Submissions are closed. Thank you to everyone who participated!
/yah/ Sings: Happy Birthday 2022
Let's sing Happy Birthday to Beatani!
Contact information
- Post in /yah/ and include the word bday22 in your post so I can search for it
- Or send an email to awaiyckc@anonaddy.me (no attachments please)
Instructions
Your job is simple:
- Record yourself singing Happy Birthday and additional verses
- Make sure your recordings are free of background noise or clipping
- Upload your recordings to vocaroo or catbox and send links to me
Recording guidelines:
- Make a separate recording for each verse
- There should be nothing but your voice in the recordings
- Trim the silence off the ends of your recordings if you like
Please have your submissions turned in to me by May 6th!
Background track
Listen here: https://vocaroo.com/11CQxCJMOLG4
We will be singing over the part from 0:09 to 0:25. I will loop this part as many times as necessary for all the verses and messages.
Sample recording
Listen here: https://vocaroo.com/1grSYrBQElGQ
Happy birthday to you Happy birthday to you Happy birthday bear daughter Happy birthday to you
We'll sound like zombies if we're not careful. When the lines run into each other and every syllable feels the same, the result isn't very good. So leave a brief pause between the lines and put some emphasis on the bold syllables.
Follow my rhythm, not my tone (I am tone deaf)
Additional verses
To spice up the song, we will be recording some additional verses with original lyrics. Record as many or as few of these as you like. If you want to add a new verse to the song, just send me the lyrics and I'll add them here.
If you send me a recording with your lyrics I will post it here as an example for others to sing along with. If you want to be sure your lyrics will make it into the song, I recommend sending me a recording with your lyrics.
Verse 1
Listen here: https://vocaroo.com/1S3IvmaBjbey
When we met you it wasn't long Till we'd miss you when you are gone Always happy to see you Happy birthday to you
More verses will be included as I receive them.
Voice messages
We will also play your voice messages over the song between verses. Please add your message and a transcript of your message to the Risuna Birthday Party spreadsheet. You don't have to sing if you don't want to!
Recording tips
I recommend using Audacity to record your singing. Even if you are using a cell phone to record, you can import your recording to Audacity to play it back over the background track. Here's a step-by-step for recording in Audacity:
- Import the background track (you can drag and drop into Audacity)
- Click on the waveform to place your cursor anywhere before 0:09
- Press Shift+R to begin recording in a new track from the cursor
- When you are finished recording, press Space to stop recording
- Press Space once to play back your recording and again to stop
- If you don't like your recording, press Ctrl+Z and go back to step 3
When you are finished with your recording, click the title bar at the top of the waveform to select it and choose File - Export - Export Selected Audio...
You can also drag the title bar at the top of a waveform to reposition the waveform.
About clipping
When you make a sound too loud for your device to record, the result is audible distortion called "clipping". To eliminate clipping, you need to make sure that the volume and gain are set correctly for your microphone.
You'll find the volume setting on the levels tab of your microphone properties. There is also a slider on the mixing toolbar in Audacity that does the same thing. To adjust gain, look for a knob on your USB microphone or audio interface. If you plugged a cheap microphone into the 3.5mm jack on your PC, you will find a microphone boost setting in your microphone properties instead.
Clipping can happen when either setting is too high, so you need to adjust both to eliminate it completely. I suggest making a recording of yourself singing and look for the parts where you are clipping. Find the part of your recording where you are clipping and sing that part into your microphone repeatedly while monitoring your levels until you are no longer clipping.
In Audacity, you can monitor the peak levels in your recording by watching the vertical blue lines in the recording and playback meters. Or just look at the waveform. If it goes "off the chart" then you are clipping.
The empty space above your peak levels is called "headroom". A rule of thumb is to leave about 6-12 dB of headroom to account for unexpected loud noises during recording. But if you leave too much headroom, then your recording may sound noisy when amplified.
Pay attention to the shape of your waveform. If the peaks are flat but you have headroom, then you need to reduce your gain.
If you have a condenser microphone such as the Blue Yeti, you may find that you have to reduce your volume and gain by a lot to avoid clipping. This is because condenser microphones are more sensitive than other types. This makes them great for recording speech but not as great for singing.
Demo recording
This should give you an idea of how the pieces will fit together.
Listen here: https://vocaroo.com/11kp5fDwYQfy (cringe warning!!!)
Changelog
- Pushed the due date back a day and added details for voice messages (5/5)
- Added due date to instructions and improved the section on clipping (4/28)