[Dave Wright]

I'm looking for some decent sounding backing tracks covering a range of styles from standards to pop, for some solo performing, i'm too lazy to create my own and I have ireal already. Dont mind paying, any ideas. Thanks
Dave

 

[StuartSax]

I've put a few of my BackTracs on ReverbNation. On some, I've played along but the unfilled track is still available. Piano and bass are me playing. Drums are probably lifted from other midis on the net. The piano is Pianoteq, other sounds are stock in Logic. Feel free to record and post them here or your own site.

https://www.reverbnation.com/robertsteinberg

 

[mi000ke]

https://irealpro.com/

 

[saxoclese]

I make my own using Band in a Box. With the choices in "Real Tracks" they sound quite good. It is a bit costly to set up and there is a learning curve, but you can make a backing track in any style, key, or tempo in a matter of minutes since there is a web page that has hundreds of jazz and latin tunes where you can import the chord changes into BiaB.

 

[LiAm84]

If you like playing with just acoustic bass then these are great:

https://www.youtube.com/user/MrSunnybass/videos

 

[mmichel]

I make my own using Band in a Box. With the choices in "Real Tracks" they sound quite good. It is a bit costly to set up and there is a learning curve, but you can make a backing track in any style, key, or tempo in a matter of minutes since there is a web page that has hundreds of jazz and latin tunes where you can import the chord changes into BiaB.

+1

The Real Tracks sound awesome, and there's an incredible variety of styles and instrumentation. I think it's the next best thing to playing with live musicians.

Playing along with classic records is also great, of course, but is much less flexible.

 

[notes_norton]

WARNING: Self Serving Plug:

Make your own with Band-in-a-Box and Norton Music's aftermarket style e-disks and fake e-disks.

With the fake e-disks the work is already done for you.

I did The Real Book all with Real Styles and the 40 some other books with MIDI styles and a little box pops up with a Real Style Suggestion.

Home page:
http://www.nortonmusic.com

Fake e-disk page:
http://www.nortonmusic.com/contents.html#fake
Each fake disk contains at least one demo file in the song list contents - it will load into Band-in-a-Box

Style e-disk page:
http://www.nortonmusic.com/contents.html#biab

End of self-serving plug.

Notes

 

[JohnInDenver]

I'm also a fan of Band in a Box with Real Tracks. I like the flexibility of being able to try a tune at different tempos, or using different styles. Some tunes are just more fun as a bossa!

 

[JohnInDenver]

WARNING: Self Serving Plug:

Make your own with Band-in-a-Box and Norton Music's aftermarket style e-disks and fake e-disks.

With the fake e-disks the work is already done for you.

I did The Real Book all with Real Styles and the 40 some other books with MIDI styles and a little box pops up with a Real Style Suggestion.

Home page:
http://www.nortonmusic.com

Fake e-disk page:
http://www.nortonmusic.com/contents.html#fake
Each fake disk contains at least one demo file in the song list contents - it will load into Band-in-a-Box

Style e-disk page:
http://www.nortonmusic.com/contents.html#biab

End of self-serving plug.

Notes

Wowzer. I thought I was a pretty good BiaB user...but you are the "Band in a Box Whisperer"! Nice work!

 

[saxoclese]

I'm also a fan of Band in a Box with Real Tracks. I like the flexibility of being able to try a tune at different tempos, or using different styles. Some tunes are just more fun as a bossa!

For BiaB users who haven't yet found this resource: Band in a Box Jazz and Latin songs It kind of feels like "cheating" since most of the work has already been done for you. This backing track took 2 minutes.

https://soundcloud.com/jbtsax%2Fsatin-doll You can also print a "lead sheet" for any song you generate.

 

[JohnInDenver]

For BiaB users who haven't yet found this resource: Band in a Box Jazz and Latin songs It kind of feels like "cheating" since most of the work has already been done for you. This backing track took 2 minutes.

https://soundcloud.com/jbtsax%2Fsatin-doll You can also print a "lead sheet" for any song you generate.

Thanks for passing this along...it's nice to have access to another treasure trove of BiaB arrangements!

I commented in a previous thread on this subject that my process is to get the arrangement set in Band in a Box...almost always using a pre-existing arrangement I found on the web as a starting point...then export it as a WAV, and then using Audacity I trim off the "click count-in" (I always add a 4-bar intro, so I don't need it anyhow) and then export it as an MP3, which I retain. I have hundreds of these at this point. Someone replied saying my process "sounded like a lot of work", but it really does take less than 2 minutes per song. Before "Real Tracks" came along, I admit things often sounded cheesy, but I think Real Tracks pushed it way into the acceptable range. Check out the "poll winners" styles. You have big-name players backing you up!

 

[liggy]

Oh man - I have BIAB from back in the early 90’s and haven’t used it since. I wonder if my old Macs still fire up?

 

[AddictedToSax]

I make my own using Band in a Box. With the choices in "Real Tracks" they sound quite good. It is a bit costly to set up and there is a learning curve, but you can make a backing track in any style, key, or tempo in a matter of minutes since there is a web page that has hundreds of jazz and latin tunes where you can import the chord changes into BiaB.

Can you post a link?

 

[mmichel]

Can you post a link?

He did. See post #10 in this thread.

 

[Dave Wright]

For BiaB users who haven't yet found this resource: Band in a Box Jazz and Latin songs It kind of feels like "cheating" since most of the work has already been done for you. This backing track took 2 minutes.

https://soundcloud.com/jbtsax%2Fsatin-doll You can also print a "lead sheet" for any song you generate.

Thanks for all the suggestions! So it seems BITB has come on a lot since I last used it some 10 years ago- that track sounds great. So its worth spending on the software you'd say?

 

[jman1977]

BIAB is great for traditional jazz and country. Not so much for pop or contemporary jazz (you had mentioned you were interested in backing tracks for pop as well). For those genres my go-to is smoothjazzbackingtracks.com and karaoke-version.com. If you have the budget, there are also services that can create customized backing tracks for you (e.g., if I see a performance I really like on Youtube and I want the same arrangement, there is a guy who lives in France that I pay to create the backing track for me... he's really good). Another underrated source is Youtube itself. There is a plethora of really good backing tracks there that you can download and use (you'll need one of those Youtube to MP3 converter software).

I've had the BIAB Ultrapak+ for about 4 years now and currently have the 2020 version complete with all the RealTracks and all the styles... it has gotten better in genres other than traditional jazz and country over the years I've had it, but it's still limited and you will have to spend a considerable amount of time looking for the appropriate style to fit the track you're creating (unless it's traditional jazz or country), and even then it won't be that great.

 

[Sax Panther]

Ben's jam tracks (bensjamtracks.com) has a lot of good stuff on and although it's not free, the tracks are very good value and high quality.

 

[notes_norton]

BIAB is great for traditional jazz and country. Not so much for pop or contemporary jazz (you had mentioned you were interested in backing tracks for pop as well). <...>

That's where http://www.nortonmusic.com steps in. I specialize in doing the kinds of styles that Band-in-a-Box (PG Music) does not do. After all, there is no sense reinventing an already good style.

Notes