how can i improve my vocals on this song?

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sandwiches

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hi...

i've been recording this new song lately, and well, i've been having trouble recording the vocals and being so inexperienced, i can't really pick out what i'm doing wrong.

is my singing inherently out of tune or is my voice just not strong enough or just not suited to the song? for one thing, it doesn't feel like im singing too high or anything, because it doesn't hurt my voice to reach the notes and i don't seem to be straining.

please have a listen, it's a small clip, and contains the first verse and chorus.

it's called 'the balloon man'
and is at...

http://www.nowhereradio.com/waiholiu/singles

the last track

thank you to those whom provide valuable constructive response.
 
sandwich............

Simplify your melody line.
If you are fairly new to singing keep your melody line as simple as the song will allow.
As you gain more experience it will become more natural.
You will eventually find YOUR voice, which is the ONLY voice you will ever need.
So much of singing is confidence.
And you get that from doing something a lot............
Good Luck man:)
 
Re: sandwich............

HevyD47Ca said:
Simplify your melody line.
If you are fairly new to singing keep your melody line as simple as the song will allow.
As you gain more experience it will become more natural.
You will eventually find YOUR voice, which is the ONLY voice you will ever need.
So much of singing is confidence.
And you get that from doing something a lot............
Good Luck man:)
Click to expand...

can i ask what you meant by "simplify your melody line" i would've thought it's as simple as it would allow. the song just seems like a typical rock/pop song, and the song in itself seems really slow.
 
your vocal line is jumping all over the place melodically.
As a new singer, you need to simplify what you sing.
No matter what the style, you have to make people believe you know what you are doing and BELIEVE what you are singing.

This is just my opinion so take it for what it is worth:
appr. $.02:D
 
I'm certainly no expert, but I have heard experts say that your supposed to sing from your diaphragm rather than your throat.

This pushes more air through the vocal chords and gives you more volume, but you have to practise to be able to control it
 
Hi Sandwiches,

HevyD47Ca said simplify it. I agree, and here are some specific time references.

0:28 and 0:45 - you're going for the Mariah Carey sound, yep? My advice, don't, just sing it straight.

0:50 and 1:02 - why are you going all the way up there? Just stay where you are, it's OK.

1:12 - you're singing "uh-us". Why not just sing "us"?

Generally all over the song it sounds like you're affecting a vocal style that isn't yours. The end result sounds false and strained.
Sing it straight, and concentrate on the tuning. Once you've got that down, you can try adding "fancy bits".

Hope this helps.
Mscmln.
 
Musichameleon said:
Hi Sandwiches,

HevyD47Ca said simplify it. I agree, and here are some specific time references.

0:28 and 0:45 - you're going for the Mariah Carey sound, yep? My advice, don't, just sing it straight.

0:50 and 1:02 - why are you going all the way up there? Just stay where you are, it's OK.

1:12 - you're singing "uh-us". Why not just sing "us"?

Generally all over the song it sounds like you're affecting a vocal style that isn't yours. The end result sounds false and strained.
Sing it straight, and concentrate on the tuning. Once you've got that down, you can try adding "fancy bits".

Hope this helps.
Mscmln.
Click to expand...


hey mate...

yeah after giving it a rest for a few days and listening to it, maybe the song is a little too "difficult" for me. in the past, a song was out of reach only when it was out of my vocal range, but i guess there's a lot to learn about singing the right melody line too.

i think the best way to do this is to tab out exactly what i'm singing, and then sing it along with the piano. that will help me 'learn' the melody line probably. i'm hesitant to change the melody line though to make it more comfortable for me as i think learning to do it like i've initially written it will be a challenging learning experience.

also, i've gotta cut the falsetto stuff out. my falsetto sucks and i use it basically as a substitute for notes i can't hit with my normal voice. however, i've learnt lately, that if i train my normal voice up, i can reach those falsetto notes.

thanks for your responses.
 
You know, I think you actually know what you're doing on here...in terms of note selection...I mean, you're not wavering around looking for your note. I have an opinion that might help on this particular song. It's true that you're supposed to sing with support from your gut (diaphram) instead of from your throat, and you're definitely singing from your throat here, but it's not against the law to do it on the right song...the problem with this one, I think, is that you're actually singing it a little too full voice for the song. I'd love to hear you almost whisper singing this, and I think it would work great....it also helps cover up some pitchiness that might be bugging you some.

for an example of what I think an EXCELLENT example of this "technique" is, listen to the first verse of the song posted here:

http://recordingproject.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?t=1092

Maybe give it a shot...Oh, and I thought the falsetto IDEA was great, you just need to back off the mic when you do it...most people get quieter when they go falsetto...you got louder, and it's just kinda' jarring.

