Cheap recording option?

MetroidZoid

I just want to record myself singing alongside a song, to send to my sister and family as a Christmas card. Will an average computer mike sound okay, and is there a way to combine the audio of the CD I'm singing along with (I don't think I have a good solo voice, but the song is already acapella and I think I work okay with it) with the recorded voice, so it sounds clearer?

shutz

Regular computer mics are usually bad for actually recording, but you may be lucky and have something that sounds good enough.

One thing I've heard that actually sounded pretty good was the mic on a recent home video camera. A singer friend of mine used to record herself singing while playing back a youtube backing track, and the results were surprisingly good. Your mileage may vary.

I know it's probably out of the question for you, but if you have the money, consider getting something like this:

http://www.bluemic.com/snowball/

I have one, it's plug & play, and it sounds great, somewhere between a cheap computer mic and an expensive studio mic -- it's not good enough for serious studio work, but you could record and mix a song recorded with it, and most people wouldn't notice that it's not studio-grade. If you're actually a good singer, and expect to be recording regularly, you might want to look into Blue's more high-end options. There's one mic that's less than 100$ more than the snowball that will provide you with something that's practically studio-grade, while remaining easy to use.

As for software, just get Audacity: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

It's free, you'll be able to load your backing track, then overdub a separate track of your vocal, and then mix the two together.

If you ever find that you need something more powerful, there's many options you could pay for.

A couple of things that could help you get better results:

- You'll probably be recording in front of the computer, which means the mic will probably pick up some ambient noises. After recording your voice, listen to it at a high volume, to see if you hear any background noise. If you do, play around with the noise reduction options, until you get something that sounds natural, without the noise. Do this before you try to mix your voice with the backing track.

- If you find that your voice's volume fluctuates, sometimes becoming too loud (and overpowering the backing track) and sometimes becoming too soft (getting lost behind the backing track) play around with the compression effect. That will help you level out those fluctuations. Note that if you didn't do the noise reduction step correctly, you may start getting lots of hiss during softer passages.

- You may need to try various EQ values on your voice, to get it to match the sound of the backing track.

- Finally, you may want to add some reverb, either to your voice alone, or to the finished mix. That will help the whole song come together, instead of sounding like you, singing over a backing track. Reverb gives an impression of the room the song is being performed in. Your backing track will already have some reverb, but your voice will be dry, so it will stick out. The easiest way to proceed is to save a WAV file of your mix before adding reverb, then open that mix alone, and try different reverb presets. Room reverbs will have a very subtle effect, making the listener feel close to the music, while hall reverbs will make things sound bigger (but more distant). I'd avoid plate and spring reverbs in this case, but feel free to try them out if you're curious.

MetroidZoid

Haha oh my god I had not one but three mics I didn't even think about.

Rock Band set, baby. Quick Google search says they should work, I'll just have to get a program. Thanks for the tips about the audio synching and such.