Viocal Recording Cues

[Michael Hopcroft]

I am very new to the entire home recording process -- I made some attempts a few years back, but never got anywhere.

I have a simple starter project I'm working on that has a backing track over which I want to record vocals. Think of it as a custom karaoke recording, only without the alcohol. The problem I have had on my first few takes is missing the cues on starting to sing seconds off -- which, as anyone who has made music knows, can make all the difference between a good take and one that does right into the Recycle Bin, Would visually marking those cues help, and if so how do I do it in Sonar (I barely know anything about using sonar, of course, as you can probably tell, so be merciful!).

And where in the documentation (if I can find any) does it cover recording vocals over instrumental tracks?

[reginaldStjohn]

You could certianly put a marker on the timeline 'm' key to insert one if that would help you. However, i think that just counting and knowing where your going to start singing would be the best choice. Practice a few times until you get it right. You can also sing one and even if it is not right on time you can move the waveform back to where it needs to be to give you an audible cue as well as a visual waveform to indicate where to start.

[57Gregy]

I think more practice is needed.
Are they your songs or someone else's?
If someone else's song, practice singing along with it (not your "simple starter project") until you get it right.
If it's your composition, ditto.

15 hours ago, Michael Hopcroft said:

where in the documentation (if I can find any) does it cover recording vocals over instrumental tracks?

I don't think there is anything like that in the reference guide. You can look through the over 190 listings for vocals in the guide if you want. I didn't see anything in a quick scan. That's more a 'techniques' thing and there is a forum here for that. It's called "Techniques". 😉 Lots of knowledgeable folks there willing to help.

[57Gregy]

"Production Techniques".

[AB99]

I almost always have midi tracks.  Sometimes, I will have the midi track in wide viewing so I can see where the midi notes for the vocals.  The problem is that sometimes a vocal has more of a feel when it is not exactly aligned with the corresponding midi note.   But usually, it helps.

[Michael Hopcroft]

I would like to thank the respondants. I appreciate the efforts. Off to Techniques I go!

[Bristol_Jonesey]

9 hours ago, AB99 said:

The problem is that sometimes a vocal has more of a feel when it is not exactly aligned with the corresponding midi note.   But usually, it helps.

This is probably true for any recorded track if your goal is to achieve any sort of "organic", or natural sounding finished product.

[Chaps]

How are you monitoring your singing while recording? Direct Monitoring? If it were me, I would have a section loop while I sang over it until I was comfortable with it, and then set punch-in and punch-out points  so it would only record over a specific section. You can also do loop recording, singing the same part over and over and then using the one that works best. I agree with reginaldStjohn that setting markers as visible guides could be very useful.

[Jim Fogle]

I generally practice singing a song many times before I record a vocal.  The practice builds familiarity with the song and gives your voice confidence while singing.

It doesn't have to be formal practice.  You can practice while on the computer, using the bathroom, walking and so on.

Once I'm ready to record I create a vocal count down track.  I use the count down track to hear when to start singing.  I silence the count down track while singing.

The biggest takeaway is you need to figure out what makes you most comfortable while singing.  You'll likely find it's a combination of things depending on the song and your mood.

[AB99]

I should add that sometimes for cueing purposes, I will use some midi notes that I erase later.  This is also good for some pitch cues. 

[Bass Guitar]

What also can happen is if you are not using an Audio interface with ASIO drivers a new audio track will possibly be recorded out of sync with the existing audio. This is due to the system latency. 
 

Sonar has two ways to mark off events. Markers as well as the Arranger track. There’s almost enough space in the arrangement view for lyrics if you zoom out enough. 
 

Cakewalk Next has a lyrics view that can be used exactly as a karaoke track. But it is labour intensive to set it up. 
 

Many downloaded midi files will often have a guide “ vocal “ track.