How we play live with backing tracks

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

Update: I finally made that follow-up video about a MUCH easier way to automate MIDI patch changes. Check it out here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bpXGnn-Vi6mEq80si=Mh9Sj8sCJ0N1vERO

[@deadshot4245]

I love the line " I don't know what that means but it doesn't work any other way." That is brilliant way to sum up learning to play live and or building your own studio or live rig love it bud

[@MortonLuvz2drum]

I got lost several times along the way.

[@Tephomab]

If it works and it sounds good, then it IS good. A lot of people will hate on Behringer, but their budget interfaces get the job done. Not to mention the absolute prevalence and success of midas consoles in live sound. You don't need to break the bank on expensive pres, amps, cabs, tubes, tape or tone wood to get a great sound. To get a great sound you need ears, patience and practice, and this video is a great example of that.

[@davesmulders3931]

Actually the Behringer interfaces have superior sound quality to most interfaces, even in studio. It's just the software support that is sub-par but if you get the drivers to work reliably it's great.

[@oranjekoala4212]

@@davesmulders3931 absolutely not true. please get your ears tested.

[@davesmulders3931]

@@oranjekoala4212 don’t be such a snob. Just find Julian Kraus here on KZbin who tested about every interface on the market extensively. The Behringer interfaces and especially the Midas preamps are very very good. SNR and dynamics are through the roof for such a cheap interface. Not anything audible in a live environment anyway, not even in most studio situations. If you don’t want to believe it I’m fine with that: I have no problem with people overspending on gear they think they need. It doesn’t mean however that the interface is no good for others.

[@treblehelix7200]

Great video man. We run our drums out the 4i4 version of that interface as we use programmed drums. I had resolved to sit down and figure out how to send midi messages to my helix for patch changes over the holidays. Then this popped up in my suggested videos. Nice. It's a slick set up for sure. I use the helix for our singers vocal FX also so I can tweak that even more. Seasons greetings from fellow gear heads in Scotland.

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

I've actually found a better way to send MIDI changes in Reaper -- will be doing a video on that soon, but it involves creating a MIDI track and using Events instead of dragging envelopes around.

[@treblehelix7200]

@@theevanwilliamsproject Nice one, I'll look out for that.

[@johnthelad]

Interesting video. Reminds me of the last 20 years I did as a duo using backing tracks. The amount of gear we started early off bringing to gigs you'd think Pink Floyd were setting up. All High end gear, Electro Voice PA speakers, Electro Voice Rackmount Power Amps, DBX Mixer, DBX compressors etc. Laptop, Midi File player, Lighting, Lighting Truss plus banner hanging off it, a case full of connecting cables. Then there was the Fender amp, Plus guitars to lug up stairs at gigs. Ridiculous for just the two of us, but we didn't know better. Eventually after a few years we ended up with a similar setup to yours. Now I get by with just a Merish backing track player for the backing tracks, the mics just plug into that with its built in effects, plus the guitar into a laptop for the guitar using Guitar Rig 6 software.

[@waynemiller6070]

Looks like a fabulous system that's working well for you. You're doing what probably 90% of guitarist don't do.

[@AndrewCardascia]

I love the Minecraft Launcher just chilling on the desktop (7:39)😂😂

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

Gotta have something to do in the green room

[@lammertvanderleij]

Nice build. The ADAT/SPDIF switch switches the optical in- and output of the unit. If switched to SPDIF the coaxial connectors stop working as it is switched to the optical connectors. So therefore you have to switch the optical to ADAT so you can use the coaxial. Hope that makes sense and you don't get confused anymore. 🙂

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

That makes a lot more sense. Thanks mate!

[@michael_r]

So, wait, the Behringer has a switch labeled “ADAT/SPDIF” that is actually a Toslink/Coax toggle and if you switch it to ADAT it still lets you run S/PDIF over coax but presumably not ADAT light pipe? That’s bizarre and confusing.

[@lammertvanderleij]

@@michael_r No, it actually is not a toslink/coax switch. So wait, you would like to connect ADAT to the coaxial connector? Maybe you've confused yourself by making things harder than they really are.

[@warptek]

"I drink coffee stronger than your feelings". I absolutely love that.

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

Ahaha yes - we're fans of Rampage Coffee here :) try the C4 blend if you're able to put an order in!

[@jpsmusicandmore5457]

I love the set up especially the new rack with the Minnie Pearl touch. Great video

[@dragon-id5uj]

yooo your band sounds GNARLY!! thanks for the cool walk through

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

Thanks mate!

[@PhantomHunterMusic]

Nice rig, best part is the Warhammer logo❤

[@GRequinBlanc]

Great set up, excellent video. Love your voice and tone. Well done.

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

Thank you kindly!

[@technicallyjazz]

this is by far the best video on how to do this.

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

Glad I could be helpful! Thanks for the encouragement.

[@stickman_band]

Love the video! Concise and well put together! Any timeline for adding the video you’ve mentioned with the new way you’ve discovered to add MIDI changes?

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

I promise I'm working on it... we had a death in the family a few months ago and it's been hectic. I've had almost no time or desire to do much of anything, honestly. But I'm ramping things up and that video's at the top of my list!

[@stickman_band]

@@theevanwilliamsproject So sorry to hear that. Take as much time as you need! Family first!!

[@mx676]

I have a similar setup, but I use LINUX in a very low end laptop instead of Windows, more stability and I can even process audio/synths in realtime. Linux MINT xfce (or any distro), REAPER, ALSA audio driver (for simplicity) with a low latency kernel works better than any Mac Book I had. I even used live FX plugins in gigs, no issues. Yabridge for load Windows VSTs. LINUX is awesome.

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

I might give that a shot when and if I acquire another old computer. Thanks!

[@Rob-bc4yu]

Played a RHCP set, no drummer - so after finding a great site for backing tracks and isolating the drums, I was confident we could pull it off, rehearsed our set, all good.... it was an outdoor show and as I didn't want the audience to hear a strong click track on a song like Scar Tissue I had it turned down. But playing it live outdoors, I too lost the click track lol. So some of the songs turned into a small disaster, but playing for a group of drunk party goers - we survived. IEMs with your setup would have been the way to go! At least we found a proper drummer. Cheers my friend, and great video.

[@Oleg_K.]

What's a good site for backing tracks?

[@Rob-bc4yu]

@@Oleg_K. looks like my other comment was deleted. Maybe you can’t leave web hyperlinks in the comment. Anyway lookup a site called karaoke version. Has custom backing tracks. Cheers.

[@Oleg_K.]

@@Rob-bc4yu Cheers.

[@dwainphillips]

Did you use in ear monitors? They definitely help. Glad you got a drummer BTW that's always best.

[@julian.borisov]

I totally dig cheap and efficient, so thumbs up for this vid!

[@hexapodium]

This is really neat - on the clocking thing, setting the UMC1820 as master is required because otherwise (I think) the AxeFX and the UMC will both try to be clock master. As you've got them connected over S/PDIF (which transmits clock from source to destination), if they're both trying to be master and the AxeFX is pushing clock over the S/PDIF connection, it won't line up with the UMC and although the UMC is *supposed* to recover clock from the Axe-FX, it's failing to do so. The other potential wrinkle is that the Axe-FX runs internally at 48k and doesn't have a 44.1 mode - so if you're passing it 44.1k clock from the Behringer, what it's actually doing is running everything 8% slow to match that external clocking. This is - as you've discovered with the wonky tuner - fine but has some side effects, like the tuner being wonky. You might also want to see if time-based effects are slightly longer than their nominal values, i.e. a 1000ms timed delay comes back at 1088ms wall-clock. If you're happy with the setup as-is, obviously keep it; if you run into problems when adding other (digital) devices, this may be the source. If you can bear the performance impact, switching Reaper and the UMC to run at 48k may be a good troubleshooting step. Going to 48k may cause some sounds to change a bit (e.g. chorus, flange, phase) as well, which is why if it's all working I'd not change it.

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

I hadn't considered the effect 44.1 would have on time based effects -- I'll have to look into that. This is really helpful, thanks!

[@leeroy654]

I have this same set up. I dont use a axe effects but, I use Nureal DSP Archetype-Gojira plug-in and the DAW does the switching, just like you have it set up. I use Studio One for my DAW. I use a Nektar Pacer MIDI Foot Controller that connects using USB to to controll the DAW's stop, play, and move to next track marker or back a track marker fuctions. This is great so you have to play the same set every time. you can skip arount to th songs you wana play. It can also manually go through effect patches. Look into it. It would be a great addition and give you more control!

[@paradisedriveofficial]

Awesome! How do you route the mix from the FOH live vocals, guitars, bass etc or is that all done from the DAW?

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

Guitars are done through the DAW, and I'll generally just run my vocals straight into FOH and get them to send it to the stage monitors. It's usually loud enough to be audible even with IEMs in. We've done shows where we've routed the vocals through the DAW and sent that to FOH, and shows where we've routed them through FOH and got a send from the board to route back into the DAW, but at the moment they're more trouble than it's worth - the former usually ends up getting us feedback because I can't anticipate where to set the vocal gate and comp for the venue, and the latter means we've gotta throw cables around and there's usually a bit of latency. These could of course just be our bad experiences, but it's happened enough that we just don't bother.

[@paradisedriveofficial]

awseome. thanks for the tip!@@theevanwilliamsproject

[@djrfx82]

Very Cool Setup!!!

[@douglamb8894]

Great setup, and excellent video! Thanks, man!

[@cahill_dave]

Great video man.

[@RussClarkRocks]

That's a KILLER system.

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

Thanks! We like it :)

[@mr.brettjames]

Great vid, the follow-up is too.. Quick question: Are you able to route, for example, the bass separately to an individual output from the backing tracks so the FOH can mix it independently (using the Behringer via laptop)? Cheers!

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

You definitely can if you stem it out on its own from the tracks - just put it on its own track in sync with the rest of it and make another hardware send out. If you don't have the raw bass stems to work with I recommend iZotope RX to separate it from the rest of the instrumentation. We don't bother because the tracks are only bass and some backing vocals - and we're already running a lot direct. We're almost out of hardware outputs 💀

[@monmixer]

Cool set up. thanks.

[@stevesheroan4131]

For programming you PC commands (or maybe CC commands, not sure what the Fractal responds to), you might look into a cheap midi controller. If you get a foot pedal floorboard type you could program it for the Fractal (unless they are using some kind of proprietary coding protocol), but just as importantly you can probably use it to program your MIDI commands into your DAW. I use Helix, so I’m using it to directly send MIDI CC into Ableton to “record” my foot switching “performance”. You should be able to do similarly with any programmable MIDI floorboard controller though. I set my DAW to record MIDI, then play the backing track and hit my switches just as I normally would manually. I don’t even have my guitar usually. When I’m done I just switch the track to send MIDI rather than receiving it and voila. Hope that makes sense, if not feel free to ask me for clarification.

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

I appreciate it!! In the months since this video though I have found a way to pre-program MIDI CC and PC changes onto a track that I can bundle together with the track and click and it's been a game changer -- I'll be making a video on that soon 🙂

[@stevesheroan4131]

@@theevanwilliamsproject Congrats, it’s a game-changer for sure. I play in a tribute band, so we’re doing the same songs in the same arrangement every night, and the only time I step on the Helix is to turn on the tuner or work the volume pedal. I could program the volume swells too, but I’ve tried it and it works, it just feels unnatural to me.

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

@@stevesheroan4131 yeah volume swells and wah I wouldn't want to automate - it takes the visceral response out of it

[@stevesheroan4131]

@@theevanwilliamsproject Exactly!

