Technical help

[ronws]

Thanks to Matt's link, I have a youtube downloader that converts to mp3 so I can get whatever karaoke track I want.

But the problem is Audacity. I have tried matching bit rates. I have tried time-shift tool. I have tried "mix and render." Which has offered the best mix, but not by far.

So, I will post both the "finished" product and the just the vocal track. In the vocal track, you can hear I have the same rhythm as the original song, so, I'm not off on timing. But when getting the two tracks together, which normally align themselves, I am not having luck.

Anyway, this "Brandy" by Looking Glass. If you were at Sherman Elks Lodge a year ago, this is what you heard and the bartender, a lady, absolutely loved it.

Again, my timing is not off when I am recording but I can't get the play back to align correctly and I'm about ready to take a hammer to whoever wrote Audacity, though I shouldn't complain because it's free.

whole song.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8750209/Brandy%202.mp3

vocal track, only, though you can hear some bleed through from the headphones.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8750209/Brandy%20vocal%203.mp3

[Ernest_Whaley]

Ron,

Have you tried "Project--Align Tracks" in Audacity? You have several options, mine is using the cursor to drag whichever track is not in sync into the right vertical alignment.

It sounds like you have a latency problem with your sound card. It takes time for the audio signal to get from your mic, through the analog to digital converter, so if you don't have a fast interface your recorded voice will lag behind the backing track when recorded. It will sound fine while you are recording.

But off in the playback.

I hope this helps.

Blessings and Balance,

Ernest

[ronws]

I've tried "align tracks." But I have also had problems adjusting latency. For example, I don't use playthrough. There's too much lag. I have the headphones on and cup one ear to hear myself. The problem is in playback of both tracks. And I don't know how to adjust latency. I have tried, without much luck. Right now, these are the default settings.

audio to buffer 100 ms

latency correction -300 ms

Any suggestions that would make it line up? It's like, now matter where I line up the onset of say the first lyric, the whole vocal track is "stretched" and goes off time.

[ronws]

I tried the track difference measurement came up with a 230 ms difference, positive. And adjusted that to the vocal track. And later, I will re-record with the latency already adjusted and see if that makes a difference. I've been finding that latency for most people is less than 300 ms either way. But I'm still not sure how the vocal track elongated, though the + 230 ms made it track a whole lot better. I saved a version of that, too. I was going to up load but then, I thought, well, I might just wait, re-do the track with corrected latency and see if that helps. Thanks, Ernest.

[ronws]

I fixed the problem. Now, I did re-record the vocals just now, freshly rested. And the vocal track was still elongating. So, my third brain cell fired up and scared the crap out of me and I found that the tempo correction in Audacity solved the problem. Time-shift onset was not a problem. Anyway, so, what you hear now is the timing I recorded at, regardless of how the track initially got stored.

This song means a lot to me. I was born in Los Angeles, California. My first step-father was in the Navy and this song makes me think of the shipyards. I also dedicate this song to the west coast, which just has that "feel" when I was a kid. And I dedicate it to my friend, Lee, born 10-9-47 in Oklahoma but raised in Great Britain. He joined the Merchant Marines and then later, the US Navy. Became a 2c Petty Officer and SEAL, stationed out Da Nang, Viet Nam and served three active combat tours. His specialty was remote C-4 detonations of enemy tunnels and camps. But he did also have 9 confirmed sniper kills. Originally trained on the .308, he preferred the grease gun. He passed away 2-17-05.

This is also for the lady bartender at the Elks Lodge in Sherman, Texas. And for a colleague in my industry who happens to be named Brandy.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8750209/Brandy.mp3