Using backing tracks - hints and tips?

Snags

Not sure if this will come to anything, but there's the sniff of a possibility of some small-scale live music in the future. If it takes the form of a modified 'open mic' setting (i.e. turn up with acoustic and just bash some stuff out) then that's fine, got that covered.

However, it might be more of a mini-gig scenario, which would mean going electric gives a bit more scope but ... no band at the moment, so rather than Billy Bragg it, I was thinking about what would be needed to play backing tracks. This would be for (mostly) originals, so I'd knock the tracks together myself, but would need some kind of gizmo to play them from, ideally something where it's easy to trigger them, stop, start etc. and not need anyone else off to the side with their phone plugged into the PA.

I guess the simple thing is a laptop or a tablet, but was wondering about foot-triggered devices or other bits of cleverness? At this stage strictly un-paid amateur night stuff, so not looking for things that cost megabucks, but I have no idea what solutions are even out there.

Cirrus

Something like an RC-30 looper or equivalent would be good for this - you can load backing tracks on via usb and control them with a footswitch.

bloodandtears

You can get bluetooth pedals that can interact with the tablet software..

e.g.

Musicwolf

I've gigged as a trio and then a duo with backing tracks.  Lead and backing vocals, one guitar and, when it was a trio, bass.  Drums, extra guitars and occasional keys were on backing tracks which I recorded myself at home.

I used an iPad for play back (an app called SoundCue) with a phone as backup.  The backing was recorded with the instruments in mono panned hard right and a count in / click panned hard left.  RH to FOH, LH to foldback.

It took me a while to get a mix which I was happy with.  You really need to know the songs inside out and be on your game.  The backing doesn't take prisoners.  If you fuck up and miss a cue then the backing don't care.  You may be a couple of bars behind but that M8 break is going to come in right where in should whether you're ready or not.

Funnily enough I've just started to go through the set list for one of my bands putting the backing together.  I figured that it's more likely to be me and the singer / guitarist only until middle of next year.

Danny1969

It's a bit pricey but the SPD from Roland is superb for this as you can load in whole BT's but also use your feet to bring on other parts or jam with yourself on the spot. It's better than a looper because you don't need to have the same sequence going round and round like you do with a looper. You can put a verse in one pad, bridge in another and chorus in another and use other pads to being in various bits. You can also just put in chords and literally provide backing for yourself with your foot ... not tied to a sequence like a looper. Literally free form. 

ICBM

Musicwolf said:

You really need to know the songs inside out and be on your game.  The backing doesn't take prisoners.  If you fuck up and miss a cue then the backing don't care.  You may be a couple of bars behind but that M8 break is going to come in right where in should whether you're ready or not.

lol

This is so familiar from the first and only time I ever played live with a drum machine .

Snags

Thanks all. If it happens, rest assured that there will be a lot of practice to the backing tracks, and none of my usual casual deviation from the norm

Musicwolf

ICBM said:

Musicwolf said:

You really need to know the songs inside out and be on your game.  The backing doesn't take prisoners.  If you fuck up and miss a cue then the backing don't care.  You may be a couple of bars behind but that M8 break is going to come in right where in should whether you're ready or not.

lol

This is so familiar from the first and only time I ever played live with a drum machine .

I can still remember an early gig as a three piece where we went into 'These Boots are Made for Walking'.  As the bass is doing the walk down the bass player loses the click, meanwhile the singer has started playing a tambourine.

I can hear that neither the bass player nor the tambourine are in time with the click (I'm not sure that they were in time with each other) and the drums are going to come back any second.  It was like watching a train wreck in slow motion.  In thoses circumstances all you can do is stop the track, make light of it and move on.

PolarityMan

Musicwolf said:

  You may be a couple of bars behind but that M8 break is going to come in right where in should whether you're ready or not.

So full disclaimer since we havent gigged with this setup yet but when we came back from covid we made a concerted effort to play with a click track and backing synths etc on the tracks that had them recorded. one this I did was went through each track and modified the click so it plays 1 bar at a higher pitch jsut before a change happens to help keep everything in the same place. 

TheBigDipper

ICBM said:

Musicwolf said:

You really need to know the songs inside out and be on your game.  The backing doesn't take prisoners.  If you fuck up and miss a cue then the backing don't care.  You may be a couple of bars behind but that M8 break is going to come in right where in should whether you're ready or not.

lol

This is so familiar from the first and only time I ever played live with a drum machine .

When I restarted playing with other people after a few years of career building and just playing at home, I found myself playing with some workmates of my wife. We were of quite differing experience and ability, but put together a setlist and did some gigs in small pubs with a drum machine. (I used a Marshall MGFX15, IIRC, and was easily heard). The keyboard players job was to listen for when we started to drift from the drum machines tempo (and we did - frequently) and press a button to reset the start of the bar to match where we'd drifted off to. 

I wouldn't do it again, and I certainly wouldn't play over a pre-recorded backing track. Far too fraught with danger! :-) 

ICBM

Musicwolf said:

I can still remember an early gig as a three piece where we went into 'These Boots are Made for Walking'.  As the bass is doing the walk down the bass player loses the click, meanwhile the singer has started playing a tambourine.

I can hear that neither the bass player nor the tambourine are in time with the click (I'm not sure that they were in time with each other) and the drums are going to come back any second.  It was like watching a train wreck in slow motion.  In thoses circumstances all you can do is stop the track, make light of it and move on.

This! Likewise, my experience was with three-piece - guitar/vocals, bass (me), keyboards - and a drum machine that had been programmed really well by the singer-songwriter, so it sounded like a real drummer - it had proper song structures. Ironically if it had been just repeating a simple pattern there would have been no problem...

Somewhere in the middle of a song we missed a cue and ended up playing an extra two bars going into the middle eight. All through the middle eight all of us were well aware of the impending chaos when the drum machine would launch into the big fill before the final choruses ahead of the musicians, but none of us had any idea what to do about it and tried to fix it in three different ways - in the end there were probably four different songs being played at the same time .

Snags

If I do it, I will at least only have myself to blame.