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Level 1

121 points

How to setup a karaoke type of recording in Garage Band ?

Hi all experts,

I am now a bit lost.

I have some karaoke dvd, meaning that the dvd plays only music (without vocal) & on the TV it has lyrics so that the singer can follow the speed of the song & remember the lyrics.

I want to play this karaoke dvd & at the same time record the vocal. So that the end result is I record the vocals together with the karaoke music (instrument music).

How do I make the Garage Band watch the dvd to guide the singer to sing the lyrics ?

Any ideas ?

Thanks

15.4" Macbook Pro - 2.53 GHz, 500GB HDD, Mac OS X (10.5.8), 24" iMac - 4GB RAM, 2.8GHz, 320GB HDD, 256MB ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro

Posted on Jul 4, 2010 11:16 AM

44 replies

Jul 30, 2010 1:05 AM in response to RyanManUtd

The following is a bit lengthy and may need some interface or software to successfully solve your problem. You may need the following to import your DVD Karaoke songs directly to GB. Final Cut Pro 7 Editing Software, Mini DV Camcorder w/ DV in/out plug, DVD Player , Firewire Cable and regular audio/video cable that always come with your DV camcorder.

The process: Connect the DVD player (3 Audio/Video output) to the AV input (3.5) of DV CAmcorder. Connect firewire from DV in/out of DV Camcorder to Mac. Open FCP w capture setting to DV NTSC non controllable Device. Play DVD Karaoke and hit Capture now. Once Captured drag file to timeline. Render if it needs rendering then export as Quick time movie (Self Contained) Open GB drag the exported file to the GB Track portion and you will then be able to sing while you're recording. Though the video track window are not that big but the lyrics are there.

Another simple way is search your favorite karaoke songs on you tube. Download them and once done, open GB drag download song to the track portion and there you, are audio and video track are there to sing your heart out. Try capturing in imovie also, it may work if you don't have FCP.

Jul 30, 2010 2:11 AM in response to RyanManUtd

how do i instruct garage band to record 3 tracks simultaneously ? I created 3 new tracks but I dont seem to be able to highlight/select 3 tracks at one-go ! (3 tracks bcos 2 for microphone & one for karaoke music)

YOU CANNOT. Your Focusrite is no different from a regular audio mixer. You may have several output but you can only input 2 channels (Stereo or L & R) on your Mac. You can record several tracks (voice or live instrument) one at a time on GB but not 2 or more tracks simultaneously. You could have bought a simple 4 to 6 channel mixer priced less than a $100. Best way is...first, record karaoke music on 1 track. 2nd, create new track and record voice while monitoring the karaoke music, w earphone to avoid feed back. 3rd, create another voice track and sing along with the 1st 2 tracks of the karaoke music and voice. Even if you will plug 2 microphones on the focusrite for voice recording it will only be recorded on GB as 1 track because that's all it allows. Please see my other reply on your question. Thanks

HangTime

Level 9

53,841 points

Jul 30, 2010 2:14 AM in response to Lito Beltran

Lito Beltran wrote:
Even if you will plug 2 microphones on the focusrite for voice recording it will only be recorded on GB as 1 track because that's all it allows.

this is incorrect, you can record 2 mono tracks with 2 mics.

RyanManUtd Author

Level 1

121 points

Aug 1, 2010 11:48 PM in response to RyanManUtd

Thanks for all the post but I was wondering why can't I do this way:

1) I saw a karaoke DVD player, it comes with 3 output cable, yellow, red & white. I understand the yellow is for video for us to input into TV while the red & white are sound output.

2) My focusrite has 2 mic input plus many other inputs. Can I just connect the red & white output from the karaoke dvd into the input of focusrite ? Then I create a track in GB & set it to record mode. I will then press PLAY in the karaoke DVD player simultaneously pressing record in GB.

Wouldn't the above work ?

If Yes, my next question is:

3) Is it better to connect the karaoke player to its amplifier system & then from the amplifier into the focusrite ? Will the sound captured in GB be better this way ?

Thanks

RyanManUtd Author

Level 1

121 points

Aug 2, 2010 6:58 PM in response to RyanManUtd

Anyone can help to answer ? Thks ...

RyanManUtd wrote:
Thanks for all the post but I was wondering why can't I do this way:

1) I saw a karaoke DVD player, it comes with 3 output cable, yellow, red & white. I understand the yellow is for video for us to input into TV while the red & white are sound output.

2) My focusrite has 2 mic input plus many other inputs. Can I just connect the red & white output from the karaoke dvd into the input of focusrite ? Then I create a track in GB & set it to record mode. I will then press PLAY in the karaoke DVD player simultaneously pressing record in GB.

