Singing your own song

  • Thread starter Thread starter mrx
  • Start date Start date
Well, yes, I'm kind of wondering myself.....:rolleyes: not the easiest time at the moment, but you'll find a way forward and so will we. I wonder where we'll be a year from now?
 
Garry Sharp said:
Reading through this thread again (thanks mrx for nice words by the way;) ) it occurs to me that I have a slightly different approach, which doesn't centre around "absolute" levels of "good" or "bad", but whether I am learning and improving. I have just broken up my band (so I really empathise with mrx's starting again), parting with the drummer and guitarist not because they weren't "good" enough - they were OK, and anyway I really liked them as people - but there were no signs of improvement over the last few months' rehearsals. We just weren't getting anywhere new; we weren't producing anything that stood out. I learnt a huge amount from putting together, and gigging, an originals band but diminishing returns had set in.

So for what it's worth my view is that it helps more to ask "Is this better - tighter, more original, interesting, arresting etc., than what i was doing a year ago?" than to say "Is this better than x?"

Anyway, a contribution to the debate rather than an emphatic point.
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Hmmm, trouble is how do you know what you're producing now is any 'better' than the stuff you produced a year ago, or ten years ago, it may be different it may sound more contemporary or whatever, but does that make it better?

Reason I say this is that most artists you come across are really into whatever they are doing NOW and tend to think it's their best ever work, they are bored with what they did before. It's a natural way to be, we all like to think we are making progress and going forward. I mean have you ever heard an artist say 'The current album is great, go out and buy it, but it's not as good as the one I did 5 years ago!!'

Sometimes it is only with hindsight that you can really judge one piece of work against another.

I know personaly, which ever song I'm working on currently is the bext one I've ever written, until the next one comes along. Once I have a little collection together then I can really judge them all and pick out the good ones and the not so good!
 
glyn - very good points. However I still think it's possible to sense that you are making progress (or not!), and my point really was that satisfaction, for those of us who have no delusions about the commercial world, lies mostly in that sense of developing a skill.
 
Garry Sharp said:
I wonder where we'll be a year from now?
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Maybe I'll get sacked for posting at work, pack up, move to the UK, and we'll have opened London`s hottest spot: a place featuring live music AND edible food! (although my wife would never survive six months with our dogs in quarantine...)
 
Live music AND edible food...you have got to be joking. Unless you like jazz....:)
 
Garry Sharp said:
I wonder where we'll be a year from now?
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Probably working towards my first CD album, like I am now, and like I was last year at this time!!!

Someone tell me I will get there one day please!!
 
well, I've got enough recorded to fill an album. Only problem is none of it is good enough:(
 
Not good enough?

That can mean several things.
- The songs are good but the recording is crap.
- The recording's great but the songs are crap
- The recording and songs are BOTH crap

One of the problems I've enountered is that I have been writing, recording and LEARNING THE ART OF HOME RECORDING at the same time. So when I listen back to the stuff i did a year ago I find the quality of the recording and arrangement is not as good as I could do now, so the thing gets re-recorded and the schedule put back two weeks, and so it goes...

I'm generaly happy with the songs themselves, just the recording and arrangement lets them down. Thuogh I do occasionaly tweak a lyric later.

Still, at least I didn't put out a sub standard CD a year ago!!
Oh no, I can do THAT next year !!
 
this is why i stuck with coming up with music and writing lyrics and didnt sing.....i parted ways with my vocalist/songwriter also....i even changed genres...i started doing rock rap....I feel alot more accepting of my own voice now...still dont have a singer for some parts I'm intersted in doing. dont miss it that much though
 
style of voice

I guess the problem occurs when your voice has one sound, but you want it to have another.

Eg, you sound like Tiny Tim, but you want to sing like Bon Jovi!!!

If you accept the limitations of your own voice and write to suit it then you can be succesfull. eg Lou Read is not the world's most powerful singer, but hasn't stopped him having a career because his voice is distinctive and he writes FOR his own voice. Bob Dylan's another example.

If someone can hold a tune, then they can sing. It's then a matter of finding the right songs and style for that voice.

If you really can't hold a tune, then you've had it, period (ok I know there are lessons etc etc) but if it's that bad you're never gonna be a great vocalist.

If you can sing, but want to do a style of music for which your voice is not suitable, then you're into the business of having to get another singer to perform your work - frustrating!
 
eg Lou Read is not the world's most powerful singer, but hasn't stopped him having a career because his voice is distinctive and he writes FOR his own voice. Bob Dylan's another example.
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Precisely - I think I attempted to make a similar point to mrