My Vocals Suck!!!!

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sondriven

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Maybe this is the wrong place to post this thread, but here goes nothing.

I have to admit this that I basically suck at singing, I can almost carry a tune, but I have to live with the fact that I dont have a good voice. Lately when I have been recording vocals I try to mask my voice with lots of effects, but whats not right is that some songs dont need the funky vocal effects.

Are their any exersises for vocals to try to train yourself how to sing, and or is there any equipment that would help me out.

Heres a link to a new song that I have been working on, please let me know how crappy the vocals are, and yes they are suppost to be distorted. Thanks for the input.

Song for the Unborn(Final Mix)
www.javamusic.com/sondriven

sondriven
 
Funny you should ask... I just posted these two methods in the songwriting
forum here;
1) Two excellent books that each have cd's to do vocal exercises are
"Secrets of Singing" by Jeffrey Allen (get the "male edition"), and
"Set Your Voice Free" by Roger Love.

2) Sing in an acapella group ala barbershop, doo-wop, etc.
It's the best way to "tune" your voice and become more
sensitive to nuances. You can check out the "Society for Preservation
and Encouragement of Barbershop Quartet Singing in America"-
they have their own website for more details. I've been a member
for a number of years and have encountered many singers like
yourself that did very well in a supportive environment.

If it's any encouragment, Roy Orbison in the early stages of his carreer,
and John Lennon throughout his were known to have doubts about
the sound of their voices (fine though they were). You probably have a
better voice than you give yourself credit for as the difference between
having a good ear and having enough technique to narrow the gap of
your vocal expectations takes some time.
 
My Vocals Suck

Well I'm not sure how out of tune you are but if your vocals are off a couple of cents flat or sharp, there is a plug-in called auto tune that will pitch correct you voice. I use it on some of my recordings and it works great.

Bob
 
Hi Bob,

Good to know there's at least one other Newfie around here.

What kind of music do you generally record?

Paul
 
Brad Delp NEVER relied upon Antares Auto Tune to sing a whole choir of vocals and sound perfectly in tune!

A good vocal coach is worth their weight in gold records....:)

Ed
 
The two biggest factors in vocals are pitch accuracy and tone, with vocal range and delivery not far behind.. If you are lacking in the pitch department you can improve from prerecorded courses on CD or cassette.. but as Ed says, a vocal coach can not only cover all the bases, but you’ll have professional feedback on where you need to improve.. and that’s priceless..

Keep recording and listening to yourself.. youll gain some improvement in this alone..

Cy
 
Autotune, Autotune, Autotune.

If you're using ProTools, try out a demo or a warez of this Antares software plugin and see if it helps.

Cheaper than a vocal coach, and quicker.
 
Re: autotune

Autotune is a great tool for someone under a deadline to put out a
recording, however, for the singer who truly wants to improve their
singing ability nothing beats a basic understanding of proper vocal
technique that does justice to the material, along with singing with
other singers, and/or having a vocal teacher.
The website for the barbershop singing is www.spebsqsa.org,
for less than $200/year I'm sure whatever chapter near where you
live will offer you a lot of vocal help along with a great singing "vibe".
It's great to "hangout" with strong singers and sing with them.
If anyone's curious as to the basics required for more advanced
singing for legitimate theatre (including modern r&b, and opera) you're
welcome to post a question for me. Although I passed on completing my
technical work to become an operatic baritone, a lot of vocal knowledge
was passed along to me by my world class vocal teacher who taught
opera singers, pop singers like Jon Anderson of Yes, and members of Earth,
Wind, and Fire, etc. Generally speaking, should you start with formal lessons,
it's best to have a teacher the same sex as yourself as they'll tend to have
a better undestanding of any technical challenges you have (no matter what
they like to tell you!).
 
I totally hate the sound of my own voice. I wish I had more bass in it. Instead it's thin and stupid. If I could I'd strap my harmonizer under my shirt and detune it a few whole steps down. Then I'd go out and talk to people all day.
 
autotune is crap.

if the voice sucks it will still suck when it's tuned. so autotune won't help you improve the sound of your voice...
and if you HAVE a great sounding voice but you have pitch-problems autotune isn't the right thing either because you definitely hear it - it might turn your good sounding out-of-tune voice into a bad sounding in-tune voice. ha, great!

autotune is fine for vocals that will be processed with a ton of other effects anyway, when you don't need a natural sounding voice.

make a dance-track, get the next fine looking chick from the street, let her 'sing' something, autotune it, shoot a clip where she's shaking everything she got, send it all to mtv... might work. ;)
 
Auto tune. Uncle Crack head or what ever has it all over his single. I think there are one or two parts that I cant hear it. If you have to rely on auto tune you suck. Now if its the best take that you could ever get and one or two notes are out that rocks. It's when it becomes part of every single song that makes in uncool.
 
Thank god sensible people still exist in the world! :D

I wonder sometimes........

I have worked with many singers who at some point in the past, or presently work with vocal coaches. They ALWAYS wind up being very easy to record. They have control of their dynamics, tone, and intonation. Who needs fucking Autotune when the performer can just nail a part in one or two takes? I tend to get the sound I want to tape with vocals, utilizing high pass filters to rid of rumble, so I don't need to apply eq at all. Throw a bit of reverb or delay and the vocal is ready to go.

