You don’t have to go to a karaoke bar in order to karaoke. Now you can have a karaoke party right in your own home. The party will be more fun, less expensive and you can enjoy more time with your family and

Singing Machine SML-383 Portable CDG Player Karaoke Machine

friends.  You do not have to buy an expensive karaoke machine to do this. The Singing Machine SML-383 Portable CDG Player Karaoke Machine will do all the work for you so you can concentrate on your karaoke singing skills.

Product Features

The Singing Machine SML-383 Portable CDG Player Karaoke Machine has a state of the art design.  The portable karaoke system comes with disco lights plus a vertical loading compartment for CDs. It also comes with a microphone and two jacks with separate control volumes. This is perfect for singing duets.

It has a disco light effect which helps to create a party atmosphere while you’re singing. Plus, it does enhance your voice through auto voice control.  The portable karaoke machine also creates good sound because of its echo and balance control features.

Furthermore, the product has built-in speakers which helps create a high quality sound. It also uses AC/DC power. The product includes a sampler disc and a wired microphone.

Product Specifications

CDG

The CDG or also known as Compact Disc and Graphics is a CD where information is stored. The CDG has video output which shows graphics but not a complete motion video.  For the karaoke it functions as storage for song lyrics and shows the lyrics via synch together with the music. The CDG has software that enables it to show the lyrics and it can change color as the lyrics are being sung.  All you need to do is connect it with a regular television then you will see the CDG lyrics.

Echo

The product enables a controlled feedback to the voice of the singer which is known as an echo.  This karaoke machine enhances the voice echo of the singer by making good resonance and adding depth to the voice. The echo function will not affect the music in any way.

AVC

The Auto Voice Control or AVC works when a singer is trying to learn a song.  It enhances the voice of the singer during multiplex recordings.  But the AVC is not used to record a standard audio.

Multiplex

The Singing Machine SML-383 Portable CDG Player Karaoke Machine has multiplex which provides separation of the music and the vocals by creating a balance control in the karaoke system.

How Much Does It Cost?

The Singing Machine SML-383 Portable CDG Player Karaoke Machine, Black has a listed price of $49.99 but on Amazon.com you can buy it for 5% off for $47.54. You are able to save $2.45 plus it comes with free shipping.

What Do Customers Say?

The customers who bought the Singing Machine SML-383 Portable CDG Player Karaoke Machine, Black give 3.5 out of 5 stars as an overall rating on Amazon.com with almost a hundred reviewers.

There are many positive reviews for this portable karaoke system. A mother of two kids was too glad that she bought this product as a gift for her son.  Her son loves to sing a lot.  She also likes that it is portable so her son can carry it anywhere.  It is also durable which is great for a portable product.  She was also glad that her son is beginning to improve his reading skills by reading the lyrics on the TV. She does recommend getting an additional microphone so everybody can sing.  She definitely recommends this for those who wanted to spend quality time with the family or for those who want to organize a small party for friends and family.  The disco lights will definitely create the party mood.

Any Complaints?

A customer who gave 3.5 out of 5 stars rating complained that the plug in the back unit is loose, so when you pick it up the plug has a tendency to fall out.  She also said that it has a low class plastic door which is used to open and insert the CD.  She is a bit afraid that it might break.  These are among the issues she mentioned but nevertheless, this was a gift for her niece.  She said that her niece loves it and she likes to use it everyday.

Recommendation

Overall, the Singing Machine SML-383 Portable CDG Player Karaoke Machine, Black is great to use for family gatherings or if you want to have a house party with friends. It is portable, comes with disco lights, and you can read the lyrics on the TV.  It is also good to note that the product has a very affordable and reasonable price. For more information regarding this product, you can visit Amazon.com.  You will see a lot of positive reviews for the product.

