Exporting click/extras for live use

[crosstalk]

I have a band that wants me to get them the click tracks from their songs with the extras from their recordings. Extras include some strings or synths and sub drops and other random effects. I was thinking about putting the click on the right side and effects on the left side of a stereo track so they could send one side to the drummer and one side to the PA.

Does anyone have any tips or experience for doing this? I'm wondering if I should render all of the effects as a stereo track and then pan that track to the side. Or should I render as a mono track and then pan. Also, should I do anything like mastering to get it louder, or should I leave the clippers and what not off.

Thanks.

 

[arv_foh]

render as mono then pan

make it as loud and consistent as possible so the live engineer has control over the dynamics, at least that's how I prefer it.

 

[Ronixis]

I think most of the professional bands using backing tracks live are using a laptop and an audio-interface with multiple outputs. That way you can feed the click track to the drummer, and still send as many stereo and mono tracks you want to the mixing desk. I know that some bands have used one stereo track, panning the tracks as you mentioned, but I wouldn't recommend it.

 

[crosstalk]

render as mono then pan

make it as loud and consistent as possible so the live engineer has control over the dynamics, at least that's how I prefer it.

Thanks, that's what I was thinkin.

I think most of the professional bands using backing tracks live are using a laptop and an audio-interface with multiple outputs. That way you can feed the click track to the drummer, and still send as many stereo and mono tracks you want to the mixing desk. I know that some bands have used one stereo track, panning the tracks as you mentioned, but I wouldn't recommend it.

Not talking about a pro band here with those resources. Sure that's ideal, but these are some young guys looking to use something like an iPod to hopefully tighten up their live performance and add some extras into the mix.

 

[DanLights]

I've done it with my Iphone, files are rendered with click on the left and backing track on the right.

 

[greyskull]

I've done it with my Iphone, files are rendered with click on the left and backing track on the right.

this... ive got friends who've tried EVERY way of doing this, and say the best/most reliable way is on an iPod. And they have tried EVERYTHING laptops, hard disk recorders, cds etc etc.....use with a stereo splitter-xlr out to a little shitty behringer desk so the drummer can send a headphone mix of click and backing to his headphones, and the other output to FOH.

Most FOH is pretty much mono anyhow.

 

[halcyonwayband@aol.com]

this... ive got friends who've tried EVERY way of doing this, and say the best/most reliable way is on an iPod. And they have tried EVERYTHING laptops, hard disk recorders, cds etc etc.....use with a stereo splitter-xlr out to a little shitty behringer desk so the drummer can send a headphone mix of click and backing to his headphones, and the other output to FOH.

Most FOH is pretty much mono anyhow.

This is exactly how we do it - more/less bulletproof setup. we have a $70 Behringer crap mixer, and an iPod. Ran the click hard left, backing tracks hard right. Run that through a splitter cable into 2 channels on the Behringer, send one out to FOH and both to the drummer's headphones. You could do it sexier with a laptop and etc, but what happens when the HD crashes, you get a beach ball, lose a cable, drop your iLok, USB/FW cable from MBox comes loose, don't have enough electrical outlets, etc? KISS rule here....

Knock on wood, no issues thus far. Our drummer normally sets up a playlist that matches the setlist as well, keeps the set moving in a timely fashion too. It enables you to rehearse the "show" like you're on stage.

 

[joeymusicguy]

every click track / back track i've had to make has been the same

stereo wav file, left side is click, right side is front of house

hard panned with double checking of bleed

i dont change levels from album mix, so fx are all the same volume as they are on the cd
i clip the click (i use cowbells of two different tones) cuz everyone tells me they want it louder than hell

 

[crosstalk]

I just realized after sending the tracks that I put the click on the right and everyone here has said click on the left. I can't think of why this would make any difference, but if it does, please let me know.

I left the effects running at mix level, just muted all other tracks. Let the click go through the mastering chain as well.