[@derrickshultz6800]

If you don’t already have them installed, get SWS extensions for reaper. There is an extension in it called CueBus which allows you to set up separate monitor busses using reaper. You can then go so far as to use the remote web interface to control those busses from a phone or tablet. Just saw someone demo that in a KZbin video and it was pretty cool for when you use reaper the way you are.

[@pepitolozano]

Thank you!

[@paulgrooveside2803]

What a great informative video, in a friendly chatty style. Thanks!

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

Thanks for watching! :)

[@weswagner3599]

Could you possibly do a video explaining how you do your backing tracks? I currently run backing tracks for my band in the form of just MP3s off an iPad, and it works, but I want to look at better ways to do it.

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

What specifically would you like to know? I went over the basics of it in this video - arrange them on one track and send them to stereo analogue outputs.

[@weswagner3599]

@@theevanwilliamsproject I guess I meant more into the playback of them. Do you run multitrack with a DAW?

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

@@weswagner3599 Yes, everything in this rig runs through REAPER, and I just place the .wav files of my backing tracks onto a track in the order of the set.

[@nedstar7378]

I just designed and built a backtrack controller with oled screen sd card and small padel. The size is about 4x4cm it can run 99 backtracks and if necessary 1000 tracks. Output DAC stereo or mono plus speaker output for a small 3 watt speaker for check without amplifier. It can connect to an input channel of the amplifier and there is no need for laptop, just save your backtracks to the SD card and ready to go.

[@Illkacirma]

really cool set up! boss mode!

[@VirtualGhost]

never really thought about making a on the go music studio, might be great ngl

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

I don't do a lot of remote recording work, but I did use it for that purpose a few times during my "Newvember 4" project and it was a godsend. Brought it to my buddy's place and we laid down track 5, "Denial", in about an hour or so. We've also used it to record live off the floor in our rehearsal space - and if you're interested you can check out our covers of "Little Monster" and "Regulator" to see how those turned out :)

[@VirtualGhost]

@@theevanwilliamsproject 100% gonna have to but and build my self one

[@vikramjitbanerjeetuki]

Great rig,kudos on a super versatile rig 👍 let me know your thoughts on the reliability and durability of the Behringer🤔

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

The only real issues I've had with it so far are some crosstalk between inputs 1&2 and the power cable coming unplugged in transit - otherwise it's been a workhorse!

[@BabaGhanoushMusic]

Very cool, I wouldn’t change a thing on how you did it

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

Thanks mate - since putting this video together I have found a much easier way to send MIDI to the Axe FX and am working on a video for that, so if that's of your interest keep an eye out :)

[@BabaGhanoushMusic]

@@theevanwilliamsproject subbed! Thanks for that. I’m gonna wanna do something similar with just my laptop and a small interface. Might run everything within DAW, but if the latency is too much, gonna try and run standalone guitar plugins and have my daw control it via midi if possible (I think it is)

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

@@BabaGhanoushMusic it's definitely doable! My buddy and I used the Neural DSP plugs in place of the Fractal before when recording some songs on the Newvember project and we were able to get it down below 5ms latency without trouble. In even a small room you'd be hard pressed to notice that amount over the PA. I've actually considered moving strictly to guitar plugins... they've become stupidly good and if I'm running a DAW anyway it would save some rack space. Still on the fence about it.

[@BabaGhanoushMusic]

@@theevanwilliamsproject yea, I wanna save and get a quad cortex, but no hurry because I love the plugins. That’s kind of why I want to use the standalones instead, I can get the MS down to stupid low numbers rather than in DAW

[@scottbakernc]

Thanks for the great video! How do you mix/run concurrent tracks live so there is a clickless stereo feed to FOH while sending the mono with click to monitors/stage only?

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

Thanks! I'll go into a little more detail about that: For in ear monitoring, we just plug our headphones into the headphone amp on the front of the UMC1820 - Launey gets her own input and Isaac and I share the other. The option exists to have these headphone outs use DAW output 1&2 or 3&4, but for the sake of having more outputs on the rear we stick with 1&2 for both. So what we hear in our ears is a stereo master mix coming out from the DAW. In Reaper, I throw a bus compressor and limiter on the master track just so we don't get clipping, and I level match the backing tracks in advance with Reaper's built in LUFS normalization. So at this point we'll have a click on one track and backing tracks on another. I'll make a bus track that contains the backing tracks, the guitar input track, and the keys input track and I'll throw another bus compressor on there to smooth it out in our ears. Now, we could add a vocal input into the DAW, but I have found that it's almost impossible to dial in vocals in advance because I won't be able to anticipate what will sound good in the venue ( and what will or will not cause extreme feedback ). So this is actually the whole setup we bring to a gig -- we just use house gear for vocals and drums and get them to send those to us through a wedge. So we've got a half decent stereo mix coming into our ears from DAW 1&2; but we don't want to send click to FOH nor do we want to muck up the engineer's mix with all that compression I've been using. This is easily solved by going into the track send parameters on each track: you can choose to send a duplicate signal, pre-fader and pre-bus FX, out to any analogue output - and that's why we want all those outputs on the back. We can send stereo backing tracks down, say, outputs 3&4, then keys down 5, then guitar down 6; and those go straight to the FOH for the engineer to do with as they please :) This also saves us time because generally, we'll have dialed in our ears well in advance and will just have to turn them up a little bit at the actual gig. No shouting across the room to get more or less of whatever in our monitors!

[@scottbakernc]

@@theevanwilliamsproject Oh wow thank you for the detailed reply! Sounds like if I have my tracks in GarageBand I can mix a send out for just monitors (USB) with the click and send it clickless with live instruments to FOH.

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

@@scottbakernc as long as you've got the extra analogue outputs that should work :)

[@PeterBatah]

I feel that as Canadians we often times are at a disadvantage when it come to product availability and pricing. At least that has been my experience. Thank you for sharing your new setup with us.

