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Covers bands with backing tracks?

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  • pintspillerpintspiller Frets: 994
    edited February 2018
    Sounds like too complicated setup for our band. The ability to send one mix to drummer and another to the band would really need a sound guy, which means another mouth to feed in our case. The fact that we have three vocalists who don't play is a bloody curse at times!
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  • TrudeTrude Frets: 914
    I just dislike the whole notion of trying to sound like a studio recording.  Whether you're the original artist or a cover band, just play with conviction, give it your all, and the audience will fill in any blanks from the pure excitement of it all.

    I think audiences are getting lazier and lazier by being served up pristine, produced performances all the time.  
    Some of the gear, some idea

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  • guitarfishbayguitarfishbay Frets: 7953
    edited February 2018
    I couldn’t disagree more. Do what you need to in order to put on a show. It’s entertainment not a political statement. If your audience thinks it is shit then don’t do it - you have to be tight to pull it off anyway so it’s not like a band can cheat their way to a great sound unless they’re literally miming. With some genres it just won’t fly but for a covers show I don’t see why not if it means you can incorporate key parts of songs you are missing.

    Exact same thing goes for recording. Many people think it is easy to get a polished sound, it really isn’t otherwise every Youtube demo would sound like a pro album track and well clearly most don’t.
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  • Danny1969 said:
    The real answer really is to get a keyboard player, it then just opens up everything song choice wise. Easier said than done though I know
    Don't forget to electrify any key an octave or more below middle C otherwise they'll eat the whole mix.
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  • FatPeteFatPete Frets: 683
    Good enough for The Oo - a bit more than 20 years ago too.


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  • MagicPigDetectiveMagicPigDetective Frets: 2992
    edited February 2018
    Saw Ginger Wildheart last night, supporting the Levellers. Just him and Jason Edwards from Wolfsbane on acoustics, but they did have a backing tracks, some just bass, others a simple beat. It was subtle and worked well with the songs, I didn’t mind it at all. 
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  • Either way can sound great or bad, it comes down to playing and attitude which ever way
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  • ESBlondeESBlonde Frets: 3576
    There' a great local band that do 3 different acts with tracks. Drummer IEMS click plus bass guitar and keys. One of the bands is country so the lack of visible guitar might be obvious but the sound is great and they get plenty of work.
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  • darcymdarcym Frets: 1297

    I hate this, I want to see a band play live, if you don't have the musicians to cover the parts (or can't justify them for say 2 songs) adapt the song, this is what makes live music live, playing to a click to allow for backing tracks, may as well just have a backing track and singer.

    For me - be live and use what you've got, if a song is really that bad without the extra parts, don't play it, chose another.

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  • Tried it in rehearsal a few times - nothing that fancy, just the organ sounds for a couple of Kinks songs and piano for hard to handle by the black crowes.

    Our drummer just couldn't get the hang of playing to a click and despite trying all evening it sounded total shite

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  • darcym said:

    I hate this, I want to see a band play live, if you don't have the musicians to cover the parts (or can't justify them for say 2 songs) adapt the song, this is what makes live music live, playing to a click to allow for backing tracks, may as well just have a backing track and singer.

    For me - be live and use what you've got, if a song is really that bad without the extra parts, don't play it, chose another.

    That really sums up my gut reaction on this.

    I think partially it's a "new toy syndrome" where the drummer has the fancy kit and wants to use it on everything. I can see where he's coming from of course as I've suggested stuff in the past based on a new pedal purchase ;-)
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  • TrudeTrude Frets: 914
    darcym said:

    I hate this, I want to see a band play live, if you don't have the musicians to cover the parts (or can't justify them for say 2 songs) adapt the song, this is what makes live music live, playing to a click to allow for backing tracks, may as well just have a backing track and singer.

    For me - be live and use what you've got, if a song is really that bad without the extra parts, don't play it, chose another.


    This x100

    In most of the bands I play in, we can react to the crowd at a moment's notice.  I don't just mean adding an extra chorus or solo at the end - I mean extending a pause for effect, milking a bit of banter or humour based on something going on in the room, throwing in extra musical interludes spontaneously, etc etc.  This is the difference between really engaging a crowd and just playing to a pre-determined, rigid script.  Try doing that with backing tracks.


