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'Live' bands with backing tracks

#301
As an aside, I saw Mike Love's Beach Boys band, and on two songs they used prerecorded vocals, meant as tributes. One was the late Carl Wilson singing "God Only Knows;" the other was the late Dennis Wilson singing "Do You Wanna Dance."

So was this okay given this situation?
 
#302
Again, there is a huge difference between some ICONIC band trying to recreate their sound and biggest hits on stage, especially one where the surviving members are 70 years and older, and a local band using a lot of prerecorded tracks because they can't do it themselves - whether its that they lack the talent or the pieces. and trying to put one over on everyone. huge difference.
 
#303
Runnerman said:
Well I see it as cheating every bit as much as a backing track. She's triggering a synthesized sound with her finger for crying out loud. Not even using her lips and lungs to make the sounds like a real horn. I would never go to see your band if you faking the horns like that. No better than Karaoke I say. ;)
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well it's not because she's actually playing it live. but you simply don't wish to the see the difference. *shrugs*
 
#304
It depends what kind of music you're doing. Classic Rock and Blues doesn't need a lot of layers. It's hard to do pop/dance music without tracks. I don't see an issue with it, especially if you program them all from scratch. My band does current top 40 pop and we would need multiple keyboard players to play all the sounds live which isn't realistic.
 
#305
More adventures in tracks-land. I had programmed some electric guitar for one song, and the singer asked me to change that since I'm now switching from acoustic to electric guitar live, and that would look kinda dumb to have an obviously electric guitar backing track. Haha, that's true. So I replaced that with a synth, and also changed the sound on another part which sounded a bit guitarish while I was at it. Sure, I could have just played that guitar part live, but then I'd need specific guitar settings for that song, with volume swells every couple of bars in the verses (doable physically with a volume pedal), and a tremolo effect whose depth slowly changes. Maybe I'll get that done in time for the next show, but it'll mean reorganizing how I do things for all the songs, so the effects changes can be in the right places and tempo-synced.

We've also decided to play two songs without tracks - a Rihanna cover, and an original which the singer recorded a while ago and had that produced by the studio. They're more, uh, "realinstrumenty", so while they have strings and woodwinds, there are no unnatural volume swells or other weirdness. When playing traditional stuff like that, might as well play it the old-fashioned way, and it won't matter much if the strings are missing. It's just less work, and if we ever do a gig that the keys player can't make, then we can pull the tracks out. OTOH I might program something for a more modern cover we do, and if I can talk the singer into doing a translation of a minor Turkish hit from a few years ago (yeah, really), that would get some serious tracks.

So, it's a balancing act, and, yeah, a classic rock band having extra guitars in backing tracks would be, well, kinda missing the point of classic rock. We've also been looking at how different people who are pretty far from classic rock approach this. The Dumplings, who we end up sounding pretty similar to, DJ using consoles, and the singer sometimes plays some guitar. Jidenna, on the other hand, now has a full live band for all shows, and "Long Live The Chief" is now DJ + drums + keys + guitar, while earlier live performances are just with a DJ, or DJ + drums. So he's using more live instruments now, even if it means the drums don't and can't sound "right".

With most of the originals, it is really important to have all the tracks there, I think, so things sound right. Sure, especially for new songs, it's a lot quicker and easier to just play them, but... The live shows are our chance to get these songs in front of real people, and see how those people react. If the songs sound as close as possible to how they're really supposed to sound in the vision the singer has for them, we get more useful information out of those reactions.
 
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#306
Small update from tracks world... did a gig with a couple less songs using tracks, but with more technology. Now we have electric guitar going through the PC, and effects changes programmed in two tracks. One's just switching autowah and distortion on and off, which could be done with hardware FX pedals with footswitches, the other's got tempo-synced automations of a couple of delay feedback parameters, during the hook going up and down twice per bar. The singer likes those, but doesn't really want more of that stuff on other tracks for now.

We also realized just how loud drum kits are, so might go back to cajon for the next gig, which is in a really small bar. (Well, we didn't really literally just realize it, we rehearsed with drums several times, but you know...)
 
