Hi...
I have been enjoying using Band-in-a-Box immensely. Thanks to all who've made it such fun. But I seem to have reached a sort of transition point. I have CDs with instrumental versions of my songs but people listen and say "That's great but where are the vocals?" And you know, I've been scared to ask this question, 'cause I'm a French lit. graduate and I know someone's going to say "You gotta get a Hasseldorf multiport phonic recorder with J78 overdrive reciprocal adapting sequencer" or something of the sort. But I guess I can't put this off any longer. I have to know how to put vocals on my songs without somehow getting lost in the technology woods. Coward that I am, I thought maybe I could just take my Band-in-a-Box instrumentals minus melody line to a commercial studio and sing along or hire a singer to sing along. But that's not taking the bull by the horns. So if anyone can recommend a simpleton's way forward, hey, you have all my gratitude...
Long live the music,
Chris
When the audio track was first added they used the cheapest mic you could get.
If you use the Vsc Dxi synth, all you need to do is to plug in a mic to the mic in port and test it. There is a record audio button. You should load a song you know, save it as singtest then cut out all but the first 10 singable bars save it again, and press the record button. Make sure the meter shows input, you might have to tinker with that in windows to ensure the microphone slider is all the way up and that u are just using the soundard's mic. Sing along. Then look at all you can do, boost volume, add reverb, auto harmonies, etc.
Nothing hard about it really. Use headphones so you don't get the audio from the program bleeding into your mic.
When you decide to take the plunge the best thing is to get a small mixer for 60 bucks or so, and use some good headphones a nice mic and off you go.
Then you get GAS or Gear Acquisition Syndrome, and buy an Audix Mic, a vocal harmonizer with the bells and whistles, 500 dollar earphones, ...just kidding, sort of.
Actually I thought I couldn't sing at all, and now that I have the Bose, the audix mic, the Bose mixer I figure I'm a bass baritone Frank Sinatra...in my delusional state. Where's my pills?
Thanks for your time, John. If I could press a button to deposit a bottle of cognac on your doorstep, you'd have it. I might have extra questions for this forum later but you've shone a bright light on the path for me.
Chris
chris..
i gotta say several things mate..
1. a persons biggest enemy can be lack of confidence.,
so take the attitude i can do this.
so what if your worried bout criticism..have confidence.
also understand this is supposed to be FUN !!
there will ALWAYS be folks that criticise no matter how good the vocallist.
my attitude is i do my best with vocs and if i fail n get arrows
in my back i accept it and move on and try better on the next song.
but i learnt decades ago if i worry constantly bout critique..
i would never get a song done. worry can kill creativity etc etc.
2. just go at it gradually developing vocal technique.
and play to your vocal strengths.
look at neil young...or leonard cohen...both good examples
of people with therir own vocal style WHO DO THEIR OWN THING/style of vocs.
can leonard sing like a mezzo soprano ??..nope.
but he has his own lower register style.
the key to it all is working round ones weaknesses and developing ones vocal style.
and playing to voc strengths.
3. use something like realband where you have lots of traks you can experiment with
lots of vocal takes mate. experiment lots with comping together the best vocal takes.
over time youll thus start to realise what works and what doesnt.
what do you have in the way of gear ??
any mics ?? mic pres ?? sound device ??
if you have no gear , to save me lots of typing read my tips in the tips n triks section as to el cheapo gear
n recording with no money.
for example you could get a cheapo dynamic mic for 50 buks into a cheap sound interface that has a mic pre built in.
but above all HAVE FUN AND DO IT WITH CONFIDENCE.
sure youll fail..EVEN THE BEST FAIL sometimes.
if a voc part dont work belting it out..try softer or whispery n see if that
works and vice versa.
the key to the whole thing is to work around ones voc weaknesses
AND JUST GET IT ON AND DO IT.
i wish you every success mate n god bless.
chris..
forgot to add.
the hardest thing is the first vocal trak cos one has no voc reference.
so lay down a scratch trak and then sing against it.
often i find my vocs turn out better this way mate.
in any song try double tracking the vocals.
this can realise a denser vocal result.
anothe trik is to put one vocal in level down from the main lead vocal
n put a bit of echo/chorus on it.
read up on google various triks for produceing vocs.
theres lots of em. and the term VOCAL CONDITIONING.
all the best.
Thanks for all that. I hear your passion and humanity and generosity clearly. Actually I'm not afraid to sing as such. It's the technical stuff that had me apprehensive, and John C. gave me good advice on that. Nonetheless your tips are very welcome and I've copied them for a future reminder. I reciprocate your good wishes and hope you are succeeding in whatever you are busy at.
Chris
You don't need anything fancy at all to get the vocals down, if you have the backing trax already. All you need is a mic and Audacity (it's FREE). Well, that deals with the basics. Of course, the more you want, the more you need...
At the simplest there is an audio track in Band in a Box. For a beginner it's easier to pull off. Just remember that if your song is abc.mgu the abc.wav file in the same directory is just the audio. You can then render the whole thing from there.
I'd suggest that for starters. Lots of level of complication are available, exporting to RealBand or some DAW. But to start with put the song in your key and do a verse. Watch the sound button, the wave form. Use the Audio option to kill it and redo it. Get it close, add some reverb. After a few tries you can try the TC helicon harmonies to suit your voice. Don't stick in a lead in for 6 bars or the preview is cumbersome. Honesty, Band in a Box ships with Folksongs in a folder,go the the Children's folder and do something like She's coming round the mountain. Muck with the style. Put the song in a special directory C:\users\you\mysongs . That keeps things in order when you look in there.
Later you can go into Audacity. Pay attention to mono or stereo.