Zingerbay News Letter February 1st 2008 (Letter:1)

Zingerbay is proud to start a monthly news letter. This is our first news letter of 2008 and we will be covering the following topics.

If anyone wishes to submit articles for our monthly news letter please write us at support@zingerbay.com

 

Top 10 Songs of the month ( Review by Amit Dhawan)

 

#1. Aankhon Mein Teri by K.K - Om Shanti Om

Drum role please ... this song proves that Indian music is still thriving. The song is a music video in itself - makes you visualize beautiful times with your significant other. K.Ks rendition of the song is as passionate as Sonu Nigam's. This month the song takes first place in my list ...hands down. By the way, this is a great song for Karaoke singers.

 

#2. Kehne Ko Jashn-e-Bahara by Javed Ali - Jodha Akbar

Sir AR Rahman has done it again - it can only be a pure genius like him who can come up with Gems like this one again and again. This one will be #1 next time for sure. Javed Ali has done full justice to this romantic song with his soulful singing. You can use this song as a Valentine Gift if you have nothing else ... (c'mon don't be so cheap !)

 

#3. Missing Sunday by Mahlia Kamath, Suraj and Earl Edgar - Sunday

Guys and Gals stop being lovy-dubby and get on the dance floor ... I don't know how to say this but it's a sexy number and makes you want to get on the floor with your partner...... and DANCE (what were u thinking). It's perfect for a slow dance ...

 

#4 Main Agar kahoon by Sonu Nigam, Shreya Ghoshal - Om Shanti Om
When I first heard the song I couldn't help but think that this song is from a 60's movie but Sonu singing??? Well that's what's great about this beautiful romantic song - great lyrics, great singers and great music. Perfect for karaoke as well.

 

#5 Bhool Bhoolaiyan by Neeraj - Bhool Bhoolayian
A Great Dance number - what else can I say about this number. This will get your foot-tapping for sure - but don't take my word for it - go ahead and play it.

 

#6 Mauja Hi Mauja by Mika Singh - Jab We Met
Another great dance number and ofcourse you can jog to the beats as well !

 

#7 Taare Zameen Par by Shankar Mahadevan - Taare Zameen Par

Great poetic singing by Shankar Mahadevan. Prasoon Joshi's lyrics will touch your heart. What a combination of great voice, composition and lyrics.

 

#8 Ye Ishq Hai by Shreya Goushal - Jab We met
A catchy song with a mischievous touch to it. Shreya is a great singer and she clearly shows her versatility in this song. It's a pure pleasure to listen to her ...

 

#9 Deewangi - Om Shanti Om
Another great foot-tapping music from Om Shanti Om. It's a rocking number and a super hit. Perfect for your dance parties.

 

#10 Hum To Aise Hain - Laaga Chunari Mein Daag
A song full of life and the "folky" music make this song fun to listen to

I'd love to hear from you if you think some of these songs don't deserve to be on the list or just send me your opinion. My next update will be published on Mar/1/2008 and I'd love to hear from you on your choice for the Top 10 list. Until then ...

Signing off ...
Amit Dhawan click here to mail me

How to record Vocals on your Computer (Surendra Mistry)

Introduction

Many people believe that getting a good vocal recording requires a professional studio setup, costing a lot of money. With advances in computer technology and availability of high end sound cards at a reasonable price this is not entirely true. One can get a very good vocal recording on a home computer or a laptop. This article is a brief introduction to how to get started using your personal computer or laptop to record vocals. In future articles we will discuss how to setup a home recording studio using a laptop and some software and audio hardware.

 

Audio Equipment Required:

Now for Hooking it up...

A microphone signal output is too low to plug right into your computer. This is where a microphone pre amp comes in, it boosts the gain of the signal to a high enough level to record with your PC. Microphone pre amps are usually pretty easy to figure out, they have an input, an output and a gain control (volume knob). So the chain of equipment goes mic-preamp-soundcard.
a reasonably priced pre amp can be found at : http://www.zzounds.com/item--ARTTMPPS


Connect the output of the pre amp to the line In of the computer using a cable that typically has 1/4" in Jack on one side(pre amp side) and 1/8" jack on the other (computer side). This type of cable is available at the local Radio Shack store.

The cable from the Mic to the Pre amp is typically XLR microphone cable. Check to see if the input to the Pre amp is a three pin socket or a 1/4" socket.
If it is a 3 pin socket then use XLR to XLR cable. If it is 1 1/4" socket then use XLR to 1/4" cable.

Now lets talk about the sound card, sound cards usually have a mic input, a line input, and a speaker or line output. The mic input is NOT actually meant for audio microphones it is configured to work with your computer mic and its useless for any musical recording (they are simply meant to capture telephone type quality for Internet chat). the line input is where your computer has to record from so attach the output of the mic pre amp into the line input on your sound card.

Setup on your computer required to ensure you are recording from line In input.

 

Recording Software

Now with the aid of some recording software for your PC you can record you own demo. There is a really nice piece of freeware called audiocity that is great for one track or multi-track recording ( http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ ) (sound forge is another software but it is expensive and does a lot more). Play with the level control on the pre amp to ensure that a clean undistorted signal is recorded. If the recorded sound is too low then increase the gain. If it is distorted decrease the gain on the pre amp.

