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Ok here goes. I can't seem to quite get the hang of this equipment or audacity. I have been recording songs and not being able to save them. Then I solved that but sometimes they work when I test them but after saving them the vocals are gone. The bottom line is thus far I'm not happy. I don't like the sound and preferred the rawness of singing in my room. "Parlor songs" :)

I've also noticed that because I don't like the sound I am re-recording the songs over and over. For what? That's the way I sound! I'd rather sound like "me" than to keep recording until I don't and I'm satisfied with a not so "me"sound. Before I was just getting my camera out giving it one or two shots (if I messed up the words or something) then posting it. Now I am concerned that the more I learn the more I will be "fixing" songs to sound good or better.

To be honest I really don't like the sound quality and part of that is me not knowing how to get the music lower and vocal louder or vice versa.

Other than that I think it sounds like crap and if this were all I had to post when I first came here I would never post a song :D

Here are two test runs.

Sorry for my bitching too but it has been a hectic few days for very little and less than satisfying outcome.

Wish You Were Here (cover)

http://www.soundclick.com/player/single_player.cfm?songid=11645603&q=hi

Wild Horses (Cover)

http://www.soundclick.com/player/single_player.cfm?songid=11586910&q=hi

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I know it's PITA getting thru some of the learning curve but it will get better after the initial deluge of new stuff.

First of all I'm far from knowledgeable on making really good recordings. Having said that..

Your vocals are only coming thru the right channel. I would set up your vocal track to a single mono channel.. not stereo. That will fix that.

You will need to put some compression on the vocal track to get it to punch thru the music track. Once again I have a simple compression setup and don't really tweak it much at all from song to song. You can make things a lot better if you did, but I'm not that interested in maxing out at this point.

I would also ditch Audacity and get something like Keith mentioned. Another shareware you can try is Reaper I've heard good things about. I use Cubase Limited Edition that came free with my Audio Interface. Audacity is awkward to work with and limited in ease and functionality.

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Tommy, I know you are not quite there technically but I really like it, I think it will do you justice. Hang in there. We older dudes aren't as tech savvy as some of these young pups but this site has some good teachers. I look forward to when you get it dialed in.

P.S. I liked both backing tracks you used. :)

Steve

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I need a break. I've been singing so much this week, literally from about 9:30 or 10: 00 in the morning until about 5 or 6 in the evening (I've been off from work this week). I'm fed up, my voice is tired and everything I sing just ain't working. This week has become work rather than enjoyment and that is what has caused me to give up other instruments I've attempted to play in the past. I've sang so much this week that anything I have been singing today just isn't coming out right. It's like I am starting over again. I need a break.

Right now I can't stand to hear my own voice.

Thanks for the listen and help. :)

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It's way cool to here the improved quality of the recording over the scratchy video sound quality you usually had.

And, as Shakespeare, "Aye, now, therein lies the rub." When I had nothing but the desk mic, I could blame it all on that. Once I had a decent mic and a usb interface, I couldn't blame it on that. And, like you said, now you feel the weight upon you to make perfect recordings.

It's going to take some trial and error, something I am still going through, myself. So, I don't have any criticism for you. Just a pat on the back for doing like I do, one stinking step at at time.

You definitely have a blues tone in your voice. And I can see that you wisely choose songs that fit your voice. Always keep with that thought.

Now, I can look forward to some really good recordings from you. After your rest, of course.

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Thanks Ron. I guess, as much as a pain in the ass a sit has been, I'm one step ahead of yesterday and two steps ahead of the day before...

One step at a time.

It's funny, I've been singing for years, probably since age 10. Then about 8 months ago I decided to learn to do it right. Now it seems that all the songs I thought I sang good, I'm not sure anymore. It seems the more I learn the more I hear my own mistakes (the more faults I notice) more and more :mad: :D

Now there's equipment? And I thought this would be easy :lol:

I use Cubase Limited Edition that came free with my Audio Interface. Audacity is awkward to work with and limited in ease and functionality.

That is what came with mine. It seems it is temporary unless you register. I've been trying to register but wow! There is a tutorial on registration, a download, an email verification and a laundry list of instructions. I tried twice with no success. :D

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It's funny, I've been singing for years, probably since age 10. Then about 8 months ago I decided to learn to do it right. Now it seems that all the songs I thought I sang good, I'm not sure anymore. It seems the more I learn the more I hear my own mistakes (the more faults I notice) more and more

Welcome to the club.

That is what came with mine. It seems it is temporary unless you register. I've been trying to register but wow! There is a tutorial on registration, a download, an email verification and a laundry list of instructions. I tried twice with no success

When I got the guitarface II usb interface, it came with a copy of amplitude. But it wouldn't activate. So, I emailed tech support. After a few days of no response, I sent another query. They told me that repeated requests do not help or increase response time. Basically, "go away and quit bothering me." And then, never helped. I was unimpressed.

So, let me state it loud and clear, the guitarface II USB interface is pretty good product though it lacks input level adjustment. They make up for it by being rude instead of offering customer service.

