Karaoke Forums

K-Meister, Matt, Snoopy, and Kurt....please help. So much has happened but now at a standstill.

I fixed the Audacity recording quality thing; it was that "hZ" setting thing. When I changed it from 8000 to 44100, everything recorded sounded great. So I think I'm all set, THEN....

Now when I record music from Line-In and vocals from Microphone, both have these blips where like a second is missing from the recording. THEREFORE, I can't mix the tracks together because lil nanoseconds are missing from both pieces. There's no way I can get them to match because they're missing time in different places.

I'd do vocal and music together but the Line-In doesn't pick up vocals from the karaoke machine. I was so close....I even bought a membership upgrade so I wouldn't have to worry about the mb size.

I am so bummed about this....hormones aren't helping either. Sorry to share that but I'm so frustrated. Everytime I think I've solved a prob, a new one happens.

Was just looking at Tech Forum...is this similar to latency prob Nightingale was having a lil while ago?

Thing is, I don't remember the recordings doing this last time, even with Audio mp3 Editor.

I defragmented my computer, scanned for viruses, and even closed all programs. Nothing helped. Why does something that's supposed to be fun have to be so hard for God's sake.

I wish I had a depressed looking avatar right now.

Ok... .take a deep breath and relax.... or at least try to.

If you use the computer for playback and to record your vocals to a second channel the amount of time it takes for the computer to play the sound, you to register this, sing the vocals, and the computer to get it recorded again is a fixed amount of time called the offset. You need to remove enough time from the beginning of the recording to correct the offset.

I don't have audacity set up right now (I record w/ a different laptop) but I'll try to find the specific setting shortly to fix the offset.

If you're trying to record from both the mic and line-in at the same time this might be a different problem though. Generally you do one or the other. I'd try using a mic in the karaoke player,setting up the mix w/ echo, etc, and then recording the two mixed together. We'll get you playing back and recording seperately shortly if this other way works.

You are too great.....and so reliable!

I do get very impatient and frustrated, boy do I, I guess it shows. It's just that I wanna submit a song so bad dern it. I see everyone having fun at the Showcase and I can't join in because of perpetual problems.

SO...what you said sounds promising, like there's a fix for this prob!! What a relief that you understand exactly what I'm talking about.

But remember what I said about vocals from my karaoke machine - when I record with Line-In from my machine, the vocals from the machine microphone don't get picked up and I don't know why. Some obscure setting perhaps?

Check the karaoke machine for a level control for the mic. It should be on the front of the player along with setting for echo (found on most machines).

When you connect the player to the tv how do you hook up the mic and can you hear it?

(Yes I'm here, still messing with Audacity, trying to figger this out....completely obsessed.)


I forgot to mention, when I record vocals only from Line-In with the karaoke machine, there is the tiniest sound that plays back...it's distorted and you can barely hear it. Even when I record with the mic level turned all way up.

And the TV: when I hook the k. machine up to that, I use the red, white, and yellow tipped cables and you can hear the mic thru the tv just fine.

This adaptor I'm using to hook up the k. machine to the Line-In in my computer, it only has red and black tips for audio, no yellow for video of course.

My boyfriend uninstalled and reinstalled the sound card and the problem is still occurring. Could this prob be solved by my just buying a good recording software?

I think I may have an idea of what's going on...

Are you plugging the mic into the line in on the computer?

If you are that's likely the problem. The mic doesn't produce a line level output - it's far lower than that. There should be a mic input on the sound card as well - be sure if you're plugging the mic into the sound card that it's plugged into the mic input.

If it's plugged into the karakoe machine which works fine with the TV we have another problem entirely.


Try checking your settings by doing this:
1. Double click the little speaker in the bottom right corner of your screen (by the time).

2. Click options (in the menubar)/properties

3. Make sure your sound card shows up in the 'Mixer Device' dropdown box and is the active selection.

4. Select the Recording radio button.

5. Make sure that everything is checked (we're using the brute force approach) and click ok.

6. You will now see the recording levels for everything.

7. Start Audacity.

8. Put a disk in the karaoke machine and start playback.

9. Start recording w/ audacity.

10. SLOWLY move each of the sliders up on the 'Recording Control' until you find the one that controls the incoming sound from the player. Note that there may be a check box at the bottom of each one marked 'Select'. Check that box BEFORE you move the slider.

11. As you move the slider you'll notive the waveform in the recording window start to move and get larger. That's the slider you'll need to adjust for you recording level.