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

We definitely are. Thomann has been great but the fact that I can order stuff from Germany and it be cheaper and get here faster than a Canadian retailer is pathetic, frankly.

[@PeterBatah]

@@theevanwilliamsproject What I run into more often than I'd like is this large audio communities and their contests / giveaways. When I'm inclined to read the fine print I come across the line that states that Canada is on the excluded list. That's when I head over to the "Unsubscribe" button. Says the angry Canuck 😝

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

@@PeterBatah EXACTLY. Like you're telling me you'll ship an amp head to Sydney, Australia but not to Vancouver??? What did we do wrong 😭

[@ericmattinen4728]

@@theevanwilliamsproject Here in the US, they just charge us more for some things. Getting stuff shipped from Canada is a pain with some stuff. I'm like, just ship it to Moose Jaw, AB and I'll come up for lunch and pick it up, it's like 2 hours from my house...lol For what you did wrong...well, you did elect Justin "squat pisser" Turdeau...lol As a side note, I really miss Tim Horton's!

[@lereauxx1327]

I raise you, Kenya ... been trying to build my bass pedalboard ... if I was in the US or Canada, would cost me about 1000 dollars for what I want ... To do it here, I'll have to spend 2000 dollars more ... I have felt so defeated because of this ... might as well wait for when my band is on tour in any of those places and spend a day getting everything I need.

[@Revivalroomcovington]

Question - So that colored snake on the back goes to the house mixer sending each channel’s individual feed, which they can plug in individually into their mixer for the house PA? And can you use your axe effects on any channel, so you could ad individual effects to your guitar and vocal at same time? Or how do you use your daw for vocal effects ?

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

Yep, that's right! If I wanted to I could run a mic through this and put it on its own channel with some FX, and that's what I do for rehearsals - but I haven't found a good way to preset vocal FX for playing in a venue. Everyone's got their own vocal chains they like to use for FOH and I've run into problems with feeding back and weird volume jumps when I set my own FX, so I just go through the house for vocals.

[@charlesaleal3309]

what happens if the audio engineer sends phantom power to your interface's line outputs?

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

I give him a smack. For real though I don't know the answer to this - either it hasn't happened yet, or it doesn't do anything if it does.

[@LucidFX.]

great vid! So the audio interface you use in place of a Mixer/amp?

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

Yup!

[@LucidFX.]

@The Evan Williams Project awesome. I must try that. 😁👌

[@gerdglaser5432]

Great video! Like it! My question: I have tried to set this up but unfortunately my Axe FX III is not recognized as a MIDI-Receiver in my MacBook. How did you solve this? As far as I know, AXE FX does not support MIDI via USB. Any suggestion? Thank you so much.

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

I can't speak to either using an AFXIII or a Mac, but I would assume there's something on the Fractal wiki about it. You may need a driver for it.

[@gerdglaser5432]

@@theevanwilliamsproject Thx man - and best of luck for 2023 from Berlin...

[@darkphotographer]

i use 2 berhinger 404 and 2 laptop , to record live bands for my videos at some point will probabley get that 8 channel with the aditional 8 digital pre ,

[@accuratealloys]

Interesting. Subscribed.

[@goldiemusic8394]

thank you for your work, this is gold to us. Can you please help me decide which is better, Behringer or M-Audio USB interfaces for 8 input recording in Cubase, in terms of issues (latency, etc) ? Thank you.

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

I haven't had many positive experiences with the M-Audio interfaces regarding drivers and compatibility; and the main issue I have with the Behringer interface is a bit of cross talk between inputs 1&2. If I'm looking at the right interface it seems to me that the 8-input M-Audio interface doesn't have options to expand, whereas the UMC1820 can connect to a number of preamps over ADAT to expand to more inputs. That would give it the edge for me - you never know when you're going to suddenly need even just one extra input. Latency really isn't much of an issue with the 1820. If I had a better computer I'm certain I could lower the ASIO Buffer quite low - for stability's sake I'm running it at 256 samples which is a barely noticeable amount of latency.

[@hogblockula9335]

Great video man! You dont have drums in your inears?

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

Thanks man! And not when we're performing, no -- same with vocals, actually, but since most venues we play at have stage wedges we can just ask for some of both and it's usually so gd loud that we can hear it clearly even with the ears in! It actually concerns me how loud they're running some of these clubs; I wouldn't recommend going to a show without hearing protection, even for a smaller gig. During rehearsal though we've got an ADA8000 in the corner with a set of t.bone mics on Launey's drums and we run that into the UMC1820 over ADAT, and that way we can hear her in the mix.

[@juand.g.2602]

Thing about Reaper DAW is that when the 60 days come to an end, you can still use the DAW for free, even if you don't pay the $60, and you can use it completely. It is the best. Also for the routing, all of your backing tracks come out on one different output? For example, out 1 is click, out 2 guide, out 3 bass, Like that?

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

That's one of the main reasons I gave REAPER a try to begin with! It's a breath of fresh air among the smog of perpetual subscriptions. We're only outputting what needs to go to FOH - so stereo tracks come out on 3&4, and then depending on the engineer's preferences (and how much time he's got to spare) we can either give him mono keys and guitar or stereo keys and guitar for a total of 4-6 inputs on the board. We keep outs 1&2 as essentially an in-ears bus and that's the only place the click goes.

[@MrCheswickMusic]

Does anyone know if a backing track player exists that you can control with your feet? EG: a foot pedal that you can scroll through the tracks and then hit play, but all done using only your feet instead of having to mess around with laptops

[@brendodorset3720]

well, there's Akai MPC. (some of them has a foot switch jack. others like (MPC one) has midi that you connect a midi pedal and program it to start your sequence / backing tracks). they also have a 'next sequence' option. hope that helps you.

