Karaoke Competition IX

[ChibiBear]

Just wondering, is there anywhere we can listen to previous enteries??

[kcl822]

Awww my competitions are fun? That's something I never knew as mine are just thrown at random times because of random factors. At least is a motivator of sorts to continue, eh?
As for previous entries, the files can be found here http://tracker.animesuki.info:3636/
If you have trouble downloading them through the torrent, just say so and people will make sure to post it in other sites.
And Fome is recording something? Oooooh can't wait! I wonder if is going to be something that requires a lot of screaming skills again.
And yet again, my typing skills has gone down the drain at this time of the night. I don't think I remember what I wanted to type next... Meh.
*goes back to her anime music folder to dig up something nice to record

[Mystique]

Originally Posted by cheyannew

o.O what'd I do?

I can't even find a karaoke track for the song I wanna do....

rofl

not to mention Duhrama up the yin yang distracting me from even the thought of singing...

Prepare for this thing, via your FB status during your 100F+ fever, I figured you were delusional since you've not been resting much.

As it was, went off with my mate, more or less turned out as so:

*tries to sing*
Lungs: Woman, you crazy!?
*Ends up incredibly short of breath, can't hold long notes, but continues to sing regardless*
Voicebox: Woman, you crazy!?
*Voice breaks at times, but continues to sing regardless...*

You get the picture, lol. - After 2hrs, I was singing/feeling better but until my airways clear up, uh no attempts of entries are happening anytime soon.

But at least now, I have an idea of a few songs that I pulled off pretty well, we'll see how it goes.
December 8th, should be the deadline, iirc....

[SaintessHeart]

For those who do not know how to use your diaphragm to sing, here is something you can try :

1. Make sure you are not too full
2. Keep inhaling air into your tummy.
3. Open your mouth wide and make some sound by pushing air out of your stomach.
4. Use your hands to choke yourself APPROPRIATELY to reach higher pitches, cease when you feel queasy.

Give it a try.

[Hourai Rabbit]

I'm failing horribly at using Audacity to splice stuff...can't get it to sync up properly. Does anyone have tips for recording/final touches for a complete noob?

Spoiler:

This is a completely separate issue from the fact that every time I try to record, I end up derailing into impersonations of Kevin Collins from the Berserk dub outtakes and the OP from the 60's Batman series. XD

[Langknow]

Hey guys,

I'm excited for the comp as all of you guys.

I noticed some posts ago, people looking for the karaoke track of certain songs, and it hasn't been mentioned yet, but I use Nipponsei to get all my songs and karaoke tracks.

Nipponsei has a website, but I mostly use their archive bot, and newer bots to get the songs. The songs usually are good quality and come with the karaoke track most of the time.

What I'm currently doing is I would "sing along" with the original track in Audacity, and then just add the karaoke track afterwards, and remove the original song.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Hourai Rabbit

I'm failing horribly at using Audacity to splice stuff...can't get it to sync up properly. Does anyone have tips for recording/final touches for a complete noob?

Spoiler:

This is a completely separate issue from the fact that every time I try to record, I end up derailing into impersonations of Kevin Collins from the Berserk dub outtakes and the OP from the 60's Batman series. XD

Use the karaoke track and time the lyrics properly. Works better if you got the romanised lyrics.

Personally I would suggest you sing one part by one part, then merge them up with with Audacity.

Though I would suggest you use Adobe Audition.

[Langknow]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

Use the karaoke track and time the lyrics properly. Works better if you got the romanised lyrics.

Personally I would suggest you sing one part by one part, then merge them up with with Audacity.

Though I would suggest you use Adobe Audition.

Are we allowed to do that?

I thought the song had to be sung in "one take", meaning it had to be sung the whole thing without stopping and editing it??

[Jinto]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

Use the karaoke track and time the lyrics properly. Works better if you got the romanised lyrics.

Personally I would suggest you sing one part by one part, then merge them up with with Audacity.

Though I would suggest you use Adobe Audition.

This advice would contradict one of kcl's rules - the song must be sung in one take. Which is in tune with the essence of karaoke. Otherwise it would be more like a studio recording. However, if you do the recording in parts practice right kcl cannot tell if it was sung in one take or not. Therefore the rule is a little bit iffy, not because of its' reasoning but because of its' implementation and verifiability.

edit:

@Langknow,

ditto

[kcl822]

Actually there are ways to tell if a song was recorded line by line then merged. I wouldn't want to encounter something like that though, because that defies the whole purpose of this. As I said eons ago, if I wanted to listen to some perfect recording of people singing, I can just listen to any one of the thousand tracks that are out there that the music recording companies churn out.

Merging the vocal that was recorded in one take with the karaoke track is fine btw.

[Fome]

The problem is that people can erroneously judge a vocal track to be made of several takes merged together, when it really isn't. Most of you that record a lot have probably noticed that your voice changes considerably as you start singing, get warmed up, and eventually tire out. Additional factors like varying distance from the mic, both intentional and unintentional, can make certain parts suddenly jump in and out and sound as if it were multiple takes. The very act of "looking" for the offending entries makes it more likely that you'll accuse someone falsely. Unless you are an experienced recording technician, it's unlikely that you can accurately distinguish a single take from multiple takes.

Honestly though, as Kcl has emphasized, trying to look for the offending entries destroys the mood of this contest.

[GipFace]

If you really, really care about all this, then have everyone submit the vocal track along with the entry. No one has a perfect recording environment, so it would be a matter of carefully listening to the white noise and trying to spot any funny inconsistencies.

But yeah, this is for fun, and I don't think an entry has ever been DQed. Don't think about it too much.

[Kaetemi]

Originally Posted by kcl822

5. No special effects of any kind, including modulation, special effects, or pitch tweaking. Did I mention no special effects of any kind?

Is noise removal ok?

(and pitch boosting ftw! )

[Mystique]

Originally Posted by Kaetemi

Is noise removal ok?

(and pitch boosting ftw! )

It falls under the 'effects' menu in Audacity, so no?
good question tho, however overuse of noise removal weakens your voice, so it can work against you.

[ChibiBear]

Argh, looks like I won't be able to enter, cold's not getting any better T_T

[kcl822]

Light noise removal, fine. Pitch boosting... fine, just don't overdo it or it'll kill the whole thing.

Random note. I finally got around to learn the lyrics of the song that I like as so many others have taken the ones that I wanted to (*shakes fists). Will have to start recording next week after turkey day though... So much work again. Gaah!

[cheyannew]

*snickersnort* I still can't find a karaoke version so Audacity'll have to do... I've always hated the "tinny" sound it makes it due to the inverted track though...

meh...

[Kaetemi]

Originally Posted by Mystique

however overuse of noise removal weakens your voice, so it can work against you.

Well, the main source of noise on my system comes from the electronical components, you know that buzzing sound. What I do is record on two tracks at the same time, one containing the microphone signal with electronical component noise, the other one only contains the electronical component noise. When I invert the second track signal, and put it together with the first track signal, the buzzing noise is gone, only leaving the voice and some minor background noise, which can for the most part be filtered out using a low pass filter around 3-5kHz.

As for the pitch thing, that was meant as a joke.

Will be trying some more songs out this weekend, and then pick whatever works best.

[Shinndou]

How do you efficiently remove noise anyway, I'm such a newbie when it comes to Audacity or any other recording program.

[Langknow]

Just sent my entry today, can't wait for it....