When to use duet editing?
Only use duet/multi-track editing when a song has more than one singer or artist and the song is meant to be sung by multiple people in karaoke. Do not add multiple tracks if there is only one singer and do not write down backing vocals.
When a song has two or more lead singers or rappers, choose the tracks based on what would work best for someone singing it at karaoke.
Use separate tracks when:
Two or more distinct lead parts need to be sung at the same time.
The song is clearly a duet, even if the singers never sing at the same time. “Summer Wine” is an example.
A featured artist sings or raps their own verse or another substantial lead section, even if it doesn’t overlap with the main artist’s part.
Use one track when the performers mostly take turns and one person could reasonably sing the whole song. A few brief overlaps, where one phrase ends as another begins, do not require separate tracks.
You can leave out hype man vocals underneath a solo rapper.
Two lead tracks, plus a unison track if needed, should be enough in most cases. Four tracks is the absolute maximum.
Start
We can add multiple singers / tracks to the waveform view and edit multiple lyrics at the same time.
Start by writing out as much of the lyrics as possible to the transcription even if there is some overlap. You can then proceed normally to the lyric editor and add more singers for your edit there.
The active track
Click a track header to make that track active. View automatically zooms a bit closer to the active track than the rest.
The active track is the singer / track you're currently then editing.
You can also click a region in another lane to activate and switch to that lane.
The track menu (⋮)
Click the ⋮ button on a track header for:
Add empty track below — inserts a new blank track.
Duplicate this track — copies the track with all its words and timing.
Delete this track — removes the track.
Set a track's role (singer role)
A track's name is its singer role in the Singa format, so instead of typing a free-text name you pick a role from a dropdown.
Pay attention and select the correct role for the singer!
The track-header name is a dropdown offering four roles:
SOLO — a single singer.
MALE / FEMALE — the male / female part of a duet.
TOGETHER — both singers at once.
To change it, click the role dropdown on the track header and choose a role — the change applies immediately.
NOTE that the role TOGETHER should only be used when there are multiple singers singing the same thing.
Track colours
Each track has a colour swatch, assigned automatically by its position in the stack which is also the text colour of that singer in Singa player.
The top track is red, the next is blue, the next yellow, then the pattern repeats.
Please use the third aka yellow track for together
Move a word to another lane / singer
You can drag a region up or down into a different lane.
Drop it to move it. If the timing would clash with a word already in the target lane, the drop is rejected and the word stays put.
Dropping outside any lane cancels the move.