals or electric leads or distorted guitars. For original material I obviously use my own tracks without all the bells and whistles .

[craigs1001]

Yeah, I use backing tracks. Been making my own for 25 years.

 

 

Back in 1988 I started writing midi files for our 5 piece band to include a click track for our drummer and horn parts via Roland Sound canvas. Starting in 1990 I went to a duo set up and have been wriitng my own midi files ever since. It is risky at times without back ups but Istill use a sequencer with set lists for live play and carry a rack full of sound modules/samplers. Never had a glitch, never a complaint, always compliments and we work all we want with great pay. We do night clubs to cruise ships to casino lounges. Awesome way to go IMO.

 

I use a Dell laptop using MidiMaestro set organizer. Lots of on the fly control unlike some of the other sequencing software. What I REALLY want to do is get a app for my I-pad2 connecting with IconnectMIDI or some other interface. Finding the app that will allow sets seems to be my hold up. I also control via midi lighting scenes and effects program changes.

 

-Craig

[Bob Dey]

Craig, it sounds like you've learned MIDI inside out. I've been converting tracks to mp3 for a few years now which makes it easier. Carry in a laptop vs. a keyboard or modules. I use to play piano or organ on a few songs and kind of miss it. The only midi glitches I really had was when I tried guitar synthesis or made use of a module that required changing settings for different songs. I'm talking specifically about the alesis dm4 that has awesome drum sounds. But you have to turn the knob if you want a different drum set.

 

It's nice when you get a system down pat, and I don't miss rewinding tapes or changing floppy disks to get a requested song lol. Whatever technology works - whether it's cutting edge or 20 years old doesn't matter.

[leftyjay]

actually the newer midi software isnt that user friendly. its hard to adjust on the fly. thats why i'm still using my sequencing keyboard and a few sound modules. i dont use floppy or zip drives anymore. i carry a compact flash drive to store the songs. no moving parts. no worries for machanical drive breakdowns.

i may look into the solid state drive laptops. no moving parts to wear out.

of course i have 250 song in wave format as a backup on my laptop and ipad. even on my iphone. i usually bring the laptop to play break music. its nice to have backups even though i havent needed them yet.

sounds like you have a setup like i do craig. i started doing my midi BT in 1987. there were some great sequencers back then that were a piece of cake to program. with todays modules, you can sound real close to a live band if you have the sequencing down. i too am just waiting for the technology to come around so i can update without losing my freedom of flexability that i now have.

[Notes_Norton]

I starting by dumping my MIDI sequences to cassette tape back in the mid 1980s because computers with real floppy drives just weren't dependable enough to bring on stage. I had dual well cassette deck which I had calibrated for speed and spares at home.

Years later Roland came out with a 3.5" floppy drive sequence player called "Sound Brush" and I bought 3, two for on stage and one for a spare. At that time I was bringing a half dozen sound modules a sample player and sub mixer in a 10 space rack just for sound sources for my sequences. Eventually one of the Sound Brush sequencers died and could not be repaired.

Next step was running the sequences on a computer but still through the 10 space rack with the sound modules in it.

Then on one gig, a sound module went flaky. Brought it to the repairman the next day, he put a screwdriver in there to test something, sparks flew and it died. This was during the Christmas holidays, we had a big New Years eve gig next, and I didn't have a spare, so I called music stores from Miami and worked my way north until I found a new one in Melbourne.

That got me to thinking. Do I want to bring a half dozen spare sound modules to the gig? I know they are reliable, but anything can happen. After all the sample player module died.

The answer for me was to convert everything to mp3 format, put the mp3s on two laptops and bring them both to the gig. That way if one laptop failed I'd have the other as a back up.

I would have gone WAV instead of MP3 but in those days, hard drives were limited to 2 gigs and DVDs were still in the future.

So this is how I make them and use them on stage - it's the best method I've tried so far (of course YMMV):
http://www.nortonmusic.com/backing_tracks.html

Insights and incites by Notes ?

[stunningbabe]

My Band member did the same as you, Notes Norton. He brings 2 Laptops for every show we do. 1 is for spare...just in case. Better be safe than sorry.

[TIMKEYS]

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sventvkg wrote:

If you can't remember all the lyrics and play whole songs yourself without relying on pre-recorded tracks, you are just doing karaoke and should not be paid to "perform" anywhere. Ever.

 

Some gigs call for it. If you want the $$ you use the tracks. To each his own.

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Exactly.   Do what you need to do.   We are running drum a drum loops on a lot of shows.  We played an outside show at a market days today in the lower valley.   Bout 95 in the shade.   11am to 2pm.   No drummer in his right mind would have wanted to do have worked as hard as we ran that drum machine. 

[remarkable1967]

Depends what you market yourself as. I am a solo vocalist so I have absolutley no problem with backing tracks as long as they are the best I can find. They must have proper instruments, good backing harmony and set endings with no fading. They are all edited for eq, normalised and cropped if I feel they are perhaps a bar too long (audacity works brilliantly). Key wise, I use Samplitude 11 but never more than a semitone or two as even the best software will kill the dynamics if you try to go too far. I consider myself as much a musician as any drummer or guitarist, I actually also play a bit of both, but I do find quite of lot of snobbery as if the singer doesnt really count as a musician. Although I also have a 9-5 job, I do around 45+ gigs per year over 20+ regular venues and never, has anyone in the audience questioned my format. I have friends on the circuit who do play instruments on stage but even they admit that my show is probably better than theirs. I did used to use an electro acoustic on stage for a while but it got damaged one night be some dumb ass drunk so I decided it was one hassle I could do without. My advice would be, stick to what you know, put on the best show you can and people will probably never notice how you managed to keep them up dancing all night

Mark

[Shart]

 

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remarkable1967 wrote:

 

 

Depends what you market yourself as. I am a solo vocalist so I have absolutley no problem with backing tracks as long as they are the best I can find. They must have proper instruments, good backing harmony and set endings with no fading. They are all edited for eq, normalised and cropped if I feel they are perhaps a bar too long (audacity works brilliantly). Key wise, I use Samplitude 11 but never more than a semitone or two as even the best software will kill the dynamics if you try to go too far. I consider myself as much a musician as any drummer or guitarist, I actually also play a bit of both, but I do find quite of lot of snobbery as if the singer doesnt really count as a musician. Although I also have a 9-5 job, I do around 45+ gigs per year over 20+ regular venues and never, has anyone in the audience questioned my format. I have friends on the circuit who do play instruments on stage but even they admit that my show is probably better than theirs. I did used to use an electro acoustic on stage for a while but it got damaged one night be some dumb ass drunk so I decided it was one hassle I could do without. My advice would be, stick to what you know, put on the best show you can and people will probably never notice how you managed to keep them up dancing all night

 

Mark

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So you are saying that you don't use any live instruments at all? Around here that's called karaoke. I'm glad it's working for you but I'd hit the door running to another venue.

[tlbonehead]

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fingerpicker wrote:

I just saw a guy last night using backing tracks. Yeah they sounded great, but he was barely playing his keyboard. I could not even tell if it was plugged in! Yeah I left.

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I would leave in a hurry too!

[tlbonehead]

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fingerpicker wrote:

It was the typical noone really paying attention older crowd with a few hags dancin' around. No one leaving, and in all honesty I would have left anyways UNLESS there was some entertainment I liked.

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yep, who cares what others did.