Morning Don

Since I changed over to backing track's I have obtained them from various sources.

Mp3 files £1.50 a track, with or without backing vocals from:

http://www.karaoke-version.co.uk/

Midi files free from:

http://efmidi.com/

I've got quite a few from You Tube, I use "Freemake" to convert to MP3 files but sometimes "Freemake" won't work so I record the You Tube audio using my Zoom and convert the Wav file to Mp3 with "Audacity"

Either way it doesn't cost a fortune and in most cases you can find a track which sounds decent.
I've uploaded a couple of example's from the Karaoke site, one is a song I'm working on "When you were Sweet Sixteen" by The Furey's great Banjo solo. The other is the track for "There goes my Everything"

If I need to change the key I use Audacity it does a pretty good job if you don't have to shift the pitch to far. I found when doing a pitch change on Audacity you have to input the original key and the new key, If you omit the original you get garbage.

https://app.box.com/s/2mchvr8s5sort74kszfh4lfmxw8e0vau


Regards

Col

Thanks Colin!

Google You Tube to MP3 and you'll find a converter. How do you deal with the included vocal if you use a You Tube file.

Before I became a passable keyboard player I used to collect midi files and play them with my Korg PA 80 while singing and playing guitar. I found the quality of the midi files went from absolute garbage to very, very good.

When I taught full time music I would run my "talent shows" with the kids singing and dancing along to midi tracks from my old Korg IX 300. Is it easier to find quality midi free or do you have to pay for the good stuff? I haven't worked with midi for several years now since becoming reasonably proficient with the arranger keyboards.

God Bless,
Don

I have found Band In A Box to be a valuable tool for easily creating my own backing tracks. Bit of a learning curve, but that's true of most new things, I guess.

I'll have to revisit that, as my very first recording was made by setting up the backing track in BAND IN A BOX and then loading that into PG MUSIC'S digital recording software, POWER TRACKS ( which cost me a whopping $29 ). I was able to add the vocal and mix it down with the software. Turned out pretty well. Got to edit out the count in someday.

https://app.box.com/s/zh5lbckyc44cxabk7if9 FOOTPRINTS IN THE SAND

This was done when the harmonizers all sounded like Alvin and the Chipmunks so it stands on its own without harmony.

God Bless,
Don




God Bless,
Don

Hi Don

Who needs harmonizers when you have a voice like yours, well done.

Regarding Backing tracks on You Tube:

When searching on You Tube, for example search for "Karaoke My way" and it will bring up lots of Karaoke tracks for "My Way" (No Vocals). I mentioned before that "Freemake" doesn't always work so you might have to record the track yourself.

I've got quite a collection now so if you need a specific track let me know and if I've got it send it to you or upload it to Boxnet.

Regards

Col

Very nice job on this one, Don.

One of the most powerful parts of BiaB, in my opinion, is their Realtracks feature. They are audio loops of real players which BiaB uses to generate it's accompaniment. To my ears they are super-realistic, and one of the best parts is that if you don't like a particular part you can hit "regenerate" and BiaB will generate a completely different part for that instrument that is still appropriate to the style.

I don't want to hijack Colin's thread, so I'll start another in which I will provide an example of a little bit of what BiaB 2015 can do to help you make backing tracks.

Dan