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  • Our wedding band has played hundreds of gigs since forming in 2010. We offer a five piece which is completely live (drums, bass, guitar, keys, vocalist), a quartet (keys dropped), an acoustic duo (just for background music phase rather than dancing). However by far our most popular format is our trio which has backing tracked drums and keyboard parts (self produced) with us performing live bass, guitar and vocals. We get rave reviews and only once in eight years have we ever heard anyone say that they wish it had been all live - that was a comment from a drummer who was in the audience at a wedding. Paying punters just don't notice - it's just us Musos that think it's cheating! This format has massive advantages in terms of cost and the space it takes up so appeals to a lot of customers. I personally do prefer playing with a completely live band, but have agreat time doing the trio thing too.
    Dave C
     Acoustic/Electric Guitarist
     LeFunk! Wedding and Function Band
     www.lefunk.co.uk
     www.facebook.com/lefunkuk
     www.twitter.com/lefunk_band
     www.soundcloud.com/lefunk-3

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  • EricTheWearyEricTheWeary Frets: 16253
    edited February 2018
    lefunk said:
    Our wedding band has played hundreds of gigs since forming in 2010. We offer a five piece which is completely live (drums, bass, guitar, keys, vocalist), a quartet (keys dropped), an acoustic duo (just for background music phase rather than dancing). However by far our most popular format is our trio which has backing tracked drums and keyboard parts (self produced) with us performing live bass, guitar and vocals. We get rave reviews and only once in eight years have we ever heard anyone say that they wish it had been all live - that was a comment from a drummer who was in the audience at a wedding. Paying punters just don't notice - it's just us Musos that think it's cheating! This format has massive advantages in terms of cost and the space it takes up so appeals to a lot of customers. I personally do prefer playing with a completely live band, but have agreat time doing the trio thing too.



    I'm not sure that punters don't notice as such - I guess some do, some don't. My sister came to see my band and still thinks I'm the bassist, for example, so knowledge of what people do in bands can be a bit limited. Maybe it's more that they don't care or are just accepting of it and it's also horses for courses. 

    At my nephew's wedding there was a trio ( vocals, guitar, sax) plus backing tapes and they went down well and I shuffled around to Mustang Sally. We just wanted something fun to dance to, bit more presence than a DJ. If I went to a blues club I wouldn't have expected the same thing, I'd want musicians interacting. It would be silly to apply the same set of values. 

    Ooh, relevant example:  at a friend's wedding he had Mike Sanchez do a short solo set . Mike's gift to them as a friend. If you don't know Mike he is an experienced muso, talented pianist who has worked with Jeff Beck, Bill Wyman,etc. Went down like a lead balloon. People didn't get it. I've seen Mike play in a club and tear the roof off with a similar set. 

    Edit: that's probably not a good example about backing tracks ,just the horses thing :flushed: 
    Tipton is a small fishing village in the borough of Sandwell. 
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  • I think it's ok for the function band end of the market. I'd never do it, partly because the fun of it is seeing what you can do with what you've got. Also I imagine the rigidity of syncing in with backing tracks, clicks etc is stifling when you just want to perform. I don't want IEMs and all that bollocks. 

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  • Just one thing I didn't mention - while it's true that our clients or guests at weddings have never had any problem with our backing track supported trio, there are some public venues we play at who will only book us as our four piece or five piece band. They have a policy of  no backing tracks. One of these is a packed out every weekend live music club. Worth bearing this in mind - keep your options open!
    Dave C
     Acoustic/Electric Guitarist
     LeFunk! Wedding and Function Band
     www.lefunk.co.uk
     www.facebook.com/lefunkuk
     www.twitter.com/lefunk_band
     www.soundcloud.com/lefunk-3

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  • I played in a covers band that also went out doing gigs playing music from James Bond films. It was usually a big 10 to 12 piece band. The band leader wanted to be able to do smaller gigs, hence a cut down version with backing tapes.

    I ended up helping with a lot of the recording of the backing tracks and got paid to do it, which was where I had my big learning curve with Reaper.

    It was interesting playing with backing tracks and allowed us to do some smaller, lower paid gigs, but far from ideal.

    It's not a competition.
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