I think that's everything that's conceivably relevant...



Uh...just from my own experience...it is also very helpful if you have an extremely tight pair of leather pants. 

So...yeah.  ;)

Uh...just from my own experience...it is also very helpful if you have an extremely tight pair of leather pants. 

So...yeah.   ;)

Oh, I was saving those to impress you...

All I used was a crummy little boom-box, a cassette tape, a karaoke version of "Rocket Man", and some software to transfer the crummy analog cassette recording into a crummy MP3:

http://mysite.verizon.net/vze42dj2/smallworld/

Oh, I was saving those to impress you...


Are you saying I'm not invited to your recording session? 

all i used are a cheap computer mic i bought in spain for 8 euros, windows movie maker, and midi files. I sing (or try to sing) into the mic while i have the midi files playing loudly in windows media player and the mic picks up the midi along with my voice. But if you want to make it sound somewehat professional the Duncans are much (possibly infinitely) better at actual musicianship than i am and if you send them an acapella recording for a parody they agree to do they will probably get it back to you sounding much better.

Leo, if you're ever in San Jose, we can do some fine things. (I assume you can sing well enough to make it work, or at least be funny, like Phil and Jeff) Barring that, there ways. Practice on your computer with recording your voice both by itself and with a Kareoke tape. That's how Phil does it. He's in England, but I emailed him a basic mp3 stereo track with no vocals. Assuming that works at all, you can send me just the voice part as a midi file and I may be able to do something with it. I tried to tell people to work in stereo (voice one one side, music on the other), but so far no one has sent me anything that way. I have a Roland 1680 portable studio, and a whole bunch of guitars and keyboards. If you want me to work on it, it has to be something I like. No rap or crazy arrangements. Experiment a little, tell me what you can do, and we'll talk. Listen to our Soundclick recordings to get an idea of what we can do.

Leo, if you're ever in San Jose, we can do some fine things. (I assume you can sing well enough to make it work, or at least be funny, like Phil and Jeff) Barring that, there ways. Practice on your computer with recording your voice both by itself and with a Kareoke tape. That's how Phil does it. He's in England, but I emailed him a basic mp3 stereo track with no vocals. Assuming that works at all, you can send me just the voice part as a midi file and I may be able to do something with it. I tried to tell people to work in stereo (voice one one side, music on the other), but so far no one has sent me anything that way. I have a Roland 1680 portable studio, and a whole bunch of guitars and keyboards. If you want me to work on it, it has to be something I like. No rap or crazy arrangements. Experiment a little, tell me what you can do, and we'll talk. Listen to our Soundclick recordings to get an idea of what we can do.


All of my senseless jokes and self promotions aside...(i.e. what i usually post on this board)...Rick...you are AMAZINGLY nice!  Seriously. 

Arwen, I'll do the same for you. I need to find new ways to get motivated. This past year I've written very few new songs. That's what I used to record with fervor. People at the open mic we play at sometimes ask for recording help, they come over and we just do it. That's what we did with Bob Gomez, who lives close enough. If someone really wants to record and is willing to meet me halfway, (since we're all over this globe), I'm happy to help. All I ask is that they finish their end, and post it with a credit to me. I love the fact that Spaff sent me a note with an idea, and the next day a recording was on making fun of Robert Blake. I must admit, I'm a little disappointed that the recordings don't get more attention. (Or the wrong kind, as in the case of "Me") But I'm trying to change that. Mari is and alway has been a compulsive performer. I'm more of a compulsive record producer. I just had to learn all the instruments because who else is going to play and sing our stuff?

Thanks for the info everyone, and Rick thanks for the very generous offer.  I think I'll try to experiment a little first, but from what people are saying, it seems that lacking professional recording equipment, the only way to record a midi track is to have it play through the PC speakers into a microphone?  I was hoping there was some way to just burn the midi track and my voice directly onto a CD simultaneously.  I guess that would make life just too easy.  ::)  My PC speakers are very quiet and have no volume contol, so I guess I'll have to trade up.

... some software to transfer the crummy analog cassette recording into a crummy MP3:


What software did you use?

What software did you use?


