Recording your own voice, how come it sounds good to everyone else but you

[bigwillz24]

So i'm in the makeshift booth I.E. the closet with sleeping bags on the walls ready to record a singing verse.

Put the headpones on to monitor have someone press record and away I go.

Problem is after finishing i come out the closet (no pun intended) start listening on the monitors to find out everything i sung is flat and off key a bit.

I go back in to record and try to push even more to find out now i'm clipping and singing out of pitch.

So i take a break get away from the booth and sing the song and nail it outside of the booth.

How can i fix this... Is it the headphones (Elcheapo Sony's),

the microphone (Oktava MK-319),

or is it the fact i just can't sing (i think i can't but everyone urges me to sings hooks and whatnots on there songs for them)

or is something happening in my subconcience whenever my own voice starts being recorded.

 

[JaQsonA1]

I understand how you feel on this one..... When I m recording I think i have all the energy i need and doing everything to make the song sound good but when I hear it it sounds a mess. But my answer for everything is to cut and paste. What I do is sing the verse or chorus 5 or 6 times and I take the best parts from each track and put it all together and I sound like I can really sing. The parts where you are going flat you may want to record those separately and concentrate specifically on that part alone and record it several times until you get it to the point where you like it.

hope this helps!

 

[mikeh]

We all tend to be our own worst critics. Like you, I think my singing is limited at best, but many people (not friends & family) seem to think I sing well. In addition, our voices don't sound like what we think (based on the tone we hear "inside our head") which can be very difficult to adjust to.

Perhaps, you sing better than you think you do!! However, if you are singing flat, out of key, etc - that hopefully is something you can work on. If you think you tone is to nasal, etc. that is something that a vocal coach can help correct.

However, at the end of the day, we all sound like we do (not like someone else) we can either accept that and work with it - or - find others to sing our material.

 

[Ken Breezy]

There are few things you can do to fix this problem.
1. Make sure your at least six inchs for the mic.
2. The mic should be put above your head not directly infront of you. This keeps your airway open and you will not sound as nasaly.
3. Do not have your headphones very loud when your in the booth.


Also, IMO get rid of the Oktava MK-319. Not to say its a bad mic but for the style of music you are doing it is.

 

[MadAudio]

Also, some people find they can hear themselves better if they're just listening to one side of the headphones.

 

[notbradsohner]

i have found that people sing a lot flatter with both sides on. only listen to one side.

 

[grinder]

i have found that people sing a lot flatter with both sides on. only listen to one side.

I agree. Try the one side method or turn your vox way down in the headphone mix.

 

[Moonrider]

Problem is after finishing i come out the closet (no pun intended) start listening on the monitors to find out everything i sung is flat and off key a bit.

I go back in to record and try to push even more to find out now i'm clipping and singing out of pitch.

Give yourself a mono headphone mix, pan to one side, and try singing the vocal with one ear uncovered. You'll hear yourself better, and that will reduce the pitch issues.

 

[mawtangent]

On the subject of peoples viewpoint of their own voices: I know a guy who I think is on a professional level as far as his voice and guitar playing (his version of "Stormy Monday" is great). He is doing some recording with a 4-track and his mixes sound pretty good except he loads his lead vocals with effects (mostly chorus) and overdone back-up vocals. Some of his vocals sound like a space alien is singing they are so unhuman. I couldn't figure out why he was butchering his very good voice. He finally told me he hates his singing voice and it makes some sense now why he is trying to render his natural voice as unrecognizable. I guess everything has a psychological facet to it.

 

[CB_MUSIC2002]

I have the same issue, I think it's a problem with most singers. My producer keeps telling me that everyone wants their vocals low in the mixes most of the time... he likes them to be above everything so they stand out.

I just do it the old fashioned way and record a take and if it doesn't work re-do it until it is the best it can possibly be, I don't worry about nailing the right vocal because I believe that singing is technical but expression isn't and if you can manage it and pull off the feel of the song then you're sorted. I go for mood more than technics... obviously I don't go in and sing shit thinking "Yeah wow the feeling in this is awesome" but that's how I do it. The other way has already been said and that's digitally cut and paste it all... or you could even get one of those vocal thingumybobs that alters your voice so it sounds right if it is that much of a problem... I doubt it is though.

