I'm 66 and don't desire to play in bands no more. I'm interested in playing again but at home, with backing tracks, floor pedals and headphones. Thanks for relevant material.
Great tips. On tip #10, we were playing this gig when the drummer's bass pedal broke; while he did a quick, 5-6 minute reparation, we were able to continue because we did a couple of songs with drums in the backing tracks... files that we used for drumless practice. Same thing happened another time: the guitarist was involved in a traffic accident on the way to the show and we where able to start on time playing songs that were not too guitar heavy but with the guitar parts in the backing tracks.
I've been struggling with backing tracks for about 3 years. And you managed to gather and organize all the information I found and more. Your channel is exactly what I've been needing. Thanks, I really appreciate it.
I can't believe how useful this was. I have been using backing tracks for about 5 years now, tried several ways of doing it an I found lost of things that I never thought of. Big THANK YOU, man!
Awesome video. Have played for a living all my life (heading toward 78) And now have the desire to do some busking with light drums and bass looped. Thank you for dragging me into the 21st century!
I love two tips in particular: including spoken cues (e.g. "4, 3, 4, 3, 2, 1"); and giving the drummer one knob to boost the level of the click track. I used to play in a Blondie tribute band that used quite a few backing tracks, and we did occasionally get out of sync, usually because our drummer didn't quite hear the start of the click, so ended up a beat or two behind the track.
Wow, experience is undeniably valuable! When you gig as much as you apparently do you quickly figure out what works and what doesn’t work so well. Thank you so much !!
@10:07 THANK YOU! My drummer stumbled onto this whilst messing with a barrage of Y splitters and junk but I knew there had to be a more efficient way. Then I found your video! Not only does this give the drummer the monitor mix from FOH, they now have the click & backing on all separate channels.
I'm planning my first ever solo performance after being a home studio musician for the past 10+ years and this video gave me some amazing tips! Especially the idea of putting spoken cues into the click track was something I hadn't even thought about! Thanks a lot!
G'day mate and greetings from Melbourne Australia. Love your videos man. Every single tip on this one is 100& spot on... There's one more tip which you may have already discussed in another video but that is to try and get the backing tracks running at similar loudness levels so you're not having to turn volumes up and down between each track.. Thanks heaps for the app tips too.
It helped me realize that I can add backing tracks with various instruments and leave out certain instruments. I also learned that some things I'm already doing, such as having an extra smartphone, and using a click track to count into my songs.
This is great info here!! Plannin on a busking career next Spring :-) Using electric guitar and backing tracks so your vids are invaluable. Thx so much
Fantastic video! This has given me the confidence I needed to take my 'one man band' live with a laptop in absence of having a drummer - hopefully getting out there in any capacity will help me find one so it doesn't look as awkward on stage!
This is nice for all the new kids: and for me, I still pick up some good tips from this. I'm into loops now, but I still use tracks. I remember how everyone was telling me that it was not real music, but they weren't getting my pay and it was so much simpler for me. Thanks for all the great ideas.
Hi Scott, I discovered your channel a few weeks ago and have been doing a deep dive in all of your material. Your explanations have already been super helpful and I love how you don’t overcomplicate matters. A big thank you for that. 🙏
I started playing live in the late 80's through the 90's and through 2002. I had a great career since then in flight simulation, training air force pilots and working for the FAA in research and development. I'm out of that now and am going to play life music for whatever time I have left. Your videos are great for catching me up on the tech of life music now. We used none of this back then. So thanks a million man!
Excellent breakdown of the backing track pros , cons and tips. Im in a duo and it always seems to be some kind of compromise, too much , too little , none , everything.. 🤯 i think you nailed at the end when you say people are there to enjoy themselves whether youre a one man show or a 10 piece band, so if youre having fun on stage the audience will enjoy it too. 👍🎶
Thank you for this, Scott. I teach lessons for a living and I often get some of my students together to perform for their family and friends. I often find myself playing the role of mix engineer, musical director, stage tech, guitarist, and percussionist all in the same gig. I've been looking into backing tracks to elevate our production value as well as lessen my need to accompany them so I can focus on mixing. This has been immensely helpful and you are an excellent teacher!
I just did my first gig using your tip for sending click and tracks thru a dual DI to my personal mixer. Having the ability to control volume on the monitor mix, click, and tracks was fantastic. Thanks a million for the tip!
