Problem Acapella
Libby Cowen
For some inexplicable reason, the professional recording on one turntable works great, while the Acapella (recorded on ZOOM for the same recording and should be in sync) fluctuates in tempo and lives its own life.
Also, please thoroughly review the link I shared earlier about properly beatgridding acapellas as this will likely be the next step that we need to perform and I want to make sure you understand this fully.
Glad you got the problem sorted and it was a simple one.
BTW, there is carbon loaded foam available, in blocks, especially to place under speakers to
prevent that kind of thing.
You even get sloped foam so that the tweeters are at ear level, especially nice for near field monitors.
In the meantime, it would be helpful if you tried to repeat your workflow, but with an electronically produced song that you know has a perfectly consistent BPM throughout. I think in this scenario the Fluid Beatgrid system should work better. Thanks!
Fluid Beatgrid was added to djay 5.0 back in December 2023. The Fluid Beatgrid system is built into djay and cannot be disabled. Like I mentioned above, you can force the system to use Straight BPM instead of Dynamic BPM which is the closest to the previous system.
Hi @Hertigen_Raitl, I discussed this at length with the engineering team. After closer inspection of your recorded acapella and the original track we can see that your timing is off. This plus your timing being off when you press play seems to be the main reason for the songs drifting apart since you are not using Sync.
The way that seems the best to me is to cut up 4 bar sections of the pella in a wave editor (e.g. soundforge) and save them as seperate wav files. Then add a new sampler channel in fruity loops and load the first one in.
From the time stretch section of the properties window, right click on the speed knob and choose how long you want to stretch it for e.g. 2 or 4 bars (it depends how many steps etc youve chosen when you first made your track) but just change it until it fits and is at a speed that suits. then once youve got it right, clone the channel, goto the next pattern and load in the next pella loop and it should automatically time stretch it to the same (if not change it). Then add each of the patterns to the sequencer (playlist)
Also the reason I say cut it up into 4 bar loops is because if a track is not digitally made and you import the whole pella, then the timing could be exactly right for the first 20 seconds or so, but then completely go out of time after a while. This is a common problem when using a pella from a track that used real instruments.
Yeah thats cool, just adjust the tempo of the pella to match your track. The 4 bar method always gives me the best results although sometimes you can get away with loading in the whole pella, but it tends to drift out of time towards the end normally
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On the last song I recorded, when I was recording vocals, I was getting a slight latency problem. I was hearing a bit of an echo in the headphones, and when I listened back to the track, it was slightly out of time. I've recorded other songs without this problem, so I'm not sure why it is happening all of a sudden.
There are two most common causes of latency: 1. Your I/O buffer is set too high (don't think so here), or 2. You have inserted latency inducing plugin(s) somewhere in your mixer (does not have to be in the signal chain of the vocal to have an effect). To check that second cause, I'd like to see a screenshot of your mixer.
What audio interface? You should be monitoring the mic input directly from your interface BEFORE it goes into logic. That is the only way to have zero latency monitoring of live input with logic. The delay in your headphones is enough to make your brain try to slow your speech to try to match what your ears are hearing. Very hard to stay on proper timing.
About Software monitoring: at 44.1 kHz with a buffer of 256 or lower I have no problem at all using software monitoring (through Logic). The doubling effect is clearly audible but not at all disruptive, but at 64 and 32 it's barely noticeable anymore.
When I was in the college choir, I sang bass, and sometimes I get distracted by other vocal parts, especially when I stand at the boundary of bass singers. What I mean by getting distracted is that my mind tries to follow others' lines and I become unable to follow my own line. When that is about to happen, I'd keep silent for a short while, re-focus, listen to other bass singers, and then continue. This rarely happens when I stand in between other bass singers.
When I listen to the "karaoke" version of pop songs1, I may have difficulties imagining the main vocal. After I get familiar with the vocal harmony (or whatever the supporting vocal line is), I may not be able to hum the main vocal while I listen to the "karaoke" version again. If the vocal harmony is strong and over the whole chorus, I may get distracted for the whole duration (such that my mind is fully engaged with the vocal harmony), and not be able to recover; but if I turn down the volume, I can usually quickly recover. (In contrast, I do not have problems humming the vocal harmony when listening to the full version.)
How can I improve? Should I try to ignore the other vocal lines that I hear and focus on my own, or allow more than one vocal lines to simultaneous co-exist in my mind? Any practice you would suggest?
Start with simple pieces, for example a choral piece where you already know the bass quite well and you can switch between listening to the soprano and the bass or a piece with voice accompanied by piano so you can switch between voice and piano.
The final goal is to know your own melody as part of the harmony because you cannot sing in harmony with the rest of the choir if you just block them out successfully, although this may be an intermediate step during rehearsals.
I think if you continue to practice singing along with karaoke tracks / singing harmony with others, you'll see that it becomes easier and easier with experience. But, hopefully these will help you along the way.
Pay attention to your intervals within the Major or Minor key you're playing in. If you know where the "Do" is (regardless of key) and you get used to hearing the distance separating a "Mi" from a "Do", or whatever note you're trying to sing, then you'll have an easier time following your own part relative to the key the piece is in.
If you can get a good mental grasp of the location of Do while you're singing, and you know where your part is relative to that Do, then you're set. If you find yourself getting lost, pause for a split second, listen to the chord being produced by those around you, and find Do again, then pick yourself back up.
You're a Bass singer, so also remember that the Bass part is very often the root of the chord you're singing at any given moment. (With numerous exceptions). Remember that the Alto and Tenor most often spell out the rest of chord, and that the Melody line totally does its own thing and disobeys all the laws of logic and reason. When listening to Kareoke, you'll want to listen to whatever instrument is playing the Bass part (usually a Bass Guitar in modern music) and figure out what the basic chord progressions are-- that should help you locate Do. (Most major songs, for example, like to have the Bass hover around a Do, Fa, and Sol, ie the I, IV, and V chords.) From there, just figure out where the melody line starts relative to a Do, and you're set.
Again, this is just how I personally hear music, and there are other techniques to try. I'm just trying to describe the thought process that happens in microseconds-- if it doesn't come naturally after a while, try something else. Experiment. ^_^
For "in the moment", when you're having trouble hearing your own part against others, try sticking a finger in one ear (not both!). This has the effect of increasing the prominence of what you are singing in what you are hearing. If you mostly know the line and just need help getting back on track, this might be enough for you, particularly if you have practiced the part on its own. (I also use this technique during practices for the "somebody on my part if off; is it me?" questions.)
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