風の声

Project ☆ Star: List of Possibilities

2011-08-28T12:48:00.000-07:00

Please check if an off-vocal exists/is coming out for your songs. Here's the list, to be updated:

Ahika

Choco

Ryuji

Shichi

Yume

TROLLOLOL.

2011-08-26T04:38:00.000-07:00

In this episode, Shichi-sensei attracts your attention with a recording of her talking about whether we should use Misuta Myujikku or Mister Music.
.... ooor she could be trolling you for the first few minutes of the speech, talking crap about unrelated shit
SO, ERR. I recorded the instructions instead of typing them. I guess, uh, it's bad in some ways (troublesome to listen, painful to hear, talk too fast, talk to slurrily), BUT IT'S GOOD IN SOME WAYS BECAUSE YOU CAN HEAR IT DIRECTLY YEEAH.
Warning: Within the speech, Shichi-sensei displays extreme narcissism and talks almost as fast as Ryan Higa. There is also funny off-tuned singing in the background to entertain you.

8D

♥

Share☆Love!

2011-08-05T06:18:00.000-07:00

Hey, guys! ~~~ヾ(＾∇＾) Exaaaams yaaaaay. ｍ（．＿．）ｍ

A-anyway, I am writing a post today to re-announce the deadline for Mr Music! Mr Music is due by December 2011. Please take your time and focus on your exams! ♪(ﾉ´∀｀*)ﾉ I'd additionally like to take a bit of space to apologise for always pushing deadlines onto you. I was ultimately reminded that this chorus is a chorus made out of fun, for fun, and will hopefully always be fun for us! （￣へ￣） I'd like to remind everyone that this is a do-or-don't chorus, which means if you feel like taking part, you take part, and if you don't, you don't take part! For example, if someone just goes "OH MAN I LIKE THIS SONG, WHO WANTS TO DO EET? 8D", then those who are interested and like the song go ahead with their planning while those that have no time (I-I don't know how to make my tone sound nice but I'm sincerely not hating on anyone who doesn't have time. What I'm saying is I totally understand if you don't have time, so please don't be pressurised by this chorus! This chorus isn't a serious chorus, after all.) can choose not to participate at no negative cost.
Remember to have fun and organise as many projects as you want amongst yourselves (all of you are part of a community! I encourage you to have fun on your own! This community is more of a connecting platform than for ShichiHitler to be the only one making any rules! I'd be insanely ecstatic to see someone asking lightheartedly for a duet partner. ;A; COME ON GUYS INTERACT MOAR don't make me force a secret love letter routine for you guys to get to know each other better *coughsvomitscoughs*.
Additionally, I'd like everyone to check out the new poll! Also, a clarification: Project Star can now be ignored if you're an attachment member or do not wish to take part! We'd love to hear your voices!
Now, for a new feature of our programme:

(･ω･｀)
Every post from here after will feature a song! You may be introduced to a song you've never heard before, whether a chorus or cover or even an instrumental jazz piece, and you may just fall in love!
Here we go! Let's start with a pretty-sounding chorus:

Hey-ho, what's the dilly, yo?

2011-07-03T02:55:00.000-07:00

HEY GUYZZ

We should standardise on what sort of style we're singing Mr Music in.
Like, some people sing "Hei Misuta Myujiku, tsuyoku daite" while some sing "Hey Mr Music, tsuyoku daite" and it's very messy, so can we all sing the same thing: either the Engrish or English?

Give your opinions in the cbox~

-Shichi
♥

Harmony Guide.

