Karaoke Forums

I so sorry to be bothering you guys, but I'm not sure where else to turn. I have a strange request. First let me start by saying, I know next to nothing about Karaoke and the different formats of the songs. I need to find a way to convert a karaoke track with demo vocals into a regular combined track so that the vocals will always play in any sound system (no matter what).

Here is the reason I need to do this: A friend's daughter is a competative dancer. The song she is using for her solo this year was taken from a CDG disc called Sing Smooth Jazz (Priddis). Her teacher ripped the song with the vocals to her computer, then burned the song to a cd. When played on the cd players at the dance studio, the song plays fine with vocals. Unfortunately, at a recent dance competition (on their expensive sound system) the vocals did not play. The girl lip syncs much of the song during her performance, and not having the vocals ruined everything.

Not knowing anything about CDG or multiplex discs, the teacher simply made a new disc for the next competition, thinking it would work. Of course it didn't - no vocals. The poor girls has worked so hard on her dance all year, but the issue with her song is ruining these competitions for her.

Can anyone explain to me a way that I could rip the song (Orange Colored Sky) to my computer and convert it into a format that would definitely always retain and play the vocals? I know this really doesn't have anything to do with karaoke (and I apologize for that), but I don't know what else to do. Any information you can give me would be so helpful!

Thanks in advance!

Amy

I am a bit confused but I will see if I can help. First of all, I wouldn't use CD+G tracks to something like that. I would just get the CD version and use the song. That way you are guaranteed to have vocal on the track.

If I am hearing you right, you are using multiplex CD+G, which means that you can have a choice of lead vocal or not on a single track of song, unlike some CD+G that comes with the vocal version and non vocal version of each song. Typically, the lead vocal is recorded on the right channel of the tracks. It was recorded such that if you turn the balance all the way to left channel, you didn't get lead vocal and if you turn it all the way to right you got the lead vocal. I am not 100% sure but I think the music track is the same on both left and right with the lead vocal being the only difference.

What probably happened was that at the performance, they used mono for the songs and happened to choose the left channel as the mono, rather than combining the stereo. That's the only explanation I can think of right now.

I would just get the CD track and use it instead of CD+G.

_________________

Seize the day and SING!!!

Thanks so much. From what I am reading online, everything you say is correct.

Unfortunately, I don't think the exact version of the song exists on a regular CD. There are about a million versions of "Orange Colored Sky," but none of them quite the same as the version the girl has been practicing to all year long. I'm not sure why the teacher chose this version, other than she didn't know any better. She did say that the song she burned to a cd says it is the version with demo vocals.

I found the song on itunes and they sell both the instrumental, and the "vocal demo" version." Would purchasing the "vocal demo" version through itunes guarantee that the words would always be there or would it somehow also be dependant on the output (stereo or mono) of the soundsystem.

I agree that using a regular CD version to begin with would have been preferable, but the teacher really had no clue it would cause a problem.

What do you think about the itunes idea?

Thanks again!

All you have to do is:

1. Rip the CD to WAV or MP3
2. Import it into Audacity or another sound editor.
3. Remove the left track.
4. Split the remaining track to stereo.
5. Export the track to WAV (or MP3).
6. Burn to CD.

CD is usually better, because that is what they will typically have available at an audition. But if you brought your own speakers, you could use an iPOD or some other music player.

Thanks so much! I will give it a try.

Amy

Unless you are purchasing non DRM version, I would avoid iTunes store. If you purchase DRM version, you can only transfer that to other computers and can not burn freely on to a CD.

_________________

Seize the day and SING!!!

Thanks eben! I tried the method suggested by mckyj57, and I think it worked (fingers crossed). I tested it in my car with the balance all the way to the left, and I'm getting words and music. Thanks mckyj57!

I have been buying from itunes for years and have never had a problem burning to a cd. It is a pain since I use a Sandisk Sansa MP3 player rather than an iPod, but all I have to do is burn the purchased music to a CD (easy 1 click process) and then re-import that back into itunes (or Windows Media Player) as an mp3 (instead of Apple's proprietary format). I'm a former Mac user, so itunes just seems so much easier to me. I suppose there might be limits on the number of CDs you can burn, but I have never had a problem.

Thanks again everyone for all your help!

Amy