[@wxb499]

Great vid! Question about your Behringer UMC1820… does it need to be connected to a computer for the pre-amps to work? I am thinking to use it just as a pre-amp (not connected to a computer DAW) into a mixer. Thanks

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

Thanks man! You -technically- could but you're going to be limiting yourself to either inputs 1+2 or 3+4 and not both at the same time. The unit can route one or the other stereo pair into the main outs through the "Monitoring" dial on the front but that's all you can do -- you'll need a DAW or other software mixer to route all your ins to your outs. The UM2 has direct monitoring if all you need is a single preamp -- but if all you want is a preamp you might be better off looking at a dedicated unit instead of an audio interface. What are you planning on using with it?

[@wxb499]

@@theevanwilliamsproject Thanks for the quick reply. Well I have just built a rack with the Behringer X32 as the mixer (which can also be the audio interface too) but it seems the internal pre-amp for the microphones is not sufficient (or it is so high that it causes extra static).

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

@@wxb499 What kind of mics are you using? The X32 should have enough gain for most things, barring maybe an SM7B -- and that can be remedied with a Triton FEThead or Cloudlifter. If you're getting a lot of noise it could be an issue with the cable you're using.

[@wxb499]

@@theevanwilliamsproject to be honest I haven’t done much testing on it yet so it’s probably down to user error ;)

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

@@wxb499 Certainly a possibility! Preamps in general have got quite good across the board. I've got an old Behringer ADA8000 that we use to track drums and even those can get driven pretty hard before they start getting noisy. Try some other cables, other mics, other inputs... and if there's still an issue see if Behringer will replace or repair it for you.

[@Watzzys]

Nice, useful information! Reaper rocks! Thanks a lot!

[@VictorEMusique]

...automatic patch switching.... ***sobs*** (great stuff btw)

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

It's a beautiful thing. Really allows me to get into the music without having to worry about hitting buttons or turning knobs at the right time.

[@callsignkes8185]

How do you find the behringer interface? at the end of this month im in the market for either the behringer, presonus 1820 or a focusrite scarlet, the behinger is much cheaper (and from what i hear is well built and sounds good, the opposite of their general reputation) and i could get a half decent piece of second hand outboard gear as well as the interface for the difference. I have 2 bands one guitar based, one electronic only synth / virtual synth based.

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

@@callsignkes8185 It's been serving us quite well. The preamps can be a bit noisy if you push them too hard, and they're not going to be able to drive an SM7b, but everything else about it is great for the price. We've been gigging with it since this video came out and there's been no issues that I couldn't chalk up to user error.

[@prodteague]

Hello, my band currently have the same kind of setup, but there is almost 40 feet from front of stage to FOH on our next gig. Won't the TRS to XLR snake cables lose a lot of power over such a long distance, or do I have to route it through D.I boxes? Thank you in advance:)

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

You shouldn't have much of an issue. Most audio signals don't degrade until a transmission length of +100ft. over XLR.

[@spidula]

yer band sounds good, great vid,, im having trouble, ive completed all 8 channels with mics on drums going into my pc useing reaper and all good to go. however i also have a live room and trying to get signal from channel 3 as my kick drum is plug in from umc1820 to somehow go out just kick into a live board as the live board then goes into compressor and then crossover into a powerd sub. at times its posible id like to record intire mix i suppose from live room useing few channels from mixer .. at this time im just wanting the signal from umc1820 channel 3 kick to go dry and forget about it into sound board as i play live. i canot get sound out of any output from channel 3 out going in seperate live mixer. any sugestion on how to get signal from individual umc channel to send out and not return?

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

If I've understood your situation correctly, you want to be able to send the raw input from Channel 3 out to an outboard mixer? That can be accomplished by adding a hardware send on the kick track in Reaper to one of the other outputs on the UMC1820 and setting the send mode to "Pre-FX" which will send the raw signal out.

[@DAVIDHERNANORDONEZCHAVEZ-ig1ce]

Can I use this to run multitracks via an iPhone? Connecting a usb cable from my Iphone ( With an adapter) into the usb Port B of the UMC1820; and get the multiple outputs ready to connect it into sound board?

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

That I'm not sure of, to be honest. I'm not savvy on iPhone software and you would need to have an app that can playback and route audio to the individual line outs, nor do I know if the Behringer hardware will work with iOS. I've read some people having some success with the Focusrite Scarletts but they've had to do some workarounds and none of them were using it to do multiple outputs. Sorry I couldn't be much help with this one!

[@marantz1]

Interesting video. I wonder if you couldn't use a midi footswitch of some sort to start and stop your tracks. Personally, I use a roland spd-sx for this purpose. You never know when there's gonna be an interruption or a need to change a set or something else. Seems like your system is pretty inflexible.

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

Fair, but flexibility was never the priority. We like to maximize the time we're given on stage and not leave any dead space, and pre-setting the entire setlist with automation and additional things like transitions between songs means once the train starts rolling we don't hit the brakes until the very end. If there's an interruption we can just hit pause, and I can't really imagine a situation where we'd have to change a set on the night. I'd much rather just hit play and get to thrash around enjoying the music for a strict 45 minutes than have to worry about going over time or dealing with another piece of hardware.

[@Greenday1980s]

How are you routing midi commands to your axe effects? I found a couple videos but so far the midi commands aren’t working for me. I also have reaper and using focusrite 4i4 for play backs

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

@@Greenday1980s Make sure the Axe-FX is set up as an active MIDI device in Reaper preferences, then in the routing for the track you've got your MIDI commands on select "MIDI Hardware Out" and the Axe-FX should be in the dropdown menu.

[@yashkummar]

Thank you for sharing. That was very informative 👍

[@bobsbarnworkshop]

What software do you use to call up your backing tracks? I play solo and use Music reader, but it’s a little clumsy. Thx!

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

We usually know how long of a set we need to play so we just lay them all out on one track in Reaper.

