Backing tracks for live performance - whats good ?

[pfschim]

I did do a bit of searching (not exhaustive) but did not find a lot of current answers to my question.

for those who are using backing tracks, for both original music as well as covers, what apps/tools are you using ?

I am anticipating starting up a duo project with a singer songwriter. She sings great and plays guitar reasonably well. She has a solid set of original songs that I would want to build tracks for, and she has a set of covers she does and would want adjustable backing tracks for (ability to use or mute parts as desired).

So, what all are you backing track users using ?

 

[DonaldR]

Not doing it now, but planning to do so. I would probably use a Boss RC-5 looper pedal with a passive DI and a 2-button footswitch for up/down of presets.

 

[Geri O]

MainStage works well, as does Ableton Live.

They can be as simple or as intensive as you wish.

You can do the same thing with an inexpensive DAW like Reaper, but you won’t be able to do real-time things like key changes, tempo changes, etc.

 

[pfschim]

MainStage works well, as does Ableton Live.

They can be as simple or as intensive as you wish.

You can do the same thing with an inexpensive DAW like Reaper, but you won’t be able to do real-time things like key changes, tempo changes, etc.

ah, well I do at least have some hands on experience with Ableton as a DAW, as well as using Reaper as my daily driver DAW. But this would require me to build all the tracks, including the expected covers. I was kind of hoping that there would be an app out there in the world that would have at at least the cover tunes already available (for a fee ?) and then allow me to build the originals tracks as needed. Anything like that out there ? again, I really have no idea at the moment, just trying to figure out what tools might be available and what people use now.

I imagined that Mainstage is focused on keyboard players, to keep track of all their patches and such .... no?

thanks for the reply

 

[pfschim]

Not doing it now, but planning to do so. I would probably use a Boss RC-5 looper pedal with a passive DI and a 2-button footswitch for up/down of presets.

interesting, but I'm not sure I want to go with a looper for this potential project.
It's early days on this though, so I will keep an open mind.

 

[DonaldR]

I thought it was for live use. I mis-read it sorry.

For backing tracks, you can check Songster if you want to mute unneeded tracks. Or anything that is midi based or guitar pro based.
If you know which tracks you want to mute in advanced (ie, bass and vocals) I got some from youtube where I extracted the audio as MP3.

 

[Windreaper]

Can't help you with ready-made tracks/stems. As for hardware, you can use whatever, but if you want reliable:

Low end:
Cymatic LP-16 (discontinued, but might still find a NOS sample)
Roland SPD-SX

Kinda industry standard:
QLab/Ableton Live + PlayAUDIO12

Did some quick googling for a Cymatic replacement, and this one looks interesting: Idoru P-1

 

[Kerem Koseoglu]

There are websites selling backing tracks - cheap too. You can mute the tracks you'll be playing, and download like that. I recommend that path instead of building the backing track from the scratch; saved me a lot of time in the past.

 

[Bassed in NZ]

You might want to start by looking at https://www.karaoke-version.com/. You can download individual stems and pop into something like Ableton or MainStage, or just an mp3 mix of the tracks you need and play back from any mp3 or chart app

 

[logdrum]

MainStage works well, as does Ableton Live.

They can be as simple or as intensive as you wish.

You can do the same thing with an inexpensive DAW like Reaper, but you won’t be able to do real-time things like key changes, tempo changes, etc.

You can do live control with a MIDI controller. But you need some time programming it. Some midi controllers are foot operated. I jyst saw Madame Blanche and it was just her and the guitar player. I asked the FOH and she said she said they are using Mainstage or Ableton and the guitar player is triggering the samples, tracks and loops via a MIDI controller which also has 2 expression pedals. The tracks were dynamic and worked with her improvisation and how she responds to the audience. He also did some live looping. I was very impressed because it id not sound like a pre canned tracks


For me, the Soleman can be programmed so that the expression pedal can send CC messages and I am using that to control some virtual controls in Ableton and Native Instruments/Maschine. There are also DAW surface controllers that use the Mackie protocol and those also work with MIDI controllers and will do scene changes that can do muting, EQ, volume.mute and temp. I do not know if MIDI controllers can do temp changes. I have not tried but I imagine they can. I have the Behringer Xtouch and have tested it with a simpler MIDI controller that did mostly PC change commands.

