Karaoke Forums

For us normal people, there's nothing easier then crtitizising ourselves. The worst thing you can hear is yourself singing. The reason for this is that when you sing live, you not only hear what comes over the sound system, but also what's in your head. Once you listen to your recording, that's when you want to run away.

It takes practise to record and listen to yourself. The best thing you can do in the beginning, is to play the original song, listen to the professional mix, then play your recorded version, and compare. Mic levels are crucial in recordings. Too loud or too soft, can let all your hard work go to waste. With the right blend of chorus/reverb you (or at least your mix) will sound really professional, even if you do the recording in your dining room studio. Remember the band is the backing for the vocalist, not the other way around!

In some of the bands, that doesn't always seem to be the case, but what happens is that everyone in the band wants to be heard, resulting in louder and louder volumes, until what you hear is just noise!

Ok this is my opinion about mixing.
Sure mixing makes a difference when it comes to "presenting" the singing, since we are only judging the singing part of it. Unless you make your own music, then the music quality matter very little, I wouldn't give anyone a hard time because they use midi music etc. I do not really think karaoke is about imitating the original artist, actually karaoke is all about hearing different peoples renditions of a commercial song. I think that a good idea is for the most part to be "a little" more out front than the original singer, to give you the authentic karaoke/live sound or to push your singing out a little bit vs the music, but you should in no way be overpowering or sing like a background singer either. To give some examples.

I order to make your Elvis recording sound like Elvis commercial recording, you would have to intentionally lower your recording quality to pre-1970s, put hisses and scratches into it, other wise your CD quality music and singing would be too clear. Hey just make a new mix out of it, bring Elvis into the 21th century with a nice remix with your singing on it. Imitating the original commercial mix is not really that important, in fact I have heard mixes on this website where the singer is out a little more or behind a little more and it actually sounds better than the original. It all comes down to taste I think!

it is nice to see all the differnt views good thing there is no right or wrong answer..as in life..its mostly subjective to preference..

yall rock

I probably spend longer on my mixing than I do actually singing. Its a matter of personal pride for me to get the best possible mix I can, trying new techniques etc. I get people complimenting me on the mixes, but thats not why I work so hard on them - its for my own satisfaction.If I get a good rank cos I've done a good job with it, thats great, but thats not my main consideration and never has been, as peoples opinions differ and theres always gonna be someone who hates my stuff (which is fine )

I find the mixing to be the main challenge for me, so I think I enjoy it more than actually singing the track!