Karaoke is a fun activity for people of all ages. Children and youth can enjoy karaoke in family-friendly restaurants. They will love choosing familiar songs and standing up in front of crowds to perform. Parents will love watching their kids laugh and sing. In many ways, something as simple as karaoke can be a great way to promote self-esteem and confidence in children. They get practice being in front of people and risking on an activity that they are probably unfamiliar with. Karaoke is a low-pressure way for kids to learn to express themselves and to have fun in the presence of other people.

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Teens and young adults will love karaoke as well. They will feel almost like adults when they are out for an evening enjoying good food, the company of friends, and the laughter that karaoke inspires. Parents can be assured that their children are out participating in safe activities and that they are having harmless fun. Karaoke can be a great way for teens to continue to develop confidence and self-esteem as they try new things in front of people. There is no better time than during the teenage years to experiment and be silly.

College students and adults might be surprised to discover how fun karaoke is for them and their peers. After a stressful week of classes or work, doing karaoke with friends can be a great way to relax and unwind. Few things are as healing as time spent laughing, and few events provoke as much laughter as karaoke.

A great thing about karaoke is that you do not always have to go out looking for it to be offered at restaurants or bars. Most towns and cities have places where karaoke machines can be rented. So when you are planning a party of any kind, you can rent a karaoke machine and bring all the laughter and fun to your home. Surprise all of your guests with a karaoke competition and award prizes for the best singers. You will have your friends laughing and keep your guests entertained for hours on end.

So, whether you are bored next Friday night or whether you are throwing the party of the season, don’t forget to try karaoke.

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Dance Revolution is an addictive, indulgent gizmo that has entranced kids, teenagers and adults alike. Like karaoke, the machine plays a selection of popular songs. The difference is that players move along to follow the dance steps. Even older generations receive hours of enjoyment with this crazy stuff called Dance Revolution.

Japan was first to introduce this unique method of having fun. Dance Revolution creators saw huge profits because of the phenomenal success of their products. With popularity as widespread as television, virtually every household in Japan has its own Dance Revolution set for the family’s pleasure and enjoyment.

The Dance Revolution series has been a home and arcade favorite for many years in Japan. There are half a dozen different versions of the game, and a handful of rip-offs and spin-offs have been introduced. Dance Revolution hit US arcades in 2000, showing American kids what they’ve been missing out on. Like their Japanese counterparts, the American kids and teens tried it and loved it.

People who love singing karaoke tend to envy those who use Dance Revolution. It’s as if they are exercising their love of dance and creating their very own revolution. But singers take heart; the latest technology has introduced the Karaoke Revolution, a new gadget that is bringing much joy and excitement.

Karaoke Revolution follows the same concept as basic karaoke, and like its predecessor, was introduced in Japan. The initial product was improved by Japanese developers, making it easier to handle and more comfortable to use. Since then, Karaoke Revolution has enjoyed popularity in a number of countries including the United States. American people have adapted karaoke singing into their leisure lifestyle, partly due to the fact that Karaoke Revolution offers an easy to use option.

Since the karaoke phenomenon first took hold many years ago in the U.S., people have been devising new ideas to bring singing back into the home. In Japan, karaoke (pronounced “kah-rah-oh-kay”) has become standard party and picnic fare thanks to portable machines.

To make the karaoke world come to life, Karaoke Revolution uses a screen with eight characters to choose from, each with up to four outfits. Eight different settings provide the perfect backdrop, from a house party to a stadium show. A back up band will be there to play your tune and support you, but it’s the on-screen crowd that you really need to please.

Karaoke Revolution uses a scoring system based on rhythm and pitch. If you hit the right tones at the right times, you’ll score points. As your song plays, you’ll see bars move from the right side of the screen to the left, along with the lyrics. Each bar represents the pitch and length of each word of the song. Higher bars denote a high pitch. If the bar is flat, the tone should be steady. If you see a long and squiggly trail, you’ve got a serious vocal workout ahead of you. Karaoke Revolution software is available at game retailers, and additional songs can be downloaded for free on the Internet.

Like the name suggests, Karaoke Revolution did create a revolution for the listless karaoke set. The game adds a whole new element of fun and excitement to the favorite pastime. It’s a fun hobby and can bring a real sense of personal satisfaction to its users. Put a song in your heart, and try Karaoke Revolution today.

