Tradfusion

Thanks everyone, I know peoples opinions on this thorny subject differs drastically!! I know recording your own tracks is probably the best way to do it, but what about downloading from here: [url="http://www.karaoke-version.com/custombackingtrack/"]http://www.karaoke-version.com/custombackingtrack/[/url] .... what do you guys think of that idea? you can edit the tracks as you like and they are MP3 quality ... then set up all the click track, headphone amp mumbo jumbo etc and a decent MP3 player... its certainly not the same as having real musicians but when we are trying to scrape a living from low paying pub gigs and if this actually worked... I know one thing, if it sounds really bad and we feel like its too much of a bluff job then it will be canned tout suite! What else would we need to make this work ie cables, leads etc..many thanks.. Dave :blush:

I understand most people are dead against backing tracks, indeed I'm not too keen on the one man band thing with backing tracks myself, we may not ever go for this when we hear what it sounds like, it might be terrible...as for cheating, well all the musicians in the band will be playing their instruments as normal, so the only thing not being played live will be the keyboards in most songs or maybe some loops, bits of brass etc. I just dont think we have a full enough sound with one guitar player trying to cover all the parts and there are definate and noticable gaps in some tunes. The rockier stuff is obviously easier to get away with with the 3 instruments but not so the more involved fuller sounding tunes... A keyboard player is a luxury we cannot afford for alot of the small pub gigs we do, they just wont pay us... Is there someone out there who can tell me they have worked with this, where they got their MP3 or WAV tracks from, and how it is set up for a live gig? If the answer is a definate NOOOOO then so be it, but I am still curious.............

Hiya Frank, We sometimes have a keyboard player but smaller pubs wont pay the 5th person, so the money is the issue... we are probably playing in Strandhill that weekend so might get to meet up for a chat, we have a resident gig in The Strand on a sunday night... I'll send you my mobile number in a PM and you can text me if you are around... The backing track thing is our least favoured option but we'd like to at least try it out before dismissing it. Its how we can do it that I need to find out in the first place!! Dave [quote name='machinehead' post='573010' date='Aug 18 2009, 03:17 PM']My own opinion? Get a good keyboard player. He/ she can do brass, strings, sax etc and it keeps it real live music. Piano players are rarely that useful on the keyboard in my experience so don't fall for that one. Still, it does devide the money more and you might not want that. Frank. PS> Coming to Strandhill on 28 August for the weekend. Are you gigging?[/quote]

I think I may have broached this question about a year back, we are still noodling around the idea of filling out our 4 piece (guitar, bass, drums & vocalist) with some backing tracks to cover the sometimes large gaping holes when we attempt to play the more contemporary charty stuff in our set. We want to exclude/edit the tracks to remove bass, drums and lead guitar and basically leave on some rhythm guitar, keyboards and other fiddly bits just to fill out the sound, we have a good vocalist & BV's... I think midi files are almost a thing of the past and its all MP3 these days, any advice on this pleeeeease.... :wacko:

Thanks for that S.P, I'll get some of those to start with...Cheers

Re-opening this one, I get this dizzyness ALOT nowadays, it started years ago and was'nt too bad at first but now I need to use a stool to prop against for alost every gig. Crash symbols drive my ears crazy and I physically get a jolt if I'm too near a loud crash, some notes do it as well, mostly very loud guitar but some bass notes too. Its a real pain and I suspect some damage has been done to my ears already from 20+ years of loud bands and never wearing any ear plugs in case I might be laughed at... the ususal !! I've been to an ENT specialist and he said my ears seem to be in decent enough shape considering, but recommended protecting them from now on, so laughing aside I'm on the hunt for some good musicians ear plugs, any recommendations appreciated....

Just to hi-jack a wee bit, there was a few mentions of ear protection earlier, I have begun to get grief with my lugs which is not surprising after 20+ years of playing bass in different bands and I wonder if anyone can give some specific tips on ear plugs, ie types you use, where to get them etc...cheers