"Focus on the performance" mate, I've just found your channel. I work as a drummer/MD/Playback engineer and I love hearing other peoples methods. I'm always learning. So much useful info here. I always think - I'd rather have all the options and know how to utilise them just in case. Then your own taste comes into play when using tracks. I toured fro years with an artist that had lots on track and we only had vocals, electric guitar and drums live. The general paying public just want a great performance... all this stuff can enhance that. Thanks!
Hi Scott, I have learned a lot from your videos. Thank you. My drummer hated the idea of playing to tracks and a click but I wanted to put my keyboard on backing tracks so I could get out from behind the keys and focus on being a better frontman. With a programed click the performance was stilted and sterile, the drummer really hated it! So I recorded a live “rehearsal” just the two of us without the rest of the band- drums with just 1 mic and my keys direct in one mono channel . Then I had him record his own click playing to his original drum track using a cowbell sound triggered by one key on my keyboard. This created a custom click that was based on his performance and had the natural ebb and flow/swing that was missing. This solved the issue he had with playing to a click so we did it for all our songs. (It also helped to prevent him from speeding up each song, :)
Oh man, my drummer was the same, he hated click tracks and never was able to keep steady beat so I totally gave up on backing tracks because as usual I'd be doing all the work. At least you got it going....I failed.
@@M5guitar1 yeah I know quite a few great drummers actually that can't play to a click. Kind of make some useless nowadays. Fortunately the drumline I work with now is awesome with a click. He always shined in the studio when it came time to work with the click but now we are working with backing tracks and our problem is fundage for gear. Glad I came across this video now I got a few ideas how to approach this from a different perspective as long as we can get him a click in his ear we should be all good. Great video thanks for posting new subscriber for sure.
Excellent video!! We've been using Backing Tracks (BT's) for the last 4 or 5 years. I've also been using Karaoke Version and the actual songs moggs to create them. I have a old cell phone I use as my main unit connected directly to a XR-18 Behringer. And I also have my own actual mobile, and two tablets as backups. Each musician has a monitoring app to make their own mix and I use Setlist Helper for my setlists and BT's control with a bluetooth page turner pedal to manage the show.
Awesome videos! Helped get me and my band started on backing tracks! Only having piano and drums at band practice due to musicians not showing up sucked and this has helped us round out our sound with bass backing tracks and adding keyboard layers with Moog and Hammond sounds.
Hi Scott, I really like the tip on adding players and having different versions of the backing tracks to fill the gig! Great info and video once again! Thanks
So happy I stumbled across your channel. Gonna pass this along to my grandkids so they can learn about backing tracks and using suggested gear. Great job, thanks. Just subscribed and now it's time to check out all your other videos.
Great video, Scott. Our band have been using tracks for about 12 years since our keyboard player departed (musical differences ;-) ). Only the drummer (that's me) can hear the click track. We also have song name announcements and I have a few points where I have cues to remind me that e.g. we're reaching the end of the song - as you said, some songs have seemingly endless outros - repeat until we can't remember where we are! We had been using an iPad app that our bassplayer used, but in our first post-covid gig (just in December there!) we switched that around so that I'm running the tracks using a bit of software I wrote (in Java) and running on a PC. We have the whole setlist set up in that, and before each song I can click a button to have it send out MIDI patch changes to switch patches on my kit (Roland VDrums). My feed from the desk includes the click, plus a bit of everything else, but most especially the click! That is patched through the drum module into my headphones so I have a bit of control of the levels reaching my ears and can turn up the click with one knob on the module or down if I can't hear myself play (OK, that doesn't happen very often 🙂). Next up is to convince our lead guitarist to also take a MIDI feed for pre-song patch changes - that's often the limiting factor on keeping things quick between songs, as he dances the Dashing White Sergeant on his pedal. The set manager program I wrote can also run a MIDI track alongside the audio for in-song MIDI changes, but we haven't tried that yet. Good to hear from others that are taking very similar approaches. The other thing we haven't tried is your point about having inter-song music or extended intros to cover the gaps. I might look into that... Thanks for sharing your ideas and tips.
thanks again Scott.. your info/advice is definitely helpful.. I'd like to see/hear a video of how you mix down the backing track stems to arrive to the final backing track mix.. especially from the point of view of using them for your duo setup.
