I'd really like to have a video..

the cam or the mic?

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do you options on cam/mic????? there maybe a audio option on it.

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cam mics are not really very good for singing. they are not built to be good music microphones.

i think ur best bet, would be to buy a microphone, u don't need a super expensive one, and turn off the cam mic.

that would likely make a BIG improvement for the money invested.

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Well what exactly have you tried? Did ya lower the mic volume? Guess that would be the obviouse one hehe

ok, do you have a mic that is seperate from the webcam mic? I don't use my cam mic cuz, well the sound on those mics are not the best quality. So, I wouldn't know what to do.

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well, the fact that u have adjusted it way down, but it still distorts, sounds to me like the cam mic isn't a very good mic

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Well it's not a matter of wether the cam mic picks up, a hand held mic is much better than the ones on the webcams. If you already have a hand held mic, then mute your webcam mic and use your hand held mic instead. You'd have less headaches using the other mic than your webcam cuz then ya don't have to worry about hitting high notes and getting distorted. JMO :)

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Sum_Southern_Sugar wrote:well, the fact that u have adjusted it way down, but it still distorts, sounds to me like the cam mic isn't a very good mic

Edited on May 15, 2008 at 4:18 PM Quote

or,just get a 30 dollar cam without a mic,and use the mic/cam for other uses besides singing,handheld mic are pretty cheap like sum said^.

good luck

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Ok. trying to understand here before I ask anything or say anything else. Are you telling me that your webcam also picks up your background music?

Give me a second and I will show you how to mute the cam mic..

Edited on May 15, 2008 at 4:21 PM Quote

id try a cheap thing like taping over the mic on camera,use thick tape like duct or black electrical tape. the mic,in case ya dont know,would be a slotted area).

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you have a hand held mic, just mute the cam mic and use the hand held one. you can still use your camera with the mute on it i would think. :) should be something in your settings about it. maybe one of these folks would know exactly where.

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lol cheeky, thats one cute little purple monkey..lol love it.

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i dunno if 40-50 US dollars is in ur budget or not, but if so, u can get a mic that sounds GOOD (in my opinion at least)

oops

u'll also need a soundcard that can sound good also, but maybe u already have that

i paid like 300 for my card, but there is one that is about 40 bucks that sounds real good too! doh for me

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i think cheeky checking sumfin out for ya so dont go away destiny?

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it's kinda complicated Ms, but if ya dig into it, u'll start learning lil by lil.

my sound does not come out of my speakers when I am recording. It is in my sound card, and i hear it thru headphones.

oops - there's sumpin else ya may need - headphones - lol

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1st, click on your start and find where it says "my computer" right click and find properties. When your properties box comes up click on the tab that says "Hardware". Then click on the button that says "Device Manager". When this Device manager box opens up, find where it says "Sound, video game controllers" and open that. Find where it says ( web cam name)mic and right click on it and click on properties. When that box opens up, find where it says "Device Usage" under that there is a drop down file. Click on that and find the one that says "Do not use this device(Disable). Then click ok till all the boxes dissapear. Restart your computer and that should mute your mic.

I'll have pictures in a moment LOL.Pictures may be a little big but this way you can see better where I am coming from. The circled stuff is to show you where to click on. This goes step by step. I just hope you have windows XP cuz I have no clue what Vista looks like but I am sure that it is pretty similar.

Edited on May 15, 2008 at 4:51 PM Quote

cheeky,check pm

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Nice Cheeky

that was a lot of work :-)

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What type of sound card do you have? and what windows version? Perhaps I should have asked that from the beginning LOL

Nah, it wasn't too much work. I've got used to taking pics on my computer rather quickly. I figure it is alot easier with visuals. :)

Edited on May 15, 2008 at 4:58 PM Quote

Well, I have one of the cheaper Sound Blaster Live! 24bit card. I paid $40 2yrs ago, I think it is like $30 or so now. Bought it at wal-mart. I'm sure you can find one online for about that price or on Ebay. It comes with reverb and it is a good card for the price.
I've seen lots of people have problems wth the realtek. I used to have it but that was before singsnap came around. I would have probably had the same problem as well. Good luck!.
Oh to enable it back. Just go back to the same place and click the one that says"use this device(enable". :)

Edited on May 15, 2008 at 5:17 PM Quote

Realtek is okay for just a general purpose pc sound.

It isn't for good music though.

