Question about Multitracking

[barwonfan]

I am thinking of playing " On Top Of Old Smokey" for my second entry in this month's Challenge. I would like to speak one of the verses of that song which tells the story of how a young man lost his true love . I would need to speak one of the verses whilst I play the tune as my singing is not good , [several members of my family have mentioned that]. As I have never seen a post on this Forum that had a member singing and playing at the same time, I assume that it can only be done by multi tracking. As I have never tried to multi track, I'm wondering how hard it is to learn.

[Eileen]

You have to do this as an Audio recording where you can play and speak and both will be recorded.
Midi can not record vocal performances.

[barwonfan]

Thanks, Eileen. That's most interesting. I think that it also means that when I am recording a song in audio I had better not cough or leave a nearby radio switched on, as the built in microphone in my SX900 would pick it up.

[barwonfan]

Sorry. I should have read the manual; or looked at the back of my SX 900. My comment about not coughing etc. is ridiculous; and now , of course, I cannot delete it. I have had my SX 900 for about 18 months and I did not realize that there was a port at the back to take a microphone or guitar.

[dentyr]

Hello JJ. Eileen is half correct.

You have to do this as an Audio recording where you can play and speak and both will be recorded.

Record to MIDI first, then you have time to practice what you want to sing or say. When you have that in order, play your MIDI and chat to the microphone as you record the MP3 on your SX900.
Not too easy on the SX or Genos but so simple on Tyros or PSR S970.
Den.

[barwonfan]

Record to MIDI first, then you have time to practice what you want to sing or say. When you have that in order, play your MIDI and chat to the microphone as you record the MP3 on your SX900.
Not too easy on the SX or Genos but so simple on Tyros or PSR S970.
Den.

Thanks, Dennis.

I wonder if that means I will have to speak a verse of the song into the microphone whilst I was playing the tune. I was rather hoping that it might be possible to record myself playing the first verse on my SX 900 as a quick midi--then hitting" save" And then picking up the microphone and speaking the next verse. --- then hitting "save"
Thanks. J.T.

[Brian007]

Hi

I think if it were me trying to do this on a sx900 I would

1/ Record the backing to midi

2/ convert said midi file to Audio on your keyboard and then save to a memory stick

3/ Record the audio of your spoken words on your keyboard and save to an audio file and save to the same memory stick as your previous recording

4/ import one audio file into Audacity on a track and then import 2nd audio file into Audacity on a separate track.

5/ you can then move the spoken audio file and line it up with where you want it to be in the backing recording

6/ select both tracks and save as one complete audio file

Brian007

[Hugh-AR]

JT,

Brian has just given you one way of doing it, using AUDACITY. Here is another way of doing it.

If you are not going to 'speak' over the top of what you are playing, just have your microphone plugged in and check the recording level. Then start the AUDIO RECORDER and play your first verse. When you reach the end, don't stop the recording. Speak into the microphone what you want to say (make sure you are geared up to do that). When you reach the end of what you want to say, if you have another verse to play, don't stop the recording. Continue with playing another verse. Obviously, when you reach the end of what you want to record, stop the recording. But don't be too hasty doing that or you will 'chop' the end off the recording. It never hurts to have a bit of silence once the recording has finished.

If, on the other hand, you do want to speak 'over the top of your recording' .. you don't have to do it 'while you are playing'. You can do the playing first, and then MIULTITRACK your speaking over the top of your playing afterwards (using the AUDIO RECORDER).

I shall shortly be putting up a Tutorial on how to MULTITRACK with the AUDIO RECORDER.

Hugh

[dentyr]

First of all, to play, record and sing at the same time is quite an achievement.

So, record the song in MIDI and then the playing is safe. Play that back, recording to audio and add your voice. The chances are when you make your singing it goes wrong (as you found out) so you can delete the audio that you are making, start the MIDI again (it is still clean) and try again. The advantage of midi recording. You can adjust the tempo and the volume that you are playing. If your midi song it too loud then turn it down.
It is an arranger keyboard and the MIDI is %75 of the arranging. Once you have an Audio file then that is it, you can't change anything.
Setting up a keyboard to record audio and vocals all at the correct tempo and correct volume could be a nightmare. Needs to be properly mixed.
Well that’s my take on it.
Dennis.