 

[Richard Monroe]

Go CB! I don't think this one ear thing is going to work too well for me, as I'm deaf in one ear, like Phil Specter. No, the answer is not to comp everything. I hate to break it to you, but the answer is experience, which takes time, and all shortcuts suck. OK, I have a friend with the same experience as the original poster. He is also a guitarist. So I asked him, "How many hours have you played a guitar in your life?" He says, "I have no idea- thousands and thousands."
"OK", I say, "How many hours have you spent singing into a mic in a vocal booth with cans on?" He says, "about two". Well duh, how did you sound after playing guitar for 2 hours? Problem is, you may be a singer (or not), but you're not a recording artist yet. This is a separate and distinct skill set from being a singer. When you've spent 1000 hours in a vocal booth tracking, come back and tell me what your problems are, and I'll offer suggestions. What I'm hearing right now is, " I've been doing cross country skiing for a while, so how come when I do this ski jump thing, it's the agony of defeat?"- Richie

BTW- I *have* spent hundreds of hours in a vocal booth. Think about it- it's a 5X7' room with padded walls, one bare lightbulb, a microphone to record anything you say. They bring you trays of bad food, for which you are grateful, if only for the brief human contact. There are no windows, no day or night. You have no watch (it ticks). Sometimes they let you out for work details.
That's not a vocal booth- it's an Iraqi prison cell! If I had a bucket and a weekly beating, it would be a violation of the Geneva convention.

 

[NYMorningstar]

Problem is after finishing i come out the closet (no pun intended) start listening on the monitors to find out everything i sung is flat and off key a bit.
I go back in to record and try to push even more to find out now i'm clipping and singing out of pitch.

If it's coming out flat instead of pushing it try singing above the notes instead of reaching for them.

 

[bigwillz24]

I hate to break it to you, but the answer is experience, which takes time, and all shortcuts suck. OK, I have a friend with the same experience as the original poster. He is also a guitarist. So I asked him, "How many hours have you played a guitar in your life?" He says, "I have no idea- thousands and thousands."
"OK", I say, "How many hours have you spent singing into a mic in a vocal booth with cans on?" He says, "about two". Well duh, how did you sound after playing guitar for 2 hours? Problem is, you may be a singer (or not), but you're not a recording artist yet. This is a separate and distinct skill set from being a singer. QUOTE]

Your right! However, I do no see myself as a singer or recording artist personally, everyone else does, I would much rather be the producing which is what i spend most of my time trying to perfect but when your sitting in a room recording someone for hours that KNOWS THAT THEY CANNOT SING and they finally come to you with a lost look on thier face and sincerely ask you to sing that hook or verse he/she just can't do well what would you do? I admit that i'm no Brain Mcknight, Prince, or Luther Vandross the fact is the Artists believe that I can sing & express the idea they are looking for in there song better than they can, not me. I failed to mention that for recording my own voice I normally just keep singing it till I get it right to me (many times i will do this after the artists have left because they believe that i have nailed it right off the bat but to me it sounds like complete crap) as many of you have pointed out thats what you do. Experience very well may be the "missing link" as I try not to record my voice on a track i produce because I am not comfortable with my singing voice even though I've won numerous talent contest singing.
Maybe I should enroll in a confidence class more than anything. Listen to some of the work I've done in the MP3 Clinic. I sung the Hook/BG Vocals on a track in the last post I made there and Believe me if I had another person to sing those parts I would have because I think I totally ruined my Artists song.

 

[paddyponchero]

Sounds like you need councilling Jokes aside if you have that little confidence in your singing voice it's highly unlikely that you'll sing in key- the only cure for a lack of confidence in singing is to get out and play songwriter nights and other gigs. I have brought friends from singing the odd timid backing vocal to fronting their own bands just by shoving them out on stage at small gigs and venues.