Putting Together A Backing Track
by Chris Porter
Ok, you have a tune, you have lyrics and you have written some accompanying chords. Do you have a band, or are you a solo artist? Do you have a producer? Do you need one?
When writing about music, so much of what needs to be thought of seems to be based around terminology and specific circumstances… for the sake of clarity, this essay will examine the HOW of putting together a backing track.
Before Garageband (and other DAWs (digital audio workstations)) made this task an inexpensive and highly accessible one, you had to either hire time at a recording studio (and an engineer to operate it all!) or invest in your own multi-track tape machine to even contemplate such a thing. And to own effects and pedals and instruments and mics etc. could easily set you back thousands. Now Garageband comes supplied free with every Mac purchased - and is the little brother of the highly successful Logic software, with slightly reduced functionality.
Do you play? Do you sing? We’ll come to that.
First, what is your backing track FOR? Is it to demo a song so that a band can learn and replicate it? Is it just to showcase the song for selling/marketing?
The answer to these sorts of questions will obviously determine the level of finish and polish required.
We need to assume a few things, therefore, or this essay will never end! Let’s assume:
- You are working alone for the most part
- You have other musicians to call upon if necessary
- You are recording digitally, not to tape
- You have the skeleton of the song already composed (lyrics, melody, chords)
Before you start the practical tasks required, ensure you have the song’s tempo and genre sorted out roughly in your mind - this will help inform later choices.
Peter Gabriel famously remarked that rhythm is the spine of all music - change the spine and you change the animal. So it’s (often) a good idea to start there. If you’re not sure what ‘animal’ your new song, have a think about a song that it might be similar to, and see if there any elements that you could ‘borrow’ from that.
Most DAWs have a sizeable selection of drum and beat loops that you can use as a basis for a backing track (assuming your song needs a rhythm section). They will allow you to ‘audition’ them, and to time stretch them and place them in the ‘arrangement window’ to suit your song’s tempo and arrangement.
If you are undecided on your song’s direction, another idea is to quickly capture its chords in a basic state and then audition these rhythms around them - this can be inspiring and lead to a new feel, tempo or direction.
Further, you can ‘play in’ the rhythm via a midi-keyboard, thus composing your own drum part. Or you can mic up a live kit and capture the full sound in earnest!
If, however, you are using midi to write drum parts, you then have the flexibility to change the drums’ ‘voices’, which can again inspire further writing or changes in direction that best suit the material.
Or you can record the instrument that you wrote the chords on first - best not to put vocals to that straight away however, as, if you edit the song’s rhythm later, it may fight the rhythm of that melody. A rough guide can’t hurt though - you know it will be replaced. The you can build your production on top of these chords.
After drums comes the bass part (traditionally). As bass uses both melody and rhythm, it can be an amazing emotive glue for a song’s production. Always remember that an instrument’s absence in a mix can be as powerful as its presence - use dynamics in all things to create the effect you want. When should the bass come in?
Again, it can be played in via midi or by a bass player - or choose from pre-written loops that you find or purchase. You can use a part of these, key-change them, adapt them - according to your tastes and the song’s requirements.
There are many sites that create ‘packs’ of content like this, some of which is developed to be royalty-free (like the loops in Garageband), but sites like Splice are very popular too - and you are able to search for inspiring starting points in all sorts of genres in all sorts of ways.
Whilst remaining open-minded to wherever your music may take you (as the choices you’ll have in front of you are now so huge) it’s helpful to have an idea what you’re after and/or to be decisive about what you want - not just to save time, but to ensure that your song gets finished!
Then comes the rest of the instrumentation (guitars/keyboards/synths/brass etc.) and the vocals. There is all manner of tuning and time-stretching software available to manipulate the sounds you create - some of these are easy to learn, some may require some diligence - or you can hire someone to follow your instructions! You no longer need to be an outstanding musician to create your backing track. But great ideas are always great ideas - begin with some of these and you are tipping the scales in your favour!
Ultimately, however you choose to create a backing track, the operative word should be ‘choice’ - there are almost limitless choices and instrument voices out there, as well as production techniques, microphone types and idiosyncratic voices etc.. What should not be lost amongst all this ‘process’ is what makes a song ‘human’; what makes it connect and what shows it off to its best advantage. Be bold with your canvas! Make decisions and make your mark.
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