SkylessLimits

Every time I upload a song to Soundcloud, YouTube, and Reverbnation (The only places I upload my songs) my sound quality goes down. The sounds isn't really distorted, it's just like it gets way quieter than the original. I upload my songs in WAV format. Is there any way to fix this problem?

Okay, whenever a band releases a new song from an album, I always see them post it on YouTube and make it look all cool like this: What software is being used? Can someone tell me what software (preferably free) I can use to make videos like this?

If you want to become a good singer just practice. The voice is just like any other muscle in the body, work it out and learn your limits. When I started, I just started off singing along to songs I like trying to mimic the singers voice until I eventually developed my own voice. It also helps out if you know how to play some sort of instrument. That way you can sing in tune with it or harmonize with it. Unless you're gifted with a godly voice, it's going to take a long time. It took me about a year or more. I'm not professional nor do I have the best voice out there, but I know I'm listenable and that all I really aim for. If you want to learn how to become a professional singer, the obvious course of action would be to find a teacher and take classes.

It's funny how I posted this about exactly a year ago. In fact, this thread was the big stepping stone to everything I know how to do now and I've been doing pretty well for myself. (: As for that trick, I picked that myself awhile back when I recorded my first song using what I learned here. I really like it as well, but sometimes it just depends I guess. Sometimes I feel like recording two guitars for a more natural sound, or just doing what you said cause it sounds nice + saves time.

I don't think you can release too much music. Lol. Releasing an EP every few months isn't bad. Personally if I could record music that frequently without getting bored, I'd do it. If you're trying to build up a fanbase, I'd say put a good amount of your songs up online. About 10 at the max is good, or more if you want. That way, your potential fans will have something to listen to when they check you out. It'll help them decide if they like you or not. Build up fans on the main social networking sites like YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr. There are different approaches for using each site, but once you know the different approaches, they come in very handy. Once your fanbase seems like it's starting to grow, release a string of SINGLES before you release your EP or album. It's a strategy to build up hype for your big release. For example, I'm recording an album that's set for release sometime in Feb. Right now I'm in the process of "building up hype" by releasing singles, and doing other things. Building up enough hype will end up growing your fan base too because more people will want to know what all the commotion is about. So in short, no, having a lot of music isn't bad, but save some of your songs for that potential fanbase.

And I believe that's where a press kit comes in, right? I read that some gigs prefer physical press kits, and some like electronic press kits. I'm not exactly sure of what a press kit is though and what I need to make one.

I'm a new musician...well, not new..but new at trying to actually break into the scene. I have a few (or a lot of) questions that I haven't been able to find on Google, lol, so here they are: 1. How do you book gigs? 2. What's required to book a gig? 3. I've heard that bands need "press kits", what is that and how do I make one? Can I use a digital one like the one on Reverbnation? 4. In three months I plan to release an EP. How do I find people who can write stuff like this on the day I drop it? ( http://bit.ly/MwPCIL ) I really hope someone sees this and replies. I feel like the section of the forums doesn't get a lot of attention.

I was also about to recommend this advice. Well, the youtube channel part. I'm a beginner, and I've been watching his videos for a while. Though I'm only on lesson 3 because I like to practice his lessons over and over again until I can play it without thinking, like I can w/ guitar. http://www.youtube.com/user/lypur

If you upload a video or the audio of an original song by you, is it considered copyrighted? I ask this because every video on YouTube shows a publishing date.

Thank you so much. (: You don't know how much you guys have helped me now. Now I can make my music a lot better and actually be proud about my work.

