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So I played a gig with a friend of mine from high school last night for New Years Eve. I played steel pan and he played ukulele. I was playing the melody on the leadsheet and he would play the chords written on top. The issue we had was that we only that afternoon to practice and a lot of the songs where more than two pages. My question is, would it help if I made drum and bass tracks using the real tracks (and yes practice), to help use keep in time, while also providing the rest of the "band".
Computer: Macbook Pro, 16 inch 2021
DAWs: Pro Tools, Logic, and Maschine
plays drums, percussion, bass, steel pan, keyboard,
music producer/engineer
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There is a big controversy among musicians about using backing tracks or not. However, it's important to know that there doesn't seem to be one with audience members. My vote is Yes but with a lot of practice. First of all, you will find the tempo of your backing track to be very strict. It's like playing with a metronome. When I started using a drum machine in the late 1970s with our old trio, it seemed like the drummer sped up and slowed down -- of course the machine wasn't doing either. Next you need to know that your arrangements are static. It's like playing in an orchestra using charts. If one of you get lost, there will be no "vamp 'till cue" or any of those other devices to get you back on track if you get distracted. I get around that by using a DAW to put audio cues in the music. Depending on the song, a percussion instrument or an identifiable lick before the B part or wherever needed. And rest assured, distractions will happen. You'll be playing away and someone will come up and ask you to play "Happy Birthday" to a mumbled name that you will have to ask them to repeat so you can understand it, and the backing track will not care, it will just go on and on. And be sure to have good monitors or speaker placement so that you can hear the backing track well. I've been playing with self-created backing tracks in my duo since 1985 and I've gone through a few different methods from cassette tapes to hardware sequencers to software sequencers and so on to the method I'm currently using. I made an instructional web page about that, it may be much more than you need, but you are welcome to use what you want and ignore the rest. http://www.nortonmusic.com/backing_tracks.htmlInsights and incites by Notes
Bob "Notes" Norton  Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com
100% MIDI Super-Styles recorded by live, pro, studio musicians for a live groove
& Fake Disks for MIDI and/or RealTracks
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the backing track will not care, it will just go on and on.
And be sure to have good monitors or speaker placement so that you can hear the backing track well.
Bwahahaha... yup...ask Mariah how well THAT turned out.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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Bwahahaha... yup...ask Mariah how well THAT turned out.
Whaddaya mean?!?! It was the sound guy's fault. LOL
 Steve BIAB/RB 2022, Pro Tools 2020, Korg N5, JBL LSR 4328 Powered Monitors, AKG/Shure Mics.
PC: Win11 PRO, 4 TB M2 SSD, 2 TB HD, 128 GB Memory
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My take on the use of backing tracks is as follows:
1) I agree with Notes Norton that the audience tends to be much more OK with it than musicians... but it still has to sound good.
2) Using TRAX isn't an automatic slam-dunk... lots of stuff can still go wrong, and you need to be rehearsed enough to know and prepare for the most common technical problems
3) Try to keep it as believable as possible. Use trax to play songs that other solo musicians might play without trax. Songs that are virtuoso performances just won't fly if the virtuoso part is pre-recorded. On the other hand, if you're playing the virtuoso stuff ... and nailing it... that's a different story
4) As Herb mentioned about Mariah Carey's new year's eve fiasco... a canned track absolutely requires everybody in the band to hear and follow along. I tried to incorporate trax into a couple of bands that had a drummer, and the drummer played so loud he couldn't hear the trax... consequently, he sped up or slowed down and it totally screwed up the song
there's lots more, but those are a couple of the key points I've had to deal with. By all means, pursue the use of trax, especially for small gigs like parties, where the alternative would likely be no music at all.
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I'm a percussionist/singer and gig regularly with the lead singer from my band if we're playing small rooms, or budget is a big concern for the venue. We gig with the tunes all the time and have been doing it for 15 years, so lack of practice is usually a non-issue. My recommendations are:
1. Practice as much as possible to work up some great sets that you know really well: this one's a no brainer.
2. If you're considering BIAB, it could be a great tool for individual practice. Pan drum is an interesting instrument because it's musically a closer relative to the mallet instruments (xylophone, vibraphone, etc.). I'm also a public school music teacher and use SmartMusic backing tracks (which sound basically like BIAB) all the time with students.
3. Once you've done the above, decide if you might like to take some or all of the BIAB elements "on the road" to use on gigs. I'd imagine that with pan and uke, you'd benefit from drums and bass either way, but other possibilities are pretty much endless as well. Playing to a rigid backing track does present its own set of challenges, as Norton said.
If this duo act is one that you want to really develop, BIAB could be just the ticket. However, it's going to take some considerable time to put the songs together and tweak things to your needs. I hope this helps!
-Mark
Last edited by railway mark; 01/02/17 08:23 AM.
