Karaoke Forums

My name is Steve.  I'm 49, and currently reside in central Connecticut.
My folks started me performing during my first year of piano at around age 4.  Since that time, I've managed to escape the classical venues of music.  My current musical experience consists of session work, piano accompaniment for ballad <rock genre, popular, some show> and 9 years touring as a guitarist.  I currently play 5 musical instruments decently, and can play a total of around 14 different musical instruments. I would classify myself as an experienced multiinstrumentalist, skilled in 60's-80's styles of popular <western> musical styles.  
   I stumbled upon "singer's showcase" yesterday when I was doing a keyword search for "vocal processors" for my home music studio. I expected to hear the usual one would hear at a Karaoke type club, yet was astonished at the level of skill some of the members possess. I've worked with both male, and female vocalists much of my life; Yet until I can find a vocal processor with a Burton Cummings, or David Clayton Thomas preset, will likely save the difficult instrument of the human voice to those that know how to use it.  I try to sing, yet I wasn't gifted with a voice that I believe can "cut it" in a ballad style I feel is presentable.


                                                                            Steven Kaplan

Welcome to the Show Case, Steve! Submit some of your piano work. Several people on here submit things other than vocal performance. Anything is fine... and most appreciate musical talent of any kind.

Hope you have fun.

_________________
[shadow=tomato]If you want your significant other to pay attention to EVERY word you say::
  TALK IN YOUR SLEEP   [/shadow]  

Thank you for your reply Cindy. Most of my Piano work, (cocktail lounge style as well as accompaniment) that is recorded, never made it into the digital realm. Still sits on tape. Guitar work as well. My current means of recording is still a Tascam 424 mk3 analog machine. When it comes to midi, and setting parameters such as the requirements of many digital devices, I'm somewhat of a technophobe (preferring the simplicity of just turning nobs).

About six months ago, I recorded some work I did with a female vocalist doing a few Kate Bush songs, "The Man with the Child in his Eyes" and "Reaching Out". I tried recording them via computer microphone from tape, yet the results were horrible. The recording equipment section of my home studio is about a decade shy of "cutting edge" technology. I have yet to even learn how to use cakewalk. I still dump recordings to reel to reel tape. I know this sounds comedic to some, yet you have to keep in mind that to some of we "old school" musicians tube amp, and analog technology is still "State of the Art".

This experience will likely be my first in learning how to integrate a home computer into actual recording applications. I don't have a Karaoke system, and I guess a computer and software can be used for such purposes. Prior to this I've always felt that programs such as cakewalk are in some ways tantamount to "cheating". If I wanted to record a "quartet" of my work. I'd play and record each of the instruments (even tho this meant compressing the bass and positioning microphones).

At any rate, currently I have a Steinway Baby grand piano, Hammond B-3 setup, I'm a collector of vintage guitars and amps, Have a few synth racks, and a PA system, and just about everything short of a digital recorder.

Well.... That's a little about who I am. As I'd mentioned I've spent much of my life around singers, backing them. Yet have always been ashamed of my own voice. When I push the playback button after recording myself, the person I hear on the tape doesn't sound like a presentable classic rock or ballad vocalist to me.

I'm still waiting for the morning I wake up being able to clone Boston, The Guess Who, Scorpions vocals, etc I have an excellent ear for music, have written arrangements, yet just can't get my voice to work for me.

Well... I wish you luck in your quest to try something new! There are some great threads in the Technical area on here.... and Matt (Knightshow) and a few others have some excellent knowledge on what you might want to buy for your computer....etc. You may even want to post a question on the Technical Forum attention: Knightshow .... and he and many will most likely have some excellent suggestions for you. I don't record at home, so I really can't advice you knowledgably. My boyfriend is the recorder/mixer for me... and he records me and others a few times a month... during special sessions. I do hope to eventually have some of the software for my computer, tho.......as it would be fun for me to learn how do all that "stuff" ... and not have to rely on recording days.. to be able to submit.

Again, I hope all works out well for you and that we can hear some of your work

As for you not feeling that your voice is "recordable" or of a quality that others would want to hear... just give it a try! The people on here are quite kind.. and this site is a great place for fun. No pros.. that I know of..... .

