Karaoke Forums

Just for brief samplings of what will and might not work.. Voice timbre.  Not a whole songs-worth that's recording worthy mind you ! I just want to critique brief attempts at learning how to sing, hence what might and might not be something to pursue..  My goal, stronger chest voice.. so what recording media would best suit this so I can get some concept of my voice ?  In the old days standard cassette worked for some didn't it ?  or is digital recording MUCH more accurate than analog tape all other areas considered such as cheap microphone etc..  OR, should I be singing into PA cabs and the Shure SM-58 to get a better concept of my voice in a mix ?



Granted a lousy tape-recorder with microcassettes and a tiny speaker is NOT what you sing into.  But without setting up the "optimal" environment but rather a casual setting.. Have most of you found that a decent standard cassette recorder offers a fairly real representation of your singing ?   How about placement within room of microphone ?  Standard ceramic microphone ?   Talking quick and cheap analog setup... Not sitting in front of a computer... I won't sing just sitting in front of the computer.. sitting slouched doesn't give me posture, breathing techique. and energy.

I'm at square one..  Trying to learn how to "get a tone" or timbre to my voice..  How do I best listen to me ?

_________________
Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

You can hear yoursel on "any" recording device Kappy...but what i think you NEED is to hear yourself in a manner that would allow you to compare yourself with other singers. Those that you hear on the radio and live do have one thing in common that is critical to a newbie singer- and that is reverb.

Even as a prosinger I still hate to hear myself "dry" I want recordings of myself to sound like what I hear in the monitors at jobs- and even with a dry mic at a live venue- you're still gonna have that sound bouncing about a bit within the room.

My advice is to get a recording setup you are comfortable using and invest in the cheapest FX unti you can find. behringer makes some basic mixers that you might be interested in- the lowert one on the totem pole is the UB502- it is the only one that lacks any sort of reverb effect- all the rest have it. You can run your music( be it a track or a guitar line) and your mic into this and set the ratio between the two however you like- all you do it run the mixer into whatever recording device you have. I've used CD and Cassettes and was happy with both.

There is also a little unit that i got used on Ebay for 50.00 called a pioneer MA-9 mixer. It has a pitch changer and Mic inputs. That allows you do do the same thing as the behringer

There is a lady on the SS "grannyof5" or grannyoffive...who has gotten some decent sound for her granddaughters w/ verb off of one of those handhelp mics that have the karaoke chips and reverb built in. I feel kind of strange making a suggestions like this and am amazed that some of the more experienced "sound" people on here haven't jumped in with advice. Sound engineering isn't my strong point- but as a singer I can offer the small experience I have and hope it helps you too.

Basically whatever you choose to use- I think you will find the results more bearable if you can get some verb in there. I think to answer your question- what you play it back on is not as important has how you record it. Hope it helps!

_________________

I agree with Paula.. reverb makes a huge difference.

You can get a decent sound (not TERRIFIC mind you, but decent) just plugging a vocal mic into your line-on on your sound card with an adapter (it's kind of jiggly though) and then you can use some basic editing software to add reverb or whatever.

Few people sound fabulous 'dry'

A flat eq during recording and play back is important too if timbre is what you are after.

_________________
I can neither confirm nor deny ever having or knowing anything about nothing.... mrscott

It really depends on what you're trying to do... yes. That's why I like to use editing software, You can then add effects, or leave your voice dry, whatever you need to hear.

Yes,  you are right, that is the good thing about multitrack recording program; you can always add the efx to the vox after tracking. Same with eq and comp.

_________________
I can neither confirm nor deny ever having or knowing anything about nothing.... mrscott

UNless you have audacity...then you're screwed

I have YET to get a decent reverb with that program- Love it otherwise- but it needs SERIOUS work there!

_________________

There are 3rd party vst plugin that are way better that those built in verb efx.

_________________
I can neither confirm nor deny ever having or knowing anything about nothing.... mrscott

Yup...ya certainly don't need to be depending on the built in verb..I run my mic through a little FX machinebefore running into the computer- then I use the tools  to tweek that track. I really like audacity other than the lack of reverb( especially as it's a FREE program) I guess beggars shouldn't be so choosy huh?

_________________

I use Cool Edit Pro. I know there are few of them out there though.

Here's an older version of Cool Edit - apparently now freeware or shareware. I don't know if it's as good as the newer version, but you might give it a try.

http://www.threechords.com/hammerhead/c ... t_96.shtml