Good video, one tip I'd like to add though, it may seem simple, but it can be overlooked NEVER, EVER, STREAM TRACKS. I've seen too many people rely on mobile data or venue wifi (assuming the venue even has wifi) to play their tracks, and it NEVER goes smoothly. Always locally store your files!! For effects, my guitarist and vocals run through my setup, so my daw applied the effects live in track with the song. And for varying band lineups, what I like to do is separate the band parts of the song (drums, guitar), and put them in the daw with the rest of the song, but as separate tracks. This way, if a member can't make it, I just unmute the track and boom! Back in action
Absolutely! Good advice. Never stream tracks! And that’s a cool way to do the effects too. I did something similar (kind of), but I ended up overloading my laptop haha
Glad I found your channel. Ive been a working musician for many years and have been apprehensive using backing backing tracks when I play solo. I've finally decided to give it a shot and your channel has helped immensely with getting me headed in the right direction. Thank you again. Looking forward to more videos.
Looking to start a new project and am keen to be using clicks and backing tracks so some good tips but really keen to go back and look at your playlist on building backing tracks. Looks like your channel is going to be a priceless find, cheers.
Did you do a video on how to hook up your backing tracks to your mixing board? I’ll be running directly off logic from my mad - then to the Behrinfer XR18 and we all run in ears. Rig is all set with router, split snake and transmitter/receivers.
Such a wealth of shared experience! Thank you so much, Scott! (I'm doing a solo act in Dominican Republic these days, with sax as lead for covers, as an amateur sax enthusiast - people enjoy a lot :-) )
Awesome. I’m just starting a nightwish tribute band and will definitely need backing tracks. Glad I found your info. Will definitely be looking up more from you. Thanks.
Hey Scott great videos so thank you - new subscriber! I use StageTraxx 3 which is a brilliant playback app worth looking at but I am also looking to your video on Multitracker which is looks like it has great potential for adjusting what instruments to be used. However I believe the developer is due to put out a major update soon so you may want to check that out?
@@brianlewis2641 Oh nice, I'll have to check that out. I haven't heard of that. I still need to dive deeper into this program. It's pretty crazy all it can do!
Super tips again! On song pointers or cues, yes there are times when they might be necessary but if a musician needs them as a memory aide to know, for example, when to play a solo, or number of times to play the end phrase, then they haven't learned the song properly. This is the difference between learning the arrangement and following directions. I program all my own tracks and have no clicks or cues, and learn the lyrics and arrangement by heart. This is the way we used to do it until ipads and MP3s arrived. Yes, it's laborious, and requires much more focus but there's more time spent on the music than technical stuff. It's not an approach that suits everyone which is fine but I would argue that it places the music and performance so much more deeply into the performers soul. 😊
Thanks! Definitely works for you it sounds like 👍 We find what works best for us. However, one of my bands has 220 songs. Another has 150 songs. And I just checked the drop box of another band I play with and there are 450+ songs in that Dropbox (to be fair some are wedding first dance requests, so it’s likely around 400)…. But still. The cues are extremely helpful with that because we will change up the setlist based on what the crowd is into. Having those cues are extremely helpful for remembering a structure to a song I haven’t played in months. Believe me, I do not need cues for Uptown Funk or Don’t Stop Believing 😅
Great tips, thanks. I've always fed my tracks into the Behringer to split the click and music but using the double DI box seems a much better idea as gives more control.
Not sure how I got to your video but I freaking love it! Thanks for all this information. I will be watching all your other videos. I learned a lot. Thanks.
Amazing video! I must agree on your controverial take, my band and I lost two bandmembers to flakeyness. Unfortunately they had very unique skillsets and were therefore difficult to just replace, so we just decided to switch to backing tracks and your videos really helped us out a lot. Thanks
Thanks Scott, great video. What Wouk’s you recommend to run backing tracks and Midi (for guitar as and vocals), but without a tablet or computer on stage.
Hi Scott this was eye opening!! We are getting our Funk fusion band back together and the Keyboardist is out. We are knew to using backing tracks, but form all 10 tips was great!! especially the drummer click and the adding it to the board with a separate small mixer. also having full backup of all your track, was eye opening. Really enjoyed your teaching/info sharing style!! PROPS!!!!
Appreciate your tips, Scott! As I move from solo guitar/vocal to adding my own BT's and looping, I particularly noticed your first tip: having a back-up. I'll address that! Thank you.
