Have You Tried Using Backing Tracks Live?

The use of live backing tracks is a notion that's been gaining popularity in some music circles these days. Each day more and more bands and performers are realizing how backing tracks can help to improve their show and make them sound better, more professional, and more complete.

There are some guidelines to follow though. I know of some performers that do little more than buy a karaoke track. Run it through the PA, and jam along side the track. This in my (humble) opinion is not how to use backing tracks on stage. In fact I would think that using them like this may be the cause of some musicians not supporting the use of tracks.

I play in several bands. I sing and play guitar and have been for years. I've been doing it for so long now that there's simply not too many songs I'm not able to do successfully. I can remember a time not too many years ago that there were songs we would have liked to be able to do, but due to the fact that the keyboard line in the song was so important, we just could do the song any justice at all by not having the part there. We didn't require a keyboard player for the vast majority of our set list though so we just didn't do the songs.

Then I met a guy that introduced me to using tracks. He recorded all of his keyboard parts and then later added a click track to them. He separated the tracks so that the music was on the right channel and the click was on the left channel. The track was recorded in an MP3 format and loaded onto an MP3 player. By using a signal splitting cable or "Y" type cable we were able to send the click track straight to the drummer (who was hearing headphones) and the music went straight to the main mixer and was sent back to the band to hear through the monitors. It was as if we had a keyboard player on stage with us. The drummer simply keeps time to the song using the click track in his ear and presto! We're able to do songs we were never able to do before.

Since that day I've realized that backing tracks can help improve your show by adding all the little nuances a song has on an album like percussion and horns etc. without having to hire the appropriate people so they're really a great way for a band on a budget to get a huge sound.

I even use backing tracks with my original material. Any production stuff I add to songs like strings or filler pads are recorded to a backing track right away so I can do the songs live, the way I want an audience to hear it on a record or CD.

I generally urge people using tracks to use them only for the instruments they don't have with them on stage. Anything more than that becomes a karaoke show and doesn't help the band to sound live.

About this Author

Ian Kurz is a singer/guitarist that has been performing for many years and is the owner of the website www.backing-tracks-for-bands.com where he has all kinds of info related to using backing tracks on stage. Be sure to check out his downloadable backing tracks when you visit.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ian_Kurz