Backing tracks for live performance - whats good ?

[Eli_Kyiv]

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

+1 to Moises. In addition you can download stems made by it, feed them into any DAW you like, and use all this offline.

 

[Hoochie Coochie Man]

I am not sure of the details, but a friend once told me that he made some recordings of his original music by hiring musicians, that he found on-line to play parts. I don't think that he actually wrote a score for them. I think he just sent them files of him playing piano, and lead sheets. I can't ask him the details because cigarette smoking finally did him in, but I did a brief search using this term: "hiring musicians to remotely make backing tracks", and found this: Invalid Link Removed

I recommend that you make sure you understand everything you need to know about songwriting credit, and publishing rights before you get too far into this kind of thing.

 

[longfinger]

Check out Band in a Box.

That program, in conjunction with a DAW like Garage Band to edit and tweak the tracks then mix to a stereo (or Mono) mp3, is very handy.

Just type in the chords, like C, G, Am, F, pick the style, and BiaB will create the accompaniment performances.

Thousands of songs are already made in BiaB, uploaded and shared by users over the years.

 

[J Wilson]

Haven't needed them yet . . . .

ALL analog, none of that digital hokey-pokey!

 

[themickster]

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 ?

We make drum tracks with ezdrummer and play them from a phone through an Alto Ultimate Bluetooth. A Boss FS-1-WL Bluetooth footswitch makes it a doddle to play and stop the tracks.

 

[pfschim]

thanks to all for the input, you all have given me lots to consider. This is very early days on this potential duo project so I have time to investigate different ways to go about this.

 

[pfschim]

Check out Band in a Box.

That program, in conjunction with a DAW like Garage Band to edit and tweak the tracks then mix to a stereo (or Mono) mp3, is very handy.

Just type in the chords, like C, G, Am, F, pick the style, and BiaB will create the accompaniment performances.

Thousands of songs are already made in BiaB, uploaded and shared by users over the years.

Ha!, I have an old-ish copy of BiaB. I tried it some years ago and found it to be perhaps too much for what I originally intended for it. I should dig that stiff up and see if its still a valid license. Thanks for the reminder on that.

 

[SteveCS]

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

But this would require me to build all the tracks, including the expected covers.

I use Acoustica Mixcraft 9 Pro Studio* as my DAW, and create all tracks from the ground up. From what I can see, downloading audio stems or 'finished tracks with parts removed' would remove pretty much all creative input. I get as much out of the creative processes (arrangement, recording, mixing and mastering) as presenting and performing the final product, so I can't imagine doing it any other way.

For the most part I use the included virtual instruments but there are some where I have added real guitars and other real vocal/sound effects. I have done it 'old-school', sending MIDI data to hardware synths and an Alesis SR-16 and recording the audio from that, which sounded cool but was a real faff compared to keeping it 'in the box'. In the beginning it used to take a few weeks to put a track together, but now I can normally get it done in less than a week. Really simple basic drum-only stuff can easily be done in a day or two. I mix down to 16-bit 44.1kHz *.WAV files that get played back through the media player app on our Soundcraft ui24R.

* Mixcraft 9 Pro Studio

 

[Anthony Russo]

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.

This sounds great. I was about to build my backing tracks from the ground up and spent a few days doing a couple of Beatles songs. I play guitar and will be with a bass player who sings. We need drums and a few other things. My problem is getting the right sounds. Are you satisfied with the backing track sounds you are creating? Are you using vst instruments or real ones? I am concerned that the midi played vst instruments will sound a bit fake. I tried using humanize quantizing and all that but I am not satisfied. Then again, I am a perfectionist and would point this out if I were watching another band. Can I ask what you are using for your backing tracks as far as vst instruments go? I am using Toontrack EZ Drummer 3 for mine, and while they sound ok, they don't sound right. I was about to buy the multitrack files from Karaoke versions. They sound pretty good and would be able to mute or add a part if someone is added or cannot show up to a gig. I am thinking of going out live with a zoom multitrack and having each track on its own track so I can mix the song for the venue. I would hate to go out with a pre-mixed song only to find out the drums are too low when we get to the gig. Every room is different and sometimes, things disappear in a room.

Hope to hear back from you.

Tony

 

[silky smoove]

Are you satisfied with the backing track sounds you are creating?

Mostly. Some of them are great, some are good, some are just okay. None of them are bad. It varies a lot based on what we need on a given night (i.e. the client's budget and how many musicians we can bring on a gig above our core 6-piece band), what songs we're playing, and how much augmentation those songs need for the given band arrangement that night.

Are you using vst instruments or real ones? I am concerned that the midi played vst instruments will sound a bit fake. I tried using humanize quantizing and all that but I am not satisfied. Then again, I am a perfectionist and would point this out if I were watching another band.