Power Karaoke software allows you to create your own karaoke songs. You will be able to use the MP3 format for creating these songs and then create the soundtrack. If you have songs on your computer already, you can also create a copy of that information on to a disc with the actual words you need to hear and sing. You can manipulate the software to just have the words across the screen and add your own beat to the music.

You will also find that with karaoke computer software most companies’ offer downloads and updates on the Internet. This way you will be able to get up to date information and newer versions right from home. You can also download the complete computer software from the Internet.

It should come as no surprise that there are even karaoke software programs for hosts. If you are a compuhost for karaoke, you will find software to give you lists and lists of music for your next gig. You will also find that you will have functionality with the program. In other words, you will be able to use this computer software with ease.

Part of karaoke computer software is to make your list complete. You will be able to search for the songs you want and then remove the vocals with computer software. Obviously when you are having a karaoke night or party you do not want to have the vocals helping the individual sing the song. Therefore, you need to eliminate the vocals with the computer software and just leave the background music. You may also want to have the words scrolling along the screen to help the singer figure out what comes next. Of course, you can take a page out of that new show and have the lyrics missing to make the competition or party even more fun.

When you are creating your music list using karaoke computer software you will want to make sure the version you are purchasing is compatible with the operating system. You will find that the newer versions will work with Windows XP. You also need to have the space available on your computer for the software download. Most of the programs require at least 500 MB of Ram if not more. You will also need to have 1GB of hard disk space free to have the program working properly. You can actually crash a computer when it is running too hard. This means if you do not have the space the computer will run slower and harder making it impossible to have several programs open at once or even just one program.

Depending on the manufacturer and the version of software you are looking to purchase you will find karaoke computer software from thirty dollars to over a hundred. Keep in mind that when you are shopping for the computer software you want to make sure that you are paying the right price. Most karaoke computer software are going to be the same for tools. Some of the higher priced software may offer a few more tools or at least the ability to cut out the vocals. To ensure you are getting what you want and for the best price, you will need to shop around

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Then karaoke was introduced. This innovation in the singing world leads to better appreciation of people to music. Singing became the most sought hobby and activity of every citizen. They became addict and indulge in singing through karaoke.

Karaoke was pioneered by the Japanese. The word karaoke was derived form two Japanese words, kara meaning music, and oke, a word that means orchestra. The karaoke became a phenomenon. Karaoke already reached different countries including the most powerful and the hardest to penetrate, the United States of America. Karaoke is being used in different languages and dialects around the globe.

Americans are so much indulged with karaoke. Almost every household has their own sot of karaoke which they use during parties and some occasions. They use karaoke to entertain their guests and visitors. Even without any occasions, still they use karaoke for their own entertainment.

Karaoke provide and offer much enjoyment. They can relax when they are singing in karaoke. Karaoke singing serves a activity to strengthen relationships, to build ties between each and every one.

Before you can enjoy and have fun in karaoke, there are lots to prepare first. You need to have compact discs and tapes that are installed with songs, which are of much cost that usually holes our pockets. We also spend in buying players. So karaoke singing is quite a burden for our wallets, but despite these, we still patronize karaoke because of the joy and entertainment it brings.

In the birth of the cyber world, the access to karaoke entertainment was made easy. Karaoke is just in front of us, right in our computers. It is just a click a way. It is only a matter of some finger movements.

You can convert your computers into a karaoke machine by karaoke software and programs. You can download and have this software with charge or free of charge.

Karaoke software may be in the form of song, lyrics, music or in the form of downloadable pictures and images that can make as backgrounds.

Karaoke software that is in the form of song, supply and offer singing and entertainment without limitations. You can have as many songs as you want. So can have and create your own archive of songs. Amaze your friends with these songs for you can download it where ever and when ever.

If the karaoke software is in the form of lyrics, it gives you lyrics of your favorite songs. You can make your own book of lyrics through this software.

