Help with recording software question

[LiveMusic]

I downloaded Audacity and now I got it recording decently. Except...

 

I piped in the keyboard backing parts for a song and recorded them as one track. Now, I want to lay a vocal down. I cannot figure out how to do this.

 

QUESTION IS... I assume I should be able to play the first track (the keyboard backing tracks on the one track already recorded) and then play that and record vocal over that.

 

If I press RECORD new track, that works. If I've got the first track up there and press PLAY, it'll play the first track. But if I have the first track showing and open a new track to record and then try to play the first and record the second, it doesn't work. I mean, I have to hear the first track to sing my vocal, right? I know zip about this but I can't figure it out and I've looked all through Help and Tutorials.

 

Also, 44100 rate... I have no idea what to set this at. 8000 to 48000 and then you can also set it at whatever.

 

The line in jack... is it usually coded green or blue? (Mic is red) I guess I got it in the right place. The symbols are impossible to tell.

[LiveMusic]

bump

[EXAGON]

I think that Audacity is not a multitrack recorder.

[LiveMusic]

Uh, maybe I'm missing something here. I think it allows unlimited tracks. It can also mix the tracks. But how can I sing an on-time vocal without hearing what I'm singing to? I can't find an Audacity forum either.

 

I mean, you just click "new audio track" to open a new track.

[not Cereal]

man just get a old mac and pro tools and be done with it.

 

quit messing with this free PC crap. pay the money, get something that works.

 

get a 8600,9600 B&W G3, etc. and a digi card.

[Anderton]

First of all, I'm not familiar with the program. Can you provide a URL?

 

Second, what sound card are you using? It sounds to me like it is not enabled for full duplex operation.

 

Finally, you probably want to set the sample rate to 44.1kHZ, as that is the standard sample rate for CDs. Presumably your sound card can accommodate that as well.

[LiveMusic]

Originally posted by Anderton:

First of all, I'm not familiar with the program. Can you provide a URL?

 

Second, what sound card are you using? It sounds to me like it is not enabled for full duplex operation.

 

Finally, you probably want to set the sample rate to 44.1kHZ, as that is the standard sample rate for CDs. Presumably your sound card can accommodate that as well.

Gateway, AMD 1202 Mhz

Win XP Home 5.1.2600

VIA Ac97 Audio controller (sound card?)

512 MB total physical mem

189 MB available physical mem

1.62 GB total virtual mem

1.12 GB available virtual mem

(I posted all that virtual mem stuff... I don't know what it all means)

 

I had another thread where I got help. Some said the sound card would work, some said it's crap.

 

Now, the good news is... that for what I need... which is a rough demo... I just DID make a successful recording by playing and singing simultaneously through the keyboard workstation, Yamaha psr740. So, this will work.

 

However, obviously, it would be much better if I could lay the backing down in a track and then sing a vocal over the top of that. I would think this software would do that. It's open source. Link is at this web page .

 

Sorry I don't know anything about this stuff.

 

Now I gotta find a wav to mp3 converter.

[boosh]

It looks cool and I hope it works for you.

Don't let anyone tell you you must use the pro programs like pro-tools or such.

The result of your creative work is what counts! Not the way you achieve your goals.

 

BTW there are english manuals on the site,...Cool that the rest is in dutch We dutch did it again ....

[Dak Lander]

Duke,

With a newer CP like that I'm sure the soundcard will be full duplex.

Figuring you've laid down a track with the keys into the line in and it plays fine in Audaciy. plug a set of headphones into the speaker outs on the soundcard so nothing extraneous will be picked up, set the recorder funtion in windows to mic. Plug a mic into the mic input, put on the headphones, hit record and start to sing when you have audio in the headphones. It will automaticallr record another track.

Do understand that it will not self align so the second, third tracks & etc will be delayed and you'll have to manually align them. It's the too that looks something like this <->.

You gotta play around with any of these programs to learn how to use them. Nothing I, or anyone else can tell you will make a good recording for you. You have to put in the effort.

 

Audacity will do multiple tracks with no problem.

HERE\'S A QUICK DEMO I threw together. Note that I run through a small mixere into the line in on my soundcard and all is live miked, no direct instrument inputs. And! I took little time in track alignment so it's not precise.

I recorded the initial tracks in stereo, made sure they came out ok, plugged a headset into the monitor amp, hit record in Audicity and laid a 12 string guitar track to the mix. Once the second set of stereo tracks was laid in I deleted one of them and split the original stereo track to mono left and right channels. Then exported as a wav file. I did run the wav file through Acoustica to clean up some ambient room noise but there is nothing else done to it other than a conversion to mp2 at 128 bits.

 

The program will proabably do everything you want it to do if you spend some time learning the program' ins & outs.

It boils down to this. Audiciy is one of the easiest recording programs in existence. If you can't get it to work you won't be able to run ProTools, Sonar or any other pro level program. They're much more complicated to operate.

n-Track Studio is another great, inexpensive program that's worth a good look.

[LiveMusic]

Originally posted by daklander:

Audiciy is one of the easiest recording programs in existence. If you can't get it to work you won't be able to run ProTools, Sonar or any other pro level program. They're much more complicated to operate. n-Track Studio is another great, inexpensive program that's worth a good look.

And I just downloaded it last night. I read all of the help. I read the tutorials. Twice. I searched for a forum for Audacity. I did not find the answers, so I asked. And I appreciate the responses. But it's not like I tried for five minutes and gave up. I spent hours.