A Word About Backing Tracks
Silver Sky Duo consists of David Stirk and George Suhon. They play their instruments and sing along with a backing track that George produces exclusively for use with the Silver Sky Duo. This is a very unique concept.
Most solo and duo acts use a backing track. However, most acts use typical store bought Karaoke tracks and/or MIDI files. This is sort of "cookie cutter" method of providing background instrumentation tends to make all other acts sound the same. But there is an even more important reason that George does not use Karaoke tracks. If Karaoke tracks sounded good and were acceptable for use for live entertainment, there would not be as much of an issue. But sadly they are not.
The reason that George refuses to use store bought Karaoke tracks is that they are processed in the studio using typical dynamic compression to get the song to "fit" on the CD or in the song file. Data compression, when used on a audio file, reduces the dynamic range of the audio. What this means in laymen's terms is that a song sounds less "live". The song doesn't jump out at you. It sounds like you're playing along with a CD. Conversely, when you listen to a live band there is a distinct difference from listening to a CD made by the same band. A good live band's sound is lively and exciting. The reason for that is a live band has more dynamic range.
George records all of his own backing tracks. This means that he plays all of the instruments himself, sings all of the backing vocals and mixes all of this in his studio. He adds very little compression to the recording so that the instruments retain their original, innate quality, along with a wide dynamic range. As much as it is within his power, he produces the recorded backing track to sound as little like a "recorded track" as possible. The objective is to sound as much like a live band as possible.