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LRC Lyrics Production Tutorial
This is a tutorial for producing professional synchronized Enhanced LRC lyrics file using the old 60's song Let's Twist Again by Chubby Checker as an example. It is specially made for those who prefer to apply the normal and widely used lyrics display style: 2 lines alternating with progressive coloring.
Note: Since lyrics lines can also be displayed as "multi-continuous moving lines", lyrics synchronized for one display style may have to be added / removed empty lines for better lyrics display when displaying with another style.
Before you do anything, open the Lyrics Editor using the button  on the Main panel (you can also select  from the Main popup menu or just press  ). Then download the sample audio file from the links below:
Sample audio file
Sample LRC
Sample audio file (with lyrics embedded)
and press  to load the sample audio file into the Lyrics Editor. |
How to enter and display lyrics for Non-English characters ?
If you want to enter and display lyrics for Non-English characters, select an appropriate charset from the  submenu under the Edit option of the main menu. Since we are working with English characters, we apply the default ANSI charset. |
What is "View by Line" and "View by Word" ?
If you want to make Enhanced LRC lyrics file, you need to view lyrics word by word to synchronize words or syllables. But if you want to make Simple LRC file which requires synchronization of lyrics line, you only need to view the lyrics line by line. Since this is a tutorial for Enhanced LRC lyrics file production, select  from the popup menu or from the View option of the main menu. |
How lyrics are displayed in MediaCommands ?
In MediaCommands, lyrics display is controlled by 3 separated animation engines, each with their own animation control for Lines (all completed, current and incompleted lines), Focused Word (current word only), and Completed Words (completed words of the current line).
User can display more than 2 lyrics lines with 360 degrees full-screen movement of lyrics words and controllable zooming and shaking effects.
For the normal and widely used lyrics display style: 2 lines alternating with progressive coloring, lyrics is displayed based on 2 principles:
When View by Line, odd number lyrics lines are displayed at the top while even number lyrics lines are displayed at the bottom.
When the focused lyrics line is at the top, the next lyrics line is at the bottom, and when the focused lyrics line is at the bottom, the next lyrics line is at the top.
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How to synchronize lyrics for an audio file ?
Here are the basic steps to synchronize lyrics for an audio file:
Press  (you can also select  from the popup menu or from the Edit option of the main menu) to add a Line Time Tag [mm:ss.xx], and you will see:
[00:00.00]
[00:05.00]
Select the lyrics line [00:05.00] and enter lyrics in the editing area as shown below with space and hyphen to separate words and syllables.
Then you will see:
[00:00.00]
[00:05.00]Come on every-body
Select the lyrics line [00:05.00] and press  (you can also select  from the popup menu or from the Edit option of the main menu) to break the lyrics line into words and syllables with their own Word Time Tags <mm:ss.xx>. And you will see:
[00:00.00]
[00:05.00]Come
<00:06.00>on
<00:07.00>every
<00:08.00>body
<00:09.00>
where <00:09.00> is used to signal MediaCommands when the last word ends. If you are synchronizing with an audio file without vocals (singer's voice), you should estimate the time for this Word Time Tag.
Press  to play the audio file if it is not playing, or press  to resume playing the audio file if it is paused.
For auto-synchronization, press  (you can also select  from the popup menu or from the Mode option of the main menu) to switch the Lyrics Editor to Time Editing Mode if it is in Time Testing Mode.
Use the media position track bar as shown below to reposition the audio file for synchronizing the first word of the lyrics line.
While the audio file is playing, left-click on the word to assign the singing time to each word and left-click on the ending Word Time Tag to assign the ending time to the last word. If your synchronization is accurate, you will see something similar to the following:
[00:00.00]
[00:02.50]Come
<00:02.70>on
<00:02.89>every
<00:03.17>body
<00:03.45>
Press (you can also select  from the popup menu or from the Mode option of the main menu) to switch the Lyrics Editor to Time Testing Mode, and left-click on any lyrics line to replay the audio file for time testing.
If your synchronization is not accurate, press to switch the Lyrics Editor to Lyrics Editing Mode. Readjust the time in the "time tags" manually if required, and press again to resume time testing for lyrics. Repeat step (9) until you have an accurate synchronization.
If your synchronization is accurate, press to switch the Lyrics Editor to Lyrics Editing Mode and repeat step (1) - (10) to enter and synchronize lyrics for the next lyrics line.
