Audio Recording

One of the cool things to do on Windows movie maker is make a sing along video. Supposing you have a YouTube account and you are a really good singer. One of the ways you can be discovered is by showcasing your singing talent in YouTube. You may hear stories of successful recording artist that starts in this way. The slight problem is that creating sing along video is not a normal thing to do on a Windows movie maker. You might only know doing very simple videos or slide shows with background music. Creating a sing along video is slightly complicated matter because:

a.)It requires you to record your vocals live as well. Recording vocals live can be tough because it is susceptible to latency/lag problems, noise, etc.

b. )Your computer will be subjected to intense CPU and memory usage because recording your sing along live requires that live video and audio recording should last around 3 to 4 minutes (average length of most songs) straight without interruption.

c.)There are lots of tweaks to be done to come up with the best quality sing along video depicting your singing performance. These tweaks include balancing the background music with your vocals, minimizing noise etc.

d.)Unavailability of minus-one material will add to the complexity.

This tutorial is written for a beginner. Below are the things that you need:

1.) A high quality microphone. As a singer you should have one. The most recommended is Shure SM58.
2.) A small audio mixer. This is used to get the best results out of your sing along performance. The most recommended is Behringer Xenyx 502.
3.) High quality web cam. Most computers are now equipped with a web cam. Make sure the video quality is great and is fully working in your computer.
4.) Stereo adapters/cables for connecting the mixer to your computer.
5.) Your computer should have a soundcard. Any soundcard will do including on-board cards. You do not need to buy one.
6.) Your computer should be fast. At least it should be using Pentium 4 processor and a 1GB to 2GB of RAM for best recording performance. Anything below these specs can cause lag and audio recording problems. One you have all the requirements, the following are the steps:

Step1: Setup your mixer by connecting to your computer. Connect the mixer main output (left and right) to your computer line input (mostly light blue in color). In most soundcards for example the Realtek cards; green color is for speakers output, pink color for microphones and light blue for line input. Do not use the microphone input. This is how the mixer should look like (just ignore the guitar cable because you are not using this):

You need to buy some adapters so that everything will fit properly between your mixer and to the soundcard inputs (for example the onboard soundcard input will accept only ¼ inches male connector).

Step2: Connect your microphone to your mixer. Plug it to the microphone line input 1. See screenshot above.

Step3: Power on your mixer. Switch the main mix output level to medium, line input 1 volume to medium also. Set the trim to medium. Important: Some webcams are equipped with a microphone; make sure this is disconnected to your computer. Make sure only the mixer output is connected to your onboard sound card input at the back of your computer and disconnect the microphone of your webcam. You will not be using this.

Step4: It’s time to prepare your minus-one version. Most singers do not have minus one version of their favorite song and will only search them in YouTube. So you will need to go to YouTube and go the URL of your favorite minus-one version. Look for a high audio quality minus one version because this will play a big role in the overall audio quality of your recorded video. Stream/play it until it is completed. Do not close it after or do not clear your browser history and cache.

Step5. Launch Windows movie maker and click “Capture from Video Device”. If you see an error; make sure your webcam is properly connected to your computer and is fully working. Configure as follows:

Audio device: Choose your soundcard for example in the screenshot below, it is using Realtek AC97 audio.
Audio input source: Stereo mix

Step6. Play your minus one in YouTube and check if the audio volume bars in “Capture from video device” are moving. It should be moving and ensure that it won’t hit to red region always. If it hits the red region continuously, your background minus-one is too loud; lower down the input level. See screenshot:

Tweaking for optimal audio recording quality:

Below are the procedures to tweak for best audio recording quality (this is a trial and error process):

1.) Do a test video capture. Remember to hit the start capture button first, and then play your minus one.
2.) Try to sing with your microphone for around 15 seconds and then stop.
3.) Assess the video file created as follows:
a.) If the vocal volume seems buried with the minus one, it means that your vocal volume is too low. Try increasing the mixer main mix output. Then sing again.
b.) If the vocal volume will overpower the background minus one music. It implies that your vocals are set too loud, lower down the main mix output in the mixer.
c.) If the background minus one music is too strong in a way that it results to distortion, lower down the input level in the Windows movie maker video capture wizard (refer to step 5 previously) and also you can optionally lower down the volume level directly on the YouTube flash player of your minus one.
d.) If you can hear a lot of background noise (hiss, etc). Lower down the trim in your mixer.

Tweak until you reach the following objectives:

1.) Your vocals and background minus one music are in perfect balance.
2.) The background music is of reasonable volume and no distortion.
3.) Your vocals are perfectly clear and not too dominant in the mix.
4.) The audio has acceptable background noise level and not too excessive.

If you encounter some video related issues such as the intermittent hanging/lagging of the video capture (not an audio related problem), below are the suggested solutions:

1.) Go to control panel — System–Visual effects — Adjust for best performance.
2.) Turn off the antivirus and close all running applications during the recording except for the movie maker and the browser. Make sure only one browser tab is open and that is the YouTube minus one.
3.) Turn off windows sound: Go to Control panel –Sounds and audio devices – Open then go to “Sounds” make sure the “no sounds” scheme is selected.
4.) Restart the computer for a fresh start (this clears out all the garbage in the memory and can speed up your computer).
5.) Start the video capture and recording of your vocals.