I can't sing

English Soapbox
#1

I was in our library the other day during a lunch break, and was “paper” browsing some of the Linux Journal magazines … and saw a neat article in the Oct2007 issue of Linux Journal magazine on recording audio under linux.

So tonight I started playing around with some of the simple recording commands and applications. I first had to setup my mixer to record sound, … and for a good 10 minute I was stumped because my kmix was mis-configured, specifically under the “switches tab” which had “surround jack mode” set to “shared” instead of “independent”. I don’t even know what that means, but it was enough to stop my capability to record audio, until I changed to “independent”.

I then played around with command lines like:
arecord -d 10 myrecording.wav
and
arecord -d 15 -f cd secondrecording.wav
and
also played with krec and krecord

I pulled out some old song sheets, and played with the various applications for a while, singing as a test input to my microphone and the applications I was playing with. …

But by far the BIGGEST disappointment was, I CAN’T SING. :frowning:

As some of my good friends used to tell me: … Don’t give up my day job. :eek::rolleyes:

#2

My mother was an opera singer. I can only keep a tune in my head.

I feel your pain.

g

#3

Same here, the only difference being I didn’t need to go to the trouble of recording my singing (perhaps singing is the wrong word here!) to find out. :smiley:

#4

Don’t feel so bad, I’ve been told my singing resembles shaking gravel in a tin bucket! :eek:

#5

I was once threatened with an umbrella because of my singing. It only encouraged me though :slight_smile:

#6

Start with “karaoke” at home. :cool:

#7

I took one voice lesson and got my money back. I did a bunch of stage theater and figured I needed to learn how to sing so I could audition for musicals. I was told I was utterly hopeless. Most people who have heard me have said I’m singularly the worst singer they’ve ever heard.

When American Idol was in town last year for auditions, I was encouraged to try out to see if I could be worse than William Hung.

The only person who enjoys hearing me sing is my two-year old daughter.

#8

On Tue, 08 Jul 2008 14:36:03 +0000, enderandrew wrote:

> Most people who have heard
> me have said I’m singularly the worst singer they’ve ever heard.

Have they heard Jeremy Hardy?

Jim

#9

Thanks for the all the comments.

Of course singing opera was never a consideration of mine, but even a mildly pleasant on tune voice would have been nice. :rolleyes:

The comment alluding to not needing to go through the trouble to do the recording was “right on the money”. I should have heeded before hand. I absolutely also had to do a rm *.wav afterward, and remove the evidence before the neighbours called the local constabulary and had me arrested for noise pollution hazardous to the community health!

Now I pondered practicing with karaoke, but the impact of my wife’s laughter is both devastating and infectious, as I start laughing too.

We have no children, but one can only wonder at the love filter that children have in place when looking at a loved parent. Kudos to you! :slight_smile:

I think I’ll research and watch some of the early Idol seasonal episodes, to soothe my injured self esteem. :smiley:

#10

I was actually stopped halfway though my rendition of “New York, New York” on a karaoke night at a favorite bar I used to go to, many, many years ago.

The manager asked me never to perform again. Ever. He even requested a court injunction blocking me from performing Karaoke within 300M of his establishment, and the judge granted it after reviewing the video.

It scarred me grievously, and I have never sang in public since.

There’s no accounting for taste…

:wink:

Cheers,
KV