Why I sounded out of tune live but I heard myself in tune? (Vocals)

TheComposer

New member
Yes, I can hit some wrong notes every now and then.

But, I played last Saturday, and went great, great music, great guitar, bass, drum, and until now I thought I sounded great on vocals.

However, I watched some live footage of the event and probably most of time I was always 1 semitone below the original notes of the song, ALL THE SHOW.

Again, I heard my voice thru the speakers fine (The monitor was slightly in front of me, so I actually struggled a lil bit)

What's the reason here?, I'm looking for a acoustic, dinamic reason, as I said, I'm aware that I can and hit wrong notes, but that day I thought I was doing great, I could hear myself just in tune, it was a small place I must add.

This happened to me a few years ago again, the same semitone below the original notes ALL THE TIME.

So I'm 100% sure it was some acoustic issue, and now that I hear myself, I feel kind of embarrased about the gig, because the crowd was very enthusiastic about us playing.

Anyway, lesson learned, next time I'll bring my own PA system, and maybe I buy some ear monitors for the vocals, damn!!
 
what do you mean semi-tone? I ask because I've heard people call something a semi-tone and it wasn't even close.
If you were actually a semitone, that's a half step. It would be like playing a song in F and singing it in E.
I find it hard to believe you got a good response from the crowd if you were singing a half step flat.
Could you post even a tiny clip?
 
I've experienced similar things when performing live with my group. My singer has a strong sense of pitch, and while performing he sounded just fine through the monitors. When some fans posted videos of the show, he sounded out of key. Not an entire semitone off, but still off. It could be that while playing I wasn't focusing enough to hear that he was pitchy, but it seems that if he was off as much as it seemed in the video that I would have noticed. Then again, other videos sound just fine so maybe it was just a bad night for him.
 
Speaking of pitch issues.....

I ran across this ad in the local musician classified wesbite today, and this chic advertises herself as a lead singer and has a couple samples on the page. Now she has an OK voice, but man....just listen to how off-pitch she goes in both samples (be prepared, they are Journey songs :D).

So the point is....she thinks she sounds good in them, obviously...so even without it being live she can't tell how badly she's off pitch thoughout the songs. Not to mention, there is some really weird phasing thing going on, so who knows how she recorded the samples.


Detailed Musicians Available Classified
 
How was it recorded? Is this on someone's phone? The quality of microphone has a LOT to do with it. If the mic gets overwhelmed with the volume then you start to lose overtones and what is left can sound flat/out of tune.

Have you tried recording yourself in a more controlled environment to compare?
 
Actually, out of tune is out of tune. Either you know the difference,or you're tone def. I've delt with countless singers in my life and the good ones are always spot on and the bad ones have excuses.
 
Actually, out of tune is out of tune. Either you know the difference,or you're tone def. I've delt with countless singers in my life and the good ones are always spot on and the bad ones have excuses.

I think there are plenty of ways one could wind up singing off-pitch. If you can't hear yourself right in the monitors, sinus infections, nerve damage, certain medications....... Rush Limbaugh lost a good part of his hearing to opiate abuse.

Why was Donna Jean all over the map singing with the Dead? On their records she was pretty much right on. Listening to the live shows she could be doing well one moment and flat the next. Still has the same problem singing live to this day.
 
I think there are plenty of ways one could wind up singing off-pitch. If you can't hear yourself right in the monitors, sinus infections, nerve damage, .
yeah and also I've been in situations where the singer is being blasted by the bass and, this is hard for me to quite describe but, it's like the low end gets so overwhelming you lose where the pitch is ..... almost like it moves you eardrum so much you don't hear the higher freqs accurately or something like that.
 
High volumes skew our sense of pitch. High frequencies sound higher and low frequencies sound lower.

If you were hearing an A at 220Hz and singing it at 440Hz it might be enough to make you sing a little flat, but the monitors and stage volume would probably have to be pretty loud for that to happen.
 
This:
High volumes skew our sense of pitch. High frequencies sound higher and low frequencies sound lower.