When you finish your synchronization, select the first empty line [00:00.00], and then select  from the popup menu or from the Edit option of the main menu to remove this line from the lyrics, so that the first lyrics line can be displayed at the top.
Now your lyrics will look like those in LRC sample 1. You can save your synchronized lyrics to an LRC file or just select  from the File option of the main menu to embed the lyrics into the audio file. With the synchronized lyrics, you can follow the steps in the Tutorial for beginner to start your own Karaoke show. |
How to beautify lyrics display ?
If you are a perfectionist, you won't be satisfied with the display of the lyrics you have just synchronized even you have a very accurate synchronization. Here is a few tips showing you how to beautify your lyrics display with a few powerful functions of the Lyrics Editor
Select  from the popup menu or from the View option of the main menu to view lyrics line by line if you are viewing lyrics word by word.
Select  from the Edit option of the main menu to create maximized leading time for each lyrics line. When View by Word, you will see:
[00:02.00]
<00:02.50>Come
<00:02.70>on
<00:02.89>every
<00:03.17>body
<00:03.45>
...
as in LRC sample 2. Leading time of a lyrics line is the time from 0.2 to 0.5 second used to give a signal to the singer to prepare for singing. If you try the modified lyrics, in the Theatre, you will see many lyrics line change from Non-focused Line color to Focused Line color, about 0.2 - 0.5 second earlier before the first word of the lyrics line is filled with the Focused Word color.
Select the first lyrics line [00:02.00], and then Press  (you can also select  from the popup menu or from the Edit option of the main menu) to insert an empty line [00:01.00] before the first lyrics line, so that the first lyrics line can be displayed 1.5 seconds (including leading time) earlier in Non-focused Line color for the singer. In usual case, 2 seconds will be given if there is a longer instrumental section at the beginning of the audio file. So you will see: [00:01.00]
[00:02.00]<00:02.50>Come <00:02.70>on <00:02.89>every
<00:03.17>body<00:03.45>
...
But in order to make the first lyrics line display at the top, we insert another empty line [00:00.50] before the first empty line. Then you will see: [00:00.50]
[00:01.00]
[00:02.00]<00:02.50>Come <00:02.70>on <00:02.89>every
<00:03.17>body<00:03.45>
...
In usual case when there is a longer instrumental section at the beginning of the audio file, if user want to display information (such as song title and artist) in the first line, it is better to start the first information line at [00:02.00] for more smooth display of information.
Since many Karaoke singers would like the first word of a sentence to be displayed at the top, another empty line [00:15.05] is also inserted between the two lines [00:13.25]and it goes like this and [00:15.20]Come on, let's twist again, so that [00:15.20]Come on, let's twist again is displayed at the top. Then you will see: ...
[00:13.25]and <00:13.40>it <00:13.55>goes <00:13.90>like
<00:14.25>this<00:14.90>
[00:15.05]
[00:15.20]<00:15.50>Come <00:15.70>on, <00:16.20>let's
<00:16.60>twist <00:16.95>a<00:17.15>gain<00:17.40>
...
Select the lyrics line at [01:02.15], and then select  from the popup menu or from the Edit option of the main menu to clear the lyrics screen for the instrumental section between the two lines [01:02.15]Twist ! Yo ! and [01:15.00]Who's that flyin' up there. Then you will see: ...
[01:02.15]<01:02.65>Twist <01:03.10> ! <01:03.40>Yo<01:03.65> !
[01:05.15]
[01:05.45]
[01:05.75]
[01:13.20]
[01:13.50]
[01:15.00]<01:15.50>Who's <01:15.70>that <01:16.05>flyin'
<01:16.35>up <01:16.65>there<01:17.05>
...
If you don't want the last lyrics line stay on the screen until the audio file is finished, select the last lyrics line [02:20.60]Bop bop, and then select again. Then you will see: ...
[02:20.60]<02:20.80>Bop<02:21.10> <02:21.40>bop<02:21.70>
[02:23.20]
[02:23.50]
Now your lyrics will look like those in LRC sample 3. You can save your synchronized lyrics to an LRC file or just select from the File option of the main menu to embed the lyrics into the audio file. With this professionally synchronized lyrics, and by following the steps in the Tutorial for beginner, you can have your own professional Karaoke show.
You can also beautify your lyrics in one single step by selecting  from the popup menu or from the Edit option of the main menu to let MediaCommands beautify your lyrics automatically, and select  to restore your original lyrics after beautification.
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