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Create Live Backing

The document provides a guide on creating live backing tracks for solo performers and bands, emphasizing the importance of using a click track for timing. It discusses various equipment options for backing tracks, including midifile players, minidiscs, DATs, and CDs, highlighting their advantages and disadvantages. Additionally, it offers tips on managing equipment during gigs and effectively integrating click tracks with live performances.

Uploaded by

Tihomir Mihaylov
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28 views2 pages

Create Live Backing

The document provides a guide on creating live backing tracks for solo performers and bands, emphasizing the importance of using a click track for timing. It discusses various equipment options for backing tracks, including midifile players, minidiscs, DATs, and CDs, highlighting their advantages and disadvantages. Additionally, it offers tips on managing equipment during gigs and effectively integrating click tracks with live performances.

Uploaded by

Tihomir Mihaylov
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Creating Live Backing

Whether solo or in a band, your gigs will benefit from polished


backing tracks

With our simple guide to creating perfect backing tracks we'll give you a head start over your rivals.

Solo or band?
If you're in a band you might want to add some keyboard sequencing to one or two songs, extra backing vocals,
or even guitar to thicken your sound. If you are going it alone you'll probably want a whole band behind you - in a
box.

One of the first things you'll need to think about is a click to keep you in time. If you are solo you'll probably just
need a count-in to start a song. But with a band you'll need a click going throughout the track and it should be the
drummer who hears it so he can keep his colleagues in time.

Which equipment?
Naturally, you will have to decide which gear you are going to use to provide the backing tracks. Using a
sequencer on its own is too slow because you'll probably have to load each song in turn. Up until recently many
performers have used midifile players which play your song data through a keyboard or sound module. Each
floppy disk can hold up to six or seven songs depending on the length of the tune.

However, today, the minidisc, DAT, or CD is now slowly replacing the midifile player; cassette isn't worth
considering because the varying speeds of cassette players means you would have to tune your live instruments
to the pitch of the tape. Minidisc, DAT, CD and midifile should all be perfect pitch.

Midifiles
You can probably pick up a second-hand midifile player like the Alesis Datadisk for under £120 but obviously you'll
need a keyboard/sequencer to make the set up work. The best way is to play the midifile on your sequencer and
record the data as a live midifile sequence on the Datadisk. The advantage is you'll be able to play the song data
straight off without having to individually load the data for each song.

Professional midifiles from anything from Frank Sinatra to Robbie Williams can be bought mail order from
suppliers but can cost between £3-£8 a song. A cheaper way would be to scour the internet for free midifile
download sites. You will find many of the files on the net are very poor but about a third of those you download will
be extremely useable.

Minidisc, DAT, and CD


Naturally the only problem with these media for backing tracks is the initial cost of the minidisc, DAT or CD
recorders. But the advantage over a midifile player is the fact that you can get three times as many songs on a
tape or disk; furthermore you can manipulate the sound, by adding EQ, effects and more convincing
instrumentation.

With the midifile player you are stuck with the sounds on your keyboard or module, but if you bung everything onto
digital then you could add real guitar, bass, drums, and even backing vocals at the same time. It's handy if your
band has just done a home recording because you could effectively use that by wiping off all the parts you don't
want and just add a click. You could also record those midifiles you downloaded off the net onto a CD for backing.

Poor traveller?
What you do have to be careful of with digital equipment is transportation and temperature problems at gigs.
When arriving at the venue unpack your CD, DAT or minidisc player and leave it for a while. Large temperature
changes and condensation could affect the smooth playing of the CDs etc. You should always place the
equipment on a hard, flat surface and not next to your pint of lager. Never put a CD player on top of one of your

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intermusic.com Page 2 of 2

PA speakers as the vibrations from the music will make your CD jump. It could pay you to bring along a second
player for emergencies.

The click
Probably the best way to deal with the click when using a midifile player is to record the click on one of your
sequencer tracks, mute the sound, record the sequence to your file player but then midi it up to a drum machine
on a corresponding midi channel. The click will then trigger a sound or sounds on the drum machine. Naturally the
drummer will then need to wear headphones to hear the click.

With CD, DAT or minidisc it is better to pan all the instrumentation hard left or right in the stereo field, and then
pan the click to the opposite side. One channel out of the rear of the player will go to the front of house mixer
while the other with the click goes to the drummer's mix.

So don't back off - get backing!

Gary Hopkins

http://intermusic.com/print.asp?ReviewId=2162&ArticleTable=Features&FeatureType=TUT... 9/17/01

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