Singing advice needed please

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Junior33

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Im just getting into recording myself singing. All the singing Ive ever done has been just me and an accoustic in front of a few friends. I find that I have a great voice.....half the time. It's like I reach the right frame of mind but cant hold it or something. Also I find I sing better, more consistently if I'm playing an instrument at the same time, but sometimes that's not practical for a given situation. So, you see, I want to know that when I open my mouth, the great voice I know I have will come out. I dont want to have to always search for it. What can you tell me besides "get a voice instructor" (duh)? Please direct me to another forum if this isn't the best one. Thank you.
 
Junior33 said:
Im just getting into recording myself singing. All the singing Ive ever done has been just me and an accoustic in front of a few friends. I find that I have a great voice.....half the time. It's like I reach the right frame of mind but cant hold it or something. Also I find I sing better, more consistently if I'm playing an instrument at the same time, but sometimes that's not practical for a given situation. So, you see, I want to know that when I open my mouth, the great voice I know I have will come out. I dont want to have to always search for it. What can you tell me besides "get a voice instructor" (duh)? Please direct me to another forum if this isn't the best one. Thank you.
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I run into these kinds of things, too. Anytime I record anything live, my vocals are way bettet - just seems like anytime I'm strumming a guitar while I sing my singing is 100% better. One thing I've found that helps is to track your songs and then do another vocal after all the instruments are added. In other words, do your rythm instrument, then do your vocals (or however you do it) then finish off all the instruments in the song. Next mute the vocals and sing it while all the instruments are playing - seems to help me a bit. I guess if you're already doing this just keep practicing - like anything else, the more you do it the better you will get.
 
Junior33 said:
Im just getting into recording myself singing.
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This may be the problem. See if you can get someone to help you, even if it's to rewind and hit record. I have a problem getting good takes when I have to worry about the details of running the recording session at the same time. Even if just set up your DAW to loop record, that may even help you get in the groove more.

If you use headphones to monitor yourself, try leaving the HP's off one ear. Or try singing along with the music on your monitors with the vocal track muted. You'll get some bleed but it may be worth it for a better performance. Just something different about how your ears give your mind/voice feedback about what you're singing that's different between hearing yourself through the resonances of your own head and a electronically reproduced version of it.

Cheers, good luck.
 
I am not one to give advice...I even admit my voice sounds gay...seriously...and over a microphone...well...it's amplified so I just stick to jazz music where someone else can kick my ass at singing. However, my jazz guitar instructions have wanted me to be able to sing...and to help with ear trainging, and for imporvisation...so I had to...even if I mumbled they wanted the note out.

So...from someone who was never meant to sing...you want to really make sure you're relaxed. Just like if you know you're going to fail a test; you sometimes do. Go in there like you're (insert favorite singer here) and don't be afraid. People know when your afraid...that's for all musicians. Relax, be comical...whatever it takes.

Open your throat. I know that sounds incredible bad. But the same theory applies to trumpet (Which I have been playing for a good 6 years)...if your airway is constricted...the air will come out constricted and tinny and non-aimable (Is that a word?).

PLay loudly (sing loudly) when I was first taught trumpet I was taught that even if I screw up, doing it loudly will help to get the sound out. A lot of people sing kind of soft and it is very airy (practically impossible not to do with many years of experience) but you do sound good...even if you don't...when you're in your car screaming away (or whatever kind of music you're listening to) with the vocals. You might not have the right pitch, notes, etc. But you have the feeling and the drive...which is (sometimes) even more important.

Practice...like anything.
 
send some reverb to your vocals on your headphone mix(not the main mix). this should give you a bit more confidence when you sing.
 
Here's what you've got to do. Crank up the track in your cans. As loud as you can possibly get it, and keep it sounding clean. Then take one off, or turn yourself as loud as you can still hear yourself clearly, but not loudly.

The reason you sing better when you're playing, is because you can hide behind the guitar. I am the same way. I cannot sing unless the music is loud enough. Lately I've gotten better at it, but I know how it is.

This is how I've recorded, and it's worked for me.

Maybe I'm wrong.
Chris
 
PushtoVent said:
Here's what you've got to do. Crank up the track in your cans.