And this:
yeah and also I've been in situations where the singer is being blasted by the bass and, this is hard for me to quite describe but, it's like the low end gets so overwhelming you lose where the pitch is ..... almost like it moves you eardrum so much you don't hear the higher freqs accurately or something like that.

Bass and loud volumes affect your sense of pitch. Your brain perceives the pitch as being flatter than it is (by even a semitone or more). Seasoned live singers learn how to adjust to this on stage. They can come to grief if recording with headphones at quieter levels: they find themselves singing sharp.
 
man this sounds horrific... stuff is hard enough without having to pitch correct when your bass player blurps one down your ear canal. honestly, best of luck to you singers out there.

is this where those acoustic ear plugs (forget what they are called) help? they apparently dampen sound with minimal distortion.

Also there must be a killer analogy for this.... can not think of one.,..!
 
You know i agree with Gecko Bass does make your pitch go off. I never thought that to be the case.. but when i used to play live.. moslty two peice acts.. me and a bass player.. i would still hear the bass.. but i never relied on it.. so that wasnt an issue for me back then.. but when i started to do recording.. i could always hear the bass easily in my headphones.. cause the headphones were the expensive kind that was FULL sounding... and I would notice that smy voice was really bad.. i am like man this sux... until i read it somewhere that BASS can effect that.. i thought it was a load of malarky until i tried it.. and it actually DID HELP! Now when i record other people.. who sing out of pitch.. I tell them DONT listen to the bass and i turn it down.. but then they get all testy and really insist to have the bass there. I am like FINE!! what ever!!.. but i know they could do MUCH better job if they turned the bass down! I guess some people are just stubborn!!
 
First of all if you got a great response from the crowd it was either they were ALL drunk or you were in key spot on. There is no in between. Now I have to caution here this is just one of many possible scenarios but its possible that another instrument was a half step off, any of the guitars or bass not properly tuned may get lost in the translation on stage enough that you didn't hear it until playback where all there was was th pure pound of what the audience heard. Les remember what we hear on stage can be far different than the ambient mix in a club where sound spreads out as it widens through travel. That's where I'm at on this. I've had a gig or two go great and later we watched a video of two girls doing belly shots during the performance and this was a real good camera too, and the whole damn mix out in the club where the crowd was sounded like piss. On stage was great I couldn't hear any tonal issues at all.

I'm sure there's just as many more theories on what causes this to occur, but lets not call the guy an egomaniac yet, if he truly was he'd not be here looking or answers admitting he was off at all, those guys sound great even when they hear themselves sound like crap.

Well that's my 31 years As a performing vocalist and singer songwriter and session man speaking. It's happened to me. And yea sure ok you might have been the problem but based on what you wrote I doubt it was a single issue outside of my aforementioned theory. I know I've had pitchy notes on nights I thought it sounded great. Occasionally it was me other times the mix or a combination of the two. If its that concerning, and as most vocalists are anal about the way they sound, I'm sure it is , I might be inclined to suggest an ear monitor. They gotta be good tho cuz the cheap ones suck. If you go that route don't skimp.

Dig into it a bit and be sure to let us know what you conclude.
 
I've had it the other way round where i sounded mega out of tune in the monitors and really struggled but heard a clip of the recording and it was absolutely fine. I put it down to what Gecko was saying about the relative volume of bass and treble in the room (it was a very small lively room) and i've only ever had this problem at the one venue
 
I agree that it's probably that you don't have the ear. Some people can hear pitch when listening to someone else sing but not while singing themselves.

You can either hear pitch while singing or you can't ...and a lot of people can't.

I hear flat notes the second they come out of my vocal chords.
I don't have to wait for the recording.
My daughter on the other hand has of the best voices I've ever heard with an amazing vibrato in the high register...but can't stay on pitch to save her life. After hearing a recording of herself singing she quit and vowed to never sing in public again.
 
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I agree that it's probably that you don't have the ear. Some people can hear pitch when listening to someone else sing but not while singing themselves.

You can either hear pitch while singing or you can't ...and a lot of people can't.

Sure, that's a contributor to the problem. But not the only contributor.
 
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