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

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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

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Answer 1

HangTime

Level 9

53,841 points

Jul 4, 2010 11:20 AM in response to RyanManUtd

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

there's no way to interface GB to a DVD player. the best you could do is let the singer watch the TV, and use a mic to record what is coming from the TV as well as the singer

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Answer 2

RyanManUtd Author

Level 1

121 points

Jul 4, 2010 11:25 AM in response to HangTime

HangTime wrote:

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

there's no way to interface GB to a DVD player. the best you could do is let the singer watch the TV, and use a mic to record what is coming from the TV as well as the singer

Thanks HangTime,

But how to sync recording from the TV and singer ?

But before that, how to input the music from TV into GarageBand ?

Thanks

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Answer 3

HangTime

Level 9

53,841 points

Jul 4, 2010 11:29 AM in response to RyanManUtd

RyanManUtd wrote:
But how to sync recording from the TV and singer ?

i'm not sure i understand. would not the singer be right there watching the TV? it would be up to them to stay in sync

But before that, how to input the music from TV into GarageBand ?

unless you have an interface to give you at least 2 channels (one for the singer and one for the DVD player's output), you'd have to record it all with the single mic you're using.

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Answer 4

RyanManUtd Author

Level 1

121 points

Jul 5, 2010 12:44 AM in response to HangTime

HangTime wrote:

RyanManUtd wrote:
But how to sync recording from the TV and singer ?

i'm not sure i understand. would not the singer be right there watching the TV? it would be up to them to stay in sync

But before that, how to input the music from TV into GarageBand ?

unless you have an interface to give you at least 2 channels (one for the singer and one for the DVD player's output), you'd have to record it all with the single mic you're using.

Thanks HangTime,

I just bought this audio interface, Focusrite Saffire Pro 24:
http://www.focusrite.com/products/saffire/saffirepro24

Not sure if this is compatible with macbook pro but the salesman told me it is so I bought it. Do you think this is a good audio interface ?

Anyway, my question is how to bring in the music from the karaoke dvd into garage band ? I bought the Saffire, I have 2 microphones to put into the saffire, then I connect the karaoke sound (red & white cable into saffire & the yellow into TV ?) Is that correct ?

If the above is correct, 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)

Worst still now, no sound seem to be coming in, I think I have have messed up the settings. In the Input source, I have only 3 options:
a) Mono 1 (built-in microphone)
b) Mono 2 (built-in microphone)
c) Stereo 1/2 (built in microphone)

How do I select 2 microphones + 1 karaoke music player ? How does garage band knows which is which ?

Thanks

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Answer 5

HangTime

Level 9

53,841 points

Jul 5, 2010 12:51 AM in response to RyanManUtd

RyanManUtd wrote:
Not sure if this is compatible with macbook pro

it should be, other people have posted about good results using one.

If the above is correct,

it sounds right

how do i instruct garage band to record 3 tracks simultaneously ?

here's a tutorial:

http://www.bulletsandbones.com/GB/Tutorials.html#bsqrecordmultipletracks

Worst still now, no sound seem to be coming in, I think I have have messed up the settings. In the Input source, I have only 3 options:
a) Mono 1 (built-in microphone)
b) Mono 2 (built-in microphone)
c) Stereo 1/2 (built in microphone)

i think the above tute will answer all your questions on setup.

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Answer 6

RyanManUtd Author

Level 1

121 points

Jul 5, 2010 1:23 AM in response to HangTime

HangTime wrote:

here's a tutorial:

http://www.bulletsandbones.com/GB/Tutorials.html#bsqrecordmultipletracks

Thanks, That was an excellent piece of info.

I have gone further to read this n mono Vs Stereo
http://www.bulletsandbones.com/GB/Tutorials/StereoVsMono.html

but I am not sure what to set if I have 2 mic connected to it. Hmmm ... now I am confused between track & channel .... must there be 1 to 1 corelation between track & channel ?

