Vocal recording technique help

B

benherron.rrr

New member
Hey.

I just wanted to start this thread to get all these answers in one place.

Im feeling very shy about my voice and i need some help bringing out the best in it.

So . . . what things do you do to warm up your voice pre session?

. . . what are your recording techniques? mic placement and position, type of mic. foldback volume, do you put any effects through the phones to help you. . . .

how do you keep in tune?

. . . what do you sing to?

I find that if im playing with my guitar through a mic live I can sing absolutly fine. then when i record a take i think its fine. then after listening to it a couple of times I get really down about my voice losing all confidence. then i have to delete it and start again it means i never get a chance to finish a song because of this. I dont think its a case of my voice is just crap.

thank you, sorry in advance if i annoy anyone.

Ben
 
I don't think I am remotely a good singer but the handful of times when I have properly tried to record my singing voice I always find that singing to a rough vocal track gives me good support as opposed to singing straight to the instruments. So I record a dummy vocal take...sing over it...that one then becomes the dummy...until I get one that sounds good or I comp bits together.

Also, I like having one headphone slightly off one ear so I can hear a bit of live singing and a bit of what's being recorded.

Mic placement...I just put it in front and sing into it. Sometimes if I have been doing it for a while...a few takes...I find myself being able to adjust things like the angle of my voice as it hits the mic...so I can stop Ssss's or P's...that kind of thing....or adjust volumes and all that. The more takes I do the better warmed up I get.

Anyway I think I've recorded two songs ever (in 4 or 5 years) that I've sung a vocal that I thought was ok. I got other songs where I wanna change the key or something so it suits my voice.

Eq...roll off around 80hz I heard. There's a million things you could do if you wanna talk about all that technical stuff though
 
I usually get my lyrical inspiration from the finished song and as im only one guy i can only write one part at a time and my songs really take shape after ive got all the other parts down.

Im really really into vocals. so there somthing i cant start my career without it. im doign a session tomo so ill try using your advice. . .

could someone tell me any good pratice regimes they have? and exersises to do?

Thanks!
 
lol i dont know weather to take that sarcasticly or seriously. either way If I set my mind to somthing I get it done. I want to become a good vocalist. just asking for a little help :)
 
Post an mp3 of your singing performance so people can hear it. You may be too hard on yourself. But we can't know until we hear it.
 
If you were in the studio with some top cats you'd be surprised at how bad they suck sometimes - out of tune, out of time, just plain suck. But you don't get to hear those tracks. You just get to hear the hole-in-ones.

Before you get too hung up on recording technicalities I'd work on the voice part. If the source is great it's pretty easy to record it.

A biggie in singing is good breathing technique (I always tell people it should feel like you're breathing through your navel - your stomach should go out when you breath in) and half the problem is solved when you simple don't run out of breath. Singing long tones helps. If you run out of air your pitch will waver.

Like I've said a lot, Seth Riggs' concept of "speech level singing" is the ticket as far as I'm concerned. He has books, CD's and some free stuff on YouTube. His exercises are great and fun. You don't need to sing loud.

I heard a great line the other day from a golfer, he said "the more I practice the luckier I get", and that pretty much sums it up. If you just keep working at something, unless you're very abnormal, you will get better at it.
 
When recording at home, I usually record each song (even during practice) in case the track might be the one to save. If not, I listen to it over and over for mistakes or a better way to record it.

Best wishes,

Lloyd
 
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