Unnecessary Blogage

It's been a while since I have posted an Amberian Dawn video. As you may recall, I have complained a lot about having issues with recording videos in Rock Band from this artist. Any time I try to sing lyrically my notes are so high and loud that there is a horrible crackle and popping sound on the notes. So I started singing soft, flat and without much effort which resulted in videos I was unhappy with.

Recently I had to purchase a new microphone for use in my band (I bought a Shure SM58 A Beta). It seemed to work wonders in practice (the mic we had wasn't working very well for me), and I started to wonder if it might be useable in Rock Band.

As it is an XLR microphone you need a special cable to be able to use it with your xbox, so I used the RBP Professional Cable provided to me in the past via sponsorship of Team Cena by Rock Band Parts. I previously abandoned this cable and the microphone I was provided because of weird and random static issues that would break a full combo and because I was inaudible on recordings.

I decided it was worth a shot again, grabbed my cable and microphone and was presented with a pleasant surprise: The cable worked perfect and I was HEARD on recordings AND there was little to NO crackle/pop on high notes while singing lyrically!
(There is still some, if you pay attention closely you can still hear it, but it is MUCH less bad than what it was to where I wouldn't even upload a youtube video)

My guess is in the past the issue must have actually been the microphone and NOT the cable, so I do really recommend the cable if you already have a professional microphone. I don't really recommend rushing out to buy the mic I purchased to use it just for Rock Band as it is expensive (in my case it has a different primary purpose for which it was purchased).

Now I feel like I can decently record videos again from one of my favorite bands (Amberian Dawn).  So expect to see some of those in the future (and I am including one now).

I am also considering the idea of also re-recording every (Amberian Dawn) video I have done so far, so that they all have better quality. I've also considered it previous to the microphone change because in the past I was singing incorrectly (previous to starting lessons) and using an artificial lower voice that was forcing me to strain to reach high notes (trying to sing high notes while simultaneously faking a lower voice is counter productive). I'm very likely to re-record in order to have videos that are a bit more reflective of my true singing.

Without further ado, Field of Serpents:

Amberian Dawn- Field of Serpents Expert Vocals 100%

Here is one of the 4 videos I recorded of the Red Hot Chili Peppers DLC that was released a few weeks ago. I haven't had much time lately, and I'm quite busy with other things, but thought I would release one from my stock.

I think this is one of the few songs in Rock Band where you get to sing the word "porn". xD

Red Hot Chili Peppers- Californication Expert Vocals 100%



Slightly off-topic:

A while back I was contacted by a last.fm user regarding possibly contributing some vocals to one of his tracks. I posted the resulting song on youtube, but it was semi-buried. Anyway this track has made it onto his EP called Lux In Tenebris by DJ Adam. Don't let "DJ" fool you. This is a symphonic gothic metal EP.

You can download the EP for free here: http://www.mediafire.com/?zhygq5jog82c3g6. There are 6 songs including a digital copy of the booklet. There's some pretty decent tracks on there (I'm not counting my own), Veil of Misery being one of my personal favorites. Check it out! (It's free, so why not?)

The second of 4 Red Hot Chili Pepper's DLC videos I recorded. Honestly this one has a chorus that is fun to sing but the verses are "WTF? XD"

It was hard to try to sing it "seriously" too. Anyway this one should be worth some LOLs. You get to hear me semi-rapping and singing nonsense.

Red Hot Chili Peppers- By The Way Expert Vocals 100%

Here's the first of 4 upcoming Red Hot Chili Pepper's DLC videos I recorded and my favorite from the pack.

This song is also the first and only song I've ever sang in a Karaoke bar O_o so it brings back interesting memories.

Also, I've received a lot (well for me) of nice feedback about this video. The like/view ratio is much higher than usually and the comments are nice. Also had a couple of people tweet the link. I had no idea people missed my videos or even cared about them.

Thanks! ♥

Red Hot Chili Peppers- Otherside Expert Vocals 100%

Another long absence from my blog, yes I'm guilty!

In all honesty, I actually was out of the country for a while. The main reason however for the lack of Rock Band videos is that I'm having issues recording. There's been SO MANY Amberian Dawn releases on the Rock Band Network and I've purchased all of them. I've worked trying to record videos but I'm hindered.

To put it quite simply when I sing high and with projection, the game and microphone can't handle it. I end up with crackling sounds everywhere. So everything I tried to record ended up getting trashed and I became frustrated and ended up uploading nothing (this is also why I failed then subsequently dropped art in high school, I was too picky and kept starting over.. my teacher told me I was "dead" to him, but I digress).

This week's DLC was actually semi-decent. It had almost all of the Red Hot Chili Peppers' songs I actually liked and had hoped they'd release as DLC. I wasn't a fan of ALL the songs mind you, but I did pick up 4 of them: Otherside (my favorite from the pack), Scar Tissue, Californication, and By The Way.

As they are songs that aren't high or anything (almost the opposite, I hard a tough time with lower parts) singing these didn't make crackly noise! So I recorded all these songs and I will be uploading them over the next week.