Also, the nigglet pic, stolen for Second round OP. I'm not even gonna ask for permission mat, sorry :/
Not a prob. Its just an edit of a google pic anyway.
I don't want to seem as if I'm belittling any of the entries so far, everyone who has posted has written and delivered some very clever rhymes, but for those of you who are rapping to background tracks its definitely easier than you guys might think to put a very clear background track behind your vocals.
I use a
very old recording software called Magix Music Studio. But hardly anyone uses that, so I thought I'd download Audacity so anyone who wanted to follow these steps could follow along. I've never used Audacity, but within less than a minute I had it figured out. Its that easy. Oh, and its free.
First thing you need to do is download Audacity. You can do that
HERE.
Secondly, jump onto youtube and search for "Rap Karaoke Track" or something like that. If you have a specific song in mind, just search for that on youtube, or any music site where you can listen to song on your computer.
Next, if you're using a PC doubleclick your speaker icon in the bottom righthand corner of your desktop to open your sound settings. Options>>Properties>>Recording (make sure Microphone, Line In, and "What You Hear" are all slected)>>OK. Check the "What You Hear" box. This will make it so that whatever sounds your'e hearing on your computer are what Audacity will record. If you don't have a PC, or you have Windows 7 or something try the steps on
THIS page to do the same thing.
Finally, open Audacity and click Record. Then click play on the karaoke track that you want to rap to. Audacity will record that karaoke track in crystal clear audio.
When you want to put your vocals to it, just go back to your sound settings, uncheck "What You Hear" and check "Microphone" or "Line In" instead so it records from your microphone again. When you press record this time, it'll record your mic, but play back that karaoke track that you recorded first. I don't know about all other recording software, but Audacity seems to automatically record to another track. Some other software will overwrite that track you just recorded if you don't check the next track.
Again, I don't mean to criticize any of the entries so far, but in my case it only took 5 minutes to find a rap track and maybe a half hour to chop up/cut/paste the original song to fit my lyrical needs. From a finalized music production standpoint it just sounds so much better than recording while singing to a stereo or something, and its surprisingly easy to do.
Just thought I'd throw that out there in case anyone else wanted to record to a clear track, but just didn't know how.