How to Control Live Backing Tracks...
It’s really quite simple to control live backing tracks. When I started research it for myself I came across guys that were using tracks that only had music on them and they would try to play along to
the tune (with no click track) as the track comes blaring out of the PA system. Others would use MIDI to try to control them and use a foot switch to turn them off and on. I’ve personally been interested in this method myself but have never really been able to learn how to do it. It seems grossly confusing and frankly I don’t have the patience to try it when I’m already using a method
that works for me. I actually use two methods that amount to the same thing really, but I’ll describe them each.
The cheapest way by a long shot is to get your band outfitted with an MP3 player of some description. The i-Pod by apple seems to be one of the most popular choices but these days you can use an Android phone as well. Really just about any MP3 player will work.
In any case, get your band an MP3 player. If it’s a cheapie you‘ll likely want to load the backing tracks onto it in the order in which you plan on playing them because the cheap ones don’t always have a nice big viewing pane to view your song menu with. You’ll need a stereo splitter (Y-connector)which you can buy at most electronics retailers to split the signal coming out of the MP3 player. One of the resulting output channels will have the click track channel, which the drummer will listen to with a headphone. The other resulting output channel will contain the music track and will go to your mixer. From your mixer you can send the signal to your monitor system so that the track comes out of the monitors for the band to hear as if it was an instrument (which it actually is).
the tune (with no click track) as the track comes blaring out of the PA system. Others would use MIDI to try to control them and use a foot switch to turn them off and on. I’ve personally been interested in this method myself but have never really been able to learn how to do it. It seems grossly confusing and frankly I don’t have the patience to try it when I’m already using a method
that works for me. I actually use two methods that amount to the same thing really, but I’ll describe them each.
The cheapest way by a long shot is to get your band outfitted with an MP3 player of some description. The i-Pod by apple seems to be one of the most popular choices but these days you can use an Android phone as well. Really just about any MP3 player will work.
In any case, get your band an MP3 player. If it’s a cheapie you‘ll likely want to load the backing tracks onto it in the order in which you plan on playing them because the cheap ones don’t always have a nice big viewing pane to view your song menu with. You’ll need a stereo splitter (Y-connector)which you can buy at most electronics retailers to split the signal coming out of the MP3 player. One of the resulting output channels will have the click track channel, which the drummer will listen to with a headphone. The other resulting output channel will contain the music track and will go to your mixer. From your mixer you can send the signal to your monitor system so that the track comes out of the monitors for the band to hear as if it was an instrument (which it actually is).
Separation of the channels is paramount for you to control live backing tracks properly. Most, if not all, MP3 players use a 1/8 inch output for the head phones. So you’ll need to have a 1/8 inch plug on your Y-connector to plug in there. Stereo is the ‘operative’ word here. A male stereo plug can be identified by having two black rings. If there is only one black ring it’s a mono plug. The rings are actually insulators that separate the left and right channels from what you could think of as the return. On a mono plug you could think of it as having a send and return, separated by a single
insulator.
Between the MP3 player and the splitter, it’s critical that you ensure all of the connections are stereo connections. If you don’t pay attention to this, you will most certainly find that you hear the click
track and the music coming out of the PA, and the drummer will hear both signals in his headphones as well.
So the separation is taken care of. Now the drummer hits play on the MP3 player, and waits for the click to start in his ear. Our tracks all have a count in that is eight beats long so there’s four counts for the drummer, then he counts four beats for the band to start. As long as he stays with the click track the keyboards and whatever else will take care of themselves and come in at the right time. Now most MP3 players will continue playing when the song is finished so if you don’t want that to happen then the drummer has to make sure that the MP3 player stopped at the end of the song. For bands using i-Pods and i-Phones to control live backing tracks, there is an app to run backing tracks that I’ve come across that will do this automatically. It’s only a few bucks in cost and will save you a world of headaches.
insulator.
Between the MP3 player and the splitter, it’s critical that you ensure all of the connections are stereo connections. If you don’t pay attention to this, you will most certainly find that you hear the click
track and the music coming out of the PA, and the drummer will hear both signals in his headphones as well.
So the separation is taken care of. Now the drummer hits play on the MP3 player, and waits for the click to start in his ear. Our tracks all have a count in that is eight beats long so there’s four counts for the drummer, then he counts four beats for the band to start. As long as he stays with the click track the keyboards and whatever else will take care of themselves and come in at the right time. Now most MP3 players will continue playing when the song is finished so if you don’t want that to happen then the drummer has to make sure that the MP3 player stopped at the end of the song. For bands using i-Pods and i-Phones to control live backing tracks, there is an app to run backing tracks that I’ve come across that will do this automatically. It’s only a few bucks in cost and will save you a world of headaches.
So that’s the basic idea of running tracks with an MP3 player. It’s by far the most cost effective way to do it and it’s my favourite because it’s simple. It’s really hard to screw it up and have a bunch of technical difficulties. We actually have two MP3 players, the second as a back up.
The other method that I’ve used to run backing tracks from stage is with a mini disc player. This way is actually more effective for the actual running of tracks because it shuts off after every song but it does have a couple of downsides.
The first is the initial cost. If you’re to buy these things brand new they can be somewhat expensive. The one we use is made by Tascam, which as we all know is top of the line in audio recording gear.
The second is the fact that songs need to be loaded onto the disc in real time, which means you have to play the song from your computer, run a split signal out of the headphone output of the computer
to the minin disc player, and play the song while recording it on the mini disc player. It doesn’t have the drag and drop functionality that the MP3 player has.
The other method that I’ve used to run backing tracks from stage is with a mini disc player. This way is actually more effective for the actual running of tracks because it shuts off after every song but it does have a couple of downsides.
The first is the initial cost. If you’re to buy these things brand new they can be somewhat expensive. The one we use is made by Tascam, which as we all know is top of the line in audio recording gear.
The second is the fact that songs need to be loaded onto the disc in real time, which means you have to play the song from your computer, run a split signal out of the headphone output of the computer
to the minin disc player, and play the song while recording it on the mini disc player. It doesn’t have the drag and drop functionality that the MP3 player has.
The beauty is though that it has a headphone output on the front face of the machine so the drummer can plug his headphones in there. On ours it’s a ¼ inch plug. The machine actually splits the output right there so we just run an XLR cable to the snake, which goes back to the board, from where the tracks are sent back to the monitors. There are two XLR outputs on our machine, a left and a right.
I’ve tried using a laptop to run tracks but I really don’t like it. I know of other people that do it, but I have found that computers can be negatively affected by big magnets on speakers and they’ve been known to freeze up ,etc. I don’t want this happening on any stage that I play on.
Click on Control Live Backing Tracks to return to the top of this page or click on Pro Backing Tracks to return to the previous page. Go back to the home page for more info on Backing Tracks or go to check out our Downloadable Backing Tracks to check out our expanding library.
I’ve tried using a laptop to run tracks but I really don’t like it. I know of other people that do it, but I have found that computers can be negatively affected by big magnets on speakers and they’ve been known to freeze up ,etc. I don’t want this happening on any stage that I play on.
Click on Control Live Backing Tracks to return to the top of this page or click on Pro Backing Tracks to return to the previous page. Go back to the home page for more info on Backing Tracks or go to check out our Downloadable Backing Tracks to check out our expanding library.