[@bobsbarnworkshop]

@@theevanwilliamsproject I created several general playlists for different kinds of gigs and venues, so they pop up in order, but sometimes I have to do requests or just feel like doing something different! Thx!

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

@@bobsbarnworkshop Yeah, flexibility is not a strength of this system -- there's a lot of pre-prep that's gotta be done.

[@bobsbarnworkshop]

@@theevanwilliamsproject yeah, backing tracks limit any free form performance… gotta follow along precisely! Ha ha!

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

@@bobsbarnworkshop Pros and cons!

[@gatinho6248]

Awesome vid!

[@waynelangat4170]

Oh my God i relate to you so much. I can't run anything less than 128 samples on 44.1khz or my laptop will fry itself,😂😂snd when i watch things on youtube they are like, oh, i just run mine in 64 samples at 48khz and it runs just fine 😭😭😭i love your setup. For me i used the focusrite 18i20 instead of the behringer, but it was second hand, and had a lot of problems. Given the price i might switch to behringer. Subbed !

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

Thanks for the sub! I will admit, having gigged with this thing for some time now, the Behringer does have its issues as well -- mainly with the preamps -- but at the price point (and now that it's available in Canada again from L&M at a reasonable price) I'm fully invested in running with it until it becomes infeasible to do so. The big upgrade path from here would be an X32 rack but that's a lot of money for a band like us that's still playing clubs.

[@Plant_Based_Riffs]

Love this vid man! Very interesting and very well delivered. I am scared of automating patch changes on my quad cortex for live. I just do everything with my feet. I feel like I could benefit from digging into that.

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

I've got a follow up video in the works for an easier way to do patch changes over USB - It's worth doing! I wouldn't want to go back to foot switches any time soon.

[@metalyourhead]

We do the exact same thing with patch changes in our Helix racks. Just let our laptop change it via midi control in cubase.

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

It's wonderful! I never want to go back to a pedalboard again

[@metalyourhead]

@@theevanwilliamsproject same, no more pedal dancing!

[@agustinbernal2760]

Hi, great video! Is the Behinger class compliant? Can it be plugged to an ipad? Cheers!

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

I'm afraid I don't know the answer to that one!

[@damienlobb85]

FWIW I have had issues with more expensive Macs that I haven't had with cheaper PC laptops. (I usually run a bare bones fresh install of Windows on the laptop with only the drivers/software necessary.) You can also get cheaper Macs than the usual MacBook Pro, and more expensive PCs. It's really more a matter of taste and what OS you mostly use. Great video btw Evan!

[@infectionsman]

Isnt there a risk of the OS interrupting or bugging out during a live performance? Even a bare bones win7 install could come up with all kinds of stupid CPU hogging and interruptions.

[@musicadesilva]

Great video, I would’ve loved to hear what you are actually listening in your in-ears

[@FVDaudio]

Everyone solves in their own way, but I didn't understand why your click panned to the left. It could be the click sent by a dedicated output and then mixed at will for monitoring purpose..

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

Correct - however this rig doubles as our in-ear monitoring system, we're sending outputs 1&2 to everyone's ears. This lets us preset all the monitoring levels before we even get to the gig and we won't have to bother the FOH engineer with mixing requests. And all three of us prefer click on the left :)

[@lloydmunga4961]

Panning the click hard left (mono) is for monitoring purposes. Panning hard left makes it a mono signal ( 1 channel ) instead of stereo (2 channel

[@TheMusicalMedic]

Actually i might need to build a rig like this

[@FfanitTech]

Hi what did you have to do to get you line outputs to work? I'm having issues with them. I say issues I mean all I've done is plug into them expecting them to work and they're not 🤷🏼‍♂️?? Do I have to set them up through my PC? Any advice on this please would be very appreciated 🙏🏻 thanks.

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

Hey there! Yes, you have to route tracks to the line outs in your DAW. It's different depending on which program you're using, but in REAPER it's a matter of clicking the "Route" button on a track, which brings up the routing menu; then select from the dropdown menu under "Audio Hardware Outputs" and select the outputs you want to send the audio to. It might be called a Hardware Send or something along those lines, but you can usually do it on a track-by-track basis. Do a bit of digging and you'll find it.

[@FfanitTech]

@@theevanwilliamsproject oh ok this is what I didn't quite understand when I read it in the manual. Will I have to always have it set up to my DAW in order for them to work ,or once I've set them they'll just work) as I like to keep my pc off as much as possible, it just saves on headaches. 🤷🏼‍♂️ Thanks for replying btw

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

@@FfanitTech Hardware outputs are generally saved with your project - if you can configure a project template with all the tracks routed the way you want, that'll make it a little easier. I generally just redo all the routing every time I make a new show file. It doesn't take that long to configure once you know how to do it 🤷‍♂

[@FfanitTech]

@@theevanwilliamsproject right then , best get the computer on and see if I can get this worked out. Thanks for the advice

[@NLNPNL]

I d something similar with Reaper, for internet concerts. Except I use a plugin for guitar, rather than Axe FX. Your band sounds great! One small clarification. . . Reaper is $60 for two full versions. It's true, it's permanent. You don't have to upgrade. After two versions, you pay if you want to upgrade. It takes several years for them to get through two full versions. I've been running Reaper 10 years and I think I've paid twice.

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

I had no idea! They've been on version 6 since I started using it. Still a better deal than most DAWs anyway. I am actually looking into using the Neural DSP stuff myself -- the main thing I need to figure out is patch spillover, as that's easy to set up on the Fractal, but I haven't figured out exactly how to do that in the plugs yet.

[@NLNPNL]

@@theevanwilliamsproject most people don't have any idea because it takes Reaper many years to get through two full versions! The problems I have with amp sim plugins on a computer, are CPU usage and potentially latency. Neural will eat CPU and perhaps cause you to increase your block size in the buffer setting, which means more latency. Check it out before you get too far. You might be better of having your CPU load off the computer, like it is now with Axe FX. I ended up with a much less CPU intensive plug, Kuassa Amplifikation VVV. I'm not sure it would meet your needs.

