Locating, Recording, & Publishing a Cover Song to YouTube: Step-by-Step
STEP A – LOCATING A ‘LEGAL’ AUDIO BACKING TRACK TO POST on YOUTUBE.COM
Option A – We recommend first looking on YouTube.com‘s list of available instrumental tracks at https://www.youtube.com/music_policies?o=U&ar=3
The above link accesses YouTube’s ‘Music Policies’ list of songs. Meaning, it’s a list of karaoke-style tracks YouTube has marked for public use. Some of the tracks have a ‘policy’ stating they cannot be used, others have less restrictive policy. You’ll need to find a track that is marked ‘available for use’ on YouTube.
Option B – Otherwise, you may create your own track to perform to, however, you’ll find similar legal restrictions about creating and posting ‘original’ karaoke tracks on YouTube. When we use our original tracks for a vocalist to cover, we publish the song (original track with vocal) via cdbaby.com where licensing and legalities are sorted out during the song publishing process, in advance of our using a copyrighted audio track in a music video (ultimately posted on youtube).
Option C – Contact https://www.easysonglicensing.com or (800)360-5192. They can help walk you through their process. Have your credit card ready.
STEP B – DOWNLOADING A ‘LEGAL’ AUDIO TRACK
For ‘Option A’ takers above, search for the track you’ve selected from the YouTube.com ‘Music Policy’ list of instrumental tracks (see Option A above) by:
[1] Entering the precise track name into the YouTube.com search bar.
When the video appears, [2] click the ‘Share’ link —> then [3] click ‘Copy Link’ (the web address for that video is now ready for you to paste into a utility (see STEP C below) that will convert the audio portion of the video into an .mp3 for you to use in an audio-mixing program such as ‘Garageband’.
STEP C – CONVERTING THE YOU TUBE VIDEO TO AN .MP3 AUDIO FILE
Here’s how to get the utility (it’s called, MediaHuman ‘YouTube-to-.mp3’).:
[4] Go to: https://www.mediahuman.com/youtube-to-mp3-converter/
Follow the download and product use instructions on that site (we found them useful).
If all went well, you’ll have the .mp3 (converted from a YouTube video) in your possession.
STEP D – IMPORTING THE .MP3 AUDIO FILE INTO ‘GARAGEBAND’
(any audio mixing application can be used)
Open ‘Garageband’ and select New Project —> Empty Project. —> Choose —> Audio (microphone) —> Create.
To import an MP3 audio file into GarageBand [5] go under the Track menu and select New Track. [6] Click on Audio (the one with the microphone on it) [7] Click Create (his will put a new audio track in your project). Then, [8] click the ‘View’ menu located at the top of the Garageband application window and [9] click ‘Show Media Browser’. The folders and files on your hard drive should appear in a new section within the Garageband application. [10] Scroll to the .mp3 you created with ‘YouTube-to-.mp3 utility and [11] drag the file onto the section located just to the right of the new Audio track you created in ‘7’ above. The .mp3 you created in major STEP C above is now in Garageband. You can now begin your work within Garageband which marks the completion of these instructions.
Comments on how we can improve the above instructions are appreciated.
MORE STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS from Brigantine Avenue Records – 87records.biz
Coming soon, ‘Setting up your Home Studio to Create Audio Recordings and YouTube Videos‘