Where to find musical tracks to record

[Charles Snyder]

I have seen references to buying musical tracks but have no idea where to look. I sing primarily big band and Sinatra music and would like to get some soundtracks to make clean karaoke discs. The devocalizer programs work okay for some songs but there always seems to be that ghost voice in the background which is annoying. I would like to have some pure soundtracks without vocals if they can be had.

[danny_g]

MMO or Music minus one which also puts out Pocket Songs may be up your alley. I'll post the link to their site when I get a chance to check it out so I can give it correctly.

[Ed Cabrera]

I use www.musicrobot.com to get MIDI. The're literally millions of MIDI files on the net so one needs to be picky about which ones to use. With the right software you can actually improve the sound of some of the files. After I have the MIDI file picked I make a .wav file and use it in the KHP program.

It works

BANDL

Admin note: It requires a "Synthesizer" to take the MIDI file and turn it into a .wav audio file. There are programs to do this, and hardware synths also. The CRITICAL thing is the quality of the instrument wave tables used in the synthesis process. A MIDI file instructs what instruments to play... what notes they are to play... and when and how long to play them (there are other controls like volume). The instrument tables CONTROL the quality of the synthesized sounds.

[Charles Snyder]

I have many of the Pocket Songs discs including all the Sinatra and several others of that genre. It seems Pocket Songs have moved into the synthesized music area and their discs no longer have the quality of the older ones they sold. I am just not a fan of MIDI or synthesized music as it doesn't have the quality sound of a band. I know it's cheaper to produce and sell-I just don't like it. I am looking for soundtracks possibly from a recording studio somewhere that sells these types of arrangements.

[Lauraine Graham- with the Lord]

Dear Charles

I first found backing tracks by using Internet Explorer. I keyed in a search string for "backing+tracks+for+singers". It was then just a case of searching the results for the titles which interested me. Here in the UK there are quite a few excellent companies from whom I order. I am sure that over there in the good old US you will be spoilt for choice. In the extremely unlikely event that you are unable to find anything suitable e-mail me and I'll see if I can help you.

Once I get the tracks I have ordered I can then decide whether to shorten, lengthen or otherwise adapt the track, before I CDG it. With a decent music file editting program (I recommend Soundprobe2) there is nothing to stop you having the exact arrangement you want.

Let me know if I can help.
Good luck

[George]

For what it's worth, I received an EDIROL USB Audio Interface yesterday that I paid $79.00 for.It is USB hook up and has Stereo RCA phono inputs and outputs. Got curious last night and hooked a cassette tape deck to the outputs and recorded a midi song directly off the internet wthout having to download.Not having a pre-amp necessary for the input side(on order), I then hooked the cassette deck up to my stand alone Phillips CD Recorder and transferred it to a CDRW, and then went back to the computer and saved into songlist. Played fine, so this morning I ran it through KHP and have it in CDG format.. As soon as the pre-amp comes in I'll be able to do it all at the computer, processing everything through the Roxio upgrade. Incidentally, Radio Shack has a phono pre-amp for $24.99 plus shipping(if it's not in stock).

Thought I'd pass this MIDI tidbit along.

Take Care,

George

[Charles Snyder]

Thanks to all who offered solutions. I'll check them out.

[George]

Charles, please don't take this wrong, but something's been nipping at me. You indicated in your first post you were looking for song tracks to make clean Karaoke CD's with, and were willing to pay for them. Now comes the part where I feel stupid for even asking. Are you familiar with Karaoke cdg's, because that's exactly what you describe, and there's jillions of them for sale.

It was probably a dumb thing to ask, but it's been bothering me since this thread started because cdg's are exactly what you describe, and at a price.

Hope I didn't offend, as none was intended.

Take care,

George

[Charles Snyder]

No offense taken. I am simply trying to find tracks that are not available on karaoke discs. I sing primarily Sinatra and I already have many discs however there are many many more of his songs that I want to sing which simply are not available on Karaoke discs. The Sinatra clan is very protective of his music and really don't want anyone to sing it without paying them.

I do sing other types of music but I sound a little like Sinatra so people are always requesting his songs.

I did take the advice of the lady from the UK and found some sites with a lot of what I am looking for. Now all I have to do is figure out the conversion rates because most of them are in the UK or Australia.

