Backing track
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A Backing Track, is an audio or MIDI recording, which musicians play or sing along to in order to add parts to their music which would be impractical to perform live.
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[edit] Usage
Bands or solo musicians may use backing tracks to add extra layers to songs they perform live. For example a band may play a song live which includes a full orchestra, but it is not realistic to include an orchestra or keyboard player in the performance. Or a singer or vocal group may perform vocally live with all music pre-recorded.
In electronic music some parts which have been programmed are too complex to be played by a musician.
Backing tracks are also used when some or all members of a group are miming or lip-syncing or using guide tracks.
Examples of backing tracks for vocalists (also known as 'Backing Music') can be found here. Backing music is available with backing vocals or without backing vocals but always includes every instrumental layer.
[edit] Method & Equipment
In most cases a basic backing track will comprise at least two parts, the instrumental part (which will be heard by the audience through the venue's P.A System and form part of the music) and a click-track – a recorded metronome heard only by the band through in-ear monitors in order for them to more easily keep in time with the backing track.
Two monophonic tracks like this can be provided by any medium capable of stereophonic (two-track) audio. For example CD, MiniDisk or other Digital Music Player. One mono mix is heard by the audience, and another is heard only by the musician(s).
More complex systems may include greater numbers of tracks sent to various channels on the venue's mixer so that the mix can by altered by the sound technicians.
The backing track may also synchronise with MIDI sequences - which control instruments or audio effects onstage - video for part of an audio-visual performance - or DMX sequences to control stage lighting or effects.
To provide this sort of functionality some sort of digital multitracker is required. This may be a standalone device, integrated into a digital mixer or DAW (Digital Audio Workstation), or DAW software running on a computer, for example Logic Audio or Ableton Live. Live is especially popular as it is designed with live performances in mind and allows for instant changes of tempo, song structure and effects, and improvisation with audio material.
A click track may also be used in songs with no backing tracks in order to keep the bands playing in time with tempo-synched loops or effects such as delays and arpeggiators.
[edit] Views
Most musicians and music-fans are not opposed to backing tracks as long as the artists are clear and honest about their use of them in live performances. The obvious use of backing tracks is not nearly as controversial as their use for miming or lip-synching (especially by musicians who are dishonest about when they are really performing live).[specify]
Some musicians feel that using backing tracks to make up a disproportionate amount of a live performance is in some way "cheating", because much of the show is not actually being performed live, which spoils the experience of a live performance.[specify]
However some people prefer the use of backing tracks over session musicians because they feel that adding a great number of musicians to the stage may spoil the dynamic and stage presence of a smaller band.[specify]
Other musicians may not be opposed to the use of backing tracks but do not wish to perform with them themselves for a variety of reasons – often because they feel the backing track makes the performance less flexible. Most backing track systems mean they cannot improvise changes in tempo or the structure of a song.[specify]
[edit] List of musicians who use backing tracks
- The Album Leaf - Use backing tracks for the complex electronic glitch beats in songs such as "Twentytwofourteen"
- Athlete - Use backing tracks when they are not accompanied by a string group.
- Beyoncé Knowles - Uses backing tracks of her own recorded backing vocals.
- Death Cab for Cutie - Occasionally use backing tracks for soundscaping, for example in "Transatlanticism."
- The Go! Team - Make extensive use of recorded brass section parts in songs such "The Power is On"
- Hard-fi - Make use of recorded keyboard parts.
- Kasabian - Use a lot of synthesizers and more recently strings, but have no keyboard player on stage.
- Muse - Use Logic Pro to control audio recordings and also MIDI sequences to control MIDI intruments and effects. For example the synth arpeggios in "Bliss" and the orchestral strings in "Butterflies & Hurricanes"[3]
- The Who - One of the pioneers of backing track usage. They've used tracks for "Baba O' Riley", "Won't Get Fooled Again", "Join Together", "The Relay", "Helpless Dancer", "Bell Boy", "Doctor Jimmy", "Love, Reign O'er Me", "Sister Disco", "Who Are You", "You Better You Bet", and "Eminence Front".
- Zero7 - Use Ableton Live to add percussion and brass parts to their live performances.[4]
