ORIGINAL: Beagle

what program are you using to convert? 50M is way too large for a 96k mp3. what is the starting size of the wave file?

I'm using a program called Total Recorder. If you can suggest another free or low-cost program I will give it a try. The WAV file is about 4.8 minutes long and it's size is 594MB.

Steve

ORIGINAL: Beagle

Steve,
are you sure about that? if you exported from MC using WAV at 44100, 16bit, it can't be almost 1/2GB in file size for a 5 minute song. a 5 minute song @ 16bit/44.1kHz with WAVE format should be around 50MB, maybe 60MB at the most.

I think I see the problem. I imported my MIDI file from an older version of Cakewalk. Veeeery old. I think maybe I had some tracks set to loop endlessly because the tracks never seem to end. The last events appear to be at about 1600 measures. Once I delete those the file should be much smaller.

How can I delete those extra events with the least amout of work?

Steve

Yeah, that could make for a verrry long audio file.
Right click on the MIDI trach where you want it to end. Select Split. Highlight the clip to the right of the split, and delete it.
Make sure the boxes for delete events, etc. are checked.
Let us know if that cleans it up. You may need to go into the MIDI event list, and delete any stray events there.

Hey, Steve, no problem. I just couldn't understand why the sound interface wouldn't accept a line level from the mixer without the interface's mic preamp being on. If it's working, and not distorting, run with it!
I use Windows Media Player to convert to MP 3, at a bit rate of 128 kbs, which soundclick accepts easily.

Here, and on soundclick, you can change anything you want, either from your profile, or account.

ORIGINAL: 57Gregy

Here, and on soundclick, you can change anything you want, either from your profile, or account.

I looked there and like most forums the username appears to be uneditable. That's because if people were changing their name frequently it would be confusing. But usually you can contact a moderator and ask for help. But I don't see any moderators and in my bried look at support I don't see any way to submit a question about the forum. I may send a question to Cakewalk support.

Steve

Robert

Thanks for the feedback. I can take negative feedback, too, because I like the song a lot even if others don't. I see they can post comments on SoundClick. Maybe they can do it there anonymously. My age is 51, but I'm in pretty good shape for my age. I don't smoke or drink and I'm not overweight.

I actually tried putting reverb on the vocals, but I took it off. I lowered it to about 10% and it still sounded too thick to me. You probably noticed that I doubled (actually tripled) the vocals. I find that my vocals sound a little better if they are double-tracked. I do that with my guitar some, too, but this song was all synth. Are there other effects that home recorders use regularly or is reverb the most common?

I'm not sure what you meant about running it through an analyzer. Can you explain? I see that I can request reviews on SoundClick. I may do that. Eventually I may even look for a local partner to write and record with, but it won't be easy now that everybody has families and jobs.

The track is old. I wrote about 100 songs back in the 80s. I recorded about 10-20 on my old Cakewalk with a Fostex 4-track tape recorder. I haven't written any in the last 10 years. For my next 2 or 3 I will just be re-working old MIDI files and adding some vocals and maybe guitar. But I'm also starting to collect ideas for new songs. I used to always be thinking about potential songs, but I've gotten out of the habit. I'm getting there again.

Later

Steve

Oops. I must have been thinking of someone else on the 55 thing. Many of us are in the 50'ish group though.
Yes, I caoght the multi-tracking on the vocals, and that is a good technique.
Reverb is kind of like salt. Just enough is great, but too much can overpower the flavor of the food. Understand that you want to put it in the perspective of the listener, not the performer. In a live venue, your listener will hear far more reverb than you would onstage. Use just enough to create a space. If you have done a lot of live performances, this perspective may seem a bit unnatural. The right blend of a sopping wet reverb on a bus, with a clean track, can give you a really nice three dimensional effect to your sound.
As to the analyzer, I like to run tracks through Vovengo SPAN. This shows graphically where the hot spots are. Some here have better trained ears than mine(GamblersChoice comes to mind) and they can pinpoint the sound issues audibly. I like graphics because I can see where the problem frequencies are.

You might want to consider posting in the Songs forum here, as well. You can get some great feedback on how to improve a song.
Also, with the internet, you have accass to people all over the world. Collab efforts with others thousnds of mile away ca be done.
You don't have to think local.