Amazing tips on your channel, thank you so much! Is there any way to change the key of your backing tracks for the singer if it's too high or too low without making it sound too "artificial"?
Very helpful video. The most valuable one for me was splitting the Click and Trax panned to either sides, and how it’s routed using a DI box. I haven’t gone through your other videos yet. Is there one on how Ableton Live is used to create backing tracks?
Thanks! And I haven’t made tracks in ableton but how I use ableton for tracks, I did a video on that: ua-cam.com/video/4VXyFgJTRQ0/v-deo.htmlsi=vcKTbA1DuMtBQ1wF
I'm 66 and don't desire to play in bands no more. I'm interested in playing again but at home, with backing tracks, floor pedals and headphones. Thanks for relevant material.
Nice! Glad to help 🤘
Ditto! TY❤
As a drummer I also use the Rolls PEM 351 to split 3 incoming signals. Less wiring involved. Only thing missing is a master volume.
Just awesome, Scott. I really like this video. So practical, applicable and informative. Can't wait to watch the whole series!
As a gigging musician. You have made my life so much easier. Thank you!
You, sir, are a gentleman, a scholar and a fantastic teacher! I am very thrilled to have stumbled upon your channel!!
Thanks and welcome 🤘🤘
That drummer click knob is inspired!! I will be integrating that into my setup right away and my drummer is going to love it! Thanks!!!
Yeah man! It’s a game changer!
Great tips. On tip #10, we were playing this gig when the drummer's bass pedal broke; while he did a quick, 5-6 minute reparation, we were able to continue because we did a couple of songs with drums in the backing tracks... files that we used for drumless practice. Same thing happened another time: the guitarist was involved in a traffic accident on the way to the show and we where able to start on time playing songs that were not too guitar heavy but with the guitar parts in the backing tracks.
Nice! That’s awesome!
Wow, great information ❤. I'm a slow learner and think I'll have to watch each video 5 times before it starts to sink in.
I've been struggling with backing tracks for about 3 years. And you managed to gather and organize all the information I found and more. Your channel is exactly what I've been needing. Thanks, I really appreciate it.
Glad to help!
Please check out my animation and music youtube.com/@pleaselikeshare?si=vEkhDCTN1QYzF4Ix
I can't believe how useful this was.
I have been using backing tracks for about 5 years now, tried several ways of doing it an I found lost of things that I never thought of.
Big THANK YOU, man!
Glad it helped!
Very helpful thanks.
The DI Box through trick is a great idea so the drummer can hear the tracks and not just the click. We will look into that. Thank you!
Yup, our drummer loves it!
Awesome video. Have played for a living all my life (heading toward 78) And now have the desire to do some busking with light drums and bass looped. Thank you for dragging me into the 21st century!
Nice! Welcome aboard 💪
THank you for the tip for the Drummer with the small mixer and DI box with the Thru!! Very cool
It’s a super cool setup, and very helpful!
I love two tips in particular: including spoken cues (e.g. "4, 3, 4, 3, 2, 1"); and giving the drummer one knob to boost the level of the click track. I used to play in a Blondie tribute band that used quite a few backing tracks, and we did occasionally get out of sync, usually because our drummer didn't quite hear the start of the click, so ended up a beat or two behind the track.
Wow, experience is undeniably valuable! When you gig as much as you apparently do you quickly figure out what works and what doesn’t work so well. Thank you so much !!
@10:07 THANK YOU! My drummer stumbled onto this whilst messing with a barrage of Y splitters and junk but I knew there had to be a more efficient way. Then I found your video!
Not only does this give the drummer the monitor mix from FOH, they now have the click & backing on all separate channels.
Hell yeah! Glad you found it helpful. It’s SO useful for sure 🤘
You popped up on my YT home. I'd been looking into backing tracks to possibly use on some solo projects. You shared a lot of great info. Thanks!
Extremely helpful for someone who has never used backing tracks, but is about to. Thanks.
I'm planning my first ever solo performance after being a home studio musician for the past 10+ years and this video gave me some amazing tips! Especially the idea of putting spoken cues into the click track was something I hadn't even thought about! Thanks a lot!
Glad to help!
Thanks!
🤘
Thanks for this brief, strait to the point video. This man likes to teach, it is a plus
G'day mate and greetings from Melbourne Australia. Love your videos man. Every single tip on this one is 100& spot on... There's one more tip which you may have already discussed in another video but that is to try and get the backing tracks running at similar loudness levels so you're not having to turn volumes up and down between each track.. Thanks heaps for the app tips too.