2011-07-02T07:39:00.001-07:00

My lovely minions, pigeons and smidgens, I come to you today bearing the gift of harmony. I slogged for more than seven hours to bring you this little treasure, in which you will discover a complete and concise guide to harmonizing Mr Music (although the file title has "Almost Complete" in it). Several members will recognise its various two predecessors which were rather short and sketchy. This incarnation, however, has been mixed carefully (as carefully as a flying fishing line) and will be a joy to practice with. I took seven hours because the techniques involved in creating harmonies technologically out of thin air are tedious and dangerous, and I performed an adequate mixing job to try and improve microphone qualities, as well as try to make them similar. The latter was rather unsuccessful due to certain members enjoying extremely bad environmental/laptopical luck. I can hear an effort at energy and I have to admit that it's commendable, although it would be really awesomer if we could all sound happier! I'm sure we don't want our debut to sound like soggy mud pancakes. A strange way to do it is to smile when you sing - not so much as to not be able to pronounce properly, but a small smile. It brings a certain essence into your voice, using the same feeling when a person can hear you smiling happily over the phone conversation although he can't see you. When you listen, you will also get a taste of what some of you sound like together. I advise that you download this to your MP3/cellphone/whatever and listen to it on repeat for a minimum of 4 times. After listening enough to know the sequence it goes in, you are required to sing along. You will then be able to differentiate between the harmonies and the melody. After you've gotten the hang of it, send me a recording (this time, MP3 format is acceptable) of you singing along to the tutorial so that I can see how much more time we need. ALL of you have to do this. We have obviously shot way past the deadline, but let's not hold grudges, eh~?
Here's the link: Fish, fries, and anything rice!

Have fun, and don't hesitate to ask (non-stupid) questions if you need help~!
Kthnxbai.

Project ☆ Star

2011-07-01T10:24:00.000-07:00

Duets have to go through me to ensure that the lines are well-divided! Other than that, it's entirely up to you on how you want to put a spin on it. Want to sing Tsumugi Uta in Chinese, or the MELT 2M MIX? So long as the off vocal exists, it shall be done! オメデトウ　( ^ _ ^)∠☆PAN！ If you want to have a bit of fun and try mixing yourself, it's also an option! If you're passing it to me to mix, please give me instructions if you want me to spruce up bits and pieces with special effects like ambient echo or a radio effect. In essence, you'll be the director of your own song, so take charge and let your star shine through!
Don't hesitate to ask others what you could sing if you're at a loss! Personally, I find that each person has their own abilities that they can use to full advantage. Peaceful, sweet voices should sing piano ballads or slow songs, while "present" and "dark" voices shouldn't fear rock songs! Still, you can never put it in concrete that gentle voices can't sing heavy songs or vice versa - you'll be surprised. The point is to get to know yourself better - not just think that you fail superbly, but where you've failed. Then, you're on your way to the top!

Over and out,
Shichi

♥

Sighs.

2011-06-01T02:18:00.000-07:00

Yume, I haven't seen your practice runs in ages and I have yet to hear any harmonies. We need to meet on Skype soon and discuss something. At least I'm reassured that you've read all the posts, so good job on that. Mic no problems, pitch no problems... I need to hear your timing and your harmonies.

Choco, we need to work on getting you a new mic. Also, I can hear your television in the background and it is freaking loud. If you have questions, PLEASE CHECK THROUGH THE BLOG as you should have. Good job, though, as I've heard your improvement.

Ryuji, you should find a way to bring your mic over to your country and if you can't then please try to get your lines in before your flight and just read all the posts, man. Just ask questions if you're not sure, man. Good work with Photoshop, though. Apologies for the torture you experience.

Ahika, you have to keep shooting me tracks of your practice runs. I need to deal with your mic problems. I will not tolerate behaviour like "Eeew, I sound so sucky here, don't want to send lah". And while I'm directing this at you, I'm also directing this sentence at EVERY OTHER MEMBER. I also need to hear you try harmonising ASAP.

Kana, keep shooting me practice tracks. If you can, bring your mic over to your country. If you can't, then... Do your best. You've learned the song well, but you obviously haven't read past three posts of this blog. Please read all the posts. I'm not even sure you're reading this post, crap.

If I sound like a douchebag in this post, well, dude, I'm abusing my authority here and you can't do anything about it so just listen to my instructions and reap the benefits.

Mainly, everyone, read all the goddamned posts.

Reminder.

2011-06-01T01:39:00.000-07:00

I think it's due time I remind you guys to remember to save your recordings in WAV format.
Also, remember that you record seperately, 1 for the melody, and 1 for the harmonies and "Hey Mr Music"s at the talking part. If you don't understand anything, please please ask. There's nothing to lose by asking and perhaps you'll be cleaning up some confusion of your peers who don't dare to ask. :) So please ask. Sometimes it's not your problem, and it's mine because I can't convey the instructions clearly enough. So please ask although Shichi is scary.
Name the filesas instructed in here. As you can see, if you clicked and thinkg "WTF I've never seen this psot before" then you obviously have a load of catching up on hand.

