As you seem to have read on my website http://www.nortonmusic.com/backing_tracks.html I make backing tracks with the help of BiaB.

I'm in a duo http://www.s-cats.com and we've been gigging since 1985 in the same area.

I've seen other duos use purchased tracks (Karaoke and the like) but I find audio tracks not as good for a few reasons. Here are some of them:
  1. Sometimes while transposing to your vocal key they get those weird artifacts
  2. You cannot completely control the arrangement, lengthen it, extend solos, add kicks, etc.
  3. They have someone else's solos on them
  4. Background singers on the track shout Karaoke to the audience
  5. Fade out endings
  6. BALANCE: Audio tracks usually come compressed, which for live performance is a no-no. In fact, for live the dynamics should be exaggerated. When you hear a live pop, rock, country, EDM band, the snare drum on the backbeat is usually quite loud, this drives the audience with energy. In an audio track, a snare that loud would sound odd. In BiaB, especially if you have MIDI drums, you can really accent the snare and/or any other parts that need to jump out of the mix for live performance.

With BiaB you can overcome all these problems. Of course there is a downside. BiaB tracks are rather generic, but if you have any input skills at all, you can add the song specific parts BiaB tracks may lack.

While every way to make backing tracks has its pros and cons, I think using BiaB and a DAW (Like Power Tracks or Real Band) and a little bit of work, you can make outstanding backing tracks that sound better than your competition.

And we've been gigging in the same area for 30 years so we must be doing something right.

Notes

Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com

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