Thanks! And yup, that’s always important too 🤘
It helped me realize that I can add backing tracks with various instruments and leave out certain instruments. I also learned that some things I'm already doing, such as having an extra smartphone, and using a click track to count into my songs.
This is great info here!! Plannin on a busking career next Spring :-) Using electric guitar and backing tracks so your vids are invaluable. Thx so much
🤘🤘thanks for watching!
Fantastic video! This has given me the confidence I needed to take my 'one man band' live with a laptop in absence of having a drummer - hopefully getting out there in any capacity will help me find one so it doesn't look as awkward on stage!
Nice! Glad to hear that! 🤘🤘
I find myself watching your videos over and over because I glean something new from them every time. Keep it up dude…you’re the best!
Thanks Chuck!
This is nice for all the new kids: and for me, I still pick up some good tips from this. I'm into loops now, but I still use tracks. I remember how everyone was telling me that it was not real music, but they weren't getting my pay and it was so much simpler for me. Thanks for all the great ideas.
Yup, haters will hate, but tracks are a great addition to my setup for sure 👍
usually we get hate from other musicians but when we go to the show everybody has a good time and enjoys the songs we play..
Hi Scott, I discovered your channel a few weeks ago and have been doing a deep dive in all of your material. Your explanations have already been super helpful and I love how you don’t overcomplicate matters. A big thank you for that. 🙏
Awesome, thank you! Glad you’ve enjoyed the channel 🤘
Thanks for the practical real world tips mate - I will check out more or your content Cheers
So much good info in here! Thanks, Scott.
Really helpful and entertaining! Just transitioning to backing tracks and the options are dauntingly wide!
Greetings from Papua New Guinea thanks alot Scott 😊
It is great help. Very informative, very educational! Congrats!
Thanks! Glad you found it helpful 🤘
Excellent presentation on some very important information to help my band use backing tracks like a pro!
Glad it was helpful!
Love seeing the SCA220 on the wall. Love mine. So fun to play.
Nice! Yeah one of my first guitars I ever bought :)
I started playing live in the late 80's through the 90's and through 2002. I had a great career since then in flight simulation, training air force pilots and working for the FAA in research and development. I'm out of that now and am going to play life music for whatever time I have left. Your videos are great for catching me up on the tech of life music now. We used none of this back then. So thanks a million man!
Thanks man! I appreciate it
@@ScottUhlMusic as do I! Hey if you get to Oklahoma on a gig gimme a shout, I'd love to come see you play
Excellent breakdown of the backing track pros , cons and tips.
Im in a duo and it always seems to be some kind of compromise, too much , too little , none , everything.. 🤯 i think you nailed at the end when you say people are there to enjoy themselves whether youre a one man show or a 10 piece band, so if youre having fun on stage the audience will enjoy it too. 👍🎶
Exactly! I agree for sure 🤘
Thank you for this, Scott. I teach lessons for a living and I often get some of my students together to perform for their family and friends. I often find myself playing the role of mix engineer, musical director, stage tech, guitarist, and percussionist all in the same gig. I've been looking into backing tracks to elevate our production value as well as lessen my need to accompany them so I can focus on mixing. This has been immensely helpful and you are an excellent teacher!
Nice! Glad you found the video helpful 🤘🤘
I just did my first gig using your tip for sending click and tracks thru a dual DI to my personal mixer. Having the ability to control volume on the monitor mix, click, and tracks was fantastic. Thanks a million for the tip!
Awesome! Glad it helped 🤘 It’s insanely useful for sure. Such a valuable tip. I’m grateful for the musicians who showed me it
Thanks Scott!
Just another note of appreciation for the excellent quality and depth of the information you provide!
Thanks man!
thank you! my new band is running backing tracks for the first time ever this coming weekend so this was very helpful.
Glad to help!
Thx so much for sharing your experiences ! 🤜🏻🤛🏻
Thanks for watching 😊
"Focus on the performance"
mate, I've just found your channel. I work as a drummer/MD/Playback engineer and I love hearing other peoples methods. I'm always learning. So much useful info here.
I always think - I'd rather have all the options and know how to utilise them just in case. Then your own taste comes into play when using tracks.
I toured fro years with an artist that had lots on track and we only had vocals, electric guitar and drums live. The general paying public just want a great performance... all this stuff can enhance that.