Can everyone send me test runs with mic sensitivity set to 0.4?

Ah, and since we're on the topic of Shichi being scary, if you send me your "final" recording and I don't hear any obvious sense of feeling that Yes, YES, this is it! and that it is obviously better than all your practice runs (as it should be), it, uhh, obviously isn't a final product. >_> Sooo yeah. I'll chuck it back into your face and tell you to redo it until you want to cry/abandon the team/hit me/other things.

That's all, folks.
-Shichi

Post-Chorus Probabilities.

2011-05-16T22:59:00.001-07:00

According to the polls, after discrediting 1 count for Cardioid and 1 count for Glow, we have 1 vote for Smiling, 3 votes for Glow, and 1 vote for KOKORO'KISEKI. We failed to receive votes from Kana and Ritia. Additionally, our animator was only recently introduced to the team, so we did not have the chance to grab her vote.
Congratulations to those who voted for Glow, and for those who did not vote for Glow, you might find an even better song in a later project. Whichever way, we hope that you will come to love Glow.

You have a very long time, which is until the December holidays to master Glow. There is no rush to learn it right now. Yes, master, not begin learning. We're building up something really good for Glow, so we will have auditions. These auditions aren't for eliminating people, but for deciding your parts. The auditions go this way: anytime you feel that you have mastered the song - really mastered, to the point that you can sing the song without looking at the lyrics - please do a recording, a serious final recording, and send it to me. Honestly, I don't think it's hard to put it into your phone/MP3/whatever and listen to it on the way to school. Listen to it to the point where it gets annoying - that usually hints that you're starting to know the song well.

During the September holidays, we'll be doing something simpler. We'll have the five-singer showcase, in which each vocalist gets to showcase their own voices. Nobody else's voice will be covering yours. Choose a song that's in your range, a song that might show off your range, a song that fits your voice type, a song that you're comfortable with.
Here's the system: members are to do solos, but have the option of featuring another singer.
You know, "Rihanna ft. Ne-yo" and this and that.
A feature means no dueting (yes, no Suki Kirai where Rin and Len sing an equal number of lines) - rather, it's like having a "guest" over. Perhaps the person will do the rap at the front for you, or the bridge, or the harmonies.
If Vocalist A features Vocalist B, Vocalist B still has to sing his/her own solo, but is then rendered unable to feature another vocalist in his/her solo. Further discussion to the cbox, please.

Admin Time! :D

2011-05-16T04:07:00.000-07:00

Okay, guys! Here's some administrative info that's preeetty important.
First, let's talk about your icons. If you don't know yet, the icons I'm talking about are the ones that will represent you in the chorus video, like:

As you can see, the pictures come up with the singer's name when the singer sings.

Rule 1:
Minimally, we have to see up to the width of the forearm and the waist. Also, you should try not to have too many parts of the head chopped off. If the picture is big enough (in resolution, not character size), however, it is all right.
Here, we see that we have her shoulders in, and certainly a lot below the waist. Also, we can see her whole head. On the right, her hair and hand is chopped off, but we don't have to care because it's a big picture and already crosses the expectations.
THIS is not allowed because, well, you can see that pretty much everything is cut out.

Rule 2:
Give us a clear picture.
This might look like the previously linked picture, and has all the qualifications, doesn't it?
Only, well, it's not exactly clear, so that's ruled out.
Also, no "friends". You know, like if your character is with a friend, but the friend is waving and his/her arm is kiiinda blocking your darn face? Yeah? Or he/she has pwetty hair but the pwetty hair is blocking you? Yeeah.

Rule 3:
Follow up with the theme of the chorus. If it's a boppy, dancey chorus like Mr. Music, do NOT use people with expressions like this or this and if you are thinking of sending one in as a funny prank I will kick you out for being a sadist. Also, while it isn't required, it would be great if they're wearing theme-relevant clothes (like in this, or this). If it's a Servant of Evil chorus, get them wearing such and such. I'm sure you're getting the hang of it now.

Rule 4:
On to your favourite bit! Who to choose, who to choose? While we strongly encourage

from anime/manga/doujin/whatever we will not reject Vocaloid characters. There is nothing that says Vocaloids are not allowed, but think about it - it's a little redundant having a Append Miku in the music video and an Append Miku icon. That's like... That's like buying laksa and choosing more laksa as a topping. Or vanilla ice cream and vanilla sauce. Or chocolate sprinkle cake and chocolate sprinkles. That's just silly.

