Backing track

A backing track is an audio recording on audiotape, CD or a digital recording medium or a MIDI recording of synthesized instruments, often of rhythm section or other accompaniment parts that live musicians play or sing along to. Backing tracks enable singers and bands to add parts to their music which would be impractical to perform live, such as string section or choir parts which were recorded in the studio.

Uses

Bands or solo musicians may use backing tracks to add extra instrumental or vocal tracks to a live performance, to enhance the sound (as in the employment of doubled backing vocals) or to replicate more closely the instrumentation heard on a recording (as in the use of additional recorded parts such as string sections which would be costly to reproduce live.) A singer or vocal group performing without a backup band may sing along to pre-recorded music. A music track without lead vocals may also be called a karaoke, minus-one track or playback. Music backing tracks are also available for instrumental practice and jamming by jazz musicians, to help beginning to intermediate performers learn to improvise over chord progressions. Backing tracks are also known as jam tracks. If bought commercially, backing tracks often use session musicians to play the instruments and backing vocals, rather than using the original recording of a song, because the rights to use the original performance of the backing parts of a song by a well-known band would be very costly to purchase.

Off

Off or OFF may refer to:

See also

Off!

Off! is an American hardcore punk supergroup, formed in Los Angeles in 2009.

History

Off! was formed in Los Angeles, California in late 2009 by Circle Jerks/Black Flag singer Keith Morris, Burning Brides frontman Dimitri Coats, Redd Kross bassist Steven Shane McDonald, and Rocket From The Crypt/Hot Snakes drummer Mario Rubalcaba. The idea to form the band came after Coats had worked as producer on a Circle Jerks album which fell apart. During that time, Coats and Morris had written several songs together which they used to start Off!. The group made its live debut at the 2010 South By Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas. Off!'s first Los Angeles show featured an original art installation by Raymond Pettibon at a downtown warehouse space.

The first release by Off! is a 7" vinyl EP called 1st EP, which debuted on October 13, 2010. That EP, along with three more EPs, were later released as a four 7" vinyl box set entitled First Four EPs on December 14, 2010. The collection contains sixteen songs and features artwork by Raymond Pettibon.

Environment variable

Environment variables are a set of dynamic named values that can affect the way running processes will behave on a computer.

They are part of the environment in which a process runs. For example, a running process can query the value of the TEMP environment variable to discover a suitable location to store temporary files, or the HOME or USERPROFILE variable to find the directory structure owned by the user running the process.

They were introduced in their modern form in 1979 with Version 7 Unix, so are included in all Unix operating system flavors and variants from that point onward including Linux and OS X. From PC DOS 2.0 in 1982, all succeeding Microsoft operating systems including Microsoft Windows, and OS/2 also have included them as a feature, although with somewhat different syntax, usage and standard variable names.

Details

In all Unix and Unix-like systems, each process has its own separate set of environment variables. By default, when a process is created, it inherits a duplicate environment of its parent process, except for explicit changes made by the parent when it creates the child. At the API level, these changes must be done between running fork and exec. Alternatively, from command shells such as bash, a user can change environment variables for a particular command invocation by indirectly invoking it via env or using the ENVIRONMENT_VARIABLE=VALUE <command> notation. All Unix operating system flavors, DOS, and Windows have environment variables; however, they do not all use the same variable names. A running program can access the values of environment variables for configuration purposes.

Human voice

The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal folds for talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming etc. The human voice is specifically a part of human sound production in which the vocal folds (vocal cords) are the primary sound source. Generally speaking, the mechanism for generating the human voice can be subdivided into three parts; the lungs, the vocal folds within the larynx, and the articulators. The lung (the pump) must produce adequate airflow and air pressure to vibrate vocal folds (this air pressure is the fuel of the voice). The vocal folds (vocal cords) are a vibrating valve that chops up the airflow from the lungs into audible pulses that form the laryngeal sound source. The muscles of the larynx adjust the length and tension of the vocal folds to ‘fine-tune’ pitch and tone. The articulators (the parts of the vocal tract above the larynx consisting of tongue, palate, cheek, lips, etc.) articulate and filter the sound emanating from the larynx and to some degree can interact with the laryngeal airflow to strengthen it or weaken it as a sound source.

Vocal music

Vocal music is a type of music performed by one or more singers, with or without instrumental accompaniment (a cappella), in which singing provides the main focus of the piece. Music which employs singing but does not feature it prominently is generally considered instrumental music (e.g. the wordless women's choir in the final movement of Holst's The Planets) as is music without singing. Music without any non-vocal instrumental accompaniment is referred to as a cappella.

Vocal music typically features sung words called lyrics, although there are notable examples of vocal music that are performed using non-linguistic syllables, sounds, or noises, sometimes as musical onomatopoeia. A short piece of vocal music with lyrics is broadly termed a song.

Vocal music is probably the oldest form of music, since it does not require any instrument besides the human voice. All musical cultures have some form of vocal music.

Vocal music without lyrics

World traditions

Vocal (Pet Shop Boys song)

"Vocal" is the second single from the Pet Shop Boys album Electric, released on 3 June 2013.

Background

"Vocal" was written during the writing process for the 2012 album Elysium, and was one of the earliest tracks written for the album. The track, however, wasn't included on the record as it didn't fit the rest of the "somber" and "reflective" material. It was instead recorded for Electric and was released as the album's second single.

Music video

The music video was directed by Joost Vandebrug. It is a tribute to rave culture and electronic music. It consists of a compilation of various amateur videos recorded circa the Summer of Rave in 1989.

Live performances

It is performed as the final encore on the Electric Tour.

Release formats

The single has been released in both digital and physical formats, with the latter containing the original album version along with 8 original remixes.

Charts

Because the song is over six minutes long and the single edit was never made available for purchase, it was ineligible to chart on most singles charts around the world, and only a few charts have ever included it, despite the single selling well.