Yes, that will be great. (:

It does sound like a good solution, but I don't really understand what you're saying. All of this terminology is like a whole new language for me. So dumb it down a little ? Lol. You guys are going that far from my request. I'm really new to all of this, so all of this extra information is good for me. As far as I'm concerned, I won't be able to get any real education on this stuff until I go to college, which I'll have to wait 2 years for. So that's why I'm glad I found this site. I can get what I want to know, and learn what I didn't want to know for future references. BUT! Keep in my mind that my main goal is to just get my soundtracks to have similar quality to the song by Halfway Deserted in the original post. I wanted to know some recommended panning settings (which you guys have given me, I've tested out, and liked the results). I mean, he records from his laptop, with one mic, and a DAW. So I'm just thinking I should be able to sound as good as him, if not more or less. I'm not going for a natural sound really, I just want things to sound good to the point where someone is like "Hey! This Skyless Limits guy is pretty awesome. I want to download and listen to him over and over." With my equipment, I know I won't get that much of a professional sounding mix, but I know I can get something similar to Halfway Deserted's. (: OH! Earlier, one of you said for me to add a little touch of gverb to my guitar tracks. What settings do you think a "touch" would be? Btw, I don't know what a "dry" track is. On my gverb settings, it gives me the following: Roomsize, Reverb time, Damping, Input Bandwidth, Dry Signal Level, Early Reflection Level, and Tail Level. I already have settings I use for my vocals. But what would be good for a "touch" on the guitar?

Okay... I don't have two microphones. So with using one microphone, lets say I record my guitar one time, then duplicate the track. Is there ANYWAY to get a false stereo effect? I think Rex kinda contributed the an answer to this question, but I'm not sure. So if I duplicate a guitar track to make a double track, can I pan one left (50) and one right (25). Add a little high end EQ on one track, and a little low end EQ on the other track, and add reverb (it's called gverb in audacity) to one track, will that give me the false stereo effect I'm trying to achieve? Is the left (50) and right (25) a good slight difference between the L and R stereo fields?

Wouldn't that sound odd though? (Sorry for all the questions, I'm learning here. ) If I made a second take of me playing guitar, and panned it to to the opposite side of the original side, it would sound like I'm playing 2 guitars, and sound more natural, well, to you it would. But if doubled ONE track, and panned it left and right, you'd hear it through both speakers/headphones, and it'd still sound like I'm playing 2 guitars wouldn't it? (Cause that's how you said it sounds when I do it to my vocals). When I listen to professionally recorded music, let's say Cady Groves for example (I'm listening to her right now actually), Everything that's played in the left headphone, I can hear it in the right headphone..and when I have both headphones on, it sounds like everything is centered, and obviously louder. Nothing sounds "unnatural" to me (besides her occasional auto tune). I had always been stuck on the idea that panning left and right was supposed to give the music/sound a more wider sound.

Thank you. I actually understand compression and EQ now, well, I understand what I wanted to know about them. Like, how to use them. Thanks to a certain YouTube video. So besides that, about this panning thing. I've been recording the guitar one time, copy and pasting the track, panning it left and right, then applying reverb/gverb to both tracks. You're telling me I should record the guitar one time, then instead of copy and pasting, manually record myself playing guitar again? And then apply reverb to the naked track, and pan them equally? I'm asking because I almost always just have one guitar in my songs, not two. Lol. Oh, and about it sounding like there are two people singing in this: I purposely did that. I would auto-pitch correct one track to give it that "doubling" effect. On other songs, it just sounds like one person singing. You can just hear me in both headphones. So let's say from now I don't use the auto-pitch to get a doubling voice anymore. Do you still recommend I don't pan my vocals? And what is clear panning? Cause I want to do it to my vocals now.

Are you saying it'd be better if I just recorded the track, and not double/triple it? Because I usually do that to give the vocals a fuller sound, and so everything is played in the right and left channels. Like, so it'd sound good if you were to listen to it with headphones on.

