Backing Tracks anacrusis / pick-up with backing track?

[mizmar]

From the department of idle curiosity

Suppose you're playing live with a backing track - and you wanted to play a pick-up note or two before the first bar (or indeed, hit the 1 cleanly with no intro); how could you do that?
You start the recording, with enough silence to give you time to position your hands etc. I suppose you don't want count-in or clicks for a live audience... But, maybe a quiet 2 or 4 clicks?

 

[wakyct]

Apps like iReal have a volume adjust for count-in. If you're using an Aebersold or similar I guess you'd have to do some editing in a DAW/Audacity/etc.?

 

[mizmar]

I'd'v thought it possible for an app like Mobilesheets to give options for a delay and a visual countdown when a track is started. The metronom has an option for visual only.
Maybe I should post that on the zubersoft website; they're normally quite responsive

 

[wakyct]

I'd'v thought it possible for an app like Mobilesheets to give options for a delay and a visual countdown when a track is started.

Can you edit the chart to add an empty bar or two at the beginning?

 

[mizmar]

Can you edit the chart to add an empty bar or two at the beginning?

Charts aren't the problem.
Example: here's the start of

Backing comes in on B♭.
As you say, with iReal, there's a countdown.
Without an audible count-in - or visible signal ..

 

[atwl77]

I suppose some sort of count-in is necessary, if not a basic click then maybe something more passable like a hihat or shaker. Or even a simple drum fill.

If you're generating the backing track on your own (iReal, Band-in-a-Box, etc), then maybe even adding 2-4 bars of intro may be acceptable?

One example I can give is Ed Sheeran's Perfect. If you get the backing track from musicbackingtracks.co.uk, it starts with clicks baked-in. But on Youtube, I see that buskers tend to favour the piano ballad version instead of the original version, since the former has an intro play before the melody starts.

So basically, put in an acceptable click, or a short intro, seems to be what people do.

 

[mizmar]

I'd'v thought it possible for an app like Mobilesheets to give options for a delay and a visual countdown when a track is started

Apparently, it's now on the to-do list