Rule 5:
No CG characters, and whether you're using Vocaloids or not, try to find some with drawing styles different from the video's drawing style. The next bit is important: if you know how to use Pixiv, have fun getting what you want from it, but by the by, wherever you get your picture from, note down the credits. Drawn by a Deviantart user? Tell me the screenname. Screenshot from an anime? Tell me the anime. Drawn by a Tegaki artist? Tell me the screenname. Unless you're using something like this, which is pretty much official art, please remember that there are some insane credit freaks out there (okay, not insane - it makes perfect sense).

Rule 6:
I know you're tired by now. After you've scouted your picture and taken notes on the artist, you might want to pick up a few others on the way. You never know if your first choice is rejected, so prepare about 2-3 more.

That's that, folks.
Over and out.

MOAR HELP.

2011-05-14T23:03:00.000-07:00

Tsu is better-sounding when pronounced halfway between "ts" in the "tsu" and "z" in 子. Or, like, when you're irritated and you say "Tsk!"
Also, don't put dramatic stress on your plosives - don't say the "t"s and the "p"s like an American. Soften them, not to the point of saying "Doudemo" instead of "Totemo", but certainly not "Tou!-tei!-mow".
Additionally, in the post down below I asked for the waveform (the heart-rate up-down visual you see in your recording) to be close to the "ceiling" and "floor". I'm not asking you to shout, I'm asking you to project. Drama and Choir members especially - can't do it, get scolded ahaha. |D Also, it's okay if the peaks don't reach as high as the one in the picture. If you really tried your best and can't do it, then (click the picture, there are words on it!):

Over and out,

Shichi-sensei.

S'more.

2011-05-08T21:25:00.001-07:00

A lot of you have issues that need clearing up. I will be free after Wednesday's exam for most of the day - I will be there on Skype, troubleshooting on a first-come-first-serve basis. Additionally, I need to discuss something with prooobably everyone, so do we have a time and date to have a Skype conference on, say, Friday?

-------------------------------
If you have received this message from an unknown and suspicious sender, report and delete this immediately. If you received this message from Shichi-sensei, print it, laminate it, frame it, kiss it, worship it and put it on a wall. The end.

Help!!

2011-05-07T20:45:00.000-07:00

Oooh, the mobile post worked. Nice.
-coughs-
On to business!
Now, I realise that the reason why, although humans improve greatly after hearing their recorded voices ( nothing's as healthy for a novice singer as a good audio slap in the face screaming "DUDE YOU SUCK BUT YOU CAN FIX THIS SO NO YOU DON'T SUCK THAT BAD YET BUT YEAH FOR NOW YOU SUCK" which was exactly how I started off -_-b ), you guys are saying you can't hear the recordings, that the timings are off because Audacity lags, etc etc.
You can fix this with a bit of basic mixing. Hopefully, with this, you can hear yourself better, and pick up on parts to improve, parts that are good, and parts that stink as much as cheese in M.Lee's laundry basket.

Firstly, let's tackle the "OMFG I CAN'T HEAR MYSELF OVER THE MUSIC THE MUSIC IS TOO LOUD AND IT'S YOUR FAULT BECAUSE YOU TOLD ME TO PUT MIC SENSITIVITY TO 0.4 INSTEAD OF 1.0 OOOH LET'S DO THAT NOW-"
I will tackle you, burn you, marinate you, and feed you to Hachune Miku. Srsly.
I tell you to put it at 0.4/0.5 for a reason, darlings. The reason: mic sensitivity ≠ recorded volume. Mic sensitivity is the "strength" of the recording it picks up. If the mic's sensitivity is set to 1.0 and you sing, say, Love is War, your ears will face a lot of pain and suffering. Additionally, your sexy/powerful "AAAAAAAAAAAAAH" will go to waste. Lowering mic sensitivity ensures that all your audio is still picked up, but spiking does not occur while the volume remains the same. If you can't hear yourself even slightly, you're possible not singing loudly enough. Half of loudness comes from energy, while the other comes from your own willingness to actually open your mouth and enunciate.

