Hi. I'm looking for some advice on the different methods of playing live to backing tracks/samples in a gig scenario. I know you can use ipods and laptops, but I'm not overly sure on the technical aspects of setting them up or what cables etc are required. Any advice on these methods and the equipment/setup involved would be highly appreciated.

I'm particularly interested in the ipod or itunes method and what this entails.

Thanks!

If you want to use an ipod then the best way would be via a 3.5mm stereo to 2 1/4" jack (1 for left and 1 for right) lead (see http://www.thomann.de/gb/the_sssnake_ypk2050.htm)
and just hook that up to either a stereo input on the mixer (useally named like 5/6 or 13/14 etc.) or to use 2 ajacent inputs one hard panned hard (fully) right and one hard panned left,

another option would be to have the backing tracks on one side of the stereo mix (i.e left) and you can have a click track on the other (i.e. right) then send the backing track to a line input on the mixer (any) and send the click track to the drummers monitor mix.

You could however mix the backing to mono and just use say the left output if it is easier and anyway stereo is not really that important in a live situation given the fact that most people won't notice it.

If you wanted to use a mac and iTunes you could simply do the same just using the headphone output or better would be an external soundcard as the quality would be better and you will (normally) get proper 1/4" outputs. All above statements form using an iPod still apply.

Thanks again for your help!

Do you have any alternatives to an external soundcard, as I'm on a tight budget!

Thanks!

Two questions:

Do you need a click track?

If so, are you happy to have your backings in Mono?

If No, or Yes/Yes then stereo is all you need and an iPod would do the job. You could save the files as 44.1kHz/16bit .wav or .aiff for higher quality (though iTunes lossless system is pretty good). If you have an iPod touch you could use the 'SoundCue' App for single track playback.

Next step up would be a dedicated flash drive player, which would enable you to use a foot pedal for start/stop.

Or as has been said a Mac with an interface.

I'm hoping someone will develop a generic programmable foot switch for iPhone/iPad as the SoundCue app on iPad would be ideal for my purposes.

Bob

--------------------
www.bickerton.co.nz

Hi Bob.

Yes the drummer will need a click in the h.phones.

I don't mind have the backing in mono, however I am guessing that it would sound better in stereo coming out of FOH or the audience? In which case this would be preferred.

I think I will definitely stick with the Mac running Logic 8 for playback as I've kinda got used to it and know where I stand on using it.

Out of curiosity, would this setup work well:

mini jack to two 1/4" feed from the mac output - one feed into small mixer, chan 1 for drummer h.phone click (drummer uses h.phone out) - another feed in chan 2 for the PA/FOH guy, who takes a feed from the drummers mixer for the stereo (or mono) backing track to play out FOH ?

Thanks!

For iPod backing etc. I have one of these which works well, has a nice big volume control where you need it, headphone output and XLR L+R out. With a PSU it will charge the iPod, or you can run it on phantom power. There's also a 3.5mm line in which can be handy.

There's also this one with a few extra bits such as separate level control for the line in.

Thanks Mark, these look like great bits of kit for the job. Unfortunately I only have a budget of £40 tops which is why I wondered if the mixer setup above is stable enough, in which case I'd probably by one of these for the drummer. [url= http://www.thomann.de/gb/media_bdbviewer_AR_191244.html?image=1&small= 1]these[/url]