[Nutty]

I'm slowing learning how to work with Audacity. I posted a song I had written a week or so ago and now I want to record the harmony. No problem, I found the instructions on how to do this. However, I can't seem to sing with the original track. There is a delay or reverb or something that is so off in the timing. I just crack up laughing because it sounds so awful. How do you do this? There must be a secret to it?

Thanks.
Nutty

[jimmyzowens]

not sure man but if u find out let me know i will work on it to we can stay in touch , i run audacity my self. how did u post your song here it wont let me , and i cant convert it on switch ????????? help lol

[fly135]

What is the recording input? It sounds like the original track is being recorded as it's plays. When you record the second track, if you don't sing does it record anything? I'm guessing you will see it recording the first track.

[X4StringDrive]

Latency maybe? are you using ASIO drivers?

[X4StringDrive]

Originally Posted by jimmyzowens

not sure man but if u find out let me know i will work on it to we can stay in touch , i run audacity my self. how did u post your song here it wont let me , and i cant convert it on switch ????????? help lol

JimmyZ, think we got that figured out for you over in "troubleshooting"

[Nutty]

I think it may be latency. I don't know what ASIO drivers are yet. Heard about them, but haven't researched it.

I was basically following the steps from the Audacity reference guide on recording your own harmony. The first track was done with the mic plugged into my sound card.

I just found this in the FAQ's.

" 3. When I try to record harmonies with myself, why are the two tracks out of sync?

This is normal and it happens because there is a small delay between when Audacity starts playing sound and when it actually reaches your speaker. Audacity does not automatically try to correct for this delay, and you must do it manually.

To correct this delay, use the Time Shift tool to slide one of the tracks over until they line up. Note that you can use the tool while you are listening to the recording."


It is very hard to sing with the other track when it is so "off". My husband suggested listening to it on my discman instead. I may try that and see if it's easier to sing with.

Nothing about this recording stuff seems easy!

Thanks.

Nutty

[Nutty]

Well it didn't turn out too bad after all. I played the first track in jet audio while recording the harmony in Audacity. You really have to tune out what you hear in Audacity (latency) while you are singing.

I also managed to quick mix them. Luckily,I didn't neet to use the "time shift tool". I do need to take out my little clearing of the throat in the beginning. I was afraid if I removed it, it would throw all the timing off.

I did a "normalize" effect, which helped. To me it still sounds like 2 tracks slapped together. How do you make it blend better? Also, can you adjust the volume of the voices in chunks? For example, in some sections the lead is a little too faint.

Other suggestions for improvement?

This is fun!

Thanks.

Nutty

[X4StringDrive]

Hey Nutty, heres a link for ASIO4ALL, like any program/app it takes a little time to understand, sure theres some here who can help out with this. ASIO4ALL - Universal ASIO Driver

Making it blend better is where "mixing" comes in to play. By adjusting the volume levels of tracks or panning tracks and adding effects, etc. will effect your overall sound{your final mix}. As to the tracks lining up, I use the zoom button to get a closer look at both tracks{or which-ever tracks}, and then its hit or miss with the moving of one to line up with the other, after experimenting a little you should get a good understanding of what all those little squiggles represent, like a kick drum note or hi-hat, then its simply a matter of lining up corresponding tracks to that reference point...at least thats how I do it.

To adjust the volume in just a particular spot, use your mouse to high-lite that area and then make your changes. Hope this helped somewhat.

Nice job, your well on your way now..sounded good to me.

[Tekker]

Is the delay/echo happening on your new vocals that you are recording or is it on the music and vocals that you are playing along with (like the music is being doubled)?

If it's on the new vocals, then ausio4all will most likely fix the problem.
If it's on the existing music/vocals, then you will need to select the line input (or the mic input, depending on which one you are using to record) on your soundcard. A tutorial on doing this can be found here:
Soundcard Mixer

Hopefully one of these will get it working properly. I think a big portion of your tracks not mixing will be fixed once you can properly hear yourself. Timing is big when it comes to making things blend, if the two vocals are out of sync, then it'll sound like two random people off doing their own thing instead of singing together.

Originally Posted by X4StringDrive

As to the tracks lining up, I use the zoom button to get a closer look at both tracks{or which-ever tracks}, and then its hit or miss with the moving of one to line up with the other, after experimenting a little you should get a good understanding of what all those little squiggles represent, like a kick drum note or hi-hat, then its simply a matter of lining up corresponding tracks to that reference point...at least thats how I do it.

From my little experience with Audacity, it's not really fit for this kind of editing as you can only delete sections and the gap is automatically closed up. It's hard to put into words, but hopefully you know what I mean. In other words, the stuff on the right is automatically moved to the left to fill in the section you deleted.

That is very unusual for recording software as typically you can make edits without moving anything else, then you control how much it gets moved (by clicking and dragging the clip). So you can edit small sections and move them around without moving everything else. Reaper works this way and has very good editing capabilities.

-tkr