If you're curious, what I'm saying is "Testing testing 123".
The first chunk is Mic Sens 1.0. The second chunk is Mic Sens 0.4.
As you can see, there's not a single difference in volume, but a slight difference in "softness". These frequency lines depict your frequency range, which is not exactly your loudness/softness.
(Pssst. If your singing is that size, go jump down a building. Naah. Just... If it's not optimally:

then ooh, mixer-kun is going to tsundere-slap you.
Also, the words are wrong - the waves shouldn't be any higher than that, and if they're a little lower, they're good too. Whoops.)

Someone's mic sensitivity having to be higher than yours does not mean you suck. Mic sensitivity does not 100% rely on your projection ability, and is about 40% reliant on your frequency range, which has nothing to do with skill. Additionally, if you're recording halfway through and then you see that OMFG IT'S SPIKING LIKE THERE'S NO TOMORROW don't lower your singing volume, lower your mic sensitivity by 0.2. If you're at 0.6 and it spikes, try 0.4, and if it spikes, try 0.25. So on so forth.

Yume: 0.4, plzthx, because your mic is a special case, ack. You can do your amp by 2.4, plus minus a bit Nothing over 4.
Ahika: 0.5 for your current headset mic. Will update when you get a new one and send me a demo.

Ryuji: 0.5, congratulations on having a new headset.

Choco: 0.5 for now, turns out I can't lend a headset to you because it's gone wtf. Good job parents.

Secret Guest: 0.4 because your room is super weird/awesome and soundproof.

Me: 0.4, yaay.

Next, getting your recording to be hearable! :D

There are various mixer techniques ranging from simple to complicated to a mixture of both, but since we don't want you making mistakes (a mixer's job is not only to make you sound good, but to make you blend with others) that will make your mic stand out too much, let's do it the "other way round".

Do this for the karaoke track, not your recording. + obviously means an increase in volume, - is the other way round. Adjust your karaoke soft enough so that you can hear both the recording and the karaoke equally. Now, your recording can be heard! And if you think, "Why not max my recording instead of the karaoke track? If I minimise the karaoke, it'll be so sooooft", there's a counter for that. 1: Likely chance you'll forget to push it back to the middle if it's on the recording. 2: Your recording will drop in clarity and quality. 3: If you save it with the lever not in the middle, you're going to have to redo it (or fix it if, luckily, Audacity is still open). 4: Better to hear good vocals over good karaoke music. 5: Just follow the instructions lah, it'll make your life better too. -_-b

Now, on to the problem with Audacity giving you lag.

First, zoom in on your recording with the magnifying glass tool by about 2-3 quick clicks.

Then, select the Time Shift Tool and grab your track and drag it as shortly a distance as you can towards the left.

Press the button next to the green play button in the above picture, play, see if it's in timing. If it's gone too "in front" or "behind", adjust accordingly. If you find that the singing starts at the perfect timing, but somewhere along inside the recording something is off-timing, it's a personal mistake. Very occasionally it's a technological mistake, but that won't happen if you close all under-running programmes that cause lag, like MSN, your IE/Firefox/Safari/WTFari, the likes.

Hope this post has helped.

♥

Test post.

2011-05-07T04:38:00.001-07:00

Haiiii guyzzz so this is a test mobile post and if it works it means that even without my laptop I can post creepy posts to make your lives hell. ;3

--------------------------------
If you have received this message from an unknown and suspicious sender, report to the authorities and delete this immediately. If you received this message from Shichi-sensei, print it, laminate it, frame it, kiss it, worship it and put it on a wall. The end.

Danger.

2011-05-07T02:19:00.000-07:00

Which of you are more negatively receptive to criticism?
During this period of time, I'll be drilling you guys into the ground trying to help you improve, whether it's off-pitchedness, pronunciation, timing - anything, everything. If you're a sensitive sort, please tell me, and I will tread with more caution. Additionally, if you're thinking, "Who is this brat who thinks she can criticise us when she herself can't sing any better?" then it's alright too. I can't say that I'm better than you, or that I have a good ear, but at the very least, I've had the most experience with computers and voices. I know what makes a person sound better - technologically. Since we're all depending on the computer here, some singing tactics won't work very well, so while I optimise your ability, you'll also develop better singing skills in the process. :>

DEADLINES ORZ

2011-05-06T04:56:00.001-07:00

Deadline is the end of the post-MYE holidays. :|

Last day, 12 midnight.

