DariaAM wrote: ↑March 4th, 2024, 5:43 pm
The reason why I didn’t color code the song for the cousins to sing is because I wasn’t sure how great it would be to have multiple voices edited together. There would also be a risk of people singing faster, slower, out of tune, etc. Plus, we’d have to make up a tune for everyone to learn, and I didn’t think it was worth the trouble. I decided that to make things simpler, Carolyn would make up her own tune and sing it by herself in a solo…
I’ve listened to the song just now and, wow, you’ve done a fantastic job, Carolyn! Honestly, I would never have guessed it’s you! It sounds professional and…
very manly. This raises some questions, though.
How did you do it? Is this your raw, unedited “deep” voice, or did you edit it in any way?
Here's what I did:
1) I made up an easy to sing tune. I liked one of the tunes another reader used, but I thought it would be too hard for me to sing and I wasn't sure she'd appreciate it if I "stole" her tune.
2) I practiced playing my easy melody on the piano in the lowest range I could sing. Thankfully the song is very short.
3) I set the switch on my mic to use the -10dB pad, which "lowers the level of an incoming signal before it reaches the rest of the circuitry. If you are recording something very loud and the signal is overpowering your recorder, you would select the -10 dB pad to lower the volume of the microphone to make the input signal more manageable."
4) I positioned the microphone in front of an electronic piano and plugged in headphones (so there is no ambient sound in the room)
5) I turned on the metronome to a comfortable pace with only the light flashing (no ambient sound in the room)
6) I positioned my mouth very close to the pop filter and, here's the key --- for me to get that "manly" effect I have to project very, very boldly (no wimpy singing) into the mic (hence the -10 dB pad switch) and with one's larynx pushed low (I think that's the correct terminology for what I was doing with my throat). The combination of those three features, a) close and very bold b) larynx low c) -10 dB switch engaged really seems to change the timbre of the voice. I don't know which one of the three was the dominant variable to produce the sound I was hoping for but you have heard the result.
7) So... then I sang -- with the metronome on so that I kept the same tempo for each "take"... and at the same time I played the tune on the piano through the headphones, so I stayed on pitch throughout (more or less).
8) I sang it through quite a few times (throat lozenges helpful here) Since I can't sing exactly the same way each time (breathing, pitch, rhythms vary slightly) that was a good thing, because I wanted it to sound like several different voices not just one.
9) then I put each take on a separate track, matching the starts of each (no other syncing was req'd because of my set-up) and played around with which of the takes sounded best together, like happy, silly boys in a boat - that is, together in unison but not too together.
10) I ended up choosing 4 of the "takes" to overlay/meld for the final mp3. More than 4 sounded too messy to me. Fewer than 4 sounded too thin to me.
So that's how I did it. Nothing magic.
PS I also think (and thought) that trying to "orchestrate" and then sync/edit a meld of the voices of several different people, cast members or others, for something this long has too many pitfalls, as Daria outlined - whether it's sung or even just read. I was thinking that this solo attempt at a "chorus of me" had the potential to produce a cheerful ending to the chapter in a doable way - beyond just reading the poem which, when listening to other readers end the chapter in that way, seemed lifeless to me. I was trying to create the illusion of the boys rowing their boat and singing joyfully.
But, if you don't like the way this sounds, then there is one doable possibility that I think could fit. Ask Uncle Alec to read it (or sing it using a tune of his choice; mine, his or someone else's). Afterall, he's at least in a boat, the other boat hearing it, he's absolutely central to the story and Beeswaxcandle has a marvelous voice. I doubt his reading would ever sound lifeless. Just my two cents.
. I'm normally a 2nd soprano (though as I age, getting closer to alto), so forcing my voice down into a tenor range is not sustainable at all, but for this short song it was manageable. When I played it for my husband, I asked him, "do I sound totally ridiculous trying to sound "male" ?" He really laughed while listening to it, but assured me that to someone who doesn't know it's me it sounded like a men's glee. Happy to know he was right because to me it still sounds like me.