Some INCREDIBLE talent....tho.. . If you do submit... you can always write in the "description" section that it is the piano portion that you'd like comments on, once you figure out how to record on your PC.

Good Luck !!

_________________
[shadow=tomato]If you want your significant other to pay attention to EVERY word you say::
  TALK IN YOUR SLEEP   [/shadow]  

Steven -

Glad that you were able to join. Sorry about the troubles, but that's AOL for ya! I tried too send you an email but AOL refused that as well.

I did send you a PM - Did you see that?

Welcome to the site and enjoy!

PHiLL

Phill (or any moderator), I'm not sure whether or not you received any of my emails regarding difficulties joining this site from America Online. I received no confirmation key, or responses. I believe I registered in here as member Steve Kaplan (StevenKapian@AOL.com), yet that account would not activate. Currently I am in here as Steven Kaplan, registered from the SBC ISP. I'm letting you know this because I'm likely registered in here twice.



Thanks

Phill, You responded to my concern while I was in the process of typing it (you folks are pretty fast around here)

Well, I try to be. I respond as fast as I can.

If you have a tech question regarding the site. Send a PM to me.

Any other tech question first check the Technical Question or Frequently Asked Questions forums (it may be already answered), our members are amazing at being able to assist. You can also do a search.

Phill

Welcome to the fourm, enjoy - learn - share

Thank you Cindy, I do have questions that I will have to ask over on the tech board. I, personally am not a technical person.

Thanks Kjgreg

Is it possible to shrink a photo or gif into avatar (whatever that term means) dimensions to use as an attached photo ?

Is it possible to downsize the dimensions of a photo in your document section to allow uploading into the photo site ?

Yup... if you have an Image Optimizer program. Pick a photo ... and then do a "reduce by half" edit.... then do that again.. and it should be small enough to be an Avatar. This will also keep all the dimensions of the photo accurate.

Have Fun!

_________________
[shadow=tomato]If you want your significant other to pay attention to EVERY word you say::
  TALK IN YOUR SLEEP   [/shadow]  

Thank you Cindy, I'll check that out. (I assume such a program isn't found with your standard photo editing software such as Adobe photoshop)

you may be able to reduce a picture's size in photoshop. Give it try and see if you can get it to acceptable Avatar size. I do know many photo programs allow for size modifications.... so EXPERIMENT.... and see what happens.... and Good Luck!!

P.S. Im also thinking that you may want to transfer this part of the thread to the "techie" Forum.... where I am sure you will gets lots and lots more useful suggestions!!

I use Image Converter .EXE 2.0.55 from download.com for my home pc.

once you get the hang of it, you can create some small pictures from fairly large ones.

You might have to do it in stages, though. I've tried making "thumbnails" from fairly large pictures, so going from a 800 pixel resolution to 50 didn't work, but going to 200 and then to 50 did.

If you have the full version of Microsoft Office, it comes with Photo Editer. It will also do the resizing.

Lots of applications will.

Even Microsoft PAINT will take an image and once you select the whole borders, you can copy and save it by clicking and dragging the corner inwards... but expect some signal degredation.

Thanks you two

(0ff to work on my singing hamster)

Hey Steven - I did mine in PHotoshop. Go to Image on the menu in Photoshop then Image size and put it to the size that is allowed here and save it as a new named file so you don't replace your original.

I think it says in your profile page the size that is allowed here. Make sure you set it to 72dpi too because anything more for on screen is overkill - but maybe you already know that.

These instructions would be for the full Photoshop program, don't know if you are using a different version or not.

HTH -

Thank you FoxeRoxy. I went into adobe photoshop, and paintshop as well. I learned today that right clicking a photo's "open with" command takes you into a any number of photo editors, which offer a drop down edit toolbar offering a "skew" feature. I never knew about this.

Thanks

Welcome Steve!!

You will find quite a few of us on here who share your appreciation of 'analog'.

Best (simple) way to get analog recordings into digital format, btw, is by the use of an audio cable.... just plug the output of your Tascam (you can get a cord with L/R Channel plugs on one end & a stereo plug on the other) directly into the 'line in' port on your soundcard (should be right next to where your speakers are plugged in). You can then use one of several software devices to 'record' the music - usually into .wav format.

Any other ??? I can direct you to a website or something.