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Backing Tracks: Still Controversial!
| Mon Mar. 30, 2009 12:57 PM PDT
Back in April, I posted about an enjoyable live performance by The Ting Tings where the UK duo used some form of backing track or sequencer for extra harmonies, bass and percussion. It got me to thinking about what the boundary is between "live" and "not live" music in a performance setting, and why audiences are willing to accept certain amounts of prerecorded material in some live shows, but not in others. I even drew a little graph in an attempt to define what we call "live." Of course, as an electronic music enthusiast and DJ, I wasn't passing judgment, just trying to describe the phenomenon, but commenters (always a charming bunch) went on the attack, saying I didn't understand anything about live music and insulting me in vivid enough terms they got their comments deleted. Crazy! Well, today the folks at NPR's All Songs Considered blog waded into the topic, and I hope they get nicer comments. They noticed backing tracks a-plenty at the recent SXSW music festival in Austin:
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Continued From Above
Backing tracks are the anabolic steroids of live music. They add muscle where there otherwise might just be a bunch of humans doing the best they can. And there's no denying that they can make something average sound pretty over-the-top. Would you rather hear the climax of The Decemberists' new record without the children's choir? (It's admittedly nearly impossible to pull off live, since you can't expect a bunch of kids to tour with the band.) Would Loney Dear be less Loney without the pizzicato strings? (They're probably sampled anyway.) Would K'Naan be less K'Naan without the invisible drum ensemble?
I admit that I want my concert-going experience to be as aurally rich as possible, so I don't want The Decemberists to just leave off the choir, but it still feels just a little bit cheap that someone's just hitting "play" on a digital choir. One interesting solution I remember was thought up by electronic duo The Chemical Brothers, whose legendary live shows incorporated improvisation and rock-style dramatics while maintaining the "greatest hits" feel of a DJ set. Their popular song "Setting Sun" featured the vocals of Oasis' Noel Gallagher, who couldn't be expected to go on tour with them for just the one song, since he's a big rock star. Instead, the band took the first line of Gallagher's vocals and used a digital interface to stretch and stutter the sample, effectively treating the vocal as another instrument which they "played" live. Of course, all this was taking place over a pounding drum machine, which disqualifies them as a live act in many people's eyes anyway. So, Riffers, have you come to any conclusions on how much pre-recorded or sequenced material is acceptable in your live shows, and if the use of prerecorded material is ingenious enough, does that make it better?
Comments
I paid $90...
Submitted by thomasr (not verified) on Mon Mar. 30, 2009 3:51 PM PDT.
Years ago I saw the Chemical Brothers play "live" and afterwards a friend remarked "I paid $90 to watch a guy hit 'play' on a DAT player..."
That said- Daft Punk live are out of this world- a great show and they mashup, remix and mess with their entire back catalogue (something you of all people Ben would approve of?). I think the more you use backing, the more you need to mess with the formula. Otherwise, we could just buy the CD and turn it up really loud....
Tom
that's funny you say that about the Chemical Brothers -- I probably saw them 15 times over the course of their career, and I remember the time I realized they were actually, truly doing a "live" performance, it was actually when I saw them do a *bad* show. The transitions were off, their builds didn't seem to hit at the right time, and the energy level never got off the ground. It occurred to me that for them to do a bad show, that must mean they're actually doing something live, and that every show is different. Perhaps you saw one of their "off" nights?
Of course Daft Punk's now legendary Alive tour is at the center of the argument -- the entire concept of that show is a new sort of "live" performance, based on improvisation within strict boundaries, in order to keep the show timed with the intricate light show, and much of the rearranging of the music had to be pre-planned. However, no-one in the ecstatic crowds any of the times I saw that show ever seemed to mind!!
Orbital
Submitted by theflax (not verified) on Tue Mar. 31, 2009 5:23 AM PDT.
Orbital, 1992, opening for Meat Beat Manifesto. Stage goes dark, the two guys come out with some headgear that holds red penlights so they can see. So all you can see on stage are these moving red lights. They each go over to a bank of synthesizers, hit a few buttons. They sit down. Music plays. Two more red lights emerge onstage when each of them lights a cigarette. Neither brother moves from their chair for an hour and a half--they sit and smoke while their music plays.
In 1992, I found it a wonderfully subversive performance. You probably can't get away with it today. But I ended up being really impressed with Meat Beat, who incorporated live drums, bass, and guitar into their backing tracks.
The moral of the story? I'm too old to go to concerts anymore...
I recently came across your
Submitted by Sarah (not verified) on Tue Mar. 31, 2009 5:29 AM PDT.
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Sarah
http://www.craigslistposter.info
Before backing tracks
Submitted by smitisan on Tue Mar. 31, 2009 5:53 AM PDT.
Then again, there are those gawdawful moments on older live albums where one or two band members try to sound like the chorus in the studio recording. Saw Pink Floyd do that once, and it was sad.
"You signed the papers. You wanted to be here!" -Drill Sgt. Leach, 1971
Bohemian Rhapsody
Submitted by QMF (not verified) on Tue Mar. 31, 2009 8:09 AM PDT.
My 30-year old vinyl of Queen Live Killers (yeah, I know) has the band leaving the stage and playing the record during the tricky multi-tracked vocals. I think it might have raised a few eyebrows. As I recall, it sounded awful.