1. soundcard
2. mic
3. headphones

it's quite a lil bit of investment, but it will make a HUGE dirrerence.

oh

4. mic stand - not required, but a fine addition! :-)

Edited on May 15, 2008 at 5:24 PM Quote

Depending on what kind of cam you are using...there should be an "options" or "preferences" somewhere in your cam setup.
You can disable the mic there.
Good luck...Hemi

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Has anyone suggested the idea of simply unplugging what I assume to be the USB webcam? They are designed to do that. If you're not actually recording visuals, that's about as easy a solution as you can get. When you want to use it again, you should be able to just plug it back in and the Windows plug n' pray system should reinitialize the device.

Unless of course your USB ports are inconveniently located at the back of your PC.

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She wants to use the cam to make a video while singing, Trent but her cam mic is distorting etc ..She wanted to know how to get a good sound from her cam mic while recording herself on video. So unplugging it would defeat the purpose. :)

Edited on May 16, 2008 at 10:27 AM Quote

Ahhh, ok. I misunderstood.

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I have a "lovely" combo of a realtek card and vista!
Don't think it sounds too shabby though?

Mind you, I do have my digital mixer plugged into it..:P

I know you can pick up some really cheap non audio webcams, maybe that plus little digi mixer(ebay is a great resource!) plugged into your sound card?

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Ms-Destiny wrote:instead of the black screen I have on every single one of my recordings. The reason for the black is simply this: I have to keep my cam behind me, behind the tower and wrapped in a towel so the cam mic doesn't distort during my high loud notes. I was reallly wanting to share a video of myself instead of just sharing my voice but nothing I try is fixing that distortion. Now, maybe my voice is just simply too loud (very possible), or maybe my cam just sucks. (Unlikely, but possible.. it's good quality and not very old.) But I've seen quite a few videos of ladies, mostly, hitting the same high loud notes as me with no distortion, even with the cam 6 inches from their face. Anyone else have a similar problem and/or solution?

Cam mics,as a general rule,suck. They never work right. That is why this site and others tell you not to use them. Buy even a cheap separate microphone and sound quality will no longer be a problem. Check out the sound and video quality of my videos and you will see what even a cheap mike and web cam can do when they are separate units. So,disconnect your cam mic and buy a separate microphone. Okay? I would suggest getting one off of E-bay if you want to get the best value for your dollar. The web cam I am using is a G.E. Easy Cam that I bought from E-bay for a total of 10 bucks. I am sure they have decent mics at low prices as well. Take care.

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Ms Destiny,

You may want to also run the set up wizard again for singsnap and make sure your hand held mic is selected and NOT your webcam mic...also...instead of investing in new speakers, use a headphone while recording...it improves the overall quality of the vocal/music recording...good luck!

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Recording voice and music into the mic, is never a good plan. The sound created is muddy. However I've been doing that lately with my Dell XPS 1530 laptop (built-in sigmatel sound card and web cam), with minimal distortion. I can assure you the Sigmatel isn't a great sound card either. Anyway, anytime a singer sings loudly, they run the risk of distortion, even with good mics. The solution is either not singing so loud, or back way off on the mic, or buy a mixer. Anyway, most mics can't handle high volume sounds, and will distort regardless of ones audio adjustments, especially web cam mics. They are super sensitive, and therefore highly prone to distortion. Same occurs with cheap headset mics. You want quality vocal sound, you can get decent studio mics fairly cheap these days ;-).

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Btw I used to record with a decent studio mic (MXL 770 condenser), and had distortion problem when singing at operatic volume, even though my audio levels were proper, plus I was singing several feet from the mic. So I'm guessing the extreme volume was more than the mic filament could handle. In fact the distortion was so bad, that I was unable to correct it in my studio program.

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I also had to turn of the microphone boost in advance audio recording settings...I don't fizz out the mic nearly as much as before....and trust me...I have a LOUD mouth!!

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we had to upgrade our singing equipment too...the sound just wasnt cutting it even though we were using a morp1 which is a nice little echo sound...

now we upgraded to a mixer which is fairly reasonable..

this cost about 100 dollars which is on the low end of the scale...this mixer came with two mics...
then we bought a mic stand...and mic wind-socks...

we then bought two headphones...they give surround sound with the head rest at the top...

I am saying this because yes, if you put a 'little' budget..hubby and I put 217.00 for all this..but for one person you would spend minus 40 here...and the sound is great...we recorded a few since and we find that we are totally satisfied..but...you do have to regulate your sounds and that can take awhile...no matter what system you have...it really is all about working the sounds to balance what sound you need.....
PS...you might want to always get headphones with adjustable volume control which helps the most for us....