Thanks!
Couldn’t agree more, thanks for the comment man 🤘
Great video, you are SPOT ON on everything you described 😊 Thanks 🙏
Hi Scott, I have learned a lot from your videos. Thank you. My drummer hated the idea of playing to tracks and a click but I wanted to put my keyboard on backing tracks so I could get out from behind the keys and focus on being a better frontman. With a programed click the performance was stilted and sterile, the drummer really hated it! So I recorded a live “rehearsal” just the two of us without the rest of the band- drums with just 1 mic and my keys direct in one mono channel . Then I had him record his own click playing to his original drum track using a cowbell sound triggered by one key on my keyboard. This created a custom click that was based on his performance and had the natural ebb and flow/swing that was missing. This solved the issue he had with playing to a click so we did it for all our songs. (It also helped to prevent him from speeding up each song, :)
Nice! That’s awesome! Glad it convinced him with the power of backing tracks 😊
Oh man, my drummer was the same, he hated click tracks and never was able to keep steady beat so I totally gave up on backing tracks because as usual I'd be doing all the work. At least you got it going....I failed.
@@M5guitar1 yeah I know quite a few great drummers actually that can't play to a click. Kind of make some useless nowadays. Fortunately the drumline I work with now is awesome with a click. He always shined in the studio when it came time to work with the click but now we are working with backing tracks and our problem is fundage for gear.
Glad I came across this video now I got a few ideas how to approach this from a different perspective as long as we can get him a click in his ear we should be all good. Great video thanks for posting new subscriber for sure.
@@M5guitar1 I know your pain. My last drummer was the same 😒
Good problem-solving
Bro, may God bless you more and more for how you’re helping me with your tutorial videos!
Excellent video!! We've been using Backing Tracks (BT's) for the last 4 or 5 years. I've also been using Karaoke Version and the actual songs moggs to create them. I have a old cell phone I use as my main unit connected directly to a XR-18 Behringer. And I also have my own actual mobile, and two tablets as backups. Each musician has a monitoring app to make their own mix and I use Setlist Helper for my setlists and BT's control with a bluetooth page turner pedal to manage the show.
Awesome videos! Helped get me and my band started on backing tracks! Only having piano and drums at band practice due to musicians not showing up sucked and this has helped us round out our sound with bass backing tracks and adding keyboard layers with Moog and Hammond sounds.
Nice! Glad to help!
Great overall orientation to playing with tracks. Thanks so much. Will definitely check out your other videos.
Awesome, thank you! 🙏
GREAT STUFF, THANX SCOTT!!~
Love your videos really great information .
It all helped. Using backing tracks is complicated, especially if you’re over 50. Thanks.
Glad it helped!
Hi Scott, I really like the tip on adding players and having different versions of the backing tracks to fill the gig! Great info and video once again! Thanks
Glad to help! It’s definitely a valueable tip 🤘
Thank you man!
Great insight Scott, always well done.
Thanks!
So happy I stumbled across your channel. Gonna pass this along to my grandkids so they can learn about backing tracks and using suggested gear. Great job, thanks. Just subscribed and now it's time to check out all your other videos.
Thanks! I appreciate it!
Great video, Scott. Our band have been using tracks for about 12 years since our keyboard player departed (musical differences ;-) ). Only the drummer (that's me) can hear the click track. We also have song name announcements and I have a few points where I have cues to remind me that e.g. we're reaching the end of the song - as you said, some songs have seemingly endless outros - repeat until we can't remember where we are! We had been using an iPad app that our bassplayer used, but in our first post-covid gig (just in December there!) we switched that around so that I'm running the tracks using a bit of software I wrote (in Java) and running on a PC. We have the whole setlist set up in that, and before each song I can click a button to have it send out MIDI patch changes to switch patches on my kit (Roland VDrums). My feed from the desk includes the click, plus a bit of everything else, but most especially the click! That is patched through the drum module into my headphones so I have a bit of control of the levels reaching my ears and can turn up the click with one knob on the module or down if I can't hear myself play (OK, that doesn't happen very often 🙂). Next up is to convince our lead guitarist to also take a MIDI feed for pre-song patch changes - that's often the limiting factor on keeping things quick between songs, as he dances the Dashing White Sergeant on his pedal. The set manager program I wrote can also run a MIDI track alongside the audio for in-song MIDI changes, but we haven't tried that yet. Good to hear from others that are taking very similar approaches. The other thing we haven't tried is your point about having inter-song music or extended intros to cover the gaps. I might look into that... Thanks for sharing your ideas and tips.