Having a better command of your voice, which WILL result from good vocal instruction, means that many more pallates and textures and available to you. This equals potential creativity (you can't teach someone to be creative, or creative in a way that has universal appeal, but that is another rant.....). So, the benefits of working with a vocal coach are numorous, and you will gain things Autotune will NEVER provide for you, as well as pretty much negate the need for Autotune.

I only used one example earlier about an excellent singer who didn't need some nifty computer code to make excellent sounding music. There are thousands of great sounding recordings that never even seen one piece of digital components in it's creation. These performers "aspired" to become masters of their instrument, and spent the time to learn the basics, and actually practiced! This is attainable to most anybody who actually puts in some effort to do it! I am not saying that a vocal coach will make you a world class singer, but, you will learn the tools that most world class singers have, and the rest is up to you. Practice practice practice.....Along the way, your ear will become VERY intuned to fine nuance and asthetics in sound. This is when you will hear how crap band aid fixerup shit like Autotune sounds horrible!

Yes, Antares Autotune was created by the devil himself to punish the unholy in music! ;)

I recently mixed some stuff for a band who hired a guy to Autotune the vocal tracks. I think they wasted their money. You could hear where the DSP effected the resolution of the recording. What is funny is that I have recorded two different songs with this same singer, and he had excellent intonation. I didn't hear enough of a difference in intonation between the raw tracks I recorded and the Autotune tracks they had on other songs to justify mucking up a good sound to tape by shifting a few spots a couple of cents.

Drum machines, pitch shifters, read ahead limiters. This is the stuff that has made modern recordings bland, dull, lifeless, and without character. Everyone get's that same sound now. Perfect! That is really interesting to listen to.

Be bold and daring, and actually learn to be good at something! This will make you a rarity in modern music.

A very tired of hearing all the same crutches......
Ed
 
Thanks Ed! I suspected that autotune tends to degrade the vocals as a lot of the newer songs sound vocally "processed" to me, particularly during the "harmonies", compared
to really singing well. Since you'll probably see my post... is there any possibility of
having a "singer's forum" at this bbs? Guidance from experienced singers could certainly save a lot of wasted time (and $ if they choose the wrong vocal teacher!),
for an aspiring vocalist. And/or a "FAQ" section on this bbs for general vocal help.......?
 
Re: singer's forum/FAQ's

Maybe my question about a new forum should have been directed
towards Dragon-sorry if I broke protocol! I just figured that Ed with over 2000 posts would have a good idea on how likely this
could occur.
 
i tried to listen but got a "page could not be displayed"
message on the mp3 and the lo-fi version
 
Hey chessparov, no protocol broken at all! :) Me and Dragon are pretty tight concerning the BBS, he DOES however ultimately makes the decisions, but I have a bit of sway with him....:D

A vocalist section might not be such a bad idea. I mean, vocals ARE the MOST important thing in Pop recordings eh? ;) I will talk to Dragon about it. Good idea.

Yes, Autotune is the evil of modern recording. Drum machines, sound fonts, all of it! Garbage!!! I could give a rats ass who disagree's with me on this. Too much of the modern radio songs have a horrible sound to it, and much of this is due too how easy it is to make trite, low resolution, blah produced so easily.

It would seem that people have forgetten what good audio actually sounds like, and good songs, and good talent.

Call me the cranky old guy! But you will never hear Autotune on ANY of the recordings I will ever post for you all to hear. I can barely stand listening to a damn POD! :(

Ed
 
I think everyone has some tendency to get too caught up in "technology" or whatever if you're couped up in a basement studio all alone for an extended period. My suggestion? Go to a blues club and take in some real "organic" music - that's what I did last night (Eddie Kirkland was featured). One night and my whole perspective has been refreshed.

Autotune? POD? Fruity Loops? Say any of these words in the company of these guys and you'd probably be licking concrete within five seconds.
 
No shit psmith66! :)

I worked with a guy one time who didn't even want me to use compressors on anything! A nice change.....;)

Fruity Loops! Now there is something right out of the Devils own studio!!!

Ed
 
Re: singer's forum

Thanks Ed for your support of a singer's forum. Now we'll hope to God no
one suggests an "Autotune Forum"! Here's to real singers and real
musicians. In "All You Need Is Ears", George Martin tells the story of how
one famous operatic soprano had to have her high C's recorded by another
top soprano as she took ill during a recording project. Someone leaked it
at the record company and it was a HUGE deal! (Those were the days...)

P.S. If Dragon adds a "singers forum" I bet it will add many more members.
(Although this website is already impressive)
 
Just a couple things to get everybody worked up about:

I sold my ampeg reverbrocket amp to get a pod cause I live in a crappy small apartment and cant really record (to get a good tone I had to crank it to "10"), the neighbors arent that nice.

I do use fruity loops $100, for the sampling synths and drum looping, I find my own samples - the preset samples are no good to me, again I am in a space that will not allow bashing of snares a cymbals. Plus dont want to spend 5 years learning how to play.Not my intention, I want to play guitar as main instrument.

At this point, I sing the best I can, true I probably dont have the greatest voice, but I want it to be in tune until I get better down the road.

Until a band starts, its me and only myself getting some songs to sound good. I dont have a million bucks to spend on awesome recording gear.

Sorry this all came out like a wench, but I believe my question was about my vocals and what to do about my personal dilemma. And Im not that guy who can cut a vocal track in one or two takes.

If anyones interested, Im ditching javamusic cause I hear nothing but bad things and am trying iuma instead. Let me know if its the same as java.

http://sondriven.iuma.com

Thanks for letting me rant.

john
 
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