I've been using stick clicks that I recorded myself for my click tracks, would cowbells be recommended as a better click sound? Stick clicks drive me crazy after awhile, but I'm thinking the same could be said for any click sound. I just know the default sound in Reaper and other DAW's is generally atrocious.

 

[Raptor7]

We use a laptop with Cubase through a multi output USB board. No problems so far. We use Cubase because of the Arranger track. This way we can "draw" the parts of the song in colored boxes and markers in order for the drummer to know what part we play and/or jump to a specific part through a simple keystroke.

 

[Z3R0]

We're "testing" with a laptop running Reaper to the following:

-Live Samples (w/ Click obviously)
-Run Drumagog for kick trigger (slate samples live!)
-Control our lights to the show (DMXIS KICKS ASS)
-5 Independent in-ear monitor mixes

And putting it all in this:

Using one of my Profire2626's 8in-8out analog this takes care of it all! No FOH mixers, Reaper is our mixer! Load up the tracks, volumes of eachother are consistent from show to show. Just run Preamp out from guitars, split the DI from bass and vocals and put it all into the profire. Stereo samples, headphone jack in the front for our drummer, rackmount 4 sennheiser iew, have all the routing and data saved in a Reaper session for our show. Drummer the number of the song track, gives him 2 measures to lead in and he's locked. Then we can all control how much of eachother we want to hear. I'm still working out a few kicks still... but overall it's running amazingly! Backup live will be an iPod of course though...

If anyone remembers i started a thread asking about live dmx laptop controlling, i saw animals as leaders do it, nile did it, plenty others too. The best program i've found was $260 comes with the interface too. It runs as a VST so you can control it with midi flawlessly! This sort of live stuff has been eating away at me for the last 2 months but i've figured most of it out. I'd be happy to help anyone if they are more curious about my setup as well!

 

[halcyonwayband@aol.com]

That's epic bro.....wow....

 

[arv_foh]

We're "testing" with a laptop running Reaper to the following:

-Live Samples (w/ Click obviously)
-Run Drumagog for kick trigger (slate samples live!)
-Control our lights to the show (DMXIS KICKS ASS)
-5 Independent in-ear monitor mixes

And putting it all in this:

Using one of my Profire2626's 8in-8out analog this takes care of it all! No FOH mixers, Reaper is our mixer! Load up the tracks, volumes of eachother are consistent from show to show. Just run Preamp out from guitars, split the DI from bass and vocals and put it all into the profire. Stereo samples, headphone jack in the front for our drummer, rackmount 4 sennheiser iew, have all the routing and data saved in a Reaper session for our show. Drummer the number of the song track, gives him 2 measures to lead in and he's locked. Then we can all control how much of eachother we want to hear. I'm still working out a few kicks still... but overall it's running amazingly! Backup live will be an iPod of course though...

If anyone remembers i started a thread asking about live dmx laptop controlling, i saw animals as leaders do it, nile did it, plenty others too. The best program i've found was $260 comes with the interface too. It runs as a VST so you can control it with midi flawlessly! This sort of live stuff has been eating away at me for the last 2 months but i've figured most of it out. I'd be happy to help anyone if they are more curious about my setup as well!

I helped a band set up the exact same thing except it was done with Pro Tools. If you've got about 10 grand to spend, not a bad idea...

 

[xFkx]

Sorry to hijack this thread with another question, but i see that Z34O said that he will be using slate samples for live.. well..

I've got a question for the FOH sound guys, what would you suggest for a kick drum sound ?

I've been using slate's black kick, but somehow it doesn't cut it, lately a band came with a td3 and thir stock td3 kick had way more punch, although it wasn't as high fidelity as our slate kick, i think it sounded way better in a live setting...