Wouldn't the above work ?

If Yes, my next question is:

3) Is it better to connect the karaoke player to its amplifier system & then from the amplifier into the focusrite ? Will the sound captured in GB be better this way ?

Thanks

Aug 3, 2010 1:52 AM in response to RyanManUtd

That setup should work fine. But you don't have to go through the interface unless you want to record the voice track at the same time (you don't say that in your last post).

By the way: instead of asking these questions and waiting a day for an answer - why not just try it out? 😉

RyanManUtd Author

Level 1

121 points

Aug 3, 2010 2:53 AM in response to Christoph Drösser

Christoph Drösser wrote:
That setup should work fine. But you don't have to go through the interface unless you want to record the voice track at the same time (you don't say that in your last post).

Thanks Chris,

I do not want to record the vocal from the karaoke dvd (I only want to record the music/instrumental from the karaoke dvd). But I want to record vocal from the microphone simultaneously with the instrumental/music from the karaoke dvd.

Btw, is it better to connect the karaoke player to its amplifier system & then from the amplifier into the focusrite ? Will the sound captured in GB be better this way ?

By the way: instead of asking these questions and waiting a day for an answer - why not just try it out? 😉

That is because I don't have a karaoke dvd player yet. I am not sure whether this would work, hence I was hoping to get some answers from experts here ... before I buy the player ...

Cheers

Aug 3, 2010 3:27 AM in response to RyanManUtd

So yes, it should work - and you should be able to go directly from some kind of line of headphones out into your interface. Make your signal chain as short as possible!

RyanManUtd Author

Level 1

121 points

Aug 6, 2010 7:01 AM in response to Christoph Drösser

Christoph Drösser wrote:
So yes, it should work - and you should be able to go directly from some kind of line of headphones out into your interface. Make your signal chain as short as possible!

Thanks Chris,

This is the diagram of the focusrite back panel:
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.musik-schmidt.de/images/productimages/original_images/Focusrite-Saffire-Pro-24-DSP_5.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.f ractalaudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php%3Ff%3D23%26t%3D17080&h=623&w=831&sz=98&tbnid =7Lh1LzNQiCAj5M:&tbnh=108&tbnw=144&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfocusrite%2Bsaffire%2Bpro% 2B24&usg=_9b1mmv8Fykcka7WxdM2R1enguuI=&sa=X&ei=zhRcTLm4KYHZccLJrdwB&ved=0CDEQ9QEwBA

I was thinking since I will plug in the red & white audi cable into Line Input 3 & 4 respectively, do I have to open up 2 tracks in Garagband ? One for the red & one for the white ?

Thanks

Aug 6, 2010 7:34 AM in response to RyanManUtd

You can probably pick "channel 3 & 4 stereo" as the input channel in GB, so you can record it to a stereo track.

RyanManUtd Author

Level 1

121 points

Aug 6, 2010 8:18 AM in response to Christoph Drösser

Christoph Drösser wrote:
You can probably pick "channel 3 & 4 stereo" as the input channel in GB, so you can record it to a stereo track.

Thanks Chris but I think my understanding is quite weak.

Let me go step by step & let me know if the steps are correct or wrong.

Step:
1) connect the red audio cable from DVD karaoke player to Line Input 3

2) connect the white audio cable from DVD karaoke player to Line Input 4

3) Create one new Track in Garageband

4) Set the input channel for the newly created track in Step (3) above as "Line 3/4 Stereo"

Are the 4 steps correct ?

Thanks

Aug 6, 2010 9:27 AM in response to RyanManUtd

Yes.

RyanManUtd Author

Level 1

121 points

Aug 7, 2010 7:03 AM in response to Christoph Drösser

Christoph Drösser wrote:
Yes.

Thanks Chris,

I have just bought the Pioneer DV-120 Karaoke DVD Player and now I am faced with a problem !!

You see, the red & white audio cable out from the Pioneer DVD player is a male connector. I have to plug this male connector into the focusrite female input. The problem is that the focusrite female is a TRS connector, so I must change the red & white cable from a non-TRS into a TRS male.

Is there such an adapter ?

Thanks

RyanManUtd Author

Level 1

121 points

Aug 10, 2010 7:27 AM in response to RyanManUtd

UPDATE:

I went to the nearest audio store.

They have the adapter to turn the RCA into TRS but there are 2 types:
1) one for one
2) two to one (ie both the red & white in, and out comes a single TRS connector)

I am confused as to which one is better ?

Any ideas ?

Thanks

How to setup a karaoke type of recording in Garage Band ?