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There is a big controversy among musicians about using backing tracks or not. However, it's important to know that there doesn't seem to be one with audience members. My vote is Yes but with a lot of practice. First of all, you will find the tempo of your backing track to be very strict. It's like playing with a metronome. When I started using a drum machine in the late 1970s with our old trio, it seemed like the drummer sped up and slowed down -- of course the machine wasn't doing either. Next you need to know that your arrangements are static. It's like playing in an orchestra using charts. If one of you get lost, there will be no "vamp 'till cue" or any of those other devices to get you back on track if you get distracted. I get around that by using a DAW to put audio cues in the music. Depending on the song, a percussion instrument or an identifiable lick before the B part or wherever needed. And rest assured, distractions will happen. You'll be playing away and someone will come up and ask you to play "Happy Birthday" to a mumbled name that you will have to ask them to repeat so you can understand it, and the backing track will not care, it will just go on and on. And be sure to have good monitors or speaker placement so that you can hear the backing track well. I've been playing with self-created backing tracks in my duo since 1985 and I've gone through a few different methods from cassette tapes to hardware sequencers to software sequencers and so on to the method I'm currently using. I made an instructional web page about that, it may be much more than you need, but you are welcome to use what you want and ignore the rest. http://www.nortonmusic.com/backing_tracks.htmlInsights and incites by Notes Thanks. When I do my solo gigs, I always use real tracks for my gigs because I play the melody and I need a "backup band". What I like to do somethimes is include solos real tracks to make them feel realistic as possible. I do notice that when playing in a band, you can do a lot more than BIAB can do. You can have the chords be played however you want, with what ever inverstion or extension you want. You can make the horns parts exactly as you want.
Computer: Macbook Pro, 16 inch 2021
DAWs: Pro Tools, Logic, and Maschine
plays drums, percussion, bass, steel pan, keyboard,
music producer/engineer
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Bwahahaha... yup...ask Mariah how well THAT turned out.
Whaddaya mean?!?! It was the sound guy's fault. LOL I'm the sound guy.
Computer: Macbook Pro, 16 inch 2021
DAWs: Pro Tools, Logic, and Maschine
plays drums, percussion, bass, steel pan, keyboard,
music producer/engineer
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If you decide to use BIAB to reinforce your performances, I personally would and in fact do, I would recommend once you have the set of songs completed, drop it into your phone or a CD and play the hell out of it.
I loaded my phone with my music and played it through my car stereo every time I was driving (alone) until I knew the music and my vocal parts backward and forward. If you and your other band member both do this, your rehearsal time will be productive and performances will be able to withstand annoying distractions.
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I tend to use MIDI tracks instead of Real Tracks and I export into a DAW/Sequencer then save to mp3. Why? For a few reasons: - I can change the key and/or tempo without artifacts
- I can change instruments, that guitar part might sound better on a rhodes, clav, or a different sounding guitar like a tele or lp
- Using synth sounds makes it sound less like karaoke
- I can massage and manipulate the parts to my hearts content, move rolls around, change notes, add song specific licks,
- Alter the groove. I find live groove needs to be more extreme than recorded groove. So I can exaggerate the swing, move beats 2 and 4 ahead or behind the beat a bit, put a slight swing feel into 8th or 16th notes, and so on
- Change the balance and/or dynamics. I also find that recorded balance isn't right for live performances. When you approach a building with a band, what do you hear first? Usually the bass and the crack of the snare drum. I can do this easily with MIDI. I can even mix some timbale with the snare to get that crack on the 2 and 4 when the drummer hits the rim and the head.
- Real accelerando and ritardandos plus holds as long as I want them to hold
- And quite a bit more
So you ask, what about tone? The audience doesn't care as much about tone as they do about expression. If they cared about tone, John Lennon, Stevie Nicks, Dr. John, Blossom Dearie, Bob Dylan and so many, many others wouldn't sell any records. In addition, people wouldn't listen to mp3s on earbuds, or as in the past listen on cassette tapes, 8 tracks, or 45rpm records. And when it comes to tone, what is good tone? For guitar is it Hendrix, Slash, Page, Beck, Hall, Pass, Burrell, Wylde, Santana, Clapton, Van Halen, Richards, Paul, King, Young, Gilmour, May, Guy, Vai, Satriani, Hammett, Iommi, or another? And on which guitar/amp/fx? On tenor sax is it Getz, Coltrane, Barbieri, Turrentine, Randolph, Brecker, Webster, Kirk, Lovano, Hamilton, Sims or another? The public doesn't care about tone. They care about expression, and I find that I can manipulate the expression more with MIDI files than I can with prerecorded audio files. With good synth modules I can get over 90% of the tone, but 500% more expression. And I didn't hear Carey's screw up, but I'm sure I've done it myself. I've played in live bands where we had a train wreck as well. How you recover from a screw up is important. For me I find that most of the time I can recover so the audience doesn't know and sometimes even my band mates. But there are times when you can't cover it up. Then it's time to be human, say something to the audience like "Did you ever have one of those days?" laugh at yourself and the situation, and start over again. It actually puts the audience on your side. Of course you can't do that on live TV where you have an allotted time slot that is marked to the second. I don't know how Mariah carried it, but I do feel for her. It happens to everyone sooner or later, with or without tracks. There is of course, more than one right way to do this. You have to pick what works best for you, and then do your best job to make it work. Also, be flexible to new ideas, or even old ones that work better for your situation. The adaptable survive. Insights and incites by Notes
Bob "Notes" Norton Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com
100% MIDI Super-Styles recorded by live, pro, studio musicians for a live groove
& Fake Disks for MIDI and/or RealTracks
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