new vocals-washed out sound

[artsneef]

when i bring in a song by a professional band, to audacity in wav format, and choose the vocal remover effect. the old vocals are about 85% gone. then, in that same window, i add my live vocal track. i have a professional mic. i set the audacity mic level to 10, or i cant hear myself after. when i listen to the playback, i then try to adjust the sound on my vocal track, but it seems my vocal is either overwhelmed by the instrumentation, or, i turn it up, and it sounds distorted, there doesnt seem to be a happy medium. any tips on getting my vocals to be front, center, and clear....... i have a lot of experience with a mic.

[whomper]

when i bring in a song by a professional band, to audacity in wav format, and choose the vocal remover effect. the old vocals are about 85% gone. then, in that same window, i add my live vocal track. i have a professional mic. i set the audacity mic level to 10, or i cant hear myself after. when i listen to the playback, i then try to adjust the sound on my vocal track, but it seems my vocal is either overwhelmed by the instrumentation, or, i turn it up, and it sounds distorted, there doesnt seem to be a happy medium. any tips on getting my vocals to be front, center, and clear....... i have a lot of experience with a mic.

er..... um.....
did i miss something

why not , after removign 85% vocal, just *lower* the volume of that recording. then your voice will sound louder in comparison later on.

but if you have the gain to 10 and can barely hear yourself then there is a problem with your mike/amp/inputcard
my cheap mike will peak and clip at 5 if i just talk loud.
if i were singing it would be a solid blue bar on the screen.

[artsneef]

the volume of the original instrumental tracks refuses to lower when i adjust the volume, it stays the same. and my mic works great for my original recordings.

[steve]

If you listen to ONLY the track that you have recorded with the microphone (click the "mute" button on the original track), do you hear ONLY the vocal that you have recorded or do you hear the vocal that you have recorded AND the instruments? If you hear the instruments it is either:

a) That you are playing the track through loudspeakers while you are recording and the microphone is picking up the sound from the speakers. Don't use loudspeakers while recording - use headphones.

b) You are recording "Stereo Mix" and not directly from the microphone. You need to set the recording input to microphone (or "Line" if you are using a mixing desk or pre-amp that is plugged into the "Line" socket of your sound card). See here how to set the recording input; http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Mixer ... trol_Panel . If you are using a USB microphone, you need to set your computer to use the USB microphone.

[whomper]

the volume of the original instrumental tracks refuses to lower when i adjust the volume, it stays the same. and my mic works great for my original recordings.

select it in audacity
amplify it to -60db
it will be *lower*
I guarantee it

[kozikowski]

Select the track > Effect > Amplify. Choose a new value. If left to itself, Amplify will try to maximize the volume of the work.

Koz

[artsneef]

its working..because.....for whatever reason i am able to lower the volume now, of the original background traks, and....i was lazy and HAD been recording with the speakers on instead of my headphones... silly me