There are also software that provides pictures and images that you can make use as backgrounds of your monitor. This will add to the enjoyment and relaxation of karaoke singing. You can also make slides through this pictures and images.

Converting your much loved computer into a karaoke machine through the help of karaoke software, will add savor to your life. This will give you much entertainment. Your karaoke enjoyment and relaxation will be just as easy as single flick of your fingers.

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Here’s a list of the basic gear you’re going to need:

1. Microphone
2. Audio interface/Sound Card
3. Computer
4. Audio Recording/Editing software
5. CD burner

Let’s start with choosing a microphone. Shure makes some very good inexpensive mics; the SM-57 for instruments and the SM-58, which is optimized for vocals. Both sell for around $100 new and are great utility mics. Sure also makes the PG-57 and PG-58 mics which sell for about $59. The PG models have basically the same electronics as their SM series counterparts, but cost about half the price. The main difference is both the PG-57 and PG-58 have an on-off switch and the SM-57and SM-58 models do not. I would recommend the PG series microphones as a good quality alternative to the higher priced SM series mics.

The next step is the hardest part of the entire process. How are you going to get the sound into your computer? Although most computers ship with some type of sound card already installed, these are not usually sufficient to do a decent job of recording. While great for gaming or listening to MP3s; most consumer sound cards lack to necessary processing power to produce high quality audio. I recommend purchasing an inexpensive external audio interface. M-Audio and PreSonus make very high-quality, compact and comparatively inexpensive interfaces. The advantages of choosing an audio interface over a stock sound card are:

1. Professional grade audio interfaces are equipped with better quality microphone preamps than are supplied with most internal sound cards.

2. They come in various multi-channel combinations. They are available in 1, 2, 4, 8 and 16 channel versions, which is needed to record more than one instrument at a time. Eight channel versions are the most popular.

Microphones are equipped with a 3-pronged connection called an XLR connection. The sound coming from a microphone is an analog signal, whereas a computer can only process digital information. Before a computer can process an analog signal, it must first be converted into digital data. Audio interfaces can handle this operation with ease. Simply plug one end of an XLR type microphone cable into the microphone and the other end into an XLR input of the audio interface. Now that the signal from the mic is successfully inside of the audio interface, how are you going to get it into the computer?

Digital audio interfaces are equipped with either a standard USB or Firewire output. If your interface is equipped with both types, use ONLY one. If you connect both the USB and the Firewire at the same time, your computer will be confused as to which input to read and will not function properly. In most scenarios Firewire 800 is much faster than USB 2.0, however USB is a very reliable choice. There are numerous audio interfaces designed to meet every budget and situation, so do your homework and choose one that is designed to meet your specific needs.

Now, just plug one end of the cable into your audio interface and the other end into your computer. If your speakers are hooked up properly, you should be able to hear whatever you say into the microphone. As a precaution, be sure to always turn-down the volume to your speakers whenever connecting or disconnecting equipment.

Now that your sound is properly going into the computer, you need something to capture and edit the information. There is a host of usable recording programs; including various free ones. A Google search for “free recording software” will produce some surprising results. Audacity is a free program that has been getting a great deal of attention lately. Although these programs work quite well, you’ll eventually want to upgrade to a more feature packed program, such as, Cubase or Pro Tools. These are both cross platform programs and work with either PC or Mac.

You’ll be happy to know your initial learning curve will NOT be as severe as you may think. Just play around with the programs and pretty soon you’ll be recording like the pros. Most recording programs are very similar. Once you learn the lingo, it’s all downhill from there. The recording process is surprisingly simple. If you can get the sounds into the computer cleanly, there is a very good chance you can make great sounding recordings. The better quality your equipment, the better your recordings will sound. I recommend learning on cheap equipment first and then, as your skills increase, increase the quality of your equipment. By making your mistakes up front, while it doesn’t cost much, you may avoid a major money catastrophe down the road.