Thank you! Learned alot and will come back.
thanks again Scott.. your info/advice is definitely helpful.. I'd like to see/hear a video of how you mix down the backing track stems to arrive to the final backing track mix.. especially from the point of view of using them for your duo setup.
Thanks! And I kind of go over that here: ua-cam.com/video/nw8wZfFSQ2w/v-deo.html
Incredible video. I use tracks exclusively and this has been a tremendous help. Thank you
Thanks!
Good video, one tip I'd like to add though, it may seem simple, but it can be overlooked
NEVER, EVER, STREAM TRACKS. I've seen too many people rely on mobile data or venue wifi (assuming the venue even has wifi) to play their tracks, and it NEVER goes smoothly. Always locally store your files!!
For effects, my guitarist and vocals run through my setup, so my daw applied the effects live in track with the song. And for varying band lineups, what I like to do is separate the band parts of the song (drums, guitar), and put them in the daw with the rest of the song, but as separate tracks. This way, if a member can't make it, I just unmute the track and boom! Back in action
Absolutely! Good advice. Never stream tracks! And that’s a cool way to do the effects too. I did something similar (kind of), but I ended up overloading my laptop haha
Glad I found your channel. Ive been a working musician for many years and have been apprehensive using backing backing tracks when I play solo. I've finally decided to give it a shot and your channel has helped immensely with getting me headed in the right direction. Thank you again. Looking forward to more videos.
Awesome thanks! And welcome to the world of tracks 😊
Looking to start a new project and am keen to be using clicks and backing tracks so some good tips but really keen to go back and look at your playlist on building backing tracks. Looks like your channel is going to be a priceless find, cheers.
Thanks Mark 🤘
Awesome info! I want to check out all of your other videos!
Wow this just explained everything I have been wondering about for a long time. Thank you!!!
🤘🤘
Hi Scott, would like to see a video about solar panel set up for busking, please help, great videos
Did you do a video on how to hook up your backing tracks to your mixing board? I’ll be running directly off logic from my mad - then to the Behrinfer XR18 and we all run in ears. Rig is all set with router, split snake and transmitter/receivers.
Hopefully this video will help you out: What Is The BEST WAY To Run BACKING TRACKS? Methods/Setup/Pros&Cons
ua-cam.com/video/UmbdfJpxiIE/v-deo.html
Such a wealth of shared experience! Thank you so much, Scott! (I'm doing a solo act in Dominican Republic these days, with sax as lead for covers, as an amateur sax enthusiast - people enjoy a lot :-) )
Nice! Glad to help 😊
I always like to keep learning new stuff thank you
Excellent. Well explained. Good advice on use of backing tracks and clicks.
Thanks!
Pure gold. This video alone deserve massive subscription!!! ❤
Thank you 🙏
Thank you sir for this video🤘 Me and my band just started playing with a backing track..
🤘🤘🤘
Awesome. I’m just starting a nightwish tribute band and will definitely need backing tracks. Glad I found your info. Will definitely be looking up more from you. Thanks.
Nice! Nightwish was (and is) one of my favorite bands of all time. I listened to the hell out of Once when it came out especially
@@ScottUhlMusic I was totally blown away when I heard them the first time.
Several friends and I have started a band. I'm the drummer and this is excellent info. Thanks for taking the time to post this info.
Glad it was helpful!
Definitely looking forward to your videos on Multitracker. I've been messing around with it for a while and it is really cool what you can do with it!
Yeah it really is! I still need to dive deeper into it, but I plan to release that one in about a month or so 🤘 Really cool app!
Hey Scott great videos so thank you - new subscriber! I use StageTraxx 3 which is a brilliant playback app worth looking at but I am also looking to your video on Multitracker which is looks like it has great potential for adjusting what instruments to be used. However I believe the developer is due to put out a major update soon so you may want to check that out?
@@brianlewis2641 Oh nice, I'll have to check that out. I haven't heard of that. I still need to dive deeper into this program. It's pretty crazy all it can do!
