[JBI]

More of an experiment really and just for personal use & practice, I
recently tried singing along to a song I downloaded. A simple song,
just an acoustic guitar with female singer. What hasn't been simple is
trying to match my vocal to hers, not in pitch obviously, but in speed
as sometimes I'm starting before she does or I finish after or my
phrasing doesn't match hers.

The way I tried it so far was to play the song on the PC and sing along
into a Zoom H2, then bring that file into Audacity and try to mix but so
far with the aforementioned difficulties.

How can I better match my vocal speed/ tempo to hers in Audacity? I
have tried rerecording myself a couple of times, but there are still
plenty of parts where phrasing doesn't match. Matching reverb to hers
does help a bit, but not enough.

Thanks in advance.

[Mike Rivers[_2_]]

On 3/19/2019 8:52 AM, JBI wrote:
How can I better match my vocal speed/ tempo to hers in Audacity?Â* I
have tried rerecording myself a couple of times, but there are still
plenty of parts where phrasing doesn't match.

Two things -

1. Learn the song. REALLY learn the song. Understand what it's about and
what the singer was thinking when she sang it.

2. Practice

This isn't something that technology can help. Even if you split your
vocal up into individual words, or even syllables, and went through the
process of pasting together a vocal track to match up exactly with the
existing one (this might also involve some time stretching or
shortening), without really working at it, your inflections would be
different.

I think that a more productive exercise for the long run would be to
make a new vocal track of your own, putting your own feeling into it,
and seeing if you like that as much, or maybe more, than the original.
Some "vocal eliminator" software works remarkably well on the right
material so you can start off without trying to follow someone who has
put her own spin on the vocal.

--
For a good time, call http://mikeriversaudio.wordpress.com

[JBI]

On 3/19/19 9:32 AM, Mike Rivers wrote:
On 3/19/2019 8:52 AM, JBI wrote:
How can I better match my vocal speed/ tempo to hers in Audacity?Â* I
have tried rerecording myself a couple of times, but there are still
plenty of parts where phrasing doesn't match.

Two things -

1. Learn the song. REALLY learn the song. Understand what it's about and
what the singer was thinking when she sang it.

2. Practice

This isn't something that technology can help. Even if you split your
vocal up into individual words, or even syllables, and went through the
process of pasting together a vocal track to match up exactly with the
existing one (this might also involve some time stretching or
shortening), without really working at it, your inflections would be
different.

I think that a more productive exercise for the long run would be to
make a new vocal track of your own, putting your own feeling into it,
and seeing if you like that as much, or maybe more, than the original.
Some "vocal eliminator" software works remarkably well on the right
material so you can start off without trying to follow someone who has
put her own spin on the vocal.


Thanks. For vocal elimination, which would have been ideal and much
easier to work with, I found out that the song wasn't recorded in a way
to benefit from it and apparently there are no online instrumental only
versions available. I suppose I should have posted the song originally
and this is it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BL06fxHPVo

Trying to eliminate or reduce the vocal in Audacity, in any version I
was able to find, results in virtually no affect and the analyzer
reports that this is basically stereo with two identical channels.

I thought it would be simple, but I'm finding it very difficult to match
her vocal. I did try cutting and changing with time stretching, but I
have to do this way too much.

I suppose the only way will be to more precisely try singing to her
voice.

[Mike Rivers[_2_]]

On 3/19/2019 10:16 AM, JBI wrote:
I thought it would be simple, but I'm finding it very difficult to match
her vocal.Â* I did try cutting and changing with time stretching, but I
have to do this way too much.

I suppose the only way will be to more precisely try singing to her voice.

That's how backup vocals are recorded - always listening to the lead
singer, even if they're singing when the lead isn't, because it gets
them into the singer's groove. But this is not an easy thing to do. It's
why the bass player's girl friend always gets a mic of her own when
she's singing with the group of background vocalists - so they can take
her out of the mix.

--
For a good time, call http://mikeriversaudio.wordpress.com

[John Williamson]

On 19/03/2019 14:16, JBI wrote:

Thanks.Â* For vocal elimination, which would have been ideal and much
easier to work with, I found out that the song wasn't recorded in a way
to benefit from it and apparently there are no online instrumental only
versions available.Â* I suppose I should have posted the song originally
and this is it:

If all else fails, there are MIDI versions available, though I did find
a number of different sets of lyrics with the same title.

Fiddling with the timing of a MIDI backing track to get it to match and
then singing along to that is likely the easiest way to get your timing
right.

But as Mike says, to do it well, you will need to get into the same
groove as the singer, in intonation and emphasis as well as timing. She
does put a lot of feeling into it, and I would have loved to be
recording that session.

--
Tciao for Now!

John.

[Scott Dorsey]

On 3/19/2019 10:16 AM, JBI wrote:
I thought it would be simple, but I'm finding it very difficult to match
her vocal.Â* I did try cutting and changing with time stretching, but I
have to do this way too much.

It's hard, but professionals are so good at it that it looks easy. I
remember as a kid seeing Liberace in a movie, playing the piano, and then
I sat down at a piano expecting music to come out of it but when came out
was less than musical. After a decade of practice I found I could make
something vaguely musical but still not as effortlessly as Liberace...
--scott


--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[polymod]

"Scott Dorsey" wrote in message ...

On 3/19/2019 10:16 AM, JBI wrote:
I thought it would be simple, but I'm finding it very difficult to match
her vocal. I did try cutting and changing with time stretching, but I
have to do this way too much.

It's hard, but professionals are so good at it that it looks easy. I
remember as a kid seeing Liberace in a movie, playing the piano, and then
I sat down at a piano expecting music to come out of it but when came out
was less than musical. After a decade of practice I found I could make
something vaguely musical but still not as effortlessly as Liberace...


He really was that good. Always was smiling, but behind that smile you can
distinctly see how intense he was.
Speaking of professionals, I was listening to an old Leslie Gore track on
the radio where she was very off in double tracking her voice. It took me by
surprise. The only think I can think is she was asked to do this on the spot
without have the time to learn the timing of her original track.

Poly


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[TimR]

I use Audacity for this.

If I record the accompanying track myself, I add a click track.

Either way, I use an earbud in one ear and sing along with the singer or the accompanying tracks. Audacity is playing the tracks and recording the new one at the same time. I use the H2 as the input microphone directly into Audacity. You may have a better mike. If not this works well.

The reason for the earbud is obvious but I'll say it anyway. I need to hear the singer, but I don't want the recording to pick it up.

There's another skill involved though. It's easy to think we sing with a steady pulse, but be wrong. Practicing with a metronome can help a lot with this, it really points out where our timing is off.

[JBI]

Thanks, all. The solution turned out to be more carefully matching the
singer's with my voice and all turned out acceptable. I then sang one
octave below the original one and then added both of my tracks to the
song. Not so thrilled about my lower voice, but an interesting
experiment nonetheless.