What do i need to perform live with a backing track?

amb

Junior Member
Hi, just wanted to ask you a couple of questions about playing live with a backing track and also miking the drums yourself and mix the sound and send it to the house mixer.

This is what im pretty sure i need, so correct me if i am wrong:

I need a mixer with proper amount of channels right.

I need a DI box so i can send the signal to the house mixer and eliminate unwanted noise.

Is there anything else you suggest that i need?

Any comments are appreciated!

Regards,

Andreas :)
 
Most of the time what you need is a click track that only you hear and the rest going out to the house. The click will allow you to stay in time with the backing tracks. and if you are keeping time the rest of the band will follow you and be in time as well.

You can use a DAW, there are many on the market, ProTools, Cubase, Sonar etc. There are also a few free ones out there, Audacity is a great one for free.

Then you build your backing tracks and a click track. Pan the click out one side, left for example and the rest of the backing tracks out the right then you can hear the click with an in ear and the backing in the monitor mix.
 
Most of the time what you need is a click track that only you hear and the rest going out to the house. The click will allow you to stay in time with the backing tracks. and if you are keeping time the rest of the band will follow you and be in time as well.

You can use a DAW, there are many on the market, ProTools, Cubase, Sonar etc. There are also a few free ones out there, Audacity is a great one for free.

Then you build your backing tracks and a click track. Pan the click out one side, left for example and the rest of the backing tracks out the right then you can hear the click with an in ear and the backing in the monitor mix.

Thanks for the answer. What gear do you use when performing with a click track and a backing track? How do you set it up?
I have a Zoom H2 recorder. If i want to record the live performance with that, do i connect it directly to the tape output on the main house mixer?
Andreas:)
 
My bassist sets up our backing tracks on a computer (I'm not sure of the program). It has a click (mono) to my left ear and the back track stereo. I download them to my Zune and control when the tracks start, but I have seen iPods and laptops do the job too. From the Zune, a 1/8" stereo plug with a 1/4" adapter straight into a DI box that goes to the board. The sound guy gives me the click mono through my wireless monitor, to my in-ears (plus whatever else I need plugged in) and the stereo back track goes through the PA system without the click.

There are a couple ways to skin the same cat.

Some people choose not to have the click...merely because the back track is already set to a click and therefore, isn't a requirement...providing you can/choose to play to the backtrack without the click....it would essentially be easier to send to the board via DI box because you can just have a straight-up stereo signal of backtrack (without a click) to deal with.

To each his own.

Good luck.
 
Use a click for sure. All of the guys I've seen using backing tracks use the DAW method.

I wouldn't bother buying your own DI box unless you really want to have one. Any venue worth playing at should have plenty of them.
 
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