Stuck in the house like a lot of people with time on my hands. Got hold of 2020 upgrade for Mac and am in process of making backing tracks of all the songs from an Americana, Country, Rock, Blues band I play in sometimes. After doing a few tunes I learned a few things.
1- Mix songs on system your going to play them on. I at first used my studio monitors to mix.
NG. Of course I should know better. When I finally set up my sound system with sound craft
Mixer, QSC speakers etc. it was all unbalanced.
2- Get the volumes the same. For obvious reasons.
3- Try to use the same drummer or similar so that band has a distinct sound and consistency.
same with other instruments but most importantly drums and bass.(learned this using beatbuddy drum machine with a band). WORK IN PROGRESS
Couple of questions for you guys that use backing tracks:
1- Do most people send tracks to a DAW for processing? (I use logic X)
2- Do you compress the RealTracks, add reverb and effects? Or pretty much leave them alone to sound live?
3- Do you Master the tracks?
I have more questions but post is long enough.

Hey Frank,

Those are some great tips!

I'm sure everyone will have a different process that suits them best, but I like to use the Band-in-a-Box plugin in Adobe Audition (just my DAW of choice because I work with Premiere a lot for video). I will often record live instruments into Audition to mix with the Band-in-a-Box tracks, and I like the control Audition gives me when recording and mixing various tracks together.

Since my background is in radio, I am probably a bit heavy handed with effects, equalizing, and compression. The station I worked at, absolutely everything had to peak at -6db, so I just keep doing that out of habit.

Cheers!

I like the -6db peak David. Thanks. That was going to be one of my next questions.

Great posts. I particularly like Point 3 Frank. I'd never even thought about it. Sometimes too much choice can be a problem live.

Hi, I mix in a DAW listen on my system which is similar in sound to my PA. I set all BIAB tracks to flat and centred when I export them.

I do move things to the side a bit so (yes shock horror) I do have a stereo setting. Why well the system I use is stereo and the speakers are about 5 metres apart. I feel if I had a band not everyone would be standing on the drummer to ensure everything came from the middle. I tend to keep the same instrument in a similar place on all songs. Eg the piano 30% the right, bass and drums in the middle, guitars playing arpeggios usually opposite the piano (30% left).

Rarely to I use reverb in my mixes, really only if an instrument would use a reverb. My thoughts why add reverb to emulate the site you are playing in. However I would often use DI tracks and add a guitar sim that would apply reverb and/or delay.

All songs are “mastered” for want of a better word. I use The Visual Mixer to adjust the field, Ozone 9 to master the song, then the Tonal Balance Control to see how it looks, then a LUFS Meter.

The final stage of my process is a LUFS meter I then convert to MP3 (more through habit than any other reason) and then run them through MP3Gain so they are all approximately the same level.

I then set up my sets using songbook pro. This helps prevent the “what will I play next” issue. I can recall after many years in bands if you had nothing set there was always confusion. If for some reason I need to add a song my entire list is in songbook pro so that is not an issue.

I play my guitar through TH3 and the volumes are set to be balanced before I get to site. I know it all fits as I want it.

My way of doing it.

Tony