Weak voice

I don't think a weak voice on this song is a problem-it gives it a sound of a person that is heartbroken and damaged by the experience. I would beef up the keyboards when they come in-maybe pan them to both sides for fullness-maybe use that Tele for some jangly chords in there, too. The kiwi accent sounds good to me.

I haven't heard from you in forever Wilko-hope all is going well!
 
Anfontan said:
I don't think a weak voice on this song is a problem-it gives it a sound of a person that is heartbroken and damaged by the experience. I would beef up the keyboards when they come in-maybe pan them to both sides for fullness-maybe use that Tele for some jangly chords in there, too. The kiwi accent sounds good to me.

I haven't heard from you in forever Wilko-hope all is going well!
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Hey dude! Yep things are going swimmingly here!! We are at the end of Summer but the days are still long and warm! Hope all is well down your way mate! :)
 
I listened before you took it down. I agree that the sound of the vocal fits the song. The ac gtr sounded peizo'd, and a more natural mic'd sound would add a lot to the mix.
 
I didn't hear it but one thing I will say is that there's always been this thing of someone having "a good voice". Lots of people have a "good voice".

It doesn't mean anything. Most "good voices" sound good until you record them. Give me a person who means what he's singing any day. There's tons of greats (Dylan, Waits, Willie Nelson, Neil Young for example) who are captivating as hell and don't have typical "good voices".

And there's lots of "good voices" like Michael Bolton that make me hurl. I have a nice 70's P bass and I can hardly play bass. Having a "good voice" is no better than that. I have a nice bass. Michael Bolton has a nice voice.

So fuck everybody :), sing in your own voice. It's probably not as wretched as you think.
 
Put it back Wilko!

I want to hear it, because I have not had the nerve to post my work yet, cuz I think my voice is bad too. I really would like to hear what you think is so bad about your voice. I promise I'll only provide constructive criticism.
I'll let you hear mine.....

Brad
 
You are right. You do not have a strong voice. But you can change that. What you do have is character, and you are in tune for the most part. That you can't change.

Just keep at it. You are not a bad singer by any means. You just suffer from two very key things that most inexperienced singers suffer from. Lack of confidence and lack of experience. I know it's hard to listen to yourself sing. Trust me, I've been there. I'm still there. For as good a singer as people tell me I am (and trust me, I don't agree with them), I still get highly self conscious when I hear my recorded voice, especially in front of other people. You just have to truck on, and accept the fact that you will always feel slightly off-put by the sound of your voice. Eventually, you'll dig this guy out and listen to it, and be amazed at how much you've improved.

In the mean time though, you're voice is definitely reminiscent of Johnny Cash here. Maybe it's just the song choice, but I hear a lot of the same timbre in your voice as Johnny Cash's. :)

edit: I was reading through the singers and vocalists forum, and I saw this post by Swiss Army Knife, and I thought I might copy pasta it over here. It made me feel better about myself when I read it at least:

I'm a Christian rock musician. I write lots of songs, I play guitar, I play keys and I play bass. But vocals are sort of along for the ride.

For a long time, I hated my voice. And I still have my days. It's tonal quality is OK-but-not-great, but it's on pitch. Interestingly enough, I've got tons of confidence singing live, but the studio scares the crap out of me. My biggest problem is that when I record a song, I end up wishing it could sound like somebody else when I listen back.

But two people told me things that changed my life.

1. During sound checks before getting ready to sing one night, I was feeling pretty miserable about how my voice sounded. The sound guy, who is also a college vocal instructor and practically an opera-quality baritone, was having none of it.

He pulled me aside and said, "Let me tell you something. You do not have a 'great' voice. It's not opera-quality. But you need to understand something ... that is a compliment. Your voice is on pitch, it's honest as hell, and it's got BUCKETS of passion. That's what people want to hear. They can connect with you. Heck, they want to sing with you. They just get tired of me."
 
wilko said:
Ok, I put it back. :o
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It sounds cool. :) It reminded me of Supertramp a bit. I wouldn't worry about your voice at all, I'd just work on it to get it the best it can be.

For me it would help to double the vocal track electronically. You could put it through a delay effect, but what I usually do is copy the vocal track to a second track, and make that second track slightly later (maybe 80 ms) that the first. You might have to roll the bass of the second track, and maybe pan it slightly differently than the first track. Add a 3rd track if that's not enough.

That's what it needs- thickening. As far as "not having a good voice", that's bullshit, your voice is interesting and has good musical qualities for non-boring songs.

The #1 problem I hear in most singing is breathing problems. It should feel like you're breathing through your navel and your stomach should go out (sorta like you're pregnant) when you breath in, your chest shouldn't puff up like Superman. Seth Riggs' singing lessons were more helpful than anything for me, and some of them are free on YouTube.
 
I don't know if that is your first attempt at recording your voice or if you are new to singing, but it fits the song pretty well. Your recording actually sounds pretty clean, has good eq. and the song is well done. Your voice gets the point across and I've heard worse vocals from 'signed' groups. So, if this is your style of music, and you want to sing your own stuff, I think a little bit of practice will increase confidence and yield better accuracy on a few of those notes (Auto-Tune too). You are way more experienced on this board than I am, so I hope to get your feedback on my voice (I've only been trying to sing for 1 yr. now) and I'm going to post my first attempt soon.
 
I have issues with my voice too. But that was thanks to Jake-owa and his bullshit back in '04 when I joined this site. I have a voice that sounds nothing like my speaking voice. I tend to sing in the upper register tenor. This jackass attacked me for that. Told me to "sing normal". That put me on a 5 year quest to do just that. Turns out, upper register tenor is normal for me. Now I am working on my presentation and how to project myself. I will post a song soon.
 
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