(lmfao i sound like mr faeez)

♥

EDIT 7/05/2011:
Don't be so scared, guys. =_=b
Further discussions are allowed lah.
Like, what if you're going on holiday, yeah?

Choices, Choices.

2011-04-19T05:46:00.000-07:00

I want you guys to check this out.

"Pros to scripted lines:
- Easier to record for singers - you only have a few lines, which means less time is wasted recording the whole song, and more time can be spent perfecting it, with minimal effort.
- Not so much brain power required from mixers, i.e. the mixer doesn't have to listen to everything and think what blends with what and how to mix it.

Cons to scripted:
- If it's done badly, it can result in really really bad blends.
- Apparently, less lines doesn't always necessarily mean people spend more time singing them right =_=

Pros to reverse-mixing (letting the singers sing the whole song, and the mixer picking out good parts):
- Allows the mixer to decide the best blends possible, including thinking about microphone quality, and who sounds best singing solos, things like that.
- For singers, it's a good way to feel like you're singing a whole song rather than being only a small part of it

Cons to reverse-mixing:
- Using whole solos almost always means impossible to break up lines properly - people take breaths at different places, people do slightly different rhythms etc.
- Very very very very tiring on the mixer...and their CPU!
- A LOT of people halfass their lines when they're expected to sing everything with the thought of "If it's bad the mixer can just cut it out" leaving the mixer usually with a whole lot of mediocre lines."

And this is why I don't really like reverse-mixing. Also, now you know some problems people make, whether reverse-or-lines, so watch out.

ZOMBIEEES AAARGH

2011-04-19T04:10:00.001-07:00

Additionally... Remember what I said, about it being okay for the fan to blow at you?Well, if you can do it (I know I can) turn the damned thing off.
Or, at least, make sure you do your best to stand in its way.
PUFFS AAARGH MY BANE OF EXISTENCE

♥

Being Unstupid (aka Smart).

2011-04-19T03:41:00.000-07:00

Here are some steps to being a smart recorder!
1. Close the door.
2. Close the windows.
3. Close your sibling's mouth (just kidding).
4. Make sure everyone is outdoors...
5. ... Or at least unable to hinder you and make you nervous.
6. Because even if you think you're not afraid of singing when others are around, there is a difference. You definitely sing better alone - and more importantly, you sing louder. Choir members will know what I'm trying to say: you can project your voice to sound less like you're singing under your breath to yourself while doing dishes, and more like you're singing.
7. Don't mumble. It's... A waste of effort lol.

♥

OMFG

2011-04-16T22:51:00.000-07:00

HEY GUYZZ MY BAD MY BAD
DON'T MAKE IT 3/4 FULL, MAKE IT 2/4 FULL.

... NO HEARTS FOR YOU.

♥

Deadlining.

2011-04-16T22:03:00.000-07:00

You can submit your seriously done lines anytime - if, like, you suddenly think "OMG! I've learnt it all, I feel inspired to sing right now, and I happen to be free!" tomorrow and record the thing for me, go ahead! Additionally, if you want to deal with the impending MYEs first (like me) you can submit it later. Now, I'm actually going to impose a deadline on all of you. I want them latest by the middle of the September holidays, convenient by late June. HOWEVER, do not force yourself to record thinking that you're late when you are
a. in a bad mood/uninspired
b. with a sore throat
c. anything else
because you'd just sound like shit and nobody wants to hear shit and you don't want to let people hear you sound like shit. Muahahaha. So, yeaaahh. We do actually have a deadline, people. Remember to save as WAVs and not MP3s.

Optimally, if everything goes smoothly, I can complete mixing by the end of the September holidays.

♥

Your 2 Documents and 3 Soundtracks.

2011-04-16T20:03:00.000-07:00

Just finished finalising and polishing up everyone's coloured lyrics.
Starting on everyone's 2nd document, which includes individual tips for sounding+recording better.
3 soundtracks are all prepared: Harmony, Karaoke, and Original.

Skype me the email account you want me to send them to.

EDIT: You'll be receiving 1 document, not two, because all that I wanted to tell you guys in your second documents are in this blog. Just read and remember all the tips.