A bit of both depending on the tune. VST instruments can sound fake, and they can also sound very convincing. This comes down to two things: First is the quality of the VST's sounds and its ability to internally "round robin" its sample library to avoid multiple instances sounding identical. Second is the skill level of the person programming the MIDI sequence that's triggering the VST. This is a learned skill. Some people are incredible at it, whereas others simply kick out rigidly quantized sequences with no variation in MIDI velocity. You have to practice this skill just like you would playing a bass or guitar part. There's no way around it... Well... That's not totally true. You can buy MIDI compositions of songs and apply your own VSTs to the parts sequenced by someone else. Admittedly I've done this when crunched for time with mixed results that always required me tweaking the MIDI sequencing here and there. The other option is to just record live instrumentation playing the parts you need, which will sound the most convincingly human. This is usually my preference, but doesn't allow for variations in key as simply as MIDI if you have to sub in a vocalist who needs things bumped up or down a little to match their vocal range. This is a rare instance for my group, but it can happen. If you need to modify an arrangement for a gig it's also a lot easier to do that with MIDI than recorded audio. Pros and cons.

Can I ask what you are using for your backing tracks as far as vst instruments go?

For drums I usually use Superior Drummer 2.0 since I haven't upgraded beyond that point. Lately I've been reaching for the built-in drum VST in Logic as it sounds great, is easy to use, and I've had better luck with how the hihat functions. For keys I'll usually just grab XLN Audio's Addictive Keys. For bass and guitar parts I use a number of models from Ample Audio. For strings and horns my go to has been Native Instruments Session Pro Horns/Strings. If I need something orchestral, which is rare, I've got an older copy of Spitfire Audio's Albion, which is great if a little loose. For synths I can usually make do with Alchemy but will occasionally reach for Xfer Serum. Percussion is the Latin EZX suite within Superior Drummer 2.0 as it has enough of the usual stuff to get me by. Electronic beats I just use Logic's built-in drum synths as they're perfectly fine. Boz Digital's El Clappo works great for claps that are more human and less drum machine while also allowing gang-claps. That's most of what I use. I'm sure there are others in my repertoire but I'm blanking on them at the moment.

 

[Joe Bluggett]

Been using an old Beat Buddy drummer on a tray hooked to my mic stand with a foot pedal to turn on and off for over 5yrs. Guitar player to my right and its all we need. Run the beat buddy through something like a EQ pedal or old pre amp to jack the lows up to 3 o'clock to get some punch. It's a simple box but never fails and is cheap. I use a Fender Jazz Bass with Dimarzio pups (the only brand for live performing) and CTS pots. Frets leveled with chrome flats through an old Zoom B2.1u pedal into an any amp. I'd put the old red B2 up against any effects or cab. Blows all the DIs and pre amps away. One line to the PA and one to the monitor or amp. Another cool way to church up the beat buddy tone is run it through an old Zoom A2 pedal on the first cab setting A0 and in to the mixer. Takes the signal wide and deep for live. Guitar player uses a line 6 helix. Done. Fender basses' rule. Doesn't get any better. They already have it figured out. If I was to go the bass amp route I'd take a 500W Hartke or MarkBass and DI out and done. Have fun up there and don't waste time thinking about the gear all the time. Ruined many a show doing that.

 

[promdates]

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

Funny story about this. I bought one of this guy's bundles, then compared them to the karaoke-version copy. Was the same audio/vocals/music. From what I could tell, all he did was increase the volume and add a cue track to it.

 

[fokof]

Digital Performer

The chunks.....

 

[tarp21]

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

You can use Reaper, it’s what we do. We get our songs on Karaoke Version. I download each track individually, label them accordingly, use mp3gain to set most of them to 89 dB minus some like count in and click. Then build them into Reaper individually as separate tracks. We use an XR18 which is a USB mixer as well. I load up the sets in Reaper. When one song is done we go on to the next as fast as possible. It’s not as fast as a full band mind you, you can’t make on the fly tempo changes, or key jumps etc. and you can’t take requests which isn’t all that bad. My buddy plays guitar/vocals. I play bass/vocals. We have an upper end PA system too which helps and run our own sound. We use IEM’s so the crowd doesn’t hear the click tracks and use monitors with visual cues to aid in following. We can perform almost any song we want to encounter. We have no drummer. We sound like a 4-5 piece band and get plenty of gigs. We mostly use drums, percussion, backing vocals, acoustic guitar, keyboards/synths and various other instruments to fill as needed. No steel or fiddle as my buddy plays leads for their parts etc. To many tracks coming through could sound “karaokeish” so you have to use them to taste. Really helps to blend live instruments and vocals with the tracks. As I said, we get all the gigs we want. Check us out on Facebook we have some videos on there. Highway 63 out of Macon, MO. If you have any questions DM me.