To get started you have to:

1.Create an audio track
2.Route the sound from your interface to that track
3.Arm the track by pressing record
4.Press play to start the recording
4.Press stop when done

It’s that simple! Just keep adding instruments until you’re done or you run out of available tracks; whichever comes first. After you finish recording all of your tracks, you’ll have to edit them. This involves: cleaning-up intros and endings, removing unwanted sounds (i.e. false starts, background noise, etc.), fixing bad notes, re-arranging tracks, or anything else that makes for a tighter performance. You can also slide tracks around to make the instruments “groove” better together.

Most Digital Audio Workstations (DAW’s) include a full-featured set of editing features that will be well suited for your editing needs. These built-in editors are adequate for most situations. If there is a need for more extensive editing, we recommend Sony’s Sound Forge or WaveLab from Steinberg. These editors also allow you to compile one killer track from multiple tacks. This technique is known as “comping tracks”. By using this technique, you can record yourself singing the same verse to a song (each time on a different track) and then take the best sections of the individual tracks and compile or “comp” them together into one great track. You could double (record the same part twice) a guitar track or vocal to make them sound thicker. The possibilities are endless.

When you’re done editing, you can delete all unnecessary files (just to tidy things up a bit) and you’re done. Try not to get bogged down in the technology, remember you are doing this to make music. So, let the machines do what they were designed to do and you concentrate on making great music!

Finally, after you’ve recorded and edited your tracks, you have to mix those tracks down to a two track master (one track for the left speaker and the other track for the right). Your DAW will do this automatically via some type of export function. Just make sure you set your computer to export the file as a 16bit wave file at 44.1 kHz (which is CD quality) and you’re done.

Why is this step necessary? It is necessary because, you might have recorded 3, 4 or maybe more tracks into your DAW and a regular CD player cannot compile all of those tracks in real time. It’s just too much information. A consumer CD player can only play two tracks at a time. So, your multi-track master has to be mixed down to a two track master. Don’t worry; it’s a lot easier than you might think. Just have fun and don’t sweat the small stuff.

The very last step in the recording process is the “Mastering” phase. In simple terms, mastering is the process of taking all the songs you’ve recorded and mixed for a certain project and making them act as one cohesive unit. It’s when you arrange the songs to play back in a certain order and at relatively the same volume. In this phase, you can fade one song in while the other fades out, and so on. Global equalization is done at this time, as well as, compression and side-to-side balancing. In general, once the mastering process is done, all that’s left is to enjoy the wonderful music you’ve spent so much of your time making. Enjoy yourself and don’t forget that a recording is only as good as the music that was created. Shoot for the stars!

Hope you have been practicing singing in the past week and your vocal chords are now prepared to take on the nuances of getting on with the real thing- the actual recording.

problem while recording sound and voice chat

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Moving on from where we left off the last time around – here are the rest of the gadgets you will need to set up your very own recording studio.

Gadget 2 – Your Microphone:

problem while recording sound and voice chat

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While your standard microphone may be adequate to chat with your long distance friend, you may require something more technical for your recording needs. You’ll need one that will record your music perfectly. Microphones are the most important feature in recording your music because their quality varies widely and they are what you hear.

There is a wide range of microphones available such as condensers, dynamics, tubes and many more .It has been observed that live mics are not always great for the studio. Generally, wide diagram condensers are what you want for vocals. That again you have to decide seeing your pocket. Remember that if you are going to record in groups, or different types of instruments, you’ll require more than one microphone.

Another negative for using computer microphones is the connectivity issue. Many microphones have a balanced output cable. You are likely to be on the right lines if your sound card or audio interface has the corresponding input slot. If not, you will have to go in for an alternative like running it through a mixer or a pre-amp. Another possibility is to acquire a pair of good dynamic microphones that use an unbalanced jack which you can insert to get the desired output. You could also get an adapter for your sound card. As far as recording into digital multitracks is concerned, it should not be a problem as they are usually made for all microphones.