[@henryvanweeren7233]

As an audio person with a similar portable setup, this was interesting and impressive. Also, sourcing items from outside of Canada must have taken some time to figure out exchange rates and import duties and such, yes (I'm in Hamilton, ON)? I think of these things when considering the possibilities of adding/upgrading to my own setup.

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

Thomann makes it pretty easy - the site will do on-the-fly exchange rate conversion to CAD and it's fairly accurate. Then once you've got your total (plus shipping!) you can take that number over to the Government of Canada's import duty and tax calculator to find out how much extra you'll be paying. With shipping and import fees not everything makes sense to import but I've been blown away by what I can order from there for less money than any Canadian retailer - and have it arrive faster. You do have to be wary of power cables and voltage requirements when importing electronics, though.

[@henryvanweeren7233]

@@theevanwilliamsproject Have never really considered Thomann, but will seriously look into it. Thanks!

[@olivergianan]

With all those padding, does the laptop cooling fan vent still works?

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

The padding is removable and is there for transport - the lid and padding aren't there when the laptop is actually being used.

[@spookie3000]

Great setup. And if it works it's perfect! Simple and effective. Sounds great as far as I can tell. If you ever want to upgrade to individual stereo IEM's the Behringer XR18 seems to be perfect for you (I see you mentioning the X32 Rack but that would be a bit much). It would allow everybody a dedicated monitor mix which they can control through their phones. Each a powerplay P1 and maybe the guitar/singer wireless in-ear and you're sorted for not too much money. Also I see you found a better way to do midi switching in Reaper. I love Reaper as well but usually I see Ableton Live being used for these tasks. Might be easier, or just fashion.

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

Interesting! I hadn't actually considered the XR18 for that - the only issue I'd anticipate is the smaller number of outputs available (6 aux out, so 3 stereo ears would mean no tracks or instruments through) unless we were to use an Ultranet Powerplay system, which if we decided we'd like to invest in we could just get a P16-I and chain it to the UMC1820 over ADAT. There's definitely lots of options out there, but I think we've struck the sweet spot of meeting what we need for the foreseeable future - I can't imagine, with where we're at as a band right now, looking at dropping any more money on a more robust system. Maybe once we start touring and hire more musicians. I do know a lot of people who use Ableton Live as well, but I haven't used it myself... Reaper has ruined me, man. It just does everything I need it to do.

[@spookie3000]

@@theevanwilliamsproject ah yes I see... Sorry, I missed the bit about providing FOH the signal through the system. I suppose (but only interesting if you like the thought experiment, you're obviously happy with what you have) you could do xlr splits so everything goes directly to front of house, as well as into the mixer. You could run stereo tracks through the mains out. Only thing with splits is to be careful not to put phantom power on the line from two places. But you seem to have found the simplest and most intelligent way of doing it, so best to keep it! Reaper rocks... never could get my head around Ableton anyway.

[@bencharles4459]

Sending the non-processed instruments to FoH using your interface seems like a lot of potential for issues, loss in quality and a massive increase in latency. Why not do an analogue split on a patch panel at the back? This also solves the issue of having to reach into the back of the units to plug in the cables.

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

@@bencharles4459 We haven't experienced any issues with latency or quality having used this rig for a year and a bit :)

[@Conrado_Acosta]

maravillosa explicación! gracias

[@davidreynolds6718]

Very cool. Thanks for the video! Can you provide more information on you in-ear monitoring and how that works? Is everyone getting the same mix?

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

Happy to! The UMC1820 has two headphone outs on the front panel and either can be configured to receive Hardware outs 1&2 or 3&4, so in theory I could make two submixes in Reaper and send them out on those sets of channels. Right now though for the sake of efficiency we've just been making one master mix that everyone is at least mostly happy with and sending it to everybody - Launz gets her own volume control and Isaac and I share the other with a y-cable. It's not ideal, but it's good enough for what we need it for. We are looking into expanding the IEMs a bit but it's a huge expense hurdle up from where we're at - the Behringer Powerplay system looks great and would use ADAT out from the 1820 for individual track mixing on everyone's personal mixer but that would be a bunch of extraneous gear wired in on stage to set up and tear down, and for three people we're easily into the thousands of dollars already. Wireless IEMs are a goal but mono IEMs suck and running three in stereo would come out of our total outputs which would hinder our ability to run things direct; the only way I really see us upgrading from this system is if we get an X32 rack and a set of wireless IEMs --- which is a massive investment for us, essentially requires that we assemble it in a larger rolling rack, and is WAY overkill when this setup just needs some extension cables and being careful not to trip.

[@markanthony5897]

The clock refers to tempos of your incoming tracks.

[@ramiroantoniopohle5213]

do you guys hear the same mix? do you have independent mixes for each musician?

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

At the moment, we all get the same mix. We could set one headphone output to Outs 1+2 and the other to 3+4, giving us two headphone mixes to choose from, but we've found that sharing a mix is generally fine for our needs.

[@Zafersernikli]

What I don’t understand about backing track rigs on DAWs with no live compatibility is the lack of improvisation on stage. By improvisation, I don’t mean improvs on a song but improvs on the setlist? You have to either open new projects on each song or follow the set list no matter what. There’s a DAW designed only to fix this issue, but no one but the electronic music artists seems to use it.

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

Flexibility in a set is nice, but if I'm given a 45 minute set time I want to make sure I'm using my allotted time efficiently. Pre-planning the set, including when to take breaks, switch guitars, talk to the audience, means I know for certain that our time will be well spent and we won't go over. This also means that as we rehearse the set, we'll practice all those things during the rehearsal and it'll be a tighter show as a result.

[@wattage2007]

There can only be one clock master, so if the Behringer's set to slave but isn't receiving digital clock signal into its SPDIF input, you won't get any sound.

