Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
A new wedding band trend?
- Thread starter dougjwray
- Start date
no, but your AI bot will have toDoes that mean we don't have to fist fight the father of the bride to get paid?
If I had to do that to get a gig I'd quit. Anyone doing that must not have any self esteem. Cringingly embarrassing.
Using backing tracks to fill in a few parts that make the music sound at least somewhat like the original that there simply aren't enough hands to cover it all is IMO reasonably legit, as long as it's not vocal parts, lead parts, main/important parts etc as @Akami stated.
Here in the KC area we have a few three piece bands (guitar-bass-drums) that do a lot of keyboard heavy 80's - 90's music, but no keyboard player on stage. Yeah they sound good but IMO they're faking it since the main parts of the songs, and even some of the harmony parts they aren't playing. Unfortunately they get away with it because the average music listener doesn't know or doesn't care. No problem with using some backing tracks for small fill-in parts but to me this is just over the top fakery.
I come at this from a different angle. I think it’s a cool thing that these guys are getting out and playing, living the dream so to speak. Maybe these three buddies have been trying to put together a band for years and couldn’t get any other local players interested in joining the project. Maybe they don’t have the “chops” to get a response to their Craigslist ads. Maybe they were doing the bride and groom a solid by playing their wedding for a price that fit their budget.
I get that everyone might not want to pay a cover charge to see an act like this, but I don’t think there is an inherent problem with a solo artist or small group taking this approach. There are plenty of bands out there that play all the parts with live musicians and aren’t all that good either.
Who knows, maybe this was the gig that makes these guys get serious about tightening up the act and growing as musicians. I’m here for it.
-Rock on.
I get that everyone might not want to pay a cover charge to see an act like this, but I don’t think there is an inherent problem with a solo artist or small group taking this approach. There are plenty of bands out there that play all the parts with live musicians and aren’t all that good either.
Who knows, maybe this was the gig that makes these guys get serious about tightening up the act and growing as musicians. I’m here for it.
-Rock on.
Weddings are expensive as heck, but skimping on music or food is tacky. Especially when guests are traveling to be there. If they're paying for flowers and photographers and a venue and clothes, at least feed people and hire a band. It's the basic minimum in my opinion
I’ve not seen this in the Seattle area. My band that does weddings, and basically all of our contemporaries use tracks to fill in the parts of the arrangement the client couldn’t afford to purchase. Noodling over a recording sounds awful.
It takes all kinds, I guess.
Reminds me of a singer and her "manager" who book themselves as a duo. She sings to tracks. He sits behind a piano, or keyboard, and pretends to play along.
What you describe is equally, if not more, egregious.
Sounds like the bedroom guitarists are finally stepping into the limelight the only way they know how.
Never seen something like this.
The closest thing could be something that was fairly common when I was a kid in summer holiday resorts, but I don't know if it still is: a single keyboardist/singer playing and singing on top of a midi background track of famous songs. I always thought it was quite lame back then, but mainly because I hated the sound of those midi background tracks. If they had the original recording minus the instruments to be played live and essentially filled in for those missing instruments, I would actually find it acceptable.
Of course this is much less than a whole band playing the whole song... but there's already many semi-bands without a drummer or bassist or keyboardist using tracks to provide the missing instruments, so I wouldn't mind it if it was done with covers. If there's only a singer, or a single player, on stage, then it would be quite sad, it would indeed feel like you're watching someone doing karaoke, but wouldn't be a dealbreaker for me.
The dealbreaker for me, would be if the background track is the full recording. That is already the complete song, adding something on top of it most likely ruins it, at which point it's better to just play the original recording and nothing live. To make it acceptable they need at least to remove from the background the tracks/stems of the instruments being played live.
The closest thing could be something that was fairly common when I was a kid in summer holiday resorts, but I don't know if it still is: a single keyboardist/singer playing and singing on top of a midi background track of famous songs. I always thought it was quite lame back then, but mainly because I hated the sound of those midi background tracks. If they had the original recording minus the instruments to be played live and essentially filled in for those missing instruments, I would actually find it acceptable.
Of course this is much less than a whole band playing the whole song... but there's already many semi-bands without a drummer or bassist or keyboardist using tracks to provide the missing instruments, so I wouldn't mind it if it was done with covers. If there's only a singer, or a single player, on stage, then it would be quite sad, it would indeed feel like you're watching someone doing karaoke, but wouldn't be a dealbreaker for me.
The dealbreaker for me, would be if the background track is the full recording. That is already the complete song, adding something on top of it most likely ruins it, at which point it's better to just play the original recording and nothing live. To make it acceptable they need at least to remove from the background the tracks/stems of the instruments being played live.
I remember, a good ten years or so back, seeing a full on band MIMING all instruments to backing tracks, with only the vocals being actual "live".... and a wedding a few years ago when the one man with his own backing tracks band MIMING to his own pre-recorded vocals and backing...... weird stuff... note to wedding planners: beware grumpy ex band musicians on guest lists.....
I'm not surprised at anything musicians trying to make a buck will do, or what some people are willing to pay them to do.
When both my kiss got married, they were on a tight budget. I told them if they couldn't afford a good wedding band , which they couldn't, they should just hire a good DJ and be done with it.
When both my kiss got married, they were on a tight budget. I told them if they couldn't afford a good wedding band , which they couldn't, they should just hire a good DJ and be done with it.
This sounds awful. Like something I would not want to pay for if I were the one paying for that wedding....just get a DJ to hit play if it is like that...Ug.
And to add insult to injury, they'll probably claim to be paying tribute or homage to the classic recordings.
It sounds like all kinds of wrong to me, and I sincerely hope it's not a trend and never catches on.
Had a work event where we had a 2 “dj’s” they had a guitar, bass, and electric drum kit set up. They used them to make samples to add into the songs a few times (which is cool) but nothing really worth lugging the equipment there in my opinion. They just played radio songs and changed the bpm on the fly and added those samples like I said. One time they were “playing” the guitar along to a song but it wasn’t plugged in…just for a vibe and show I guess? Ppl loved it, but as a musician I was very confused and it made me feel like the hours I spent studying scales is for nothing if I can just play band over a dj set and get paid??
Except that these guys were pros. During the "cocktail hour" portion, the sax player and pianist played jazz standards (Ellington, etc.) like real music school vets.
Last edited:
