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 How many singers here have recorded a song, then editted, then listened to the final result through headphones and thought it was worthy to submit or copy?

That'd be me.

Just the other day, I gathered together about 16 songs that I sang to burn a 2nd cd to impose on a few acquaintences again.

The 1st one I did was mainly Bruce Springsteen stuff with a few misc. songs included. I didn't use any effects or anything, so the sound quality was very poor. The .mp3 tracks were converted at 320k though.

Well this time, I wanted to try my hand at some editting software on some Bob Seger and ZZ Top stuff. The ZZtop backing tracks were excellent enough that they almost didn't need any effect at all, just a bit of noise reduction for the recording. I did experiment with reverb, voice compression, and filtering though.
Then, I went ahead and burnt a preliminary cd to listen to in a typical car stereo or whatever.
Some of the songs were the exact recordings of songs submitted here in SS.
And to my dislike, a few of them REALLY SUCKED!!

But while I editted and listened through headphones, I felt like they were good sung songs. Only to find out later that I'm terrible on some of this stuff.
One example was the Mellencamp song "Pink Houses". It was so laughable, I couldn't listen to the whole thing. But over in SS, there's about 20 good comments on it.

I returned from the road and started re-singing some of this stuff....more than I really wanted to.

So now, I have what I think might be some good stuff for burning, but I'm sure I'll change my mind again after it's all done.

I just wondered if this has happened to others, or am I just plain tone deaf?

Everything seems to sound good to me through headphones.

did you save them as mp3 or wave? if you saved to mp3 format then the compression will always deteriorate the original quite substantially. Second if you are indeed listening via car stereo or home stereo see if you can set your eq flat, you might find that helps
I have listened to you here as you know and liked what I heard

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"Be who you are and say what you feel... Because those that matter... Don't mind...And those that mind... Don't matter."

I can understand the frustration Perry!  I mix my junk through headphones (Bose) with the belief that most people on SS listen through headphones as well.  While I don't believe I do a bad job with that, with some exceptions, I often wonder what it would sound like on speakers.  For further embarassment, I had given my voice teacher a CD of some of my better things and the next time I saw her she never said a word! I never did listen to any of those through my good speaker system up stairs and when I listened I sounded like Jabba the Hut singing in a pool of Jello.  Hope to get something other than these mediocre desktop speakers to remedy the situation.  

But yes, I know exactly what you mean!  Take care,

Michael

Oh, I'm talking about how the songs were sung as well as my final sound editting. Some of it is total crap.
I felt pretty embarrassed about the first attempt cd afterwards. Although, there are some good renditions......maybe 5 out of 18.  LMAO  LMAO  LMAO

Thems pretty good odds Hey I laid down 4 tracks at a recording studio back in nov Perry and when I listened back not one of them was in tune. Ended up redoing 3 and dumping the 4th thru lack of time. So for you to do 5 out of 18 on your own without the benefit of someone else there to produce is pretty good

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"Be who you are and say what you feel... Because those that matter... Don't mind...And those that mind... Don't matter."

Concur!

Get a powered speaker or studio monitor & amp and hook it up to you system.

I have one behringer B300 that is decidated to my home PC room, gves a much better sound than any othere soeakers.  LOL  A little OVERKILL, but it works great.

I hope you don't mind me putting this under your post, but can you copy music from SS to your pc? If so how?

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[shadow=pink][glow=deepskyblue]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[updown]~*~ MONKEY BUSINESS KARAOKE~*~ [/shadow][/updown][/glow]

Perry, I've done this before.

The first time my husband asked me to burn him a cd of some songs I had been recording... when I heard it on his truck stereo, I almost barfed. I snuck the cd back from him and broke it:)  He did get another one later on, which I thought might be better (i got a bit better at mixing... or so I thought) But it's awful too.

I almost wanted to hang up my mic and quit singing after hearing that. And no joke, I dang near cried over it. I was like "PLEASE tell me the cd sounds awful and that I don't really sound like that!!!!"

Here's something I try to do, cause YES, headphones are like singing make-up, they hide tons of flaws, IMO.

