Tips for Recording the Theme Song

Tony goes over the technical details of how to record yourself singing the Philosophically Sound Theme Song. Instructions written below.

We invite you to record yourself singing the theme song to Philosophically Sound and send it in! This podcast is really fun for Gus and I to make, but it’s only gonna be better with more input from more humans. We appreciate you offering your literal voice to the show.

If you have experience recording and have your own digital audio workstation, mics, and so on, then I don’t need to tell you what to do. If you wanna go for it, just sing and send it (PhilosophicallySoundPodcast@gmail.com)! If you like instructions, here are the technical details:

I want a recording of your voice alone, so I can mix it in with all the other voices. If I can hear my own voice & piano in your recording, it doubles the voice & piano that are already there, and everything gets muddy.

To do this, you need 2 devices.

• One device (probably a laptop or desktop computer) to listen to the practice track through headphones (preferably with a cord, as bluetooth headphones are often slightly out of sync).

• Another device (probably a phone) to record yourself singing.

Follow these steps to record:

1. Arrange your space & equipment.

1. Sing in a room you like the sound of. That could be a room full of blankets and pillows so the sound is really clear and dry, or a big boomy cathedral, or a resonant tile bathroom—wherever you like to sing, I wanna include the sound of that space in our theme song.

2. Set up the computer ready to press play on the practice track & plug in your headphones.

3. Set up the phone ready to press record (Voice Memo or any recording app will work).

2. Press play on the computer, press record on the phone, and sing along. Stop the recording.

3. Listen to the recording you made.

1. Do you like it? Send it to PhilosophicallySoundPodcast@gmail.com

2. If you don’t like it, what don’t you like? See “Tips for Singing the Theme Song” on the podcast feed for help singing your best.

3. Does your voice sound distorted and loud? Back up from the phone, or set it down further away from you. Go back to Step 2.

4. Does your voice sound small and quiet? Get closer to the phone.

Email us for help—seriously, I’m a teacher, helping folks make music is my favorite thing!