I'm working up some Biab Backing tracks and would like some tips on playback for performance. I travel with my job and cannot work up a band

To get the best answers you need to provide more information about your performances. Do you perform from a fixed set list or do you respond to customer requests? Do you sing, dance, perform drama, play an instrument? Do you use a PA set, mixer, both?

I did this for years and some fairly general points.

As you are using BIAB you are probably generating songs in advance so you need some way of choosing and playing back on demand.

I have only just upgraded to BIAB 2018 from 2008 so all our stuff used to be midi only. It was easier to create in BIAB and edit in PowerTracks. We used a yamaha file player and a roland sc7 sound module fed straight into the PA. Both probably available on ebay or you could use a laptop with a soft synth like the edirol hypercanvas installed and play from PT or BIAB with the sound from the headphone socket going to the PA. BIAB - unless you freeze tracks generates the song every time you play it so if you want the same arrangement every time we found midi files created in BIAB then transferred to PT was the best way to go.

That was in the days of midi but these days BIAB sounds great with RealTracks that mean your sound is audio not midi. Save the BIAB track to an mp3 format and you can play it live. If you have a laptop save all the files to a single directory and then play with the default music player - again with a lead from the headphone socket to the PA. It's easy to select songs (the files will be in alphabetical order) and you have a modicum of volume control on the laptop (assuming it's close to the mic stand) without turning round to the PA. Obviously the same applies if you are using a mixer.

A much smaller 'rig' is an Ipod touch connected the same way. Trouble is when you play one mp3 the next file starts automatically which is a pain playing live. I asked the forum and the best way to solve that problem is 'one set list per song' which is a faff to set up but works fine on stage. Even the oldest Ipod touch will do and it's better to have a dedicated Ipod than the one you use every day. Ebay has used ones cheap.

I played in a duo so we could harmonise but solo, technology can help you. If you are a guitarist you plug your guitar and mic cables into a Harmony Singer 2 pedal which then has outputs for the mic and guitar signals. The pedal listens to the guitar chords and adds a suitable harmony to your voice.

Of course if you are using mp3s then you can record the harmony part in BIAB, RB or PT and sing along live with your own voice behind you. And don't forget BIAB now has oohs and aahs you can use as backing.

Hope that helps

I do a lot of solo shows. I don't use BIAB for cover songs but I do use it for my originals. I've found the easiest way to play tracks for me is to export my tracks as a .wav or .mp3 file and play them in iTunes. I have a playlist of all my backing tracks and I can drag and drop them into whatever order I want to do. It's also easy to navigate using the space bar to play and pause, and the right arrow key to advance to the next song.

Hi Samuel. What do you use for covers? Music minus 1 or midi?

I've performed with biab backing tracks a few times
I play instrumental guitar (jazz, blues, rock, bluegrass, country)over biab arrangements.
Mostly covers, a few of my own.

I try to limit the biab backing tracks to bass,& drums.
Sometimes I add a chording instruments (keyboard, guitar, accordion) but usually cut the volume on those. I don't want too much backing if you know what I mean.

Most of the time I can get a decent arrangement with just biab.
Sometimes I use real band. Infrequently I use Apple Logic Pro X
I'll admit the endings sometimes are a bit abrupt. I could do better.

But at this point I'm just trying to get 50-100 tunes I can play melodies for and a chorus or two of solo.

I store all the wav's and mp3's on an Ipad for performance.
I use SoundCue on the ipad to map out the set and play the wav/mp3's. Its a good piece of software for performing.

Be sure to set the ipad/iphone in airplane mode before performing.

I pass the ipad/iphone speaker output through a whirlwind pcdi box and xlr cable to the board/pa.

Guitar goes to a Fender Vibrolux or Fender Mustang GT100.

I just purchased the bose s1 pro PA so I'm going to try to give that a whirl in the next gig or two just for the tracks.


Anyway, very interested in hearing how others handle it

Showplay is a great program for playing live. Used it for years with my solo/duo set up. never had a problem.