Anyway, I think you can do this in a way that you'll like. Don't give up on the sound and the way you hear it in your head just b/c it doesn't sound right right away.

Good post, btw. (mic the freaking gits, lol).
 
chrisharris said:
You know, I think you actually know what you're doing on here...in terms of note selection...I mean, you're not wavering around looking for your note. I have an opinion that might help on this particular song. It's true that you're supposed to sing with support from your gut (diaphram) instead of from your throat, and you're definitely singing from your throat here, but it's not against the law to do it on the right song...the problem with this one, I think, is that you're actually singing it a little too full voice for the song. I'd love to hear you almost whisper singing this, and I think it would work great....it also helps cover up some pitchiness that might be bugging you some.

for an example of what I think an EXCELLENT example of this "technique" is, listen to the first verse of the song posted here:

http://recordingproject.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?t=1092

Maybe give it a shot...Oh, and I thought the falsetto IDEA was great, you just need to back off the mic when you do it...most people get quieter when they go falsetto...you got louder, and it's just kinda' jarring.

Anyway, I think you can do this in a way that you'll like. Don't give up on the sound and the way you hear it in your head just b/c it doesn't sound right right away.

Good post, btw. (mic the freaking gits, lol).
Click to expand...


hey buddy

thanks for your opinion... but just as a clarify... what do u mean by "too full voice". im unfamiliar with the vocal lingo still. and i have a feeling it is something important.

see, i've had a few lessons lately and the guy taught me how to sing through my diagrapham. it has helped me heaps as its made it heaps easier to sing, but it will probably take more time before i can get myself sounding better also.

i think my problem is that im trying to sing as loud as i can. that's what the guy tells me to do when we go through the scales. but for a song, maybe i should just try to sing more with feeling instead.

also, monitoring is also been a problem. in order to stop the guitar appearing in the vocal track, i tried turning it down really low and maybe in some places, it made me lose my pitch because i couldn't hear it. i might use headphones or something.

by the way, chrisharris, i listened to one of your tracks on your webpage called "no", i don't know where to put the opiniion, and i was only listening in lo-fi but i thoguht it was pretty awesome. it wasn't my style but the quality was great for home recording. good stuff.
 
and ill listen to that other track when i get the time, im on 56k and that means it takes a while to download a full song, instead of streaming
 
sandwiches said:
i think my problem is that im trying to sing as loud as i can. that's what the guy tells me to do when we go through the scales. but for a song, maybe i should just try to sing more with feeling instead.

also, monitoring is also been a problem. in order to stop the guitar appearing in the vocal track, i tried turning it down really low and maybe in some places, it made me lose my pitch because i couldn't hear it. i might use headphones or something.
Click to expand...

Yeah, man. Vocal coaches are wonderful, but you have to kinda' ditch the "1 way is right all the time" mentality that they try to drill into you. For a pop song that's really slow and melodic, it would sound ridiculous if somebody sang it with a belly full of air and full on vibrato, right? You nailed what I was trying to say. Oh, and "too full voice" was pretty vague of me. I just meant that, even though you're singing this softly, you might try singing even softer. I can hear this in my head with your melody, just sung more (*gulp* "Coldplay"), lol...and it's a great idea. But when it comes right down to it, the IMPORTANT part is that you need to sing it the way that it feels most natural to you...I stray away from some people here, but I think that home recording is one of the areas where you really don't need to be as concerned with "technique," because you can do it in parts...(you don't need to save your voice), and you have the ability to turn it up later (so you don't need to give the audience maximum volume). Emotion and pitch are, to me, the most important parts of catching a vocal performance.

As far as monitoring goes, yeah man...lol..use headphones to monitor. I find it really helpful to take one of the cans off so I can hear the room and my voice in it, and listen to the mix through the other one, but that's also how I play live (1 in ear monitor), so I'm used to it...just experiment until you find what works for you, but I DEFINITELY think headphones should be part of the equation somewhere. (thanks for the comments on "No," btw...it's a good mix b/c somebody else did most of it, lol...I just mixed the vocals).
 
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