The economics of backing tracks

[Piano Whore]

I'm with David. IMO you don't have to have "musician's ears" to appreciate someone getting a full, energetic sound and entertaining a room with nothing more than a guitar or piano. If nothing else, for the novelty of it- musicians who can do that are an increasingly rare breed. Maybe you have to be a freak ala Victor Wooten/Tommy Emmanuel/James Booker to pull it off. At any rate, it does take a {censored}load of talent.

[pogo97]

[Notes_Norton]

 

<...> Maybe you view everything in terms of pop music. I don't, and in fact I despise almost all of it, hence the twain shall never meet.

 

 

No, I don't view everything in terms of pop music at all.

 

In my collection of well over 500 CDs and at least that many LPs, I would say about a third of them are symphonic (mostly romantic period to modern, and especially darker Eastern European composers), about a third jazz, the the rest quite eclectic with Rock, Blues, Salsa/Latin American, and other major genres but also with examples of 'exotic' genres like Tuvan Throat Singing, Klezmer, Chinese Classical, India, B

[BlueStrat]

 

I'm curious, BlueStrat. Do you play music for a living?

 

 

Not any more. I did, though. In my younger days. I played 6 nights a week doing whatever it took to get paid- disco bands, country bands, rock bands, lounge bands-I played my share of "get Down, Boogie Oogie Oogie" and "Play That Funky Music" and "Baby Come Back" and "Soul Man" and a zillion other songs that made me die a little inside each time I did. And then in the early 80s I hooked up with a band doing mostly country rock and originals and we toured around the western US/Canada for a few years. We played a few songs I hated, but mostly stuff I liked. After I got married I quit the road to raise kids and buy a house.

 

Since then, I've only played what I want to play. I play weekends and a few weeknights. I'm grateful for playing the stuff I hated back then because it gave me a deep well to draw from. But now I'm at an age where there isn't enough money in it to play stuff I don't want to play. I've been able to carve out a niche for myself with a band doing modern blues and originals and still build a decent following and a good rep. Solo, it's different- I play mostly alt country, neo-folk, Americana, blues, and singer/songwriter stuff, as well as originals. Some folks lump it all together as "roots music". I've been able to carve a niche out for that too, and now I notice a few more guys are starting to incorporate more of it into their act as well. Understand, my market is not the lounge with a dance floor venue. I'm after restaurants, wine bars, wineries, galleries, and private parties, which are either listening venues or background music venues. They are much more accepting of obscure material, and I chose those venues because of it. Since my kids are gone and I'm approaching my late 50s, I'm working on moving into the full time (4-5 nights a week) gig market again. I can still do what I do and play a lot of gigs, but I have to hustle as most of them are one nighters. On the other hand, most provide sound, and if they don't, I can have my small PA and my gear all set up and be playing in 10 minutes. It's a tradeoff I'm willing to make to be able to play what I want to play. There's room for all of it.

[MrKnobs]

 

Still,there is a big difference between listening to one man's programming as opposed to a 6 piece horn section or a 12 piece string section of real humans actually playing instruments. It's the main reason that the 60 year old paradigm persists, IMO. It's almost amusing to me how so may purists will knock MP3s or digital recordings as being too sterile or fake sounding but not have any problem with digital substitutions for real instruments.

 

 

Yeah. That's the advantage of using your album tracks for backing tracks. You had not just the real instruments going on, but also real drummers, keyboardists, string players, and horn guys creating parts that would take Beethoven to create all in one man's head.

 

Yes, it costs a bit (a lot, even) more initially, but then you use those tracks for years and over time it pays for itself many times over, I think.

 

Terry D.

[Notes_Norton]

Everything seems to involve trade offs.

 

But then, I guess that's life. We all have to make compromises here and there.

 

I guess I'm lucky that I don't hate playing any kind of music. Whether is pop or Prokofiev, I'm happy just to be able to make music.

 

Today we are doing an adult wedding, and they want a Nino Rota song to walk down the isle. I love Nino's compositions and will pour my soul into "A Time For Us." Then dinner when I get to play gentle music, and when dinner is done, it's time to dance, so I'll get to play high energy music. It promises to be a great gig!

 

My big trade-off was that I could have pursued an Electronics Engineering career (I took Electronics in College and actually have a Cable TV Engineering diploma) and if I had, I could have been retired by now with a big house and a fat IRA.