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Dude, sounds good for a fist attempt. I record my vocs on a stereo track - thus, my vocs come out left and right. HOWEVER, when I assign vocals to a track, I tell it right side mono audiobox input. So, it takes a mono track and places it in left and right. Seeing as we don't sing in stereo, it's the next best thing lol. Once you get the silly little things worked out, you'll sound even better. For now though, don't stress too much - the quality is much better than the stuff you have submitted in the past.

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Audacity is it's own little world, with some impediments.

Effects are not adjustable in real time. you have to choose an effect and it prints that entire track, what ever it is. Don't like it? Have to click undo and re-choose the effect. Latency is crap. That's why I have to sing the vocal track with one earphone off with no play-through.

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Your vocals are only coming thru the right channel. I would set up your vocal track to a single mono channel.. not stereo. That will fix that.

I switched to mono on Audacity as well as my interface and I rerecorded Wild Horses. I replaced the original link. Did that do anything? Any difference?

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Yeppers. Comes out both speakers now.

I can't tell. The only place I have sound is my laptop. I don't have a stereo. Do they still use stereos? :D Well, whatever people listen to music on these days...CD players? Don't have one of those either. Well I do in my car. :P

Thanks

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I can't tell. The only place I have sound is my laptop. I don't have a stereo. Do they still use stereos? :D Well, whatever people listen to music on these days...CD players? Don't have one of those either. Well I do in my car. :P

Thanks

Use headphones :) like from an ipod or anything. Flat monitor headphones are best, but for what we do - just a normal pair of earbuds will work also.

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Use headphones :) like from an ipod or anything. Flat monitor headphones are best, but for what we do - just a normal pair of earbuds will work also.

I have some headphones somewhere that my wife had when she took an online school course.

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My USB does have a heaadphone out jack so I can listen to playback and stuff from you guys without waking my wife or the dog. But the USB offers no zero latency, which would have been nice but that would have been a more expensive USB. And I certainly don't have any stand-alone digital recorder with chainable effects, etc. And there's not a lot of documention for Audacity outside of the basic, "this is echo, this is what it does, it makes a sound echo with a full repeat ....)

Truly, the nicest parts of my rig are the mics, the stand, pop filter, the USB interface, headphones. The computer is "Frankenstein." Built for me by a friend in 2005 with spare parts he had laying around, back then. No fancy high-dollar sound card, just the on-board sound processing. Windows XP.

In addition to Audacity having a problem with latency, I've noticed, even at the same bit sampling rate and bit size, it will record a second track such as vocals against a karoake track at a different tempo. I have to use tempo adjust to a figure of at least .01 % to get it back in line. Tempo adjust will change the tempo without changing pitch of the notes.

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Ok, now for some critique. Even though these were just test runs of equipment, it's still about the singing.

I have been singing Wild Horses since this album came out...what was that, like 1970? In all those years I still have trouble right at the beginning. "Childhood living is easy to do." The word easy.

It goes off pitch every time. I think if I give it more "ee" it gets better but too accented. Any tips?

I also noticed this time around that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. With all the new techniques I've been learning along with advice and things I've been reading I now tend to get hurt by something I always warn against. "Don't think about the technique." I find I am thinking about it throughout and when I listen to the playback now it doesn't sound like my usual singing. For example, I can hear on the word "sweeping" (No sweeping exits) that I drew the word out too long and I adjusted the vowels a little too noticeably. It sounds like swehyping. This is because it was in my subconscious that someone would comment the the vowels needed softening if I hit the ee too much. But when I think about it now, Mick Jagger had that sort of country twang and slang to his vocals.

Any notes/tips would be great. I mean besides telling me to take my own advice of "don't focus on the technique." :D That first line is the killer pitch wise. (for me)

Thanks

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ee sound is the right thing to do but keep it light. Let the mic create your volume. That is, don't try to make the ee loud. Just do it and let it live up in your head. As I remember the song, Mick is not singing loud, at all. Almost conversational volume, if you will.

And give yourself a little room to experiment. Now that you can really hear yourself, you will go through some adjustment.

Kind of like me and the new used guitar. The old one had a high action (distance between strings and fret.) The newer one has a lower action and plays "faster" with a more delicate touch. And it will take a while for my fingers to calibrate themselves to it. At least for me. Others mileage may vary.

Kind of the same, with your voice. Once you can hear outside of yourself, there is a time to be taken into account as you calibrate your voice to what you are now hearing.

And it is proven sociological fact that most singers, even the famous ones, don't like the sound of their own voice. But they keep singing because they cannot contemplate not singing.

C'est la Vie.

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That is what came with mine. It seems it is temporary unless you register. I've been trying to register but wow! There is a tutorial on registration, a download, an email verification and a laundry list of instructions. I tried twice with no success. :D

Yeah I remember having to jump thru all kinds of hoops to register. You can only have one working copy on a computer and they make it a nightmare to try to switch to another computer. I dread the day my old clunker needs to be replaced and I have to remove and reinstall Cubase. I may just ditch it and try out reaper for a while when that day comes.

They have a website that might have some better instructions about installing and such. And a forum that probably has a FAQ on the topic. I sure it is a popular topic! :lol:

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