16 Year Old Learning to Sing

Bane01

Bane01

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Hi fellow music enthusiasts,

In my recent musical endeavors, it has become necessary that I do the lead vocals for my recordings. I've given it a shot and want some feedback on what I can do better.

The following is an original song I'm working on: (disabled)

A little commentary on this, I have tried singing with a deep male voice as you would expect an adult too. I'm a couple weeks from being sixteen so I'm sitting on the borderline with my voice. I decided that the aforementioned style didn't fit my voice too well so I've tried singing a little younger as in the above example.

Any words of advice on how to improve my voice for general studio recording purposes would be fabulous. I don't have the time or energy to invest in a legit vocal coach, as I'm primarily a piano player; but words of guidance are invaluable!

Thank you!
 
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Taking voice lessons helps obviously but that isn't an option. It's very hard to help someone in person, even harder online just because I can't tell you to make a C Chord and you get it, it's all about explaining something in a way that makes you get the right feeling that you can reuse.

It sounds to me like you aren't really singing out or using your diaphragm. I would watch some YouTube videos about that and see what you find. I found something the other day I found kind of helpful.

Sing the right note - Home

You will have to install a plugin for that to work, but it gives you a note, then you sing it back and it tells you if you got it. That can help you develop your ear a little to know that the note you think you are hitting, you are actually hitting. Good luck and I wish I had more for you, but honestly I'm just an amateur too.
 
Hi polarity,

I have watched a tutorial vid on Youtube that was really helpful. It said to sing on the vowels and chew. I think I did a bit too much with mouth movements and not enough diaphragm as you say. Sometimes I bring some amateur singers over to record and they are all deep basses that just scrape along the bottom for the whole song, but I'd like to have a voice that sparkles and has character if you know what I mean. I can do the same as them but where do you really achieve a nice tone where you aren't just trying to be the alpha male with the deepest voice? What do you think on this?

Also I checked out the site you mentioned. Do you mean I have to download it as a VST plugin and use it in my DAW?

Thank you for your help and others feel free to join in!
 
No for the website you actually install a java plugin I think that allows you to use your mic on it.

As for the singing. You shouldn't really be trying to change your voice to sing. Singing is just speaking with rhythm. Ok well not exactly but it's a good start. Don't try and make yourself a bass or a tenor just sing naturally and work on hitting the notes.
 
Oh my god, I don't think I have ever seen a block like that on Soundcloud...

This is the time of age where your voice is the worst! I remember those 16 y.o. days. :facepalm:

Being around 20, my voice is still developing but it sounds much better than it did 4 years ago!

EDIT: Turns out the block was just the site still processing the waveform.
 
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@polarity: Thanks man. A Java plugin I gotcha. I think a big contribution to the problem is that this is a BS microphone--a VTech model in fact. Frequency response starts at 80Hz so a lot of the bass overtones were omitted. I borrowed a 57 from our church today and it sounds so much better cuz the low end extends to 40Hz.

@CrowsofFitz: I know what you mean still trying to find my tone. Its also worthy of mention that I am not a singer and this is all out of necessity--me trying to get something presentable. Maybe there's a darn good reason 16 year olds make instrumental music, lolol. Meanwhile how do I start to treat this other than waiting?
 
Bane01 said:
@polarity: Thanks man. A Java plugin I gotcha. I think a big contribution to the problem is that this is a BS microphone--a VTech model in fact. Frequency response starts at 80Hz so a lot of the bass overtones were omitted. I borrowed a 57 from our church today and it sounds so much better cuz the low end extends to 40Hz.

@CrowsofFitz: I know what you mean still trying to find my tone. Its also worthy of mention that I am not a singer and this is all out of necessity--me trying to get something presentable. Maybe there's a darn good reason 16 year olds make instrumental music, lolol. Meanwhile how do I start to treat this other than waiting?
Click to expand...

The best thing you can do is to try and expand your range while also staying in your range. Their is nothing more horrendous than a 16 year old going out of his/her range. I would also work on trying to sing from the diaphragm instead of throat. It would work wonders. And singing in tune would really help, too! :)
 
I totally agree about the range. I was about blue by the time I finished the bridge before the instrumental. I'm tuning everything at the moment. Better to catch it at the front end but I swear I've barely sang a word in three years for obvious reasons. Couldn't find a vocalist in my other thread so I thought I'd give it a shot.

Could you please post some examples of what a great sounding 16year old sounds like in a pop rock genre. Idk if there is such a thing as a great sounding 16year old but surely there is hope.
 
There's definitely great sounding 16 year olds everywhere! It's just that it's still their worst time to sing.

Here's me at 16 years old. I wish I had the tracks, but they were on my old computer and I didn't back them up. :(

I wish I could redo them but I think this was my best performance at that age. I'm out tune a little bit but listen to the left and right voice (make sure your speakers are setup correctly :p).

Can you tell the difference between the two? The left one I'm singing from my diaphragm and the right I'm singing from the throat. The left one just sounds more powerful.


 
Nice link. Definitely sounds much clearer on the left. Now I have a dumb question for you. How do I make sure I'm singing out of my diapraghm and not mainly my throat?

I took my link down because I have pitch corrected the voice and accounted for the waver and it sounds a whole lot better. BTW, there is a full mix behind that I just wanted to upload you guys a sparse mix with unprocessed vocals to find whats wrong with my technique.
 
You can feel it in your neck. Sing out and go for a note that is out of reach (high) and you will feel strain in your throat. My vocal coach was always saying that you need to keep your throat nice and relaxed while singing. The easiest method IMO would be to learn breathing techniques using your diaphragm, from those techniques you will know what it feels like to push and pull air. All you have to do after that is add singing while you're doing it.
 
At 16 you should be able to join your high school chorus/choir/musicals - work with the music teacher (s), they are always more than happy to give help.
 
Well that's the thing I'm homeschooled. :thumbs up:

Who has time to maintain a hobby like this if you're at school 7-8 hours a day? :)
 
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