#307
When our band first started, we didn't have a drummer, so we relied on backing tracks heavily. But some of them were so stupid. The worst one I can think of is 'Breakfast at Tiffany's'. It's not really the backing track it's self, it's that for about 30 seconds, the track is just nothing, then the drum kicks in. The rhythm guitar player was the only one playing, and he couldn't keep the exact time without a drum beat. To be honest, the track seemed too quick. The gap happened twice in the song. Makes us look dumb. Now we have a drummer, so they know when to come in. If the backing track had no gaps, and was fully drum filled, then we would be fine. But the gaps... THE GAPS!!! :bawl:
 
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#309
pklima said:
We also realized just how loud drum kits are, so might go back to cajon for the next gig, which is in a really small bar.
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OT, but in one of my bands, the drummer's started to use the Zildjian L80 quiet cymbals.

It's an event band, and life would be a lot easier if he were on an e-kit, but just switching to these cymbals has made a big difference in stage and rehearsal volume. I'd imagine in a coffee house style gig, you could play them as-is with the usual tea towels to bring down volume on the toms and snare. For dance band gigs, they mic up nicely without covering the stage in wash.
 
#310
Yeah, our drummer also plays in a rock band, which is why he has a kit designed and set up for loud rock, and why we were already planning to use a cajon for smaller gigs. An e-kit would be ideal, as we could have different sounds for different songs, and even use some drum samples I'm currently working on...
 
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#311
My lead guit flips out if he hears any kind of backing track. I have seen some bands around here use them (especially the guys that pack em in and wedding bands) particularly on keys -where they dont have a keyboard. I guess doesnt really bug me that much if they perform most of the song. Audience has no clue and dont really care. Hey as long as they are happy i guess.
 
#312
I prefer making the back ground tracks myself. I don't know why someone would flip out over it. I'm doing edge if glory by lady gaga and the new Taylor swift song and I'm using like 20 tracks per song because there's so much production. One keyboard player just wouldn't be enough unless he was running loops and sequences himself.
 
#313
When we think we know what is and isn't "art", something else happens.

It's can be the way some music is created nowadays. It's incredibly easy for one or more writers to "orchestrate" a piece that no 4 to 6 piece band could ever play live without some playback augmentation. The recorders, loopers, samplers, and the recording process has become an instrument itself, and integral to the performance of some pieces.
 
#315
Sampy123 said:
That is in keeping with having an open mind. Don't mean to be dense but what is "the something else that happens'?
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In this case, something that changes one's opinion. It doesn't need to be a singular thing, a paradigm shift could do it. Or how the availability of entirely different processes, tech, tools, and instruments causes the basic process of the creation of art to be different than it was in the past.

Acceptance as art may depend on one's level of involvement; casual observers, luminaries, consumers, performers, or creators may see these changes in process and acceptance come in different steps and may have differing opinions. The creators try things to see if they have "art" and then the others weigh in.

In some ways, music got simpler with the advent of electric instruments. What used to take a 70 piece orchestra to play became possible with a few people with modern technology. This backing track issue is just more of that process later in the continuum.

But singing to tracks with just a guitar and cheesy keyboard is still just kareoke with an accompanist or 2. Whether or not that act can achieve "art" status is in the mind of the beholder.
 
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#316
DJ Otzi. Him singing, one guitar and dancers. Full backing with harmony (and lead) vocals and people are just eating it up. Crowds of thousands. Dancers on stage are more important than musicians for that production.
 
#318
I did a couple of weddings with a local "professional" band. Learned a bunch of songs only to show up and have to play over a bass track on half of them. BL said "just play over it, you'll drown it out".

2 gigs and I'd had enough. What this guy really wanted was roadies who also played instruments. He provided backline but he didn't load any of it ... he expected you to load it all in including PA. Because he "was paying you to do what he needed done". Not me, pal.
 
#320
denhou1974 said:
I did a couple of weddings with a local "professional" band. Learned a bunch of songs only to show up and have to play over a bass track on half of them. BL said "just play over it, you'll drown it out".

2 gigs and I'd had enough. What this guy really wanted was roadies who also played instruments. He provided backline but he didn't load any of it ... he expected you to load it all in including PA. Because he "was paying you to do what he needed done". Not me, pal.
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That's just dumb.
 

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