Edited on May 18, 2008 at 12:57 PM Quote

if anyone wants to know where we bought this online......pm us....

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I will stick with my 10 yr old duct taped mic, Realtek MB sound, 14 yr old Sony headphones, 4 speakers, 2 huge bass thumping Sony's I took off another system and spliced them, lol.

Yeah I know this setup is mediocre and needs upgrading, and soon I'm going to get a new MB, get a soundcard, most likely a SoundBlaster, newer mic and headphones. However, no way I'm spending 100.00 for a stand alone mixer when my pc has one already, OR I can d/l one for free. I have a great mixer with all kinds of echo effects, etc., BUT I don't use it. I find that echo and many of the other options don't sound great. I think some voices I've heard on SS would sound way better if they'd cut the echo off. I agree whats been said that you can get fairly decent sound from a cheap setup now a days.

By the way, definitely dump that cam mic, lol. I tried that when I first came and they are crap for singing.
Ronnie

Edited on May 18, 2008 at 2:01 PM Quote

ronnie67 wrote:I will stick with my 10 yr old duct taped mic, Realtek MB sound, 14 yr old Sony headphones, 4 speakers, 2 huge bass thumping Sony's I took off another system and spliced them, lol.

Yeah I know this setup is mediocre and needs upgrading, and soon I'm going to get a new MB, get a soundcard, most likely a SoundBlaster, newer mic and headphones. However, no way I'm spending 100.00 for a stand alone mixer when my pc has one already, OR I can d/l one for free. I have a great mixer with all kinds of echo effects, etc., BUT I don't use it. I find that echo and many of the other options don't sound great. I think some voices I've heard on SS would sound way better if they'd cut the echo off. I agree whats been said that you can get fairly decent sound from a cheap setup now a days.

By the way, definitely dump that cam mic, lol. I tried that when I first came and they are crap for singing.
Ronnie

On the contrary, dry voice is not good. Although subtle, vocals need a touch of echo/reverb, in order to blend well with the music. That's standard in the recording industry, whether by natural (echo rooms, reverb plates), or through software. No pro studio records dry vocals, even lower budget studios. As for SS, many abuse echo, which is not good either. But then realistically how many on here have high quality recordings? Truthfully none, as SS is not geared for studio quality to begin with. Anyway, this is only karaoke, and so we do the best we can with what we have, or we get better soundware, depending on our budget.

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Well even tho Ss is in mono sound, I hear all my recordings in stereo. I tested it once to see if it was me. I recorded a song with my own cdg and recorded the same song on SS and I heard no difference. Is it cuz of the sound card that I have? It sounds in stereo to me...

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Farinelli wrote:

ronnie67 wrote:I will stick with my 10 yr old duct taped mic, Realtek MB sound, 14 yr old Sony headphones, 4 speakers, 2 huge bass thumping Sony's I took off another system and spliced them, lol.

Yeah I know this setup is mediocre and needs upgrading, and soon I'm going to get a new MB, get a soundcard, most likely a SoundBlaster, newer mic and headphones. However, no way I'm spending 100.00 for a stand alone mixer when my pc has one already, OR I can d/l one for free. I have a great mixer with all kinds of echo effects, etc., BUT I don't use it. I find that echo and many of the other options don't sound great. I think some voices I've heard on SS would sound way better if they'd cut the echo off. I agree whats been said that you can get fairly decent sound from a cheap setup now a days.

By the way, definitely dump that cam mic, lol. I tried that when I first came and they are crap for singing.
Ronnie

On the contrary, dry voice is not good. Although subtle, vocals need a touch of echo/reverb, in order to blend well with the music. That's standard in the recording industry, whether by natural (echo rooms, reverb plates), or through software. No pro studio records dry vocals, even lower budget studios. As for SS, many abuse echo, which is not good either. But then realistically how many on here have high quality recordings? Truthfully none, as SS is not geared for studio quality to begin with. Anyway, this is only karaoke, and so we do the best we can with what we have, or we get better soundware, depending on our budget.

I agree with the need for the echo/reverb etc to make quality recordings but meant it was overdone on SS as you stated, and when I said I didn't use my mixer, I meant just the mic effects. I'm using the mixer, the equalizer and I THINK it does provide some reverb/echo, ever so slightly. I just couldn't see paying 100.00 for a stand alone mixer, when pc software has this. It's not that I can't buy it, I just don't see the point. Maybe I'm missing something here, but my thinking is that I can still have a quality sounding setup without a stand alone mixer. NOT that I currently have a great setup, but soon will.

Edited on May 19, 2008 at 4:33 PM Quote