Thanks

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Answer 7

HangTime

Level 9

53,841 points

Jul 5, 2010 1:27 AM in response to RyanManUtd

RyanManUtd wrote:
I am not sure what to set if I have 2 mic connected to it.

a mic is a mono device

Hmmm ... now I am confused between track & channel

a track is where recordings reside in GB. each track can use 1 or 2 channels. the DVD player would use two channels (stereo) on one track, and each mic would use 1 channel (mono) on each of their tracks

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Answer 8

RyanManUtd Author

Level 1

121 points

Jul 5, 2010 1:33 AM in response to HangTime

HangTime wrote:

a track is where recordings reside in GB. each track can use 1 or 2 channels. the DVD player would use two channels (stereo) on one track, and each mic would use 1 channel (mono) on each of their tracks

Hmm ... trying hard to understand,

let's say if I only have one mic, I can also select this mic track to output to 2 channel of the speaker ? In this case, I select to "Stereo 1/2" ?

Am I right or wrong ?

Thanks

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Answer 9

HangTime

Level 9

53,841 points

Jul 5, 2010 1:36 AM in response to RyanManUtd

RyanManUtd wrote:
let's say if I only have one mic, I can also select this mic track to output to 2 channel of the speaker ? In this case, I select to "Stereo 1/2" ?

Am I right or wrong ?

you would be wrong, 1 mic = mono, track setting = mono, sound comes out of both speakers. if you set the track to stereo, with a mono device, sound will only come out of one speaker.

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Answer 10

RyanManUtd Author

Level 1

121 points

Jul 5, 2010 8:49 AM in response to HangTime

HangTime wrote:

you would be wrong, 1 mic = mono, track setting = mono, sound comes out of both speakers.

Sorry for being a slow learner, I am a bit confused, U mean to say if I use 1 mic, I should set the Input Source to Mono 1 ? And this would result in me having sound on both speakers ?

if you set the track to stereo, with a mono device, sound will only come out of one speaker.

U mean to say if I use 1 mic & I set the Input source to Stereo 1/2, sound will be recorded on one speaker only ? In this case, which speaker ? 1 or 2 ?

Sorry again, this theory is difficult to grasp ...

Thanks ...

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Answer 11

HangTime

Level 9

53,841 points

Jul 5, 2010 9:05 AM in response to RyanManUtd

RyanManUtd wrote:
if I use 1 mic, I should set the Input Source to Mono 1 ? And this would result in me having sound on both speakers ?

basically. it may not be mono 1, it will depend on which channel of your interface you are using, but you'll want one of the mono choices for a single mic (guitar, etc) in that track

if you set the track to stereo, with a mono device, sound will only come out of one speaker.

U mean to say if I use 1 mic & I set the Input source to Stereo 1/2, sound will be recorded on one speaker only ? In this case, which speaker ? 1 or 2 ?

no, not record, PLAY out of one speaker, odd numbered input will usually be left, even usually right

Sorry again, this theory is difficult to grasp ...

i would suggest reading over the stereo vs mono tutorial again, it points out all these things.

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Answer 12

RyanManUtd Author

Level 1

121 points

Jul 5, 2010 10:07 AM in response to HangTime

HangTime wrote:

i would suggest reading over the stereo vs mono tutorial again, it points out all these things.

Good idea, I have read 3 times.

I think I stereo refers to left & right producing different sound at any one time.

Even if the sound did come from left & right but with same sound, it is still termed as mono.

Okay, I understand the above.

When we use 2 mic, how many tracks must we have ?

Thanks

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Answer 13

HangTime

Level 9

53,841 points

Jul 5, 2010 10:41 AM in response to RyanManUtd

RyanManUtd wrote:
Okay, I understand the above.

i believe you do

When we use 2 mic, how many tracks must we have ?

that depends what you wish to accomplish. if you use 2 mics on one track, you'd be recording in stereo, so would use the stereo selection (e.g. two overhead drum mics)

if you're recording two people singing, you'd use two mono tracks, one for each mic

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Answer 14

RyanManUtd Author

Level 1

121 points

Jul 6, 2010 8:01 AM in response to HangTime

HangTime wrote:

if you're recording two people singing, you'd use two mono tracks, one for each mic

Thanks HangTime, I am using 2 microphones to record 2 person singing.

So I need to create 2 New basic Track.

The first track, for the Input Source, I select Mono 1 Saffire,

The second track, for Input Source, I select Mono 2 Saffire.

Is the above correct ?

Thanks

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Answer 15

HangTime

Level 9

53,841 points

Jul 6, 2010 8:03 AM in response to RyanManUtd

RyanManUtd wrote:
Is the above correct ?

100%

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