Sound tracks - do you make your own?

[Roger Andrusky]

I keep trying to find rhythm tracks to play to, but I can't find anything I like. I hear the background tracks of great folks like Tony Browne (RIP). I love all his music! I assume he made his own tracks which were beautiful. If anyone makes their own tracks, can you recommend a synthesizer that doesn't take a gold mine to buy - even used? Just throwing in out there. Appreciate the feedback...

[Bryce Van Parys]

I make my own, and play to them live. It's a learning curve to get the balance, and output mixed consistently from track to track. I make notes if one is too loud/quiet and go home and fix later. I'll start with the drum track and lay it down in Audacity (freeware for mixing). I'll pull a drum beat off my boss drum/loop pedal, have my wife play it (lucky me), or find a drums alone track off youtube for that song. In a pinch, I use Lalal.ai to remove everything and isolate the drums, but it sounds very digital so ideally I will have a drummer track the drums I want for that song. Then, I'll go and lay down my other parts, bass first, then maybe a guitar or steel or keys part that I can't play live.
the
It's a fun hobby. After a couple of years I've come up with 60+ tracks I can use. Uploaded to the bandhelper app, I can use a tablet and play them out of the PA and have the lyrics up with autoscroll for live performing. Works well for me anyway.

Point is, if you don't have a backing track you like, make one. You'll learn a ton in the process, and each one gets easier.

Bryce

[Brad Richard]

I think this topic came up some time ago. I've made backing tracks for years. I always started with a downloaded, FREE midi file and then altered it and ran it through soft synths until I got what I wanted. Then I mixed it down to a .wav file.
BUT - when last I checked, the midi websites I used are all gone away . I believe in that old thread somebody recommended a site with some really nice backing tracks at a great price. If I was still gigging and needed more tracks, I would absolutely use that site rather than make my own. Do a search and you should be able to come up with that thread. Good luck!

[Brad Richard]

P.S. For some excellent tracks and tabs, check out Doug Beaumeier's site.

[Jim Peter]

I tried making backing tracks using BIAB and was able to make some that were decent. Then I found https://www.karaoke-version.com/. They have hundreds of songs that you can customize by mixing the instruments/vocals any way you want and they cost $2.99 a piece. I found that much easier than trying to make my own.

[Dan Kelly]

Let me second the sentiment for https://www.karaoke-version.com/.

The really great thing about it is that you can solo and download each individual instrument or vocal track. Then, load them into your DAW. You can then mix the tracks to your hearts content. You can "eliminate the competition" in the frequency ranges your steel is in.

[Roger Andrusky]

Thank you all for the feedback! I will definitely do some homework on this! And thank you for the encouragement. I've been at this a while and am wanting to try some new things so I don't get stale. Again, thank you all for writing!