Are you "Aiding and Abetting"?

[roger bayliss]

I too had the old backing tracks on cassette tapes .. not bad back then but I was well pleased to see the UBHank series and quickly bought them for around £12 each several years back along with a few others. People that buy off these people who sell other peoples work on e-bay pretending it to be their own are helping these people to continue on ripping the people off who put all the hard work in in the first place. £12 a CD with something like 20+ tracks is fine by me and they are well used here. Do not support these people on e-bay and do the honorable thing and pay the money to the real musicians who make them..

[KenE]

Copyright theft is theft, full stop. If the work of Hank, Ian McC or any of the other creators of backing tracks are being sold as original work by others whether on eBay or anywhere else, it is illegal.

Actually, also illegal is taking a copy your mate's backing track CD and that practice is widespread.

But don't lets kid ourselves that creating original backing tracks is difficult. Most people on this forum go to a number of Shadows Clubs - the four I go to have brilliant backing bands with all the right gear. It is possible to buy a decent 8 track recorder for a couple of hundred quid and with the bands agreement it would be possible to produce good quality backing tracks for no real outlay. Recording drums, bass and rhythm guitars, even mike'd up, is a peice of cake and even easier if you DI the amps.

It is therefore really difficult to determine what is original and what is theft. "Shadows tribute bands" and clubs' backing bands strive to create the right sound and recording it to make decent quality backing tracks is easy and cheap.

[dave robinson]

. Recording drums, bass and rhythm guitars, even mike'd up, is a peice of cake and even easier if you DI the amps.

It is therefore really difficult to determine what is original and what is theft. "Shadows tribute bands" and clubs' backing bands strive to create the right sound and recording it to make decent quality backing tracks is easy and cheap.

Can't wait to hear how to D.I. a Vox Ac30. With all of this knowledge and talent, it's a shame you weren't around 12 years ago when we were crying out for cheap BT's. You could have done them all and saved us the trouble.

[KenE]

OK, you can't DI an AC30 but why would you need to if you are producing tracks without a lead guitar? I'd run an electro-acoustic straight into tthe desk for the rhythm parts.

But my point is that recording musicians and making CDs is cheap and easy nowadays. Digital recording equipment is cheap and easily available and there are plenty of bands around who produce a decent Shadows sound.

Look at the thousands of good CDs produced by amateur bands, street buskers, etc - did they invest a fortune creating their CDs? I don't think so! And they couldn't have done it twelve years ago, but with the advances in technology anyone can do it nowadays. You can event rent a professional recording studio for a few hundrerd pounds a day, a paltry cost compared to the money we invest in Strats, Vox Amps and EFTP units.

So don't assume that cheap backing tracks are necessarily fraudulent.

[McShadow]

is there a site where these genuine backing tracks can be heard, payed for, and downloaded individually? by paypal for example, in the way you would any other comercially available track? i personally have no problem with paying sensible money for quality backing tracks. as others have said here, if these people didnt put their time and effort into making these things we would all be (as i was myself for many years) playing along to drum machines and home made midi's. i have used backing tracks from various sources, some free, others bought, but even the free backing tracks give me the opportunity to "donate". im sure many people on this site have spent time in studios and for those who havent IT'S EXPENSIVE AND TIME CONSUMING!! A decent backing track for less than the price of a pint??? keep them coming i say

regards
Ian

[Martin Payne]

Ian, there are backing tracks for guitarists available on iTunes - at least in North America - and one of the CD's there comprises of Shadows material. Of course you can get a 30 second preview and download the tunes individually if you want.

Martin