Do You Like (Or Hate) Your Voice?

[JohnMoxey]

Hey

I kind of have a love hate relationship with my voice. Actually Love Hate is too strong, like and dislike would be closer.

There are lots of bits I don't like about my voice, but singing the right kind of song the right kind of way can sound ok.

Cheers

John

 

[Yonce N Mild]

I have just started singing again. I'm 30 and haven't sung in front of people since I was a kid. I started singing for my band because we need a "placeholder" until we found a singer. The rest of the band really likes my voice and convinced me to sing full time. It's kinda cool but I'm pretty self conscious about my voice still. I'm getting better all the time. It's kinda weird because when I was younger I would sing at church and stuff like that and I had a very high pitched voice. Now I have a really deep voice and I have a little trouble getting the volume and power I want on the really low notes.

 

[Monkey Allen]

I think my best chance of recording a decent vocal track is to do it first thing in the morning. Usually my voice is grumbly and deepish and resonant in the morning...as opposed to monotonous and pitchless during the rest of the day.

 

[tanlith]

Mixed feeling about mine...

I hate it, but about 95% of those who hear me perform say I rock with about 5% telling me I don't belong under the stage let alone ON one!

 

[fishkarma]

Record it then you'll know.
Hate to be a pessimist but usually its the 5% that are right by being honest and the 95% being friends or family just being supportive.

The only way to know is if you record your voice to a track and see how it sounds

 

[acidrock]

I think the important thing is to sing within your limits and don't try and be something you're not.
Everybody has got a little bit of singer in them.

 

[PenguinKiller]

Yes, aint that a bummer when you replay you rown voice (not even singing)!
wow, i leave the singing to thers

Then again, its maybe because youve always had this other idea of your own voice anyways. Because of the way our ears are attached to our skulls and the way sound is produced form our lips and how others perceive our voice and how we do ourselves.
I was told everyone hates their own voice, especially males.

 

[Dan Barnes]

I would have voted for the first 3 choices if I could have. Sometimes I love it, sometimes I get sick of hearing it.

 

[groovyisland]

i wanted to pick all the choices in the poll cause i feel all those ways sometimes.

i think hearing pitch is easy for some and difficult for others

the ones who hear pitch well can sing on pitch well

you can be trained to hear pitch and you can train yourself to hear pitch but the people who do it really well can just do it naturally with or without training

the guy who said you just want chords and a light beat in the headphones is right on

bass can really mess up your pitch cause its harder to hear the pitch of the bass in a mix

if you can hear the pitches you want clearly in your head then you have a better chance of matching them with your voice

 

[groovyisland]

My highest note is middle C and my lowest note is about the G two octaves down. My vocal range is about 440 Hz to 100 Hz not counting the overtones and undertones.
I sound like Johnny Cash, only lower.
I am just beginning to learn how to record so I can't post anything.
Other people have complimented me on my voice but I don't have much of a falsetto without busting a gut. Unfortunately, I don’t like my gut.

PS. I have not had voice lessons.

holy guacamole! i think my voice is kinda low and i can do middle c down to the next g and maybe f and up to f and maybe g past the higher c in my falsetto

you must really be basso profundo if you can do that. i would like to hear it


ive been trying to get my falsetto usable by singing along with different artists. my pitch is still way off and my notes arent smooth and steady but it gets better with trying

ive found that if i forget about pitch and give it some attitude it sounds a lot better. like imitate an irish accent or a sassy black singer or anything kind of dramatic.

 

[jdblessing1970]

OH MY GOSH! I can't believe the thread! I wrote a song about this very thing last night...I just got online to post the lyrics for evalution...look for "Sing Like a Child" coming soon.

Jeff

 

[69 SG]

For one thing I love your Lyrics.
***********************
I know most people don't like me.
Sorry about that.
I have met very few in real life that do.
***********************
I will tell you that I was told that I sounded like
the singer for REO SpeedWagon.
Of which I don't care for very much.
He's very talented but not my image of a great singer.
So I tryed to sound like David Coverdale.
A powerful Vocalist that I will never be.
***********************
I will keep my mouth shut from then on.
I'm glad you couldn't hear me.
Truth will set you FREE!!
That's right BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[irkir]

lol.....good topic! i enjoy reading about how other people feel about their voice!

 

[splooiesir]

I didn't bother reading the entire topic, but some well deserved reassurance: OP, your voice is GREAT. I think everybody hates hearing their own voice a little bit (at least at first anyway).

 

[Sir_Matthew]

Interesting Topic

The whole idea of "good" vocals is such a subjective thing, as it has completely to do with who you ask. Henry Rollins, Tom Waits, Dylan, Lou Reed, Nico, Adam Duritz (Counting Crows), Kris Kristofferson, Nick Cave, these are the sorts of singers I will either hear exuberant praise about or utter hatred towards. Same with more "correct" singers like Whitney Houston, Josh Groban, Celine Dion, etc. I personally require some dirt in a vocal in order to like it, though I am a fan of tunefulness. The American Idol vocal acrobatic style leaves me cold, I'd much rather curl up with Waits' gravelly croon or Roger Waters' maniacal shouting.

I used to consider my voice a necessary evil, something that was certainly not a showpiece, but could deliver the essence of my songs, which were the primary product. Funny that in recent years, I get as many (sometimes more) compliments on the vocal as the songs. I agree completely that it's a confidence issue. Listen to early U2 or R.E.M. songs, Bono or Michael Stipe were NOT on pitch 100% of the time (check out Sting's flat high notes on early Police songs, too). But they delivered with confidence, and that sold the song, and eventually, the vocal style.

In short, there are no rules. There's what you have to say, and how confidently you can say it.

 

[Oancient1]

I have been told by many folks that I have a good voice, but I personally don't care for it, and think it sounds like absolute crap when recorded dry. For that reason I NEVER record it with input effects of some kind. For me, recording vocals always involves many many takes during which I first experiment with different effects combinations, and then after I get them right alternate equally between over-focusing on the sound (correct pitch and enunciation, consistent volume level) and screwing up the words, and vice versa. I often end up with multiple half-good vocal tracks and then use cut and paste or even on-the-fly track selection during mixdown to combine into one.

Tom

 

[Sir_Matthew]

Funny that you mention that, I always feel perfectly comfortable singing with zero effects on my voice live, and yet when I get in the studio I feel the need to jack around with a bunch of effects on the vocal. Sometimes I keep them, sometimes I keep it dry, but something about hearing my vocal disembodied from my throat and plunked up into some speakers makes me want to mess it around. Probably listening to Rain Dogs too much...

 

[Oancient1]

It has been many years since I did it live, but it was the same for me - the effects used were whatever the sound guy decided and I didn't worry about it. Of course my live career predated digital effects, so tape echo and reverb were the only thing available.

Tom

 

[Dani Pace]

I've never claimed to be a singer, some people say my voice is ok. Personally I think it works for some songs but is terrible on others.

 

[Lectric_Lab]

I always got "you don't look like you could sing like that" and thats always haunted me, like what am I suppose to look like to sing like I sing....humm, but I've been singing for over thirty years and it doesn't bother me anymore. I really don't like effects on my voice in the studio or live, sometimes a little verb on a ballad. I've fronted 3 piece groups on guitar/vocal, shared the vocals in bands and presently don't sing a lick all night, no mic in front of me and thats cool too...hell I'm almost 60 so I needa break haha

as far as my voice....no I've never liked it, whem I was a kid my dad made a snide remark about my singing, so I lived with that and the confidence factor, but we got to do what we can do and just practice and get better.