BTW - within Audacity there is a drop down to select the source from which you're recording from. Make sure it's set to what you're recording from - usually line in, but sometimes microphone. If you record the audio track first over line in, you'll need to select mic as the next input and record the vocals. Remember to set the recording level for each source.

As for the 'new' software it's likely that you'll spend the money but won't be in any better shape than you are now. If I was local I'd just pop over and give it a once over but I suspect that I'm at least 4-5000 miles away and more likely closer to 10,000 (doh!).

I hope this helps... I know how frustrating computers can be to deal with sometimes (I do it for a living!). After all this work I'm sure your Subs will be GREAT since you won't be stressed so much!

OK K-man I finally got a chance to answer how nicely you're trying to help me with this.

No, I'm not plugging the mic line into the line in.

And the volume controls, I went thru that like ya said. Everything for recording was checked. Only things not checked for playback were AuxB and IIS, whatever that is.

Now I'm gonna try #10.

But something new I did meanwhile might help...Saturday nite I went online to search for recording shareware and stumbled upon "Kristal". Today I just recorded stuff and THE BLIPS AND GAPS DID NOT HAPPEN. So perhaps what you said about recording and playing back with the same tools, that's something to do with it (ya know what I mean).

I also just figgered out how to import the Kristal recordings over to Audacity to mix them, since it seems Kristal doesn't have mp3 capability in it and isn't as easy to use as Audacity.

I'm still gonna try your suggestions cuz as we've seen everytime I think I'm home free something else happens. I'll let you know how Kristal goes, and Audacity too.

Thanks again!! Are ya sure you're 10,000 miles away? Damn! I wonder what yahoo would say if I plugged that in there...I've always wanted to do that.

Whoops... just realized you're in Cali....

For some reason because of the timeframe you're posting I always assumed you were in England.

I just checked mapquest and they say we're 3055.91 miles apart (more or less) but a little closer as the crow flied (that would be a REAL tired crow!).

Let me know how the new software works out for you. I hope to be hearing your subs soon!

I would like to offer my assistance but I'm afraid I have a bad understanding? Are you trying to record just the vocal coming from an outside mixer? Where is the mic connected?

First, a mic should always be connected to a mixer where it has a mic amplifier, NEVER connect to the mic in of your audio card!! This mic in is only for a mini mic that comes with webcams.

Do you mind telling me the brand of the audio card & also which OS you're using?

Hi Tigger,

I have experienced this same thing with my PCK-2000 karaoke machine (design fault). That's why I run the mic and karaoke machine seperately into a mini mixer, then into my guitar amplifier. The "line out" from the guitar amp then goes into the "line in" on the computer's sound card. Unless you have things like these on hand, we've got to come up with something simpler. Changing to CEP won't fix this problem, BTW. I'm going to do some experiments over the weekend to see if I can simplify things for you.



Where these blips occur in your track, do you have "flat line" visible, or is it just a time slip between tracks, which will always happen and is easily adjusted. (We'll tell you how in due course) If you are seeing little bits of "flat line" then you may have a faulty "line in" cable. If we all persevere together, we'll get you through these teething problems. I would like to see you stick with Audacity both because the price is right and it because it has produced such great results for me. (take a listen to one of my subs)

I'll let you know what I come up with after the weekend experiments.

_________________
Those who bring sunshine to others cannot keep it from themselves  
Snoopy

Thx Micky, K-Meister, and Snoopy....I'm gonna read your posts so I can answer the questions....I just love you guys. KM did you see my dedication in my sub yesterday?

I agree with Snoopy, I use Audacity on all my recording! I don't even use Cubasis anymore but I still use my WaveLab!!

Audicity is a great software and it has an excellent sound, try to stick to it if you can?

Nope... just checked it out and you did a great job on the performance! Got the mixing right the first time and everything!

On the technical side there are a couple editing things to look at like clipping the beginning to remove the pop (highlight the dead space between the beginning of the recording the and beginning of the the song and delete it). This will keep the pop you heard from coming through and reduce the file size by a small amount (sometimes you'll have a song just a little too large to submit and this 'might' put it under the wire).

There was a high frequency noise on the right channel. I don't know if it's from the player or something else. We can look at this a little later to see if we can find it.

Ok, 2 minor technical issues.... big deal... but you're SUBBING NOW!!!! And it's great stuff - beautiful voice BTW. Hmmm.... I don't think anyone ever didicated a song to me before.....