 

[hieronymous]

There's a new app called Moises - it uses AI to separate tracks that you can then mute. The tunes are stored on their server, it can take a little while to call them up (10-20 seconds?), so not ideal for live use, but could maybe be utilized.

moises.ai

 

[D.A.R.K.]

We use Ableton to run virtual synths, effects, tracks (with Ableton clips you can make it so you can deviate from the original arrangement and improvise/ be musical) run synch for video, and synch/ program lights via midi to dmx. All controlled via midi keys, novation control xl midi mixer and novation launchpad. Midi to dmx is enttec.

 

[silky smoove]

In my show band we build all of the tracks ourselves. Everything is recorded to a DAW, and then we mix down whatever backing tracks are needed for a particular show. Essentially, whatever musicians we don't have on a particular gig we add their tracks to the backing and exclude them if they'll be on the gig. This happens a lot as sometimes a client can't afford the full band, so we scale things up or down accordingly. Once we have the necessary backing track mixdown we print the mix. Our mix goes out from a laptop with the backing tracks living on the stereo left channel, and the companion count-offs and click track in the stereo right channel. From here the FOH takes the stereo left channel and folds it to mono while excluding the stereo right. This allows the audience to hear the backing, but not the count-offs or click track. Our monitor rig gets both stereo left and right which we can individually pan or fold to mono as we see fit for each of our mixes. All of this is paired with a lyrics video that advances in time with the audio and lives on a video monitor at the front of stage center as a reference for our vocalists. Essentially, each one of our sets for a given show are a 45'ish minute long video that starts at the top and runs continuously until the end with just the stereo left and whatever the band is playing making it to FOH for the audience to hear. I always joke that on a typical gig we only play three songs, but each song happens to last for 45-50 minutes.

 

[newwavefrank]

Band Backing Tracks custom Multitrack Cover Band Tracks
for ready made tracks

 

[john_g]

MainStage works well, as does Ableton Live.

They can be as simple or as intensive as you wish.

You can do the same thing with an inexpensive DAW like Reaper, but you won’t be able to do real-time things like key changes, tempo changes, etc.

I use Mainstage to play back the tracks live in my coverband. I usually put the tracks together in Garageband and if I need more horsepower, I might use an old copy of Logic Pro.

 

[Slough Feg Bass]

Roland SPD-SX is the way to go. Import wav files, assign to pads, hit the pad, there ya go.

 

[-Asdfgh-]

I did do a bit of searching (not exhaustive) but did not find a lot of current answers to my question.

for those who are using backing tracks, for both original music as well as covers, what apps/tools are you using ?

I am anticipating starting up a duo project with a singer songwriter. She sings great and plays guitar reasonably well. She has a solid set of original songs that I would want to build tracks for, and she has a set of covers she does and would want adjustable backing tracks for (ability to use or mute parts as desired).

So, what all are you backing track users using ?

QLC+. Runs your lights too.

 

[BassGuyFL]

You might want to start by looking at https://www.karaoke-version.com/. You can download individual stems and pop into something like Ableton or MainStage, or just an mp3 mix of the tracks you need and play back from any mp3 or chart app

I’ve used that site successfully in the past. You would have to download the individual MP3, plus the click, and then just mix down what you need. Pan the click hard one side and the MP3 hard the other side so you have separation.

 

[Mayo Fan]

Ableton Live + AbleSet for live setlist control options. Can be triggered with a midi device, the laptop itself or any web enabled device that can connect to the same network.

 

[Shlabotnik]

Another big thumbs up for MainStage. Yes, it will help with VST patch management but it will also store entire tracks of music that you can trigger, mix, mute, etc... Really great for live performances once you have obtained your backing tracks.
You do need a Mac to run MainStage though.