Karaoke Forums

THIS TUTORIAL COVERS HOW TO: Record with Cool Edit Pro

FILES NEEDED:

Cool Edit Pro 2 (paid program)
EditCDG (freeware)

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One of the biggest questions about karaoke has always been: How do I record myself singing? The following will demonstrate how to do just that.

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First, unzip the MP3+G file you wish to use into a folder. You will just be using the .MP3 part, as the .CDG file, the scrolling lyrics, will not display while using COOL EDIT.

Open up COOL EDIT, and, using the first icon on the left, under the word FILE, set the view to MULTI-TRACK view. This will display 4 tracks, one on top of the other.

Next, hit the 4th icon from the left, OPEN EXISTING AUDIO TRACK, select .MP3 in the FILE OF TYPE dropdown box, locate the .MP3 from the MP3+G file you just unzipped, highlight it and then hit the OPEN button.

Once loaded, right click in the middle of TRACK 1, the top track of the 4 listed. Under INSERT, you will find the title of the .MP3 track you just opened. Select this to load it into the first track.

Go to OPTIONS / WINDOWS MIXING RECORDER. Under RECORDING CONTROL, make sure MIRCOPHONE is selected and the slide bar is set at a good level to pick up your voice while recording.

In TRACK 2, there is a red button with an R on it. Hit this button. Track 2 becomes your vocal track. It will now record your voice separate from the music MP3 track on track 1 when you press the RECORD button, the button with the red dot on it located in the bottom left corner.

Next, open up EDITCDG. Find the accompanying .cdg file to the .mp3 you now have in COOL EDIT and load it. You are now ready to record.

Hit the RECORD button, located in the bottom left-hand corner of COOL EDIT and then immediately hit the PLAY button in EDIT CDG. The best way is to have these windows half-sized, beside one another so that you can start them easily together. If these are both started at the same time, then the lyrics should be synconized pretty closely together and you can then follow along while singing. Start COOL EDIT first as there is a slight half-second pause when it starts, which gives you time to start EDITCDG.

If you should make a mistake while singing the song, you can just start recording again from any point along the tracks. You don't have to sing the whole song over just to fix a mistake in the middle or at the end of a song.

You can also set the individual volume and track effects such as echo and reverb for each track. To do this, right click on any part of the grey box of each track, where the red R, brown S, green M buttons are located to the left of each track. This will bring up a small box. The slide bar on the left side of this box is the track's volume control. Hit the FX button to load different tracks effects such as echo and reverb.

Once you have finished recording, and you are satisfied with the way everything sounds, the two tracks must be combined to make a single file. Go to EDIT / MIX DOWN TO FILE and select ALL WAVES. This will combine the two tracks into one.

Once the two tracks are combined into a single track, save it by hitting the 5th icon from the left, SAVE THE WAVEFORM AS ANOTHER FORMAT OR FILENAME, choose MP3PRO in the SAVE AS FILETYPE dropdown box. Then hit the OPTIONS button underneath the SAVE AS FILETYPE box. Choose either MP3 (128 kbps, 44100 Hz, Stereo) or MP3PRO (64 kbps, 44100 Hz, Stereo). Enter the track's name in FILE NAME, then hit SAVE.

NOTE: The MP3Pro format is supported by both Windows Media player and Real Player. MP3PRO will cut filesize in HALF without losing the integrity of the sound (some people may agrue that point tho'). So a 5meg MP3 file will be actually a 2.5meg MP3PRO file.

That's it! You have just recorded yourself singing.

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ADDITIONAL TIPS
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ADD BASS/TREBLE TO YOUR VOCALS - On the left side of TRACK 2, rightclick on any of the boxes labeled H or M or L. This will open a window with a graph in it. To the right of the graph are slide bars labelled HI, MED and LO. Use these to change the tone of your vocal track (ie. to add more bass to your voice, increase the LO level)

STEREO VOCALS - Rightclick & hold on TRACK 2, then drag it to TRACK 3. This will copy your vocals from TRACK 2 to TRACK 3. Then, On the left side, PAN each track; TRACK 2 to the left, TRACK 3 to the right. Then hit the ZOOM button 6-7 times (the little magnifying glass with the + sign in it on the bottom left corner by the red RECORD button). Rightclick, hold and drag TRACK 3 to the right. Offset it from the TRACK 2 vocals by mere milliseconds. This will produce a 'stereo' effect on your vocals. If you don't offset TRACK 3 from TRACK 2, it will still be in stereo, but the vocals will be located more in the centre than on the sides.

***WARNING*** The more tracks you add, the more system resourses Cool Edit needs to function properly. Doing this could slow down the perfermorance of your system, depending on how old your system is and how much RAM you have.

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CanPanther 2004

[First, unzip the MP3+G file you wish to use into a folder. You will just be using the .MP3 part, as the .CDG file, the scrolling lyrics, will not display while using COOL EDIT.]
Help; I cant sing a song without the lyrics scrolling: my tempo will be gone. That is why i dont use Cool Edit. I am sure many people have the same problem;that iswhy I only sing Karaoke with the help of the monitor.
Any recording Software the can overcome this?

[/quote]

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

hmmmm...bad choice of wording there but if you read the whole post, it will tell you

WOW !!! That sounds like a lot of time and effort.
I just use the line out from an amp to the line in of my sound card
and record with C.E.P. ,then add effects = done.