I use a free DAW called Audacity when I record my music. To record, I use a USB compressor mic called a Blue Snowball. The music I put out on my Facebook page for my fans are pretty decent, mediocre at best, but even with the recording equipment I use, I know they could be better IF I KNEW WHAT I WAS DOING. I have NO knowledge on audio terminology. I don't know exactly what "Compression", "Equalization", or "Normalize" does. Before I ask my question, I'm going to give you guys the layout of what I've been doing for every song I record: I'll record my instrumentals and copy a 2nd track of everything, for example: I'll record my acoustic, then copy and paste the track to make a 2nd copy. Same thing goes for every other instrument. For everything I double, I'll pan one track 50% to the right, and I'll pan the 2nd track 25% to the left. When I record my vocals, I'll make THREE copies of each track. I'll center one, and then do the whole 25%/50% thing for left and right. Then I'll equalize the mix (not knowing what it does), and then compress the mix (not knowing what it does, but knowing it makes my track louder). Now here's my problems: I have to go and adjust the volume (dB) of everything. Like, my guitar will be so loud you can't hear the vocals, so I'll put my guitar tracks at, let's say, -7 dB, and put my vocals at -3 dB. Going back and having to adjust the volumes for all the other instruments so they come out evenly is annoying. I don't know what compression does, but before I posted this topic, I read up on an article that it's supposed to even out the volumes so I won't have to go back and adjust all the volumes or something? This also has to do with me adjusting the volumes, but when I record my vocals, I don't do it all in one take. I'll record a verse (take a break), record a chorus (take a break) and so forth. When I do that, one section will sound louder than the other and you can clearly tell I did them separately. So I'll end up going back and adjusting volumes. Isn't compression supposed to be able to keep me from doing that? Or did I read wrong? One of my songs will sound louder or softer than the other. It's not a big problem, it just bugs me a little. I want them all to have around the same level of volume. So that's what I do when I record, and those are the problems I go through as I record. So my questions are: What does compression do exactly? On Audacity, it gives me Threshold, Noise Floor, Ratio, Attack Time, and Decay Time settings. I don't know what they do, or how I'm supposed to set up the settings. So help? What does equalization do? What does normalization do? I'm not even sure if I even need it to be honest. So I want to know if I do or not. Here's what my recordings sound like (Keep in mind my recording process): Here's what I AIM my recordings to sound like (Sorry if posting two songs is against the rules or something, I just need to put this as an example): [media=] His instrumentals are all at one consistent level, and his voice sticks out, but not to much. And when he sings high/with emotion, it's not all extra noticeable from the rest of the track. You can hear his voice clearly over the instruments all throughout the song. AND EVERYTHING SOUNDS AMAZING. So yeah...I typed a lot. Lol. Please help me out. Remember to try to keeps things simple for me, but thorough please. I'm not stupid. I just don't understand much audio terminology. I've had no education with this stuff. Lmao.

Ahh okay. I have Windows 7 so I guess I download the other. So when I use this, is it the full version?

Oh, and which version would I download? There's two different ones under "Windows"

Thank you. I'm sure I can pick up on how to use it if it's not too complicated. But you were really helpful.

Okay, so I record and mix my own music in my bedroom with a laptop (using the free Audacity software), and a studio USB microphone called a "Blue Snowball". The microphone I use is great, it has a great rich sound. Good for recording vocals, guitar, and other instruments, but I feel like I could accomplish so much more if I had the right software for recording. It'd be great if some of you could recommend some recording software I could use on Windows. I don't want it to be TOO complicated to use, since I'm new w/ recording and would have a lot of trouble. I want my sound to come out similar to this guy's (w/out the autotune, I won't be using it). I know for a fact that he records at home with just a laptop and a mic as well. I want to know how and to be able to put in beats also, like he does at around 1:35.

Sorry, I looked at other post before me and just assumed that it was a voice critique section. Where would one post if they wanted critique on their voice? Actually, the majority of the track ISN'T auto pitch corrected. The only parts that are auto pitched are the parts where I attempted to get a "double voice" effect, for example in the beginning when I said, "That you and only you can give to me". So for the majority of the song, do you think you can address my pitch? The semi-sung whisper is actually a style of singing I've been experimenting with. So I guess what I'm really asking is if you think it sounds good. Lol. I'll post a topic with me actually singing, no semi-whisper singing. Lol. I'll probably post it on this thread too...since Idk where else to put it. So if you find it, I'd appreciate your feedback. (:

This is a cover of "You Be The Anchor" by Mayday Parade I did. Please critique my vocals so I can get better. http://soundcloud.com/skylesslimits/you-be-the-anchor-that-keeps