 

Optimizing the Quality of your Vocal Recordings

The most important factor that plays into the result of the quality of your vocal recording is the vocalist. You have probably heard the saying "good mic technique" this refers to the singers ability to adjust the distance from them to the mic to compensate for loud and quite parts of the song. There are also other factors that come into play like the problem of words in a song ending or starting with "s" there is a sharp unwanted hiss on the "s". this can be fixed in a number of different ways. One way is to get the singer to tilt there head slightly off axis from the microphone for a split second during the pronunciation of these sounds. You may run into this problem with the letter "t" as well.

Another method is to buy a click eliminator this is a round screen that goes between the singer and the microphone to filter these unwanted elements, none the less they cost money so if your on a budget I've heard stretching pantyhose over a coat hanger will help filter to a similar effect.

Have Fun Recording on your computer.! Next article we will talk about a small recording studio setup using your laptop

Vocal Techniques (Shekhar Phatak)

Improving Voice Quality for Better Singing

 

You are an artist or a member of Zingerbay for only one reason. You all love music. Some of us are trained singers and have worked very hard to develop the techniques and skills of performing music. Some of us have a desire to learn those techniques. We all have one common goal. "To sound better" .There are many factors to consider like

 

Breathing technique

 

proper posture, physical and mental condition, warm up, warm down and practice. We will go into detail of each of these factors in a series of articles. Breathing Techniques In order to have a strong voice you must know how to control your breath. Breathing exercises are important for several reasons. They help singers to:

1. Develop flexibility and agility in the breathing muscles so that he/she could do things like taking quick snatches of air.

2. Develop sustained singing - sing without running out of breath.

3. Control and support the escape of air from the lungs

4. Improve vocal tone and eliminate unpleasant vocal problems such as nasal tones, harsh sounds etc

5. Develop natural and beautiful singing.

Here are some breathing exercises that I would recommend.

 

BREATHING EXERCISE1:Time required: 5 minutes - 2 times per day.

 

1. Begin by lying flat on your back or standing up straight. You may also sit up straight in a chair, if that is more comfortable.

2. Place your hands on your stomach area with your palms facing your stomach

3. Begin by slowly breathing in through your nose on the count of 5 while gently pushing your hand up with your stomach.

4. Hold the breath for a count of 5.

5. Slowly exhale through your mouth for a count of five while gently pushing down on your stomach.

6. Repeat this process for 5 minutes.

7. Increase the length of time each day until you can do the exercise for at least 5 minutes twice per day or until you can hold your breath for at least 10 counts.

8. If you continue to practice breathing this way, you soon will be doing it naturally throughout the day.

9. An additional benefit will be that once you are familiar with the exercise, you may do it while experiencing anxiety or at the beginning of a panic attack, and you will feel relief.

 

BREATHING EXERCISE 2: Time required: 5 minutes - 2 times per day.

 

1. Inhale deeply and exhale completely. Again inhale and exhale.

2 .Now try it again, only this time inhale for four counts, hold your breath for four counts, exhale over four counts and then wait four counts before inhaling again. Let's do five complete sets of this counting exercise. Remember to inhale deeply and properly for singing.

Inhale 2 3 4, Hold 2 3 4 Exhale 2 3 4 and Wait 2 3 Again.

Inhale 2 3 4, Hold 2 3 4 Exhale 2 3 4 and Wait 2 3 Again.

Inhale 2 3 4, Hold 2 3 4 Exhale 2 3 4 and Wait 2 3 Again

Inhale 2 3 4, Hold 2 3 4 Exhale 2 3 4 and Wait 2 3 Last one.

Inhale 2 3 4, Hold 2 3 4 Exhale 2 3 4 and Wait 2 3 4.

 

You should do these basic exercises at least once every day. The more you exercise your breathing, the more control you will have over your voice. With a little time and practice you will be a master of breath control. As you make progress, challenge yourself to increase the breathing count to 8, 12, 16 and more. For best results mix and match the numbers. The length of singing phrase is never the same, so practicing the above exercises for varying lengths of time is ideal.

 

In the next article we will talk about the proper posture for singing For comments email shekhar@zingerbay.com

Top 4 Zingers of the month

This months top four zingers are the winners of our competition that ended in January

Akshay

First Prize $400

Judges Choice score =7.8

Akshay Anaokar
Hope

First Prize $400

Judges choice score = 7.8

Hope
Haider

Second Prize

highest hits

$500.00

Manik Joshi
Gunjan Kathale

Third Prize

2nd highest hits $200.00

Gunjan Kathale

 

Each month we will be selecting different zingers in our news letter. Selection of top zingers for next month will be based on the number of hits on the artist profile. Each month we will have a different criteria for selection.

Top 4 Songs of the month by Zinger artists

 

Number of plays Song Artist
2321 Bahon Ke Darmiayan Tejaswini Hardas
2038 Kal Ho Na Ho Haider
1925 Janeman Janeman Tejaswini Hardas
1804 Apni Aankho main basakar Haider

 

 

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