Gadget 3 – Audio Interface Recording Sound Card:

Much as we have seemingly maligned the computer, it is still required even if you’ll be recording externally as you’ll still need to get the sound into the computer for audio mastering, burning, MP3 upload or whatever else. If you want to get it in a high quality, some of the factors to look for are types of input, quality and connectivity.

The advantage of using a digital multitrack as compared to a purely analog one is that it doesn’t lose music recording quality when copied to another device. Your digital multitrack can send it’s music out digitally, so its better to have a sound card that can accept digital data as well. The standard formats are called “spdif”, and come in two categories, requiring two different types of cables: optical (spdif/o) and electronic (spdif/e).

Gadget 4 – Studio Headphones, Playback Gear:

As you will be playing the new vocals with the backing tracks you have to make sure your backing tracks are synchronized to the device you will be recording your vocals to.

A computer program generally does this automatically. If, however, you are using a multitrack with a computer, your synchronization may need to be tweaked a wee little bit. While doing your home recording, all you will be required to do is connect the computer and multitrack via a MIDI cable and then specifying on each (the program and the multitrack) which sync signal (MMC, MTC, SMPTE) is sent/received. Besides, you also need to check the frame rate, which device is the master and whether pressing ‘Play’ on the master starts playback at the beginning or at the song position of the master.

Use the tips of this article to have a wonderful recording experience. Soon your name will figure amongst the successful singers.

Looking after your best resource

You must know practical ways, tips and techniques to care for your most important tool in your goal to train your voice, i.e. your voice.

You must learn how to keep your throat and vocal cords well conditioned at all times via methods like drinking sufficient liquids daily to keep them moistened and avoiding unnecessary screaming and shouting which can strain your vocal cords or even cause irreparable damage.

This is just the beginning.  You need to find out how to keep your tools in their peak condition and healthy.

Training your best resource

If you’re serious about the steps it takes to train your voice, be warned that you’ll hear lots of contradicting and confusing advice and feedback from friends, professionals and acquaintances in the world of music and entertainment about how to go about this.

The degree to which any aspiring singer or performer should go is one of the most controversial issues.  One major consideration is whether you should invest in vocal training.  There’s been lots of discussion over this matter of formal training and whether it’s an absolute must.  What difference will it really make to your efforts to train your voice?

The coaching factor

Another issue which demands attention is whether hiring the services of a voice coach or personal trainer is absolutely essential in succeeding in your aspiration to train your voice.

Is this necessary, especially considering the expense involved in such a venture.

After all, many successful singers may have told you how, like them, you too can be successful in your dream to train your voice by simply identifying your vocal range, improving your range and staying withing that range, then maximizing your singing as you go along.

You need to decide whether your desire to train your voice warrants the investment of money and time anticipated in this option.

A practical answer to your demise

Allow us to recommend a great resource that will remove any and all confusion and doubts you have to this point.

What you need is a sound, reliable singing program that provides you with practical advice, tips and techniques in knowing how to train your voice.

Go online at your convenience and download “Singorama”, a wonderful and popular step-by-step guide that comes highly recommended, with awesome reviews and feedback.

Remember the name “Singorama” because it’ll be the answer to your dream to train your voice and you’ll enjoy all that it has to offer: great tutorials to watch and audio exercises with a host of original songs to sing over and over again till you get them just right.

Why don’t you take a look at this singing program? Visit: Singorama

“Singorama” is the best comprehensive resource out there right now and covers all the basics of singing right through to even special software like Perfect Your Pitch Pro and Mini Recording Studio, should you become cutting-edge enough to want to write your own songs.

The sky’s the limit with “Singorama” so go right away and download this affordable singing program.

So, do you want to start training your voice for singing on the most effective way? Today? Right now? Visit: Train Voice

I cannot stress enough the importance of being able to play by ear. Everything that you’ve ever heard anyone play on your instrument is at your disposal – you just have to figure it out. Learning how to play tunes or instrument parts using your ear is just like anything else you practice: the more you do it, the easier it gets. If you do it often enough, you won’t even need your instrument to figure it out. The concept of teaching your ear to decipher musical structures as they’re being played is called ear training and it’s been practiced and honed for centuries.

