backing tracks

[egan.]

I'm just curious what people think about bands with backing tracks.
My band has been lucky to tour with some bigger bands some of whom used tracks ranging from loops/key elements to guitars and vocals.
I've always been curious how folks felt about this or if most people even noticed or if they just perceived the bands as "perfect live."

 

[Damian B]

It takes a seriously tight band to play to a backing track. The drummer has to have perfect timing (and obviously has to be able to play to a click), and everyone else can't rush at all. I respect bands that pull it off.

 

[jrt12]

great question, i've wondered about that too. i can easily see how people can view it negatively, but i also see the a need for them (for loops/samples or backup/harmony vox). wonder how majority of people view it, esp specifically to metal or rock and not pop or indie artists.

 

[JeffTD]

I think it's badass, to be honest... adds to the live show, for me.

That said, I'm not a huge fan of the 'raw and live' school of thought; I'm more into a stage show, good production, etc, if that makes any sense.

 

[arv_foh]

I think that it is acceptable to give the listener a more "authentic" listening experience (by adding harmonies, layers of guitars, synths and whatnot)... but I really hate when bands use it as a crutch because they are not up to par as musicians and can't pull it off in a live setting.

Case in point (that I can think of): Straight Line Stitch... great on CD, but the singer just can't pull it off live.

BUT

at the same time I think I would rather listen to a performance that is backed with tracks instead of listen to a miserable performance of a song that I really enjoy.

 

[KeithTidd]

I don't understand why people would look at backing tracks as a negative thing.

 

[TheWinterSnow]

I don't understand why people would look at backing tracks as a negative thing.

There is a difference between using additional backing tracks as opposed to using backing tracks to mask the performers lack of talent (such as lip syncing). Having additional tracks for parts that you don;t have enough members to play is fine, again its about the performance of the performers playing and the overall experience of the music itself, regardless of how it comes out. Its about the performance and the experience, and the band/performers should bring that to the audience any way possible as long as it doesn't distract from the talent.

 

[K Odell]

I think it rules but probably bc I play in a band who does it, but we only use it for like violins and synth stuff. We have three guys who can sing so vocals aren't a biggy. All in all I love bands who do this kind of stuff.

 

[Aaron Smith]

My band uses backing tracks (stereo). It's really for the purpose of ambiance- orchestral and synth touches, and sometimes guitar parts as well (simple parts that add to the bigness of the sound but wouldn't necessarily sound all that special live if one of the guitarists was actually playing it instead of it being tucked into a track). Once our album is done and we have album tracks to work with (rather than pre-production), we will get to completely reevaluate which guitar parts should stay on the tracks and which ones would be better to actually have a guitarist play, although I'm pretty content with the way we have it now anyway. In general, I think anything that stands out significantly on the recording as a unique part that is important to hear very distinctively and to experience the actual performance of, should be handled by a real guitarist. But when it comes to stuff like layering of octaves with big chords (in some cases, but not all) and some of the other little parts I tend to add when I write, I think it really just makes more sense to have it on a track. The band still handles the meat of the song, the tracks just enhance the atmosphere. It's almost like having a keyboard player, except way cooler, because "he" doesn't always have to be doing something, and "he" can create more sounds than just keyboard patches.

That said, the biggest difficulty we've encountered is being able to maintain the feel of musicians all playing with each other and reacting to each other, primarily between the drummer and everyone else. The drummer is the only one who hears the click, and actually his tracks have preproduction guitar tracks for his reference. This seemed like a good idea in principle, for the drummer to be hearing "perfect" guitar tracks, but I think it actually just makes it more difficult for him live, since he isn't even hearing the rest of the band the way he should...it kind of disconnects him, even though he's good and staying right with the click. We're planning to just drop the preproduction guitar tracks out of the drummer's tracks, and then let him hear the live guitars out of the wedge, and see if this helps to create the right vibe. Also, the rest of us would really like to hear the click, so I think we're soon going to invest in a wireless system and each have our own in-ear receiver going (of the same mix, but we each would have our own volume control on the receiver), so we can all hear the click and tracks, but quietly enough that we can all still hear each other and react/interact as a band. I know that my own level of confidence would skyrocket if I could hear a click the whole time!

Egan, you guys sound great live, but I think there are some parts where your show could sound a lot bigger if you had a track tucked into the mix!

 

[egan.]

I don't think we're headed down that road anytime soon. I was just curious what folks thought. I've definitely seen some situations where I thought it had gone too far, but then I've also known some bands who's albums were saturated with unplayable stuff (in terms of loops and keys) that refused to even consider the idea of tracks which seemed a too conservative to me.