I'm kinda lost on what kick drum samples to follow, and I don't have the comfort or testing out different kicks before a show

 

[JonWormwood]

We're "testing" with a laptop running Reaper to the following:

-Live Samples (w/ Click obviously)
-Run Drumagog for kick trigger (slate samples live!)
-Control our lights to the show (DMXIS KICKS ASS)
-5 Independent in-ear monitor mixes

And putting it all in this:

Using one of my Profire2626's 8in-8out analog this takes care of it all! No FOH mixers, Reaper is our mixer! Load up the tracks, volumes of eachother are consistent from show to show. Just run Preamp out from guitars, split the DI from bass and vocals and put it all into the profire. Stereo samples, headphone jack in the front for our drummer, rackmount 4 sennheiser iew, have all the routing and data saved in a Reaper session for our show. Drummer the number of the song track, gives him 2 measures to lead in and he's locked. Then we can all control how much of eachother we want to hear. I'm still working out a few kicks still... but overall it's running amazingly! Backup live will be an iPod of course though...

If anyone remembers i started a thread asking about live dmx laptop controlling, i saw animals as leaders do it, nile did it, plenty others too. The best program i've found was $260 comes with the interface too. It runs as a VST so you can control it with midi flawlessly! This sort of live stuff has been eating away at me for the last 2 months but i've figured most of it out. I'd be happy to help anyone if they are more curious about my setup as well!

What light hardware/dimmers/whatever they are, are you using? I'd be very interested in learning about this.

 

[colynomial]

My band has backing orchestra, keyboards AND bass guitar that we've been running from a laptop with protools through several outputs. My advice: DO NOT DO THIS hahaha- it's a technical and logistical nightmare. Unless you're on tour with Metalica and have years of setup time, roadies and a dedicated sound guy it's just way more trouble than it's worth. The iPod method definately seems the most logical route for anything that can be reasonably squeezed onto one mono track.

 

[Z3R0]

What light hardware/dimmers/whatever they are, are you using? I'd be very interested in learning about this.

We bought some Chauvet ColorPalletes and an American DJ MegaFlash strobe. The program/interface i use is DMXIS, which knows everything about the lights when you tell it what you're using. Super easy to program, no more control box bullcrap. That took FOREVER to put together scenes and stuff, plus my drunken friends weren't that good controling the strobes at shows lol

 

[Z3R0]

Sorry to hijack this thread with another question, but i see that Z34O said that he will be using slate samples for live.. well..

I've got a question for the FOH sound guys, what would you suggest for a kick drum sound ?

I've been using slate's black kick, but somehow it doesn't cut it, lately a band came with a td3 and thir stock td3 kick had way more punch, although it wasn't as high fidelity as our slate kick, i think it sounded way better in a live setting...


I'm kinda lost on what kick drum samples to follow, and I don't have the comfort or testing out different kicks before a show

We've been running a DMPRO for kick sound before, which always made us stand out from other bands, with the overall kick sound anyway. But so far i've had no mix problems with Slate Kick 10a.

 

[Z3R0]

My band has backing orchestra, keyboards AND bass guitar that we've been running from a laptop with protools through several outputs. My advice: DO NOT DO THIS hahaha- it's a technical and logistical nightmare. Unless you're on tour with Metalica and have years of setup time, roadies and a dedicated sound guy it's just way more trouble than it's worth. The iPod method definately seems the most logical route for anything that can be reasonably squeezed onto one mono track.

Like i said, we'll have that option as a backup if something goes wrong. But as i mentioned above, there are plenty of touring acts out there that do this right now. Animals as Leaders wasn't even headlining, but they had 2 trees with technostrobe rgb's and 4 colorpalettes upfront. They have one dedicated tech to set these up during there changeovers, which we will have as well. I understand the stress behind it, and we won't use it for EVERY show, but believe me it really brings a show that stands out.

 

[ParsonsMatt]

...

And then the soundman gets his hands on your mix and it all goes to hell...



That's been my experience with the laptop rig. Works SO GOOD when you get a good mix. Doesn't work at all when you don't.