♬

Important Notice~

2011-04-16T19:56:00.000-07:00

Guuuys, please take note to record your harmonies+"Hey Mr. Music"s (the ones where Yuki does her dialogue) in a seperate recording. Which means, first you record your solo+chorus track, not singing the harmonies+YukiBackups. Save it without the karaoke, remember that~
After saving that take, close everything extra in Audacity, starting again. Open up the original Vocaloid-sung version, and then record your harmonies+YukiBackups by singing along with the Vocaloid-sung version. Then send me the harmony track too.
That way, you won't be finding yourself dying while attempting to switch from on-pitch (chorus and solo) to purposefully off-pitch (harmonies) in between lines.

Also, please make sure you know your lines. Haha. Faltering is highly hearable, darlings.

Here's the dealio: mouse clicks are very easily picked up by your microphones. Mouse clicks? Really? Tchah. That's what you might think, but the truth is, if we have 1 person clicking 4 times (once to open the document, once to scroll, once to scroll again, and possibly to position the document), we'll have masses of 24 ungodly clicks. Srsly, sounds like crap. Also, it's distracting to hear a click while someone is singing.
Now, especially since Mr Music starts immediately after 3 drumstick taps, you'll be clicking the red record circle, quickly maximising your document, maybe dragging it around to get it the right size so that you can see both your recording and the words. That sucks, distracts you, and makes click noises.
The trick is:
Max your Audacity (i.e. fullscreen) with your karaoke track inside and whatever.
Open your document. And here you're probably thinking, Duh, I would've done that. But remember that with Audacity in full screen, opening the document then pressing Record will make the document go behind Audacity. Pwned. Document gone.
So, open your document. Then, see the picture? Gee wow! How do you do THAT? Well, there's a thin ridged portion beside the "taken out" section. Clicking that once will make it float. You can drag it over to your document or wherever, and now, when you press Record, the document stays there, PLUS you can see your spectrogram.
Oh, by the way, you don't have to open your document that fat. =_= That would be stupid. Just to the end of the sentences or something like that.
You can put the tray back to where it should be by accessing View>Dock Control Toolbar.

That's the end of yet another lesson! That's all, folks.
Remember that if you do the overlapping thing mentioned in "Too Close For Comfort", save each individual recording as "Name1" and "Name2" and so on so forth.
Here's an example: For Ahika, it's "Ahi1" and "Ahi2". First three letters of the name. Then, "AhiHarmo". If there are more than 1 (which is highly impossible unless you breathe really slowly) you use your common sense and name it "AhiHarmo1" and "AhiHarmo2". Hope you remember all this: it'll help you, the singer, not just the mixer.

♥

Good For You.

2011-04-16T17:04:00.000-07:00

Everyone, make sure your mic volume in the toolbar of Audacity is 0.4 full.
Everyone, I say. Remember to sing with energy, okay? YumeNiku, your practice runs are awesome, and I understand that they are practice runs so you sing quietly (u-unless you did put energy into them? orz), but remember to sing with energy in the real recording! This goes out to everyone else, who I have been unable to accurately receive specs from due to sucky mics, unconnecting headsets, and... Lack of Audacity? lol.
Additionally, remember to drink water and be hydrated earlier on in the day, because... You know how sometimes, when you haven't drunk any water for 2 days, and you're mumbling, you can hear your words being, uhh, sticky with saliva? Do I have to record that for you lol.
Sorry if Shichi-sensei sounds fierce in this one, she just woke up.

♠

Youtube Links to THE RIGHT PRACTICE VIDEOS.

2011-04-16T05:11:00.000-07:00

Showtime Time!

2011-04-16T02:36:00.001-07:00

Practice and everything is fine and all - sometimes your mom is yelling from the kitchen, sometimes you're playing an FPS and we can all hear your TAKTAKTAKTAKTAKKing keyboard.

But would you want to have that in your real recording?

Hell no. HERE ARE TIPS:
Remember to close the door.

If your fan is a standing fan, you can still let it blow at you, but if it's convenient for you, don't let it blow at the mic. A good way is to stand in the "windpath". Your mic is not hindered while your smexy butt still gets all the wind!

Remember the mic distance, for God's sake. View some of the older posts.

To Ahika: Remember your mic lever. 2/4 full.
To Yume Niku: REMEMBER EVERYTHING LOL.
To EMU EKUSU: If Afiqah botches your recording BOTCH HER. ﾋｿﾋｿ( ﾟ∀(・－・)？
To Secret Guest: Just follow every bit of advice from all the posts and you're optimised! ｍ（．＿．）ｍアリガト
To The Only Male: Get a better mic. Like. Srsly.
To Shichi: LOL.