 

[drew_drummer]

I like 65DaysOfStatic

 

[GarethSE]

I have muchos respect for any bands that can pull this off, for aforementioned reasons. You gotta be tiiiiight to do that shit.

But like, at the same time, I see the recorded medium and a live show as two totally different things.
Kayo Dot recorded Choirs Of The Eye about as OTT as they could possibly manage, with ridiculous amounts of layers then re-arranged the material for live shows, so it just sounds like a sort of different interpretation of the same song. If I wanted to hear a perfect recreation of the CD, I'd listen to the CD.
But the thing is I'm never dissapointed if I hear a band pull off shit EXACTLY like it is on the CD, but I guess the avant-gardener in me just likes hearing mildly different versions of songs live.

But like I said, I've got all the respect for the world for the bands who can pull off playing to backing tracks.

 

[musickey]

 

[jrt12]

so... clay aiken used backing tracks to get pregnant?

 

[egan.]

no he just had a guy on his back singing.

 

[Fifth_Horseman]

In one of my bands we are currently working on doing exactly that. We call our music "modern symphonic dark metal", and there are many elements on our recordings which we want to recreate live... synths, orchestral elements, industrial sound effects.

I joined that band on bass in march this year and AFAIK they have been practicing for years with the drummer getting the click and guide guitars on his ears; the main synth stuff was played by the keyboarder.

Two weeks ago we finally finished building our live rig for the backing tracks and since then are practicing with it to prepare for our first live gig this year with new lineup. The rig consists of a laptop with Cubase and M-Audio interface and gives us great flexibility.
The keyboarder still handles the main elements, but the sound effects and additional layers of synths/orchestral are on the backing tracks. All guitars, bass, drums and vocals are performed by us.
The drummer now not only gets the click and guide guitars, but also his triggered drums and overheads on his headphones and is totally independent from external monitoring.

Yes, you have to be tight and well-rehearsed to pull this off, but for us it is really worth it. With the backing tracks on the PA in our room and our drummer getting a perfect mix on his ears it really feels like playing WITHIN the CD recording.

We'll see in November how we can handle it on a real stage...
I'm sure it'll be a few gigs until we are totally accustomed to it, and maybe we will also invest into in-ear monitoring for the other bandmembers in the future... it would already be possible with our current interface.

If anyone is interested, we just finished recording three promo songs: http://www.myspace.com/aeonsconfer

 

[jrt12]

one of my fav bands, a smaller 4-piece rock band on Nuclear Blast, used to have the drummer trigger their electronica. while they were fantastic live, i wondered about this. how its executed... is it just usually the drummer starts the backing tracks and plays to a click or is it usual for there to be a number of triggered backing track sections throughout each song?

and how exactly is it harder to play to a backing track? wouldnt this negate the nervous energy onstage that can cause things to go awry (ala playing a song too fast because of nerves or starting inthe wrong key for a song?) i'm not arguing, i'm asking cuz i envision using backing tracks down the road for synths/etc

 

[Chryst Krispies]

I fucking love when bands use backing tracks.
Makes it epic as fuck.

 

[JeffTD]

FWIW, I know In Flames in particular uses in-ear monitors for the entire band, and uses mics on stage to reduce the 'isolated' feeling that can result from in-ears, especially with backing tracks playing in addition to regular tracks.

 

[arv_foh]

one of my fav bands, a smaller 4-piece rock band on Nuclear Blast, used to have the drummer trigger their electronica. while they were fantastic live, i wondered about this. how its executed... is it just usually the drummer starts the backing tracks and plays to a click or is it usual for there to be a number of triggered backing track sections throughout each song?

and how exactly is it harder to play to a backing track? wouldnt this negate the nervous energy onstage that can cause things to go awry (ala playing a song too fast because of nerves or starting inthe wrong key for a song?) i'm not arguing, i'm asking cuz i envision using backing tracks down the road for synths/etc

It's "harder" because the band has to keep perfect time in order for the tracks to come in at the right time.

There are many different ways you can do it... some playback systems use ADAT (like an Alesis hd24) but I have seen a lot of bands going Pro Tools for their tracks. They set up the tempo map in PT, and have all their tracks dropped in where they need them.

I work with a band that uses a Digi 002 rig for backing tracks and they also use PT for IEM mixes. They send me one track to FOH that is samples played in between songs (and some that are in the songs) and one track that is backing vox so I can control the levels independently. Each band member has their own IEM mix that changes for each song.