The Sims On Stage (formally Sing Shot) is Closing

[Sean]

Quoted directly from their main page:

The Sims On Stage will not be available after March 31, 2009.
After March 31, all content related to The Sims On Stage Karaoke,
Mashups, Comedy, Stories and Poetry categories will be deleted.  We
apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and sincerely thank all
of you who made this a fun experience.
- The Sims On Stage Team

[DaytonaKit]

Although I'm not surprised, it feels like a part of our history is going as well.  I'll go back, see what I sang, and attempt to preserve/re-record them.

Guess I better start with "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" :-p

[Sean]

We are lucky it even lasted this long I guess.  It probably would of ended in 2007 if EA hadn't bought Sing Shot.  If you want to save any recordings its very easy to do and you can do it using a free program called Audacity.  If you have questions about how to do it post them here and someone will help you out.

[DaytonaKit]

I don't think I have any personal recordings I'd like to keep.  But there are a few by others that I'd like to "preserve" for posterity.

[Malia]

Luckily, like all my songs there are also available on Singsnap, so I can re-do them if I decide to.

[DaytonaKit]

I want to keep "Somebody's Watching Me" by Sil.   And I would also like to keep my very first recordings of "oops I did it again," "tiptoe", and a couple others for nostalgia's sake.  I better do that soon, huh?

[AnneB]

I got mine recorded, but the volume is off on a couple. The quality on SingSnap is a lot better.

[DaytonaKit]

Singshot always had difficulties with recording.  I did one song that sounded just fine on preview, then I was appalled to discover that in the process of saving the tracking went off.  So I ended up singing behind the track.  How humiliating.  It was only a matter of time for Singshot, I suppose

[Dichromus Benoir-Miles (aka DJ Dich)]

I could never get the levels right at SingShot (Sims On Stage). The songs always sounded terrible. I won't miss the place. 

[Sean]

I for the most part had a great experience on the site.  The few songs I did there (already recorded to hard drive) came out great and I liked the backing music a lot more than some of the stuff on Sing Snap, but I find this varies depending on where the karaoke version was originally made.

[DaytonaKit]

I finished recording my personal favorites from Singshot.  I'm now going through my friends and choosing personal favorites from them to record.

I must say, I'm really starting to like Audacity now!

[Dichromus Benoir-Miles (aka DJ Dich)]

I must say, I'm really starting to like Audacity now!

Have a go at using the Effects tools on your recordings. Now that's where the real fun starts! It's amazing just what you can do to improve the sound.
(Tip No.1.....You have to highlight the entire recording using left mouse click and dragging to the end of the track(s) otherwise the Effects will show greyed out. This is not all that clear in the instructions).
(Tip No.2.....Try adding Echo then Compression for starters. The settings are hit and miss but I use 0.2 for both Echo parameters and leave Compression at Default. You may find different settings more to your liking). 

[DaytonaKit]

Ooh, sounds like fun.  I love toys.

I have a Microtrack II digital recorder by M-Audio.  It came with Audacity software as well as a tutorial guide.  I'm gonna play over this past week since it's spring break.

Did I ever mention that i love toys?

[AnneB]

New email from Sims On Stage today:

As you know, The Sims(TM) On Stage will no longer be in service after
March 31, 2009. In order to thank you for your participation in the
community and for making the site a fun experience for all, we have
partnered with The KARAOKE Channel ONLINE to offer you 2 ways to
continue participating in an active online karaoke community!

Click here to learn more!
http://fun.ea.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eq3n0bAaXn0OV30CFf80EE

Thanks again for being part of The Sims On Stage!

- The Sims On Stage team