♥

Too Close For Comfort.

2011-04-16T01:59:00.000-07:00

Let's say you have something troubling going on:
You can't sing

kimi ga kureta nukumori de boku wo tsutsunde Keep On Groovin'

which comes after

Hey Mr. Music odorasete yo

Because you're a hyperventilating nervous freak who can't breath fast enough before charging into the next line (... srsly though, don't do that.)

WELL.

HERE'S THE REMEDY, but it's rather complicated - unless you pay attention.

Just click about two inches before "Hey Mr. Music/Odorasete yo" - click, and if you've done it correctly you'll see a single black vertical line, NOT A HIGHLIGHTED GREY PORTION - against the blueness of your first recording, and record again by pressing the red button, which makes a second recording! Hooray, now, the time you get from the two inches lets you breathe like a King Kong, and sing the next line in time! Just remember to send Shichi-sensei both of them seperately. Don't know how to do that? Oh God you're annoying. Jkjk. Just select the box that says Stereo, 44100Hz and the two levers - some empty space there - and the box should gray out, like the bottom one in the above picture. Then, go to File>Export Selection as MP3.

Now, additional help.
When you record yourself talking, you might see this:

What you want to do is make it bigger:
By zooming in. There are six icons under File, Edit and View. You see a cursor, a magnifying glass, a pencil, an asterisk... What you want is the magnifying glass. Click on it, and click on the OMFG-AWESOME-BLUENESS and woah, it grew big! Remember not to make it too big that you can actually see individual lines. DO NOT click and drag, because you will die a fiery death saying sorry to me.
Don't forget to CLICK ON THE CURSOR ICON ABOVE THE MAGNIFYING GLASS ICON after you've zoomed in.
Now, it's comfortably bigger - you can see your vocal nuances.
Let's import a Karaoke in:

BOOM! And suddenly it turns super tiny!:
Yeowch. What do you do?

Zoom in again, duh:

And don't forget to go back to the cursor pointer. オメデトウ　( ^ _ ^)∠☆PAN！
Now, remember, get the bar - the one in between the sea of blueness and the gray box containing the - and +, the L and R - the one with the -0.5, -1.0, whatever.
If you don't have what Shichi-sensei has in the pictures, YOU SUCK. No. You use the same method for zooming, only this time you click on the numbers and not the blue hospital patient heart rate lines. Left click for goin' in, right click for goin' out.
Make them look similar to/the same as mine.

You'll realise that you're actually making YOUR recording life easier.
:> That's all, folks. Over and out!!

♥

Recording with Karaoke-kun.

2011-04-16T01:12:00.000-07:00

Okay, students! Meet Karaoke-kun, Shichi-sensei's newest boyfriend.

So, about Karaoke-kun - when you sing along with him, make sure the music isn't so soft that you can't "feel" his upbeat tempo! Remember to sound like you're having fun, or at least, not zombie-singing with him. But remember not to OVERLY blast him (unless you're really hearing-impaired, and can't help blasting) because when you do, your mic may even pick that up.
（￣へ￣）

Do it at a comfortable volume.

....
Did I just tell all of you guys to have *** with Karaoke-kun?!?!!!

♥

Harmonising.

2011-04-16T01:06:00.001-07:00

Please remember that although harmonies are supposed to back up a main singer's voice, you don't have to sing softer!! Continue singing the song at a constant volume as you do harmonies. Harmonies will be softened by the Harmony God, Shichi-sensei.

Okay, over and out.

♥

Recording and Instructions.

2011-04-15T08:28:00.000-07:00

Make sure your mouth is a good distance from the mic.
Aka, make sure you're not so close to the mic you're about to eat it. If you have a headset mic, put it to the slight side of your mouth, instead of directly in front, to avoid "boom" sounds caused by breathing into the mic.

Additionally~
You know how your lines are coloured according to Harmonise, Chorus, and Solo?
Sometimes you'll see a line that should have two people singing that is coloured Solo.
Is that wrong? NO. There's no mistake - it's that you're supposed to sing solo-style. (ﾟｰﾟ)(｡_｡)ｳﾝｳﾝ
Trust the mixer.

♥