SHOULD BANDS PLAY WITH A BACKING TRACK?

Hey Guys!

Should bands play with a backing track?

Leave your thoughts below?

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[RockWeller]

Nothing wrong with that really, but better have a good soundman!

[mikeandersonwa]

How does this barely have 4, 300 views after a year and a half? Damn you've grown a lot in the last year!

[dgenerated]

I don't have a problem with a basic track playing so long as the band is singing and playing live over it. Unless a band wants to employ outside help, sometimes it's needed, like when a band has one guitarist!. Problem is some bands out there are charging fans (good.money) for a karaoke show!..

[seanpaul]

All for backing tracks in the back when part of a well practiced act. Too often I see acts following the tracks effectively putting them up front and turning shows into bad karaoke.

[HowToLootBrazil]

you just said it, i don't wanna compromise on the show either, and as my tracks include synths sounds and percussion, i sacrifice everything to the song and without those synths and percussion that we can't play live as a three-piece-indie-rock-outfit, the songs just wouldn't work, so backing tracks are the solution. and, you know, it's 2021, some of the biggest festivals are headlined by djs that just play fully produced and mastered tracks and the crowd goes crazy, nobody cares because it's all about the songs. only some of those stick-in-the-mud musician nazis complain about this like "booh, that's not live" but who cares about them anyway?

[johnnystiner]

Im in a band a we do it, it actually can help you to learn timing really well, it think the key is don't over produce it, make sure your playing the song and not a track, the track should be kept to a minimum one or two instruments. We usually have a drum kit and maybe another instrument but we are the show.

[jd_baird_guitar]

Hey Damo. Hope you see this

Just wanna get your opinion on a solo artist playing with backtracks?
E.g. a Guitarist, singing and playing along to a bass and drum backtrack.
Thanks

[AJWalkincoma]

Totally agree. My band use backing tracks live but not had anyone mention they don't agree with it yet, it's mostly synths, samples and sound effects. And it's much easier than dealing with another member in the band.

[GraemeMarkNI]

We use tracks: rhythm guitars, synths, organs, pianos, vocals. I was a purist before, but the argument that brought me round was this: The bands that played before and after you on the same stage are probably using tracks, but the average punter doesn't know that; all they hear is your band sounding weaker than those other two. 

It's funny you gave the example of BV tracks first though, because they're the ones I'd be most shy about using. People know right away that no one is singing that part! Fourth wall broken! 

Everyone should sing.

[rickdey]

A female vocalist/keyboardist/sax player/ flute/clarinet/guitar player who I play in a 5 piece rock cover band with teamed up to put a 2 piece duo with myself for small gigs to make some extra cash. I myself play electric and acoustic guitar, keyboards and bass guitar and also sing. I produce all the live keyboard sounds we play with in MainStage. We harmonize very well together and depending on where we play I have over 280 songs that I produced with drums and bass tracks that we play live with. I have the songs with the backing tracks stored inside my keyboard rig. We do alot of winery's and pubs and play alot of 80's ballads. I have a small home recording studio in my basement, where I use drum software to build the songs and then add the bass line and record it, and then play songs with real instruments and real vocal's. We let people that come to see us, know that we play with tracks right from the start of the gig. So they know it's just not karaoke. We've had people come up to us during a gig and ask to sing a song and tell them we don't do it, but tell them I can play it on piano if you want to sing it. I tell them they have to look up the lyrics on their phones as I don't have them and they do and their kinda stunned that we don't have a karaoke backing track for it. We've also implemented a " Name that Tune" type game where I play a snippet of a song and they guess the name of the song and artist, they get a drink from us if they get it. If you let people know what to expect before hand, I think they are more tuned to it, especially when you play Fleetwood Mac and your singer sounds like Stevie Nicks, or when she does the sax solo at the start of Overkill by Men At Work! And with that many songs we never play the same songs back to back gigs!

[TheeAgris]

Great video! Always useful information :)

[DrYanItor]

The Who uses a backing track for many of their tracks, especially Baba O’Reilly and Won’t Get Fooled Again...yet they’re still The Who. U2 use it for the opening of Where The Streets Have No Name, yet they’re still U2. Any DJ in the world rarely feature any live performance outside what they do with the desk to the pre-recorded track, yet they are still the DJ that they are. I agree that it’s really the overall performance. If the singer can’t sing in tune or the band don’t have stage presence, then having a backing track or not shouldn’t be the first problem a band should be contemplating.

[scootergreen]

NO! I'm a musician and I want a concert to be truly live! Only if you are a one man band and you use a loop station like on leads that's Ok because you have played the tracks it's you playing to yourself.

[iFkNxLegend]

Is it just me or does this guy sound a like Richard Hammond?

[yang.tsanglir]

Thank u sir really learnt alot..
So is it safe for me to perform live with my band with backing vocal track

[eddieaugustin]

That’s an amazingly inspiring story… as a rapper singer I am going on tour and there is a debate about performing over the vocals or not… I was thinking that I like these hip hop festivals where the rapper performs over their vocals but the vocal track is a little bit softer than the live one…. Would you say that’s a good idea? What would the audience prefer most?

[robertoferrarini]

The point here is how you consider a "great a brilliant show". For me it is not hearing a keyboardist or even a choir vocalist who's not on the stage, I probably can resist some little inserts but must be limited. I understand your point and the economic implications however if I go to a music concert I expect it to be real and not partially a fake.

[blahblahblahblah]

Brilliantly said. I was always a purist and felt 'ripped off' by live music when I thought (a) they didn't sound like their albums at all or (b) they sound too perfectly like their albums, which made me think I was seeing a complete mime act (*cough* RHCP).

You've just tipped me over to the other side. I'm inclined to think now that it's about giving a good show by any means possible. It still takes loads of skill to sing and play live with a backing track and if it sounds better, why not?

Great vid

[bobbysbackingtracks]

Can be very helpful, but have to know your craft.

[santiagovonraesfeld]

Hey Damian! So to continue the discussion, should a solo singer/guitar player use a backing track of the rest of the instruments? (second guitar, bass, synth and drums) or would you recommend using a looping pedal and make all of the music on stage like Tash Sultana or Ed Sheeran? What's your opinion on this? Still think you have a collection of great T-shirts XD