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Gotta' Sing , Gotta' Sing !!!

You were right, Panther. I will give it a try again.

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

It might seem like a lot of work, but once you get it down, it's quite easy. Not everyone has a karaoke system they can plug into their PC. It's about the easiest way I have found to run both the recording AND the cd+g lyrical display on a PC at the same time. Other PC recording programs could be substituted for CEP but that's the one I know best. I have been using it for over 2 years now.

I forgot to include the link to EditCDG before, so here it is:

http://www.editcdg.com

Go figure, eh?

Enoy the site!

I have been asked a few times by several users how to change pitch in COOL EDIT. I have never needed to do this myself but I can understand why people would want to so I took a glance thru CEP and here is what I found:

load a track into CEP and put it in EDIT VIEW (1st icon on the left, the long one)...under the EDIT VIEW tab, select the EFFECTS tab, expand TIME/PITCH and doubleclick on STRETCH

I have tried a few things here but I haven't had the time to fully experiment with it so everyone is on their own from this point on...all I can suggest is to try this: check PITCH SHIFT under STRETCHING MODE then use the TRANSPOSE box to change the pitch up or down however many SHARP or FLAT pitches you want...experiment with it

this should work for what you want...if anyone else has any other suggestions or can better illustrate how to change pitch with CEP, please feel free to post them here for everyone to see!

Enjoy the site!

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two more awesome tips! tyvm, jazzy!

I'd like to thank those of you that took the time to do this. I've had a BALL working with this program... even adding backing vocals to a track I desperately wanted!! !

Thanks again!

Matt

Hello everyone...
I just thought I would add in on this topic as well...
I had made a website, way back, that has a step by step guide with photos, to teach you how to do a simple recording. Its meant for those who are very new to cool edit. It doesnt go into adding effects and all that but it does give some decent detail on making a simple recording.

Here it is incase anyone is interested...
http://www.geocities.com/karaokequeeen/ ... 4861497890

I don't think there is anyway that you can really change your pitch my using those methods. (I mean, if you have the patience and can understand how it works, you can make it work for you). I have tried, and I don't think it is worth the effort to change for a couple of notes that a person may be off in a song.

This was my experience with it:
I did the song "Voice Within" by Christina Aguilera, and because I live in an apartment, there was no way that I was going to even attempt to sing the very last chorus in the song, as I am sure the neighbours would have come a knockin' !

Anyway, I took one of the earlier choruses, and I transposed (or piched it up) a couple of steps to make it fit the song.

However, when I did that it made my voice sound really squirrly and different. It was pretty funny (maybe I will post that one again so you can understand and see the difference).

I don't think that it was very noticable, but for someone who is trained in pitch, they would have caught it right off.

I have searched help as well, and there is no real "Pitch Fixer" in CEP. I think to have that you have to buy a whole separate machine and program (such as Antares Autotune, or that Vocal mixer thing that some one was talking about in another thread).

Anywho, if someone does find the secret, please let me know

You can change the pitch of the backing track you are using by going into effects and going into "Time/Pitch" and go to "stretch"....
from there a box will open and you need to choose from the little circle check boxes on the left bottom... "Pitch SHift (preserves tempo)"
And then from the "Transpose" box, select it up or down however many steps you need... (Up = # and down = b)

From there, you can hit OK and then go back to your multi track view and it will play in the key you set it to and you can record your vocals as normal.
If you are trying to mess with the key AFTER you had already sang the song, then yes, either A. if you havent mixed down the tracks together yet, then if you go to change the key, you would change the key on one but it will remain normal on the other....or B. if the tracks are mixed down to one file already, then you can change the key on it and both the vocals and backing track will be affected together. However, I dont know why you would want to mess with the key of a song already recorded/sang.
Usually, you want to bring the key up or down on your backing track so you are able to sing the song in your own key.
You can also save the backing track by itself once you have changed the key so this way, you will have it for a later date and already have it at the key you need it in.
I dont know if ive made any sense at all with this or even if this is remotely what you guys were discussing... maybe i missed the point
However, It might help someone out there.

Peace

I think I know where I may have confused you Nashville

What I did is took one of my VOCAL tracks of the first chorus, copied it, pasted it, and then transposed the VOCAL track up.

I did nothing with the backing track to transpose it.

After it was all ready to go, then I mixed the tracks (backing and vocal) together and saved them.

Does this help??

Ohhh..I got ya...
Yeah I thought you did that to the whole mixed track.
Sorry.. my bad.
Well, either way, maybe someone who didnt know how to change the key on their backing will see that and learn how

My 4th icon says "select waveform" and there's no dropdown box. When I try to load a non-wave file, it squeals. Can anyone tell me why?

Hmmm, can you re-save it as a WAV and then insert it?

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Hi, Melly, sweetie! Thanks for answering! I have an old version of cool edit, and I've decided that's the problem. I can convert to wav, I was just hoping to be able to open other file types. Nice to see you here.

....hi honey!!.....i like your new pic....very pretty. Well, i wish i could have come up with a better answer..... .....email me....i think i have a solution for you.

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aww that was all very useful info there...but any chance i can send you ma stuff to mix olol that would be even easier hehehehe