I dont understand - Mic and Vocal

[jerberson12]

Howdy

Everytime I sing by myself (just jammin around) without recording, it sounds pretty good, everything is on the right pitch. When I start recording the same song through my V67 and not having to add any effects or autotunes or any of that, it sounds horrible, im always loosing pitch.

Does that has something to do with micing technique, the type of mic or is it just me that sucks?

PS Im ready to hear from you that I suck

 

[danny.guitar]

Miking technique causing pitch problems?

Sorry dude I think you just can't sing in tune. If a lot of people who do karaoke and whatnot heard themselves on a recording, I don't think they'd get back on stage.

Just practice on signing in pitch. It's much easier when you have the ability to record yourself and listen back to how you really sound.

 

[chessrock]

One of four things is happening ...

1) You're singing off-key and you're unaware of it. Listening back to a recording shines a light on your pitch issues and tells you the ugly truth.

2) Your pitchiness really isn't that bad, but listening to yourself recorded causes you to be overly critical of yourself, and every little pitch issue that other people might not notice is magnified to you, given your self-critical nature. I work with tons of singers who are like this. It's usually the really good ones. If you're not that good, then chances are you don't fall in to this category (Hint: most people aren't that good).

3) You sing differently when the recording light is on. Perhaps you're nervous or prohibited when tracking, which translates to pitch propblems because you're "over-shooting" on some notes or because you're thinking too much.

4) You're not monitoring very well (not a good balance between your vocal and the music in your headphones), and perhaps you need to try tracking with "one ear on and one ear off" with the phones. If you're not hearing yourself or the music properly, then it's nearly impossible to be on key.


As for which one of the four it is ... none of us can tell from reading a post on an online forum like this one. I'd have to work with you and be present in your setting in order to tell you which one it is ... but you should be able to narrow it down and figure out for yourself. If you can't, then it's probably 1. I gotta' be honest with ya ... statistically speaking, most people aren't that good, so it's not the end of the world if you can't sing on key. Most people don't.

 

[RightOnMusic]

definitely what chessrock said is right on. i find that the way i hear myself when i sing is NOT the way other people hear me. the vibrations of my voice resonate through my skull and resonant cavities and cause me to hear a slightly different voice than everyone else hears. thats why people typically freak out the first time they hear themselves recorded and say "do i really sound like that???". a recording is much less forgiving than our own ears are while we're singing.

 

[fishkarma]

I think mabe some tuneing software may be in order if you cant sing and have to!
try melodyne or auto tune they might help if your "somewhere in the ball park"!

not saying your a bad singer but you could be and im giving a worst case answer just in case!

if you are and wanna get better vocal lab is free!

 

[fraserhutch]

I doesn't matter if you sing or play an instrument. The first time you record yourself you generally get the shit shocked outta ya. It's an real eye-opener (or ear-opener, if you will).

Learn from it It's a wonderful tool for learning how to sing/play an instrument.

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

Iif you are and wanna get better vocal lab is free!

Actually for those who wish to go to bed with a clean conscience, it's $15 Still a drop in the bucket, though.

I'm wondering if there's a comparable product for Windows?

G.

 

[fishkarma]

Whoops my bad i got it free off a mac formant mag!

theres online stuff and plenty of free "perfect pitch" courses online too!
my guess is that they might help with reletive pitch but perfect. (lets not get into the debate of whether it can or cant be learned)

 

[taeyoung]

One of four things is happening ...

2) Your pitchiness really isn't that bad, but listening to yourself recorded causes you to be overly critical of yourself, and every little pitch issue that other people might not notice is magnified to you, given your self-critical nature. I work with tons of singers who are like this. It's usually the really good ones. If you're not that good, then chances are you don't fall in to this category (Hint: most people aren't that good).

Very nice post, chess. Also, I think that #2 doesn't get brought up very often, but I run into all the time! I am working with people, and I think everything sounds GREAT, and they are like "hmm, I don't like the inflection I do there, and that part was on pitch but could have been better, I don't like the way my voice sounds there..."

It's so annoying, because to me it sounds great, and I think some people just don't like to hear their own voice, without realizing that to the rest of us, it sounds just fine and not unusual at all.

Although, I doubt that's what the situation is here, sorry

Just had to bring this up

 

[Dani Pace]

As already mentioned, the way we hear ourselves (natural) and the way we really sound (recorded) are often quite different. We hear ourselves from the inside of our ears when we just sing, when we record our voice then play it back then we hear our voice from the outside (the way we sound to others.) If you are using a decent mic and recorder, played back through decent monitors, you should be hearing cloce to what you really sound like. The only way I know of to make the voice on the recording sound the way you want it to is practice making it sound like what you want to hear. Sing, record, analize, try something different on the parts you don't like. Repeat this over and over untill you hear what you want on the recording. Have patience, I don't think many people are pleased with the sound of their own voices when they first start recording.