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

That makes more sense. Thanks!

[@CassieRoll94]

gotta put the power supply at the top of the rack so you can fry up your after-show bacon

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

slap a few slices on at the beginning of the set and 45 minutes later, perfect recovery snack

[@thezooportugalbanda]

Amazing!

[@daveparker7207]

Do you use onstage amps for keys and more importantly the guitar?

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

Nope - those both get run through the system and direct into FOH. Keys get a little Valhalla Shimmer before it hits the output and guitar is handled by the Axe-FX

[@daveparker7207]

@@theevanwilliamsproject I Have the Axe III and the Presonus Quantum Thunderbolt II interface. I'm just looking for the right amp to gig and practice. I'm old school and need a amp and a cab behind me. I think I would also send the complete chain to The House. Nice job!

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

@@daveparker7207 ooooh you'll want an FRFR speaker for that -- the Line 6 Powercab is one but Harley Benton makes an affordable one as well. I've considered getting one myself but I can't justify the expense considering I usually just practice through my studio monitors 😂

[@machiavellian7490]

Does ur gear rack ever turn up late or drunk?

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

Hasn't yet!

[@fredaxtpor]

Behringer, Dell and Reaper? I dont have an alibi anymore!

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

You know it --- now get out there and make some music 💪💪

[@visheshkumarsingh767]

Nice video sir just subbed you

[@migueldias2568]

wich cable snake do you use?

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

In this video we were using a Monoprice 8-channel TRS to XLR male snake. As of writing it's $54 on Amazon. We've since changed the output routing setup but are still using a Monoprice snake. They do the job well enough.

[@dighawaii1]

Your looking for SysEx to change patches :)

[@seanwalsh999]

Are your In-ears wireless?

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

Nope, that's an expense we haven't been able to justify just yet. For now we're just using 3.5mm extension cables - it's on our wish list though.

[@seanwalsh999]

@@theevanwilliamsproject Do you ware belt pak head phone amps? How do you control volume?

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

@@seanwalsh999 There are two headphone outs on the front of the UMC1820 - our drummer gets one and I share the other with our keys player via a split cable. Volume gets pre-set during sound check and we just have very long 3.5mm extension cables. To make things smoother for everyone involved, I normalize all the tracks to -14.0 LUFS and the click to -1.0db, then during rehearsal Isaac and I will make sure our guitar and keys patches are all around the same levels with a little boost for solo sounds. Then I run the tracks and instruments through a bus comp and the whole thing through a limiter on the master. This way, we can send the uncompressed tracks to FOH via the Audio Hardware Outs so the mixing engineer on the night can do whatever he needs to do with them (but they're all still at consistent volumes throughout the show), and our ears will stay at a fairly constant level so we don't have to run over and turn them up or down.

[@seanwalsh999]

@@theevanwilliamsproject Thank you for your explanation, your set up is very striped down, but it sounds like you have really mastered the technology.

[@LeFnob]

I would create a MIDI item on the track and send patch change information that way, rather than using the envelope. That’s just cause I find the envelopes and ReaControlMIDI to be really clunky

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

I stumbled across that method some time after making this video - I'll be showcasing it in a follow up video soon :)

[@johncarlo7395]

Well it looked good to me, so I think you must be doing something right, if it ain't broke don't fix it.

[@avh700]

Spid -if

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

See that was my initial assumption. But I get in a lot of trouble with the way I pronounce GIF so I wanted to be wary.

[@oneeyedcatable]

I’ve played live with backing tracks for years.. no need for all of this elaborate gear! My tracks are high quality (most are custom produced) and I use a laptop, plugged into my mixer. That’s it!

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

That definitely works when you're looking at just outputting a stereo signal! When you're looking at including a click track for multiple musicians as well as processing keyboard and guitar effects and adding those to your output mix though you're going to run into some issues. You could pan the click to one side and the tracks and instruments to the other and use a splitter, but unless you've specifically mixed your tracks for mono playback summing them is going to remove a lot of the full-ness, and you'll have to pre-mix your instrument and track levels in the box before sending it to FOH. The gear in the video is the simplest (and cheapest) way I've found yet to have in-ear mixes for musicians and multiple distinct channels for the FOH engineer to mix properly - and it's evolved out of that need. You're correct in saying this would be unnecessary for solo musicians :)

[@oneeyedcatable]

@@theevanwilliamsproject ok, fair enough! I am a solo but on occasion have had two others with me. I place my tracks on ProTools and mix them according to what musicians I have with me.

[@camdensubdivision3020]

I'm just here for the "Backing tracks are cheating!" comments.

[@ryanqkfcman]

I thought u could just run backing tracks and IEM metronomes through a computer running ableton or pro tools into a external rig to feed it all through.. life too hard

[@chrisdaviesguitar]

low budget with an Axe FX? Are you joking? Low budget is sub £500

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

Swap it for some Neural DSP plugs and grab a cheap Behringer USB mixer and you're good to go, champ

[@jpsmith8523]

So here is the question? Why not get more musicians?

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

Money, mainly

[@bluegrasstooth4026]

Why backing tracks? Seems like cheating.

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

It's cheaper than hiring a 32 piece choir and orchestra

[@bluegrasstooth4026]

@@theevanwilliamsproject certainly is.

[@johnthelad]

You may be surprised many professional bands use or have used some backing tracks in their live shows, even if the actual backing track is created by them recording it.

[@bluegrasstooth4026]

@@johnthelad i am aware. Just not a fan of it.

[@hogblockula9335]

Music is not a competition. You cannot cheat at it lol

[@pauliusmscichauskas558]

I would highly recommend not using a laptop for backing tracks. Get yourself a specialized backing track player, such as the cymatic player.

[@danielstartek1497]

How do I get my own project? I want a project too!

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

Anyone can have a project! All you need to do is start releasing music :)