Live looping, backing tracks etc.

[newpedals]

I saw an artist play (rhythm) guitar and sing cover songs last night. He used a looper pedal, pre-loaded with backing (drum) tracks. He performed for more than an hour. It was amazing.

He left in a hurry, so I couldn't ask him anything about it.

I don't know how audiences react, if a musician initially records a track so that it will play while he sings/ solos on top of it. In this case, the audience didn't have to witness anything like it. His (drum) loops were already saved on the pedal. I am guessing he hired a drummer to record them.

I also don't know if such drum-only backing tracks are available online for free.

If anyone here performs in a similar way, does the audience mind while you initially record a part to solo on top of it?

Are there any websites where such drum-only backing tracks can be downloaded for free?

Just curious because I hadn't seen anyone perform with backing tracks saved on a looper pedal before. Thank you.

 

[the swede]

In my opinion the whole trick that is very important (besides being able to use looping techniques skillfully) is to not spend to much time before recording. I’ve noticed that experienced looper people just do it with confidence and commit. The audience doesn’t want to hear the exact same thing several times, it gets boring. It’s a creative thing.

My guess is that it’s just 5% of the audience that appreciates the intricacies of looping/guitar technique and understands the fun, while the rest want to be entertained.

There’s loads of tutorials on the YouTube.

There are many advanced loopers that already has drums in them. Mostly it’s different styles and beats. You can set the tempo and so on. It’s a lot!

 

[spawnofthesith]

I play in an instrumental 3 piece band, and both me and my bass player do a lot of looping using Boss RC-500s. We have a drummer so not using this functionality, but the RC-500's do have various built in drum tracks, and can also have WAV files loaded for whatever backing tracks you wanted

But yeah we do all our looping live and in real time. Our song writing and live improvisation is done in such a way that the tracking of the loops before additional layers occur comes across pretty naturally (at least I hope it does! lol)

In terms of what the audience thinks, the ones that have ever said anything are usually into it/impressed and pleasently surprised that such a big sound is coming from a 3 piece. I'm also willing to bet that a large portion of the audience doesn't know that that is whats going on and therefor don't have an opinion one way or another

 

[likitlikeyoulikeit]

I have a digitech jamman looper/delay pedal, it allows the user to use a sd card to load user tracks, as WAV files. Each loop is a file, length is not an issue, with a 32 GB card.

Then you can just go to next track and play over that, repeat. Load instrumental backing tracks, pre-recorded loops, regular instrumentation... anything you want to play over. If you need safety, lock the SD card so you can't overwrite...and you will be golden.

I'm sure there are a few loopers on the market that offer this functionality, including the new Digitech jamman stereo looper.

 

[newpedals]

Are there any websites from which drum loops/ tracks for commonly covered songs can be downloaded?

 

[likitlikeyoulikeit]

I am not the one to ask. But I am sure in a day or 2, someone will provide a solution in this thread.

Maybe @LeftyLoungeLizard has some ideas?

 

[LeftyLoungeLizard]

For my cover clips, I do the drum track by the following methods:

1. A MIDI drums file exported from a Guitar Pro file; fixed & spruced up heavily in DAW
2. An ISO drum clip of the actual song from YouTube
3. A cover of the drums in audio format from some random website that has covers
4. Build it on the MIDI grid myself

Option 1. has always been the majority of the time for me.

Finding ISO's or even covers is always a matter of digging on the internet. I start with YouTube first and go from there.

 

[newpedals]

For my cover clips, I do the drum track by the following methods:

1. A MIDI drums file exported from a Guitar Pro file; fixed & spruced up heavily in DAW
2. An ISO drum clip of the actual song from YouTube
3. A cover of the drums in audio format from some random website that has covers
4. Build it on the MIDI grid myself

Option 1. has always been the majority of the time for me.

Finding ISO's or even covers is always a matter of digging on the internet. I start with YouTube first and go from there.

I guess the simplest option would be option no. 3

Also the looper pedal will have to be compatible with the format of the downloaded file.

 

[likitlikeyoulikeit]

I guess the simplest option would be option no. 3

Also the looper pedal will have to be compatible with the format of the downloaded file.

Or just make sure you convert it to a .wav format

 

[LeftyLoungeLizard]

I <guess the simplest option would be option no. 3

Not that simple. Just like there's a ton of garbage guitar tabs done by hacks out there, so there are garbage covers.

All depends on your preference of how accurate. Drum-wise, some tunes can get away with it. Other tunes, not so much.

 

[newpedals]

Not that simple. Just like there's a ton of garbage guitar tabs done by hacks out there, so there are garbage covers.

All depends on your preference of how accurate. Drum-wise, some tunes can get away with it. Other tunes, not so much.

I think a basic looper may be a good idea for practicing while learning a new song/ phrase.

But for live looping, a pedal with adequate memory will have to be bought and it will only be useful if a drummer is hired and his tracks are recorded and stored in the pedal.