Super tips again! On song pointers or cues, yes there are times when they might be necessary but if a musician needs them as a memory aide to know, for example, when to play a solo, or number of times to play the end phrase, then they haven't learned the song properly. This is the difference between learning the arrangement and following directions. I program all my own tracks and have no clicks or cues, and learn the lyrics and arrangement by heart. This is the way we used to do it until ipads and MP3s arrived. Yes, it's laborious, and requires much more focus but there's more time spent on the music than technical stuff. It's not an approach that suits everyone which is fine but I would argue that it places the music and performance so much more deeply into the performers soul. 😊
Thanks! Definitely works for you it sounds like 👍 We find what works best for us. However, one of my bands has 220 songs. Another has 150 songs. And I just checked the drop box of another band I play with and there are 450+ songs in that Dropbox (to be fair some are wedding first dance requests, so it’s likely around 400)…. But still. The cues are extremely helpful with that because we will change up the setlist based on what the crowd is into. Having those cues are extremely helpful for remembering a structure to a song I haven’t played in months. Believe me, I do not need cues for Uptown Funk or Don’t Stop Believing 😅
Yup, I get it and really admire the work in that. 😊
Hi mate, just stumbled across your channel and i love it. The info is so helpful. Thanks so much
Thank you!
This is excellent info for us smaller 4 piece bands who need to sound bigger. Always great stuff, Scott.
Thanks man, and yup absolutely!!
Outstanding video. I stumbled upon this but now I will check out your other videos. Thanks!
Thank you!
Thank you for this video ! it resolved many of my questions. Greetings from France
Great tips, thanks. I've always fed my tracks into the Behringer to split the click and music but using the double DI box seems a much better idea as gives more control.
Not sure how I got to your video but I freaking love it! Thanks for all this information. I will be watching all your other videos. I learned a lot. Thanks.
Thanks Joe!
thank you !!
Amazing video! I must agree on your controverial take, my band and I lost two bandmembers to flakeyness. Unfortunately they had very unique skillsets and were therefore difficult to just replace, so we just decided to switch to backing tracks and your videos really helped us out a lot. Thanks
I’m going to do my first solo gig as a guitarist so I will be looking through you videos.
Excellent help! Thank you
Scott, your videos are excellent. My cover band is considering backing tracks, your experience and thorough explanation is much appreciated.
Thanks! Glad you’ve enjoyed the channel 🤘
Super helpful, thank you so much! Subscribed!
Thanks for the sub!
I’m an instant fan of this channel
Thanks Shane!
Great advice Scott, lived this video.
Man , really informative and great info!!!
Thank you 🙏
This is the best thing I have ever watched on the internet regrading live music. Mate - legend
Thanks man! Glad to help out 🤘
Thanks Scott, great video. What Wouk’s you recommend to run backing tracks and Midi (for guitar as and vocals), but without a tablet or computer on stage.
The Boss RC series are really good, and the Morning Star MC 8 is my new favorite midi controller 👍
Excellent video. Very useful information
Hi Scott this was eye opening!! We are getting our Funk fusion band back together and the Keyboardist is out. We are knew to using backing tracks, but form all 10 tips was great!! especially the drummer click and the adding it to the board with a separate small mixer. also having full backup of all your track, was eye opening. Really enjoyed your teaching/info sharing style!! PROPS!!!!
Thanks! Glad to help 🤘
You have great content. Thank you Scott.
Thank you 🙏
Appreciate your tips, Scott! As I move from solo guitar/vocal to adding my own BT's and looping, I particularly noticed your first tip: having a back-up. I'll address that! Thank you.
Thanks! And yes, always have a backup for sure
Amazing tips on your channel, thank you so much! Is there any way to change the key of your backing tracks for the singer if it's too high or too low without making it sound too "artificial"?
Thanks! And it’s kind of tough especially with vocals because it will chipmunk the vocals if you go up too much
When the parts are only instrumental and you can live with Tempo change that this song is lower and slower or higher and faster, it works nice.
Very helpful video. The most valuable one for me was splitting the Click and Trax panned to either sides, and how it’s routed using a DI box.
I haven’t gone through your other videos yet. Is there one on how Ableton Live is used to create backing tracks?
Thanks! And I haven’t made tracks in ableton but how I use ableton for tracks, I did a video on that: ua-cam.com/video/4VXyFgJTRQ0/v-deo.htmlsi=vcKTbA1DuMtBQ1wF
holy xxxx...this old school drumR got some ('er, alot) of stuff to learn. surmise I must go to the beginning. THX Scott