Chris
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If you have the cans up too loud, it will cause you to sing flat. It's one of those weird perception things.
 
I've struggled with this for along time also. I basically came to the conclusion that I can't sing. :eek: This is no joke! In fact, I just gave it up for a long time. But then, I came back to the recording process and decided to go get voice lessons. I figured: ask the guy if I am a lost cause and then I'll know for sure that I can't do it. Presto! The voice teacher really really helped a lot.

The main thing you have to learn is how to sing on pitch without any instruments. Once you have mastered the pitch control, then you can sing with anything. It sounds simplistic, but yes, it boils down to that one simple thing: can you carry a tune? Listen to your voice alone and work on it until you have the tune down.

There are many things that you need to do with your throat, breath, lungs, diaphram, and even down in your gut that most people don't understand. A good voice teacher can train you to master all these elements.

If a bad singer like me can pick it up, then anyone can do it.

But, then, the question comes down to whether the style or sound of your voice is good or not. That's not so easy to fix, merely by technique alone.
 
Junior33 said:
Im just getting into recording myself singing.
Click to expand...

I had a similar problem, and what I found after talking to some experts (vocal teachers, even a ENT (ear, nose, throat) specialist, is that recording medium picks up your voice differently than your ears do, because your voice is going in through your ears to your ear drums, but also the vibrations are travellilng there INTERNALLY through your throat, along your jaw, etc. You need to do as was advised, and learn to sing without a crutch like an instrument, and practice acapella into a recording device of some sort, and just get used to the way your voice sounds recorded. That will help you make adjustments so that you can sound great when you record.
Hope this helps. ;)
 
when u first record yourself doing anything, you to yourself will sound bad. But the good thing is that the tape won't lie. When your playing by yourself you might wave a mistake or 2 but on tape it isn't that easy to do that. When i first started recording myself play guitar I realized how much my timing sucked. So what did I do? I worked on it. And I still work on it 5 years later. Not because I can't play in time, but because I'm my own worst critic. Which everyone should be.

And don't frown on taking lessons. Having an attitude like that will cause you do almost degress because you might be practicing the wrong vocal techniques. The human voice is just as much an instrument as a guitar, keyboard, or a set. Just like an instrument, there are certain techniques to singing effectively and effeciently, and other people who are better than you and me have proven this time and time again. Even though music is an art you still need to be as educated about it as possible. Rarely do people get it right without proper help.

I'm a guitarist so I'll use the Satch as an example. That dude can play, but since he's self taught 1stly he's not keen on every guitar technique that's possible, so he uses what he knows as a crutch, and 2ndly when he talks about music he almost sounds like an idiot. He calls technique "physicality" and he "invented" something called the pitch axis theory which is basically modal interchange, but dummed down a bit.

So be open and consider lessons. It's not like your going to learn something that will make you worse, or rob you of your musical identity. Quite the contrary..... So take what you need from them and use them to reach your own artistic vision. That after all is the ultimate goal........ isn't it??


~darknail
 
I think an important thing to remeber is that there isn't such a thing as a 'wrong' voice, only the wrong voice for a particular song.

So if you're writing songs that need an Axel Rose, but your voice sounds like Tiony Tim then you've got problems! But only because you're not doing the right material for your voice!

Bob Dylan and Lou read are not the greatest singers, but they write material to fit their own vocal style and it sounds great.

providing you can hit the notes you can sing, then it's down to technique which you can work on and finding the right songs for your voice.
 
" Just like if you know you're going to fail a test; you sometimes do."

I've had good luck on tests by tricking them into thinking I was going to do really well. Sit down, roll the sleeves back, stretch the hands, all with a "test... you are going DOWN" attitude. Works pretty well.

Haha, related to that, I heard a guy in class today telling someone that on his final in some class he wrote to the teacher in an answer why he should get a C- in the class intead of a D+.

About singing, I sometimes find that older stuff of mine I just cant sing well anymore... like I just have a lot more problems with poor breathing and stuff than I would if I'm just jamming something off the top of my head. The trick with leaving off one phone, or using the monitors that people suggested can be pretty effective sometimes.
 
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