What's Best?, Music for Duo's Options

[Dave Harley]

Myself and a friend want to record ( he's a guitarist, I'm a singer ) using an Imac and quality backing tracks. The problem is that all the backing tracks that I see on the web are Midi, and unless you have someone who is very good at Midi, they mostly sound like toy music,. So, are there ANY good composers out there that use REAL instruments to record? Where are they and could i get a non MIDI medium where I can play with the individual tracks if I want to mute something and re-record with a better overlay? I'm an Imac beginner, so hardware and software suggestions welcom. Thanks. Dave

[damann]

hi dave,
try the tonos website, loads of good b/tracks, many non midi, available for collaboration.
on the subject of gear, it seems like you guys at least need to get a mic!!!

[bjkiwi]

I do the same thing. I'm a singer/guitarist working in a duo with another singer/guitarist. I used to do the backing tracks by programming a drum machine, recording the bass and maybe some simple keyboards (strings, horns etc.) and then mixing it to minidisc. (I have found minidisc to be the most practical and stable platform for pre-recorded backings in a live context). Now, with so many midifiles on the net, I download a few and find the best one and import it into cubase. Once it's in cubase I can seperate the tracks and assign better drum sounds, maybe even edit some of the parts, and eliminate all the shitty tracks (usually the melody and guitar parts) and add/re-record any parts u want One of the key things I do is redo the bass by actually playing it into the computer. (my musicman sounds MUCH better than any keyboard bass I've heard). Once you're happy, do a mix and off to the gig.
So what u need is a basic midi/audio software package...cubase, logic etc. and the basic version will do, a soundcard to get audio in and out of the mac and maybe some virtual intruments to replace the shitty sounds of your quicktime player or whatever u're playing the midifiles through (you'll find the software package will probably have some basic and adequate ones with it). Because u're working with a guitarist get him/her to actually play the part and use that, it makes a big difference to the overall 'live' feel of your backing tracks.
good luck.