 

Instead I pursued the music business career - making less money but really enjoying the work. Almost made it famous once, but the talks between our lawyers and the record company broke down over money. But I did have the opportunity to play with some famous stars while they were at the peak of their careers. I had the delight of playing in most US states and a few foreign countries from Canada to the People's Republic Of China. And I had the opportunity to be intimate with more women than most men of my age. Bonus, I found this pretty woman singing/playing in another band and almost 34 years ago she became my one and only (see avatar) and we are now in a duo together, having fun on and off stage.

 

Do I regret the choice? No way! I'm lucky to be able to make a living doing music and nothing but music.

 

Insights and incites by Notes

[Nijyo]

Today we are doing an adult wedding

 

Spending enough time taking wedding gigs in the South that this needs to be clarified, are you?

[BlueStrat]

 

I guess I'm lucky that I don't hate playing any kind of music. Whether is pop or Prokofiev, I'm happy just to be able to make music.

 

You are indeed lucky, and I envy that. I have never been that way.

[Piano Whore]

I like alot of the same genres of music as Notes, except I prefer Gregorian chants to Tuvan throat-singing. And have never heard Incan music. Isn't that an extinct civilization? How would it's music survive? Did someone discover an 8-track amongst the ruins?

[Notes_Norton]

 

I like alot of the same genres of music as Notes, except I prefer Gregorian chants to Tuvan throat-singing. And have never heard Incan music. Isn't that an extinct civilization? How would it's music survive? Did someone discover an 8-track amongst the ruins?

 

 

The Incan music I have is modern day music from Peru based on Incan pan-pipes. It's called Incan because it is from the descendants of the Inca people. Of course nobody knows what per-Colombian Inca music sounded like as the descendants that continued to play with the traditional pan-pipes have been influenced by the European music of the Conquistadors.

 

I first heard this music from a group of Peruvians touring through Mexico (while I was working on Cruise Ships) and I bought a couple of their cassette tapes (that's how long ago this was). The musicians spoke enough English for me to understand where the music came from.

 

Perhaps the best example of this kind of music is El C

[Vito Corleone]

 

I guess I'm lucky that I don't hate playing any kind of music. Whether is pop or Prokofiev, I'm happy just to be able to make music. Today we are doing an adult wedding, and they want a Nino Rota song to walk down the isle. I love Nino's compositions and will pour my soul into "A Time For Us." Then dinner when I get to play gentle music, and when dinner is done, it's time to dance, so I'll get to play high energy music. It promises to be a great gig!

 

 

I'm with you. I just like making music and I prefer variety as I usually end up getting bored if I'm in a band that plays just one style of music for too long.

 

One of the things I like most about playing wedding gigs is all the oddball special requests that get tossed our way and the challenges they present. We did one not too long ago where I played background classical-style piano music while the guests were seated, gave them organ versions of the traditional entrance and exit music, then the band set up with a small "unplugged/acoustic" rig in one area to give them some light pop/jazz for their cocktail hour and then we moved into the main room for a couple of hours of thumping rock/modern dance music.

 

It was like doing 3 completely different gigs on the same day! Good stuff!

[Piano Whore]

The most variety I ever did with a group, was subbing on keys (with LH bass) for a Vegas group that played a local casino for 2 weeks. They did Vegas lounge-pop like Bobby Darin, Sinatra, the entire Elvis songbook (of course), Neil Diamond, Barry Manilow, Andrea Bocelli, Andrew Loyd Weber, Little Feat, jazz standards like "Shadow of Your Smile", blues, and all the typical classic rock stuff. I loved it, except for some of the classic rock stuff where I found myself wishing I had paid more attention to basslines through the years (was my first real LH-bass gig).

 

For my old-money society piano gigs, I play whatever I want, as long as I keep spewing out those piano tones. Everything from gnarly classical to Scott Joplin, Dr. John, Bruce Hornsby and Floyd Cramer, also jazz standards, a whole lotta TV/movie themes, and pop/R&B (I'm pretty sparse on material after the 90's, however.) That's how I differentiate myself from my competitors, some of whom are awesome but pretty much stick to jazz standards with a few 70's pop songs thrown in.

 

The reason I feel more of a kinship with the posters here (backing tracks or no) is because of the variety of music everyone performs, instead of just rock/pop 24/7.