When done recording, turn your speaks on instead of your headphones, turn it up pretty loud..... then go OUT of the room to listen to it. (so you can hear it at a good volume, but from a bit of a distance) It seems I hear alot of errors when I do that, that I miss on headphones. Usually, I wont allow myself to do that, cause I KNOW I'll end up singing the song over- and over- and over..... so I don't bother. I realize most people here listen on headphones too. But if I'm mixing for a cd, I'm more particular. Another thing, listen to it loud..... then listen to it VERY quietly (with headphones) It's easier to get a vocal to music balance when you listen to it at a very quiet level. (i experamented with this, cause my voice is usually way too loud)

It's like, every song I sub, I want to put up the disclaimer "really, guys, I sound better in person"  LMAO  LOL  

There is one member here (i wont name) who is an excellent singer. I saved quite a few of their songs, cause I like their style & song choices.... when I played it on my stereo system, same thing- I was like "yikes, they sound awful on some of these".  I mean, HUGE difference between SS & my headphones verses on a cd in a decent stereo.

Which is the main reason, I'm gonna literally KILL Odie if he doesn't quit saving my songs on his PC:) haha

.

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

yep Charmin I fail that test time and time again

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"Be who you are and say what you feel... Because those that matter... Don't mind...And those that mind... Don't matter."

That was the cd with the Springsteen stuff.

Actually, the new one with the Seger and ZZ is not all that bad. But I added a Kenny Rogers song, a Lionel Richie, and the Mellencamp, and they were terrible.

It is hard to finalize these recordings listening through the tiny speakers of the pc too. Once they're burnt to cd, the quality is almost non-existent.

Thanks for empathizing with me though.

I sent you a message Babs.  :wave:

 Exactly what happened to me.
I also do the crank up and leave the room thing sometimes, but it still doesn't prevent me from imposing on SS with my crap.

My real embarrassment was giving one of the cds to my favorite kj so she'd have something to remember me by in case I never returned again........she said it was good, but I said it was terrible, and she didn't argue with me about it.  LMAO  LMAO

That is weird....about the kj thing....it's almost like intuition was telling me that she wouldn't be there much longer, so I rushed to get that cd together one day.

c'mere n snog meeeeee

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"Be who you are and say what you feel... Because those that matter... Don't mind...And those that mind... Don't matter."

Thanks, I might try something like that sometime.

I have something to tell that I thought was funny, it has nothing to do with this topic though.
I came into the pc room and sat down. I picked up the dictionary for no reason at all.
I opened the book, and I was at the page where several things just blew my mind!!

Has anyone ever had this happen?

Have y'all realized that the words.....marry, mate, massage, masochism, masturbate, and massacre are all on the same page???

I just lost it when I opened to that page.

The page next to that was even funny. And it included the word....marijuana.  LMAO

It's not the headphones that make you sound like crap.  It's your singing.

Recordings don't lie.  We had a contest years ago.  We made a video tape of every singer to take with them.   We edited them at home.   It was very easy to hear all of the singing mistakes that were not heard during the actual contest.
If I ever did a contest again it would be taped and then you would be judged from listening to it.   The contestants would also be behind a curtain so it doesn't turn in to a beauty contest.   No stage presence, no unbuttoned blouses.    Just pure singing talent.

 LMAO  LMAO  So, tell me something I don't know.

I actually said the headphones give the impression of sounding good.

But I do believe a properly adjusted system while singing live enhances a singer's efforts.

I mean hey....not everyone is a natural.

I don't get it.  Why would listening through a speaker reveal more flaws in a performance than listening through headphones?  It seems like the headphones would convey more of the sounds without distracting outside noises, and so you'd hear more of the mistakes.

I never listen through headphones so I don't know the difference.  Maybe that's why I'm often surprised at the glowing comments left on some not-so-glowing submissions: they must be using headphones!

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Reward: nine yen in drawer.

With headphones you are going to hear everything, you will adjust accordingly to what you hear.  Most headphones - provided they are good to begin with - you will hear every little nuance.  You can often hear the effects better in headphones so you might tend to turn them down more.  Bass usually becomes more predominent, so you may turn that down more - even in the vocals.  Headphones should be used more for monitors to hear yourself when you sing & not so much a finalizer for mixing your final project.

A decent monitor as twans mentions are good idea.  But remember even good studio monitors can reveal more flaws.  When I work in the studio, we always have at least 2-3 sets of monitors.  The main reference monitor that's all dialed in to perfectly flat specs, a small set of standard stereo book shelf speakers to hear what the mix will sound like in a real world application & a cheap set of Rat Shack Optimus 11 - 5"/1" 2 way - to hear what the mix would sound like in typical boom box/computer speaker type situations.  Make it sound good on all 3 & you're set!

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