PG Music Home Forums General Discussion Off-Topic Setups for live performance - how are you using equipment & BIAB/RB?

I have really enjoyed reading some of the posts, like in the demographic thread so I thought I would start this one.

How do user's utilize BIAB and RB in a live setting? and also being a guitarist, I suffer from "Gear Acquisition Syndrome" so what is everyone using for live performance? Of course, live can mean just you and friends informally or in a gigging situation.

For me, right now I am just playing RB on my laptop into a mixer so I can add a mic and then into my stereo. Along with that, I pull out an acoustic guitar or an amp and guitar while I attempt to sing or my wife, who has a great voice, sings along. Blues, rock, crossover country, jazz, pop. Fun stuff, nothing too aggressive. We both have played professionally (in much earlier years) so now it is just to relax and enjoy life.

At some point, I will probably buy some powered PA speakers and a mixer with effects so we can do informal karaoke at parties with our friends. I am not sure a laptop will be reliable enough for that application but it would be nice to continue using RB in that setting too.

I have a bunch of gear, drums, electronic drums, half a dozen amps, guitars but my main gear is a Carr Mercury amp (love), two custom electrics that I built myself, a bass that I built, and a Taylor acoustic.

Would love to hear what others are doing!


Ric

My setup starts with the computer mentioned in my signature. I also have a 6 channel mixer. I use Real Band. I have an Audidgy 2 ZS Notebook card with KX drivers.The KX drivers give me great flexibility and options. Output 0-1 from KX mixer are all real tracks except drums and go to my hardware mixer. Output 2-3 are the Real Drums & Kick drum and go to my hardware mixer. The effects send from my hardware mixer goes to the line in of KX mixer. I patch my dynamic effects and reverb into the output chain of outputs 4-5 of KX and the into the effects send of the hardware mixer.

Hi,

My explanation is how I make the backing tracks AND how I use them on stage. I've been doing it since the mid 1980s. And I play music for a living.

The question has been asked so many times, I wrote a web page about it. It gives you the benefit of all I've learned about it since then.

http://www.nortonmusic.com/backing_tracks.html

Feel free to link to that page if you find it worthy.

Insights and incites by Notes

Thanks Notes, I've read that page before, but didn't catch that you work for hugs. Props to you.

If someone comes up and puts a hug sum of money on the keyboard and asks for a special request we know, I can slip that in as soon as it is appropriate to do so. And so on

Good Info...eh?

I have played piano background music for a lot of years. I use band in a box to let me get creative, and have more minimalism in my playing. I listen to the recording sometimes and say, gee John, less chordal, go sparse. I practice the horn with band in a box, and it's way better than flipping pages with a music stand in front of me. And it lets me transpose up and up as an exercise. Or make a solo and try it myself.

80 percent of my paying gigs were me and a piano. Without band in a box as a learning tool and helping me practice I would never have been as good as I am now. So if there is a meeting of 300 people for a supper, I might be in the foyer, or at the front, and they might want the National Anthem...

20 percent of my paying gigs are Celtic music, either I play the piano that's there, or take a keyboard. Band in a Box can't do this due to the fact that I've not spent time and effort to get the 6/8 12/8 stuff sorted out any way I like. And really a lot of that music does not lend itself to a traditional drummer, although the Realtracks fiddle can add a lot.

I am changing styles and genres, and am about 1/3 of the way to having 2 light jazz band in a box sets, 2 country/folk sets, and 1 'other', sort of east coast Canadian music, still working around the limitations of the 12/8 and 6/8 thing, which of course migrated with the Irish and Scots.

My present setup is a Bose L1 Model 2, and keyboard for simple gigs.
Same now for the wife and I with flute and keys.
Projected use for the system is to put Band in a Box on the Acer, have a 2nd keyboard stand behind the 1st and put the Bose Tone box on there with the Ketron SD2, add the Voicelive box, the audix mic, and away we go. Pull out the accordion once in a while, and maybe 2 or 3 songs using the baritone horn.
I have 2 friends who want me to play in their bands, but I really want to go to bed at 10 p.m. and I do never intend to take down my gear at 2:30 a.m. like they do. Call me old.