Name of Product: Roxio Easy CD Creator 5
Product Feature: SoundStream

Thanks for the info everyone, and Rick thanks for the very generous offer.  I think I'll try to experiment a little first, but from what people are saying, it seems that lacking professional recording equipment, the only way to record a midi track is to have it play through the PC speakers into a microphone?  I was hoping there was some way to just burn the midi track and my voice directly onto a CD simultaneously.  I guess that would make life just too easy.  ::)  My PC speakers are very quiet and have no volume contol, so I guess I'll have to trade up.

Leo, I'm pretty much of an amateur, but if you have a CD burner and a CD player with either decent volume or speakers close to your mic you can burn the midi onto a CD and then play that aloud while you record as you sing the lyrics to the mic.  You may have to fiddle with CD volume and mic placement but you can come up with something to give you an idea of how you sound with music.  At that point you can make some decisions about how extravagant you might want to get.  Just my 2 cents worth...

Paul R.

Thanks guys. 

I do have Roxio, but I don't seem to have 'Soundstream' or any other options that seem to relate to live recording...

Is this thread appropriately titled, or what?  ::)

I use n-track (at www.ntrack.com) for recording - it only works with MIDI and WAV files, so WinAmp converts MP3s to WAVs.  Sound card is a SoundBlaster Live... not too good, but I've borrowed a friend's Edirol USB thingy and the quality from that is damn near perfect - I'm going to post a few with me on guitar, too, as it's coming through beautifully.  When I get the time - that's the tricky bit at the moment...

Download Audacity.  If you download the trial, you get 20 hours of recording for free.  It lets you load .mp3/.wav/.mid/.etc files, record up to 10 different tracks, and it plays them simultaneously.  Also can export as .wav files to convert to .mp3 using something else.  Add echo, change pitch, that kind of stuff too.

Of course, there's always a way to get around the trial version's time limitation *hint hint*

I used that when I recorded rap, along with an old mic from the radio station near where I live.  When I start recording my parodies that will be the setup I use too. 

Thanks Philbo and Ahnonamis.  I'll check them out and do a bit of experimentation.

Download Audacity.  If you download the trial, you get 20 hours of recording for free.  It lets you load .mp3/.wav/.mid/.etc files, record up to 10 different tracks, and it plays them simultaneously.  Also can export as .wav files to convert to .mp3 using something else.  Add echo, change pitch, that kind of stuff too.

Of course, there's always a way to get around the trial version's time limitation *hint hint*...


Free "trial"?  But the software IS free.... 

Anyway, thanks Ahnonamis -- I downloaded Audacity, and it seems pretty cool and reasonably straightforward, though it will take some time to get proficient.  I finally got some decent PC speakers too, (wow, you can get some pretty decent sound pretty cheap these days!), and with an old cheap mic I had around, I was able to do some test recording this weekend. 

If I want to record vocals and music on separate tracks do you know if there's any way to record the music first and then record the vocal while the recorded track plays (through headphones or something), so I can synchronize the vocals properly?  That would be ideal, because I could then go back and adjust volume levels for each track separately.  Otherwise recording the vocal and instrumental simultaneously will have to do, although it will take some more experimentation to get the speakers the correct distance from the mic to make sure the instrumental volume is properly balanced with the vocal.

Thanks for all the help so far, folks.  Any other tips/info on the recording/posting process will be greatly appreciated.

If I want to record vocals and music on separate tracks do you know if there's any way to record the music first and then record the vocal while the recorded track plays (through headphones or something), so I can synchronize the vocals properly?

That's what I do with N-Track (you've got individual levels for each recorded track) - my little P3 starts to struggle with a dozen or more separate tracks, but not many songs need that kind of treatment (and you can always mixdown multiple tracks to a single .wav if you're happy with them).  Only requirement is a sound card that can handle full duplex - the usual on-board AC97 chip works, but sound quality ain't great.

That's what I do with N-Track (you've got individual levels for each recorded track) - my little P3 starts to struggle with a dozen or more separate tracks, but not many songs need that kind of treatment (and you can always mixdown multiple tracks to a single .wav if you're happy with them).  Only requirement is a sound card that can handle full duplex - the usual on-board AC97 chip works, but sound quality ain't great.


I'm not sure, but I think Audacity probably lets you adjust volume levels separately for each track.  I'm just not sure if you can record a track while listening to a previously recorded one (through headphones, so the sound doesn't leak onto the new track)...