If I'm using BIAB live, I generally export the audio from BIAB in a few mixes. I play keys, so I always mute the keys. I generate an audio file with drums+guitar, drums+bass, drums+guitar+bass so if I'm doing a duet with a bassist or guitarist or doing a solo gig, I have choices. I then use a program called Anytune (I have desktop and iPad versions) and create markers (intro, verse, chorus, ending etc.) within Anytune. This allows me to seamlessly jump to/loop any section in real time on the fly (very nice for when I or a guest soloist wants to solo for more than a chorus). I tried BIAB Conductor but couldn't get it to work well and reliably with RealTracks.

Because the audio exports from BIAB are the same but just mixed differently, the markers I create for one mix can be used for all mixes so I only have to do it once which saves time of course. With Anytune, I can see all the sections as the audio file plays through, I can also add lyrics to view and I can control it through MIDI using a pedal board like my Roland FC-300 or switches/buttons on my keyboard. I have found it a good companion to BIAB. I really would prefer to just use just BIAB iOS app for all of this so I don't have to do any of these extra steps, but currently the iOS apps are not as functional as Anytune although they are great for controlling BIAB remotely (Windows only though).

It's unfortunate Anytune is available exclusively on Apple products as your description of how you use the program is impressive.

Yeah, I agree. They "say" Anytune is coming to Windows and Android, but who knows when or if that will be. I actually own/use BIAB for Windows as well as Mac (started on Windows way back along with Sonar etc. but past 5 years have migrated a lot over to Mac) so whichever provides the functionality I need I'm fortunate to have that flexibility but I am probably in the minority. Many of my friends are on one platform or the other (mostly Windows/Android) so it's at least nice that I could recommend BIAB to all of them.

I have maybe 100 song (covers) I can and have done with RB they are midi file that have been updated with RTs and Rds. I have maybe 20 songs in BiaB I have made more recently. I have used them as well.

However with cover songs I have started to work with an iPad app called Jamzone. You have to purchase the songs but they are not ridiculous in price I have collected around 110 so far new ones come out each week and they are pretty good kind of a multi track karaoke file you can change pitch, and turn off any track you want it also scrolls the lyrics and chords. I bought an iPad holder for my mike stand so I can reach it to start songs. The developer is active and response to suggestions. I ask for set folders and he added it pretty quickly.

For my sound I bluetooth the iPad to my Gemini tower (picture Bose tower for a better price) and plug my guitar and mic into the tower by cables. Pretty slick setup.

How the L1 working out? It’s got great reviews and I’m thinking of buying one.
Thanks, Bud

I've traveled the cycle, steel scott, starting with a Fender amp with on board midi synthesizer, a Yamaha keyboard with (then) amazing accompaniment options, and working through several developments. SONY Acid Studio did a good job making backups. I used Ipod, Walkman, and Macbook with Garage Band. Band in the Box, around year 2000, was a game changer. Now, I appreciate the flexibility of the portable digital multi track, and use it for shows and home recording. The most seen are Tascam, Zoom, and Boss. DAW users would never go back to these devices, and for good reasons. The graphic interfaces are lifelike and I assume run by touch. If I were to start another phase, it would probably be with tablet. Still, I think every performer ought to treat himself to a small portable. The caveat is that if you are blowing it into a Marshall stack by way of an effects pack, the guitar in on the portable digital recorder might not be the thing.
Again, it comes back to the issue of music tastes and how they evolve.

I do several shows a month using BIAB backing tracks. I export the tracks, mix and master in Reaper. I convert to MP3 (why I don’t know). I then send the finished song to my laptop (a 2 in 1 but I prefer laptop mode). I have all my songs 80+ setup in Songbook which makes everything easy.

In Songbook I setup a show list (10 to 20) songs mainly to avoid the what’ll I do next problem. I have a Presonus USB audio interface connected to the laptop (also a USB to MIDI cable).

On stage I plug my guitar into the Presonus which has the output into a small PA. I use TH3 as my Amp Sim. I also have a Behringer FCB1010 MIDI Foot controller setup to control the TH3. The FCB1010 looks after my guitar volume, delay, reverb, wah, tremolo and distortion.

Everything is prebalanced so it is just a matter of plugging up, setting the overall volume and playing.

Doing the show I simply flip through the songs in Songbook which displays my words and chords (I’m getting old and forgetful), I start the song click to start the MP3 and all is timed to synch up. Whilst I may have a show laid out however if for whatever reason I want a song not in the show list I can still simply select the song from the overall list.

It all really works out very simple.

Tony