Please Help Me, I need to record vocals

[razor1982]

Hi thanks for reading, i recently auditioned for a rock band as lead singer, i did about 6 well known songs, they handed me a tape of a song they wrote, and asked me to write and record the lyrics to it so im pretty pumped up, because it sounds really good, but here is what im hoping i can learn. For one the song is on a recorded cassette tape, and is actually better quality then i thought it would be. I want to be able to record the music onto my hard drive as an mp3, and then play it back while i add the vocals , so that there will be one recording with perfect sync. I already have the cakewalk program, i was thinkin i will need a recording sound card and microphone. please someone help me out and tell me what i need to do this. also im hoping to spend no more than 100 on a soundcard if possible, and 50 on a mic, i hope to do this soon, because im afraid if i don't move on it, that these guys will wind up taking it elsewhere, thanks. oh my system is a 2400XP, 768MB pc2100, 60gb 7200rpm hdd

 

[thajeremy]

If you just want something quick and simple, you can get a cheap 2 or 4 channel mixer. Come out of your tape player into one of the channels of the mixer, or the 'tape in' on the mixer. Now you just plug your mic into the mixer. Then connect the 'main out' of the mixer to your soundcard 'in'.
From there, just use cakewalk to record the music to your harddrive. Then go back and add the vocals.

hope this helps...

 

[mshilarious]

I want to be able to record the music onto my hard drive as an mp3, and then play it back while i add the vocals , so that there will be one recording with perfect sync.

Don't convert it to an mp3, you'll most likely lose quality that way, and you'll be processing .wav files in multitrack software anyway. Record it as a .wav file and burn an uncompressed red book CD for them.

 

[Treeline]

Ditto on the cheap mixer and .wav file approach. And we're talking about a $50 mixer here. All you need is two channels. Plug the cassette player into the mixer tape inputs, run R & L out to the soundcard "Line In" jack, start up the recording program and let it fly.

Now unplug the tape deck & plug some headphones into the soundcard speaker out. Get a mic and plug it into channel 1 on the mixer, hit "record" in the software, and you'll hear the old tracks as you record the vocals. It's that easy.

You'll need a mic. Go to the local music store and pick up a cheapo Shure pak for about $50. You can probably get a little mixer there, too - a Behringer or Alesis teeny thing. A couple of cords and you're in business by suppertime.