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[Steve M Smith]

Great comment: "it's like spinal tap without any jokes."


Steve.

[Bob Leonard]

  Using "Modern" technology is not for the faint of heart. This is my favorite disaster.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mjx_GjyXCs4

Clueless Van Halen didn't know he was playing in the wrong key?? I've seen this video before and you're correct Bob, working with technology is not for the faint of heart. In this case though anyone else would have caught the problem in less than a measure, stopped the song, apologized to the crowd, fixed the problem, and started over. This was not the only song at this concert where they shit the bed and it should have been fixed the first time it happened.

[John Sabine]

I don't understand why the FOH engineer didn't just pull him down in the mix until someone could whisper into his ears " hey dude, would you mind playing the same song as the rest of us?" Of course that person as well as the FOH guy might have ended up looking for a new job the next day or even that night if they'd done that. Ok, just read the comments and it seems consensus is that the guitar tech was at fault. I wonder what pizza delivery he went to work for after this, not only giving EVH the wrong guitar but the allowing this fiasco to continue for and entire song.
I work with a band that uses tracks to fill in some parts and it really fills out the overall sound and adds to the quality of the production but the backing tracks would sound ridiculous if the band stopped playing. I've seen some groups, including a couple of national acts where if the band left the stage you wouldn't be able to tell a difference. I feel like that's cheating but I guess whatever pays the bills plus if you leave too much to chance plus you might end up making a mistake like EVH in the previously mentioned video and there seems to be little forgiveness for that these days.

[Mark McFarlane]

Clueless Van Halen didn't know he was playing in the wrong key?? I've seen this video before and you're correct Bob, working with technology is not for the faint of heart. In this case though anyone else would have caught the problem in less than a measure, stopped the song, apologized to the crowd, fixed the problem, and started over. This was not the only song at this concert where they shit the bed and it should have been fixed the first time it happened.

Ouch, painful EVH video.  The people I play with would have just adjusted the key on the fly during the first or second bar, a few might have stopped the song depending on how far off it was.  This happens to me fairly frequently with some worship bands, guitarist mis-positions or forgets to move a capo, I just play up or down a few half steps.  Professional musicians ?

[Steve M Smith]

Professional musicians ?

Professional doesn't always mean competent.


Steve,

[Bob Kidd]

In this age of ever smaller budgets and people still expecting the BIG SHOW, it's no wonder tracks are used.
The synth player can use a string patch and not a violin player in sight, so who says you shouldn't use backing tracks.
I'm not suggesting something as radical as replacing a grand piano player with a track of the same but, with some due consideration, they can be used effectively.
Just did a gig with a bass guitar track and no player. It was a bit odd but then I do another show with 4 string players and some backing track to fill it out and it works great.

This I agree with, but in recent weeks I've had two bands come through that use the actual song as their backing tracks. Vocals and everything. They had guy on keys and while he plays tracks have keys as well. The obvious happens it sounds off. They have a Dj that is part of the band that plays the tracks and will alter BPM,s during song. It sucks because in the rare situation the do not use tracks it sounds great.

[Steve M Smith]

It sucks because in the rare situation the do not use tracks it sounds great.

Perfect solution:  Backing track in monitors, not in FOH!


Steve.

[Russ Davis]

This I agree with, but in recent weeks I've had two bands come through that use the actual song as their backing tracks. Vocals and everything.

In 1979 I was DJ'ing () at a HS dance in Miami, and our "special guest" was R&B singer David Hudson who was promoting his single "Pump It".  He handed us the 12" single, took the mic and sang in unison with himself.  Except for some occasional ad-libbed "Yeah!" and "Hey!"-type interjections, he was matching himself perfectly resulting in a nice chorus effect.  At least he wasn't just silently lip-synching.

Then there are artists like Mitch McVicker, who entertainingly use loopers on stage to build up multi-layered backing for themselves, before launching into the actual song...

[Steve Oldridge]

Ouch, painful EVH video.  The people I play with would have just adjusted the key on the fly during the first or second bar, a few might have stopped the song depending on how far off it was.  This happens to me fairly frequently with some worship bands, guitarist mis-positions or forgets to move a capo, I just play up or down a few half steps.  Professional musicians ?

The analysis I read on that particular VH issues was that A was set to 444Hz (or something lijke that) on the sequencer instead of 440Hz..   that's not even a 1/2 step up, and to be fair, good or not, you can't play in between frets..  idk if that was true or not, but it's a logical explanation, and I'm sure EVH is good enough to adjust on the fly if the tuning was 1/2 or full step up/down.
Either way, it DOES indicate the downside of using tracks..

[Mark McFarlane]

...you can't play in between frets.. .

Fretless bass player here.

But I get the point, that would have been a bit more confusing.

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