Whether you are interested in learning to play the guitar by ear, or virtually any other instrument for that matter, there are a number of excellent learning aids available to assist you! The current state of learning aids for ear training is quite well these days (thank you for asking). With a variety of books, CDs, DVDs, and even software, there’s plenty from which to choose when you decide to add this important skill to your arsenal:

Ear Training Books –

In the musician world, there are two reknowned learning institutions, the Berklee College of Music in Boston, and Musicians Institute (MI) in LA. Both have their own take on ear training. For Berklee, it’s Essential Ear Training for the Contemporary Musician and for MI, it’s Ear Training – The Complete Guide for All Musicians. Homespun, which makes a large variety of books, CDs, and DVDs for all musicians and styles, has their take, which is Ear Training for Instrumentalists featuring a whopping 6 CDs full of exercises and drills. If you’re a guitar or bass player, you’ll definitely want to check out Ultimate Eartraining for Guitar and Bass by Tribal Tech’s Gary Willis. My friend Chris, who’s a working electric jazz bassist in NYC, absolutely loves this book.

Ear Training Videos –

Playing the guitar by ear, or nearly any other instrument for that matter, is not as hard as you may think! For videos, Berklee has produced Harmonic Ear Training (DVD). This 73-minute DVD will help you recognize chord progressions quickly and listen to music more analytically. Bass players get a real treat, as jazz bass great John Patitucci has released John Patitucci – Electric Bass 2: Soloing Ear-Training And Six-String Technique Video, which teaches soloing by stressing the importance of ear training.

Ear Training Software –

As you might expect, software is a natural choice for teaching ear training because it’s interactive. The cream of this crop is Ars Nova Practica Musica which is both Windows and Macintosh compatible, covers just about every aspect of ear training, and features customizable exercises. Ear Training Coach is a more affordable option and offers a 10-grade curriculum in ear training and sight-reading. However, the piece de resistance and the one tool that should be in everyone’s ear training bag is the SlowGold CD-ROM. This nifty piece of software lets you slow down any piece of music on CD or MP3s without changing the pitch. So if you’re learning to play a passage from a recording, and it’s too fast, just run it through SlowGold to hear every single note at the exact pitch it’s played.

Ear Training Hardware –

Not surprisingly, music equipment makers have gotten into the ear training game, and not surprisingly, the offerings are particularly good for electric guitar and bass guitar. The Tascam CD-GT1 MKII Guitar Trainer and the Tascam CD-BT1 mkII Bass Guitar Trainer features the same slowdown technology of the SlowGold software, but have housed it in a standalone unit with a built-in CD player, effects, and a headphone jack for silent practicing. Tascam has even made one the vocalists, the Tascam CD-VT1 Portable CD Vocal & Performance Trainer, which has a Vocal Cancel feature that removes the vocal from the CD during playback. Karaoke will never be the same …

Learning aids aside, one really useful exercise is to pick out a recording of a simple tune that you like. Listen to it very carefully. See if you can determine when the band is changing chords. If you can pick out where these chord changes occur, then you’ll know the points in time when you need to determine what the next chord is.

Tune your instrument to the recording. Take the first chord in the tune. As it plays, try to pick out a low note on your instrument that best matches that chord. There should one note that resonates with the recording. Did you find it? This is the root note of that chord. If this note is a C, you know that the first chord is a C (something). It could be a major chord, a minor chord, a 7th chord, but whatever it is, it’s a C version of that chord. If you’re listening to “Hey Jude”, the root note for the first chord is an F. If you’re listening to “Wonderwall”, it’s an F#. If it’s “Layla”, it’s a D …

Now that you have your root note, the next step is determine what the quality of the chord is. Is it a major or minor chord? Is it a power chord? One surefire way to determine this is trial and error. Assume it’s a major chord. Test out this possibility by playing the major chord for your root note along with the recording. Does it sound good? Does it resonate? If so, you’ve just figured out what the first chord is. If not, try a minor chord. Play the minor chord for your root note along with the recording. Does this sound good? Does this resonate? Try a few different choices. If you get stumped, look at the sheet music or transcription of this recording. This is your answer key, so to speak. If you’re just starting out and need a lot of easy tunes for practice, there are some great 3-chord songbooks such as The Guitar 3 Chord Songbook and Favorite Songs With 3 Chords.

