On Tue, 04 Mar 2014 20:36:14 +0200, Orchid Win7 v1 <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:

> In the category of "things I suck at"... I can't sing very well either.
>
> Notwithstanding, and in complete defiance of the terms of my lease,  
> today I've been recording my singing with Cubase. Or at least, humming  
> just loud enough for a microphone placed mere millimetres from my lips  
> to detect that something is happening.
>
> You will be unsurprised to hear that this arrangement does not result in  
> high sound quality. In order to make anything audible I had to turn the  
> gain way, way up. So there's quite a lot of background hiss. Also, you  
> can hear every single breath I take.
>
> Added to that, I have quite a lot voice, and because I'm trying to sing  
> quietly I tended to sing quite low notes. The result was quite "grainy"  
> in texture.
>
> What *is* quite surprising - to me, at least - is that the whole appears  
> to be greater than the sum of its parts. As in, you can listen to each  
> of the parts I sung, and hear how the pitch waivers around hopelessly.  
> And yet, when you play them all simultaneously, something strange  
> happens: it sounds more in-tune than it actually is. It almost sounds  
> like I used the computer to auto-tune it or something. (I don't possess  
> that program.)
>
> I eventually figured out how to increase the playback volume in Cubase  
> to the point where my vocals were actually audible. (The microphone is  
> returning a signal at roughly -16 dB, which is easily quieter than the  
> backing tracks.) Lots of hiss, but you can now hear me.
>
> A curious problem is that every single line I sang seems to vary in  
> volume, seemingly at random. Some of them are louder at the end, some of  
> them are louder in the middle. In short, no matter which way you adjust  
> the volume, you can't seem to get them all the same volume.
>
> This is where I break out Reaktor and load up a compander. This device,  
> I am told, exists to counteract this precise problem. It seems to work  
> reasonably well. With a 4-bank compander, the mic hiss is gone, and the  
> volume appears to waiver a lot less.
>
> Sadly, a compander does nothing to fix my lack of timing or my wandering  
> pitch.
>
> Again: I'm really quite surprised that do-wop harmonies sound anywhere  
> near this good with a fool like me singing them.

You will probably get a more stable pitch if you sing louder. But if it  
doesn't work you may have a problem with your neighbors ;>

-- 
-Nekar Xenos-

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