As a single or duo you don't need much...
A small digital mixer - I've got a 8 channel Fostex VM-88
Small Amp - I use a Behringer 300W Keyboard Amp
Digitec volcalist and a JamMan
Guitar/keyboard
IPAD loaded with RealBand/Tracks/PG Cool Cats!

http://www.thegigbaby.com

Man, you folks have given me some great ideas to work on. Sounds like I better start practicing more. :-)

I have gotten away from music over the past 5 years or so (it's tough being an adult with adult responsibilities sometimes) but sharing info on this forum is getting the creative side ticking again and that is good!

gdaddy - I have a jamman that I need to dust off and put to work. I had forgotten all about it and it would certainly add to live performance variety.

john - I know what you mean. I played drums for many years and the thought of setting up and eventually breaking down drums at 2:30 makes my back ache thinking about it. One of my younger friends wants me to join him but his gigs will be the late night variety. Nothing gets started in this town until 10:00! I just picture myself falling asleep after the first set. LOL!

Notes - thanks for the link. I am going to spend some time reading that one.

I feel another bout of gear acquisition syndrome coming on.

Let's see... how can I make up a new list of gear to buy and sell the idea to my wife....

I'm not sure I can add anything that hasn't been said. However, I'm running BIAB from a Dell Studio XPS laptop (7500 drive speed) straight into a sound system, along with electric guitar and vocals. I like my Bose Model II, but it's not stereo (for the benefit of the tracks). Sometimes, I take along two Roland keyboard amps and use that instead. Sounds good, but the vocals and guitar sound better through the Bose. I just ordered today the new Roland BA-330 stereo amp. It's very portable and light-weight. I'm one of those who's always tinkering with the sound and looking for something different/better. By the way, for you singers, give the new Digitech Live 3 a demo. I've mentioned that before. Those vocal harmonies (tracked from the guitar chords) will really enliven your act.

Any thoughts on powered speakers and mixer versus a regular PA set-up?

The powered speakers sound like a good idea but wouldn't you need two power cords, and A and an E perhaps :-0, and the speaker cables.

Whereas with the PA, you just run the speaker cables to the amp.

Is anyone using powered speakers for live? I know they are pretty common for studio setups.

To play spontaneously with BIAB is on my personal wish list of things to learn next. For now, I will just lump myself with the crowd that uses this software as a composition tool. When performing live I simply back out the guitar track on the .WAV file to set up a guitar karaoke style. So BIAB becomes Band in an iPod.

Funny you should mention about your wife's voice, karaoke, and gigs. I have a very dear friend who sings while her husband does the showboating or crowd schmoozing that have been getting solid bookings more than any band or DJ out there. That is partly because she is an outstanding vocalist that can sing anything from Pat Benatar to Barbara Streisand to Brittany Spears if you can imagine. Part of their act is including karaoke as well. And they are getting booked anywhere from reunions both family and school, to weddings and anniversaries to nursing homes. The nice thing about nursing homes she says is that they are usually in the late morning/afternoon leaving the evening free for another booking. Makes me wish my wife could sing! I am already the crowd schmoozer.

As far as their setup goes, they are using the Bose PA system that is a tube with a subwoofer. Attach an iPod of their playlist and a couple of microphones and they are set. 5 minutes set up and 5 minutes break down. And that includes the walk back to the car!

I had a custom electric guitar built. It is the most versatile tool in the box. I wanted something that would blend my Strat and Les Paul together. And the luthier pulled it off. Nice large Les Paul tones coupled with the split coils to get the 2 & 4 on the Strat switch. And I use a POD xtLive for all my effects. I have gotten so lazy or like you adult responsible that I have not the time to tinker with stomp boxes or their settings. The POD has a USB connection to their web site where I get to down load tone setups created by the youngens' that got the time to play with it. Then, I just tweak them. My sound is routed into my PC via FocusRite Saffire interface. An excellent firewire interface if you require 1/4", XLR, & MIDI inputs. I have a Fatar MIDI 88 keyboard connected to it as well. Everything feeds into the PC where the BIAB resides that starts my composition process. It took a while and some bucks to burn through some inferior products out there especially when it comes to the interface. I decided to go with the Saffire because of the quantity of good reviews and it has thus far matched and even exceeded those reviews for me.

From one Ric to another,
Thanks,
RickeG