Charles

[George]

Glad you took it as it was meant. We all have had our first encounter with CDG and I wasn't certain whether you were experienced or just jumping in the water, and I learned years ago not to make any assumptions.

I've been hunting for tracks for some time now and haven't really found too much. Wouldn't mind looking at some of the U.K. sites, but when I typed in her search pattern all I got was one site that didn't really have much to offer. Intend to broaden my search to other engines.

Take care,

George

[Charles Snyder]

I used google and it gave me several sites although most were overseas.

[Ed Cabrera]

Charles
I certainly agree with you that a lot of the MIDI music is...well to put it mildly, crap! However, I must tell you that I have found some outstanding pieces.

Good luck in your quest!

Ed

[admin]

Charles, I'm shocked!

I thought everyone had memorized the MTU.com site. Guess not!

We have a Currency Converter whose rates are updated every 2 minutes based on international experience.

Your bank will not have the "exact" change for you as they take their cut in the transaction. Usually its pocket change, so not to worry.

[Charles Snyder]

Now I'm shocked. I had no idea you provided this service also. A nice surprise and very helpful.

Now if I can just get this microstudio to work with my XP system I'll be cruising.

Support has given me all the instructions. Now I just have to make it work.

[Lauraine Graham- with the Lord]

Dear George

I should have come back sooner, but what with being so involved in the other project and stuff at home I am sorry to say I missed the opportunity to help you sooner.

You were talking to Charles about using my search string to find backing tracks, but without much success. I list below some suggested places to try. How many will be useful I do not know, as I don't know what type of music you are looking for. here goes-:

backing-track.co.uk
backing tracks UK
country music midi files and backing tracks
gigalot
mp3backingtrax.com
miditracks
musical midi
shellshock backing tracks
song galaxy backing tracks
backing trax online
clickmusic
backingtrackmusic.co.uk
qualitybackingtracks
musicbackingtracks

Enboldened listings are companies which I have used and will use again.

I hope these are useful. I would dearly love to be able to repay all your kindnesses.

Best wishes

[George]

Thanks Lauraine, I'll check them out. Don't have any particular type of music in mind, love it all.

Thanks again.

George

[danny_g]

Someone on another forum suggested using instrumentals. I know it wont sound exactly like the original artist but it beats putting out extra money for equipment to make midi tracks sound better.

[swaseysd]

George, Charles, Lauraine or anyone else out there:

From the first time I heard "When A Man Loves A Woman" in February 1966, I became an instant Percy Sledge fan. I absolutely love the soulful ballads that Percy Sledge sang between 1966 and 1969 and without a doubt, he's the one artist I wish they'd make more karaoke songs of. Unfortunately, there's only about four or so songs by Percy Sledge on karaoke CDG, i.e. When A Man Loves A Woman, Take Time To Know Her, Warm And Tender Love and It Tears Me Up. Does anyone know where I can obtain other tracks by Percy Sledge? I just got to know about MTU during a Google search a couple of days ago. Do you think any of this MTU software would satisfactorily take my original Percy Sledge CDs and allow me to make a karaoke CD from it?

Thanks,

Steve

[danny_g]

Just make sure your computer has the requirements for Vogone.
You should be ok. Unless they really made it hard to remove the vocals on Percy Sledge's stuff.

[Lauraine Graham- with the Lord]

Dear Swaseysd

I tried to find some Percy Sledge tracks for you, but I was unsuccessful this time. When I have more time I will search again.

You were wondering whether it would be a viable prospect to purchase KHP3, and perhaps Vogone2, so that you could suppress the vocals on the Sledge songs you have and turn them into CDG songs. I was going to try this out for you, but to my amazement I do not have a single song of his to try the process. All I can say is that the purchase of KHP3 is well worth the money. I have this marvellous program and it has enabled me, with the use of backing tracks, to create CDG songs which I have been unable to find.

Also, with a sound editing program and after a little practice, you can change the arrangement of songs, eg. make them longer, put proper endings on songs which fade out whilst you are singing, stuff like that, THEN when you are happy with the sound track you can CDG it. I wouldn’t be without mine, I can tell you.

If you do decide to go for it all the staff at MTU and all the users of KHP are there to support you should you need help and advice (via the Forum dedicated to KHP).

Best wishes