After you’re figured out the first chord, go to the next point in time where this changes, and figure out what the second chord is. Repeat this process until you’ve covered the entire tune. A lot of popular music is cyclical in that the same 3-4 chord pattern will often repeat throughout the tune, so you may not have to figure out more than 3-4 chords for the entire song. Yes, when bands write great songs using just “three chords and an attitude”, it makes your job a lot easier.

So why would you want to do this? Well, first of all, you’re improving your ear. Secondly, you’re improving your knowledge of chords because you’re forcing yourself to play a variety of chords. If you know your root note for a particular chord is an F#, but you don’t know what the quality is, you may have to test out an F# major chord, an F# minor chord, an F#7 chord, and so on. This solidifies your knowledge of chords throughout the parameters of your instrument. The more tunes you figure out, the easier it is to find and play these chords. The other benefit of going through this process is that you’re playing along with recordings, which is going to make you’re playing better, because you’re subconsciously absorbing all the nuances of the recording into your playing.

The main thing is to not get discouraged and to do it on a regular basis. Turn on the radio and try your hand at whatever’s playing. If you don’t like the tune, change the station. Put it on the classical station – yes, you can play along with classical ones too. Don’t be afraid. It’s all just music, and in the end, armed with just an ear and the knowledge of some basic chords for the trial-and-error process, you can figure out how to play it.

First off, don’t record your vocals first. Get everything else into place before you even think about recording your voice. Having to work from the vocals as a starting point will only bewilder everyone else involved; it is far easier to add vocals last into the mix. Putting vocals first can even cause the track to get off, which is hardly the result you want for all your hard work.

Once everything else is properly recorded, get your studio set up for recording vocals. You’ll want a small, enclosed space for this so as to not have too much resonance. You want to capture the voice, not the room here. You’ll need to position the microphone or microphones to capture voice from all sides, yet not pick up any other sounds present in the room.

Very important when recording vocals is keeping an eye on peaks. Vocals can easily peak and go into the red, which can ruin your vocal track! Compressors are the way to prevent this. Many microphones have compression built in, which compresses (thus the name!) the sound waves created by the voice before they are passed to the mixing board. Even if you are using compression, make sure to check the peaks on the vocal track before you actually record. You’ll want to leave yourself some space to adjust volume.

From here on in, it is all about getting the mix right, which can be tricky with vocals, particularly for the novice recording engineer. Equalization units (or EQs for short) can assist in getting exactly the sound you want for your vocals, and everything else besides. You can use EQ to control the highs, lows and middle frequencies in your recording. This can be done on the mixing board as well as in post production via software. Noise gates can also be a great help. Noise gates prevent and control resonation and can be set to cut off resonation above or below a certain threshold which the engineer may define.

With the voice recorded properly, the engineer can then treat it like every other track in the mix, adjusting volume, normalizing to match other instruments and so on. The important part is getting it recorded well in the first place.

After normalization, there are a lot of software tools available for the recording engineer or producer to work with on vocal tracks. What has been removed from the vocals during compression can be added back into it with reverb, flange and other effects. Don’t be afraid to experiment with the tools at your disposal, you will likely need to tinker to get that perfect sound. With software, you can always undo any changes you make; so take your time and get just the vocal sound you want!

By using these simple rules given in this guide, you can turn recording vocals from a dreaded chore to one of the most enjoyable parts of the entire recording process. Record the vocals right, and you will give yourself ample room to work with the sounds and get that perfect vocal track on every recording you produce.