I’ve recently had a number of fellow musicians approach me asking about how my band runs backing tracks for our live performances. I know that the use of backing tracks is a hotly debated topic in some circles of musicians, but we’ll leave that debate to another time. These days it seems to be more and more a fact of life for a lot of musicians that gig on a regular basis.
So, if you do need to use backing tracks the video above can provide an overview on one way in which to achieve success in a live environment. Our setup involves the use of a MacBook. We use the older white version as they’re cheap to find on Craigslist and are pretty durable (don’t ask about the time we were in Montana and our singer drove over the laptop with an SUV – no it didn’t survive and we ended up doing the show sans tracks that night).
For software we use Ableton Live to run the tracks. We either trigger the tracks directly from the laptop using the arrow and enter keys or we sometimes use the Novation Launchpad which has 64 small trigger pads. This works well for randomly firing off songs. We label the 64 buttons as 1 through 64 and then label all the songs with a corresponding number and assign the buttons to the proper track in Ableton. I didn’t cover this part in the video but it’s a simple midi learn function in Ableton. If needed I can probably do a follow up video on how this is done, but trust me it’s pretty quick and easy.
The cost of this kind of solution is not exactly cheap, but it’s really no more than buying a decent guitar, keyboard or other instrument. The MacBook was about $500 used on Craigslist (they can be found even cheaper these days). Ableton Live will also run on a Windows laptop, but my personal preference is to use a Mac. The full version of Ableton Live is $499, but you can get by with Ableton Intro for $99 if you’re ok with only using a stereo output (mono tracks on one side, click on the other). If you think you want a trigger input device the Novation Launchpad can be had for $127.50, or you could trigger from a keyboard, an old Trigger Finger or any other midi trigger you might have around.
Again, the use of backing tracks might not be the right path for every band (nor should it be). But if you need to use them then this is one method that I’ve found has been reliable in all kinds of venues from clubs, fairs, festivals, concerts, theater gigs and many more. The only time if failed us was when it got run over by a full size SUV and I really can’t blame it for not being up for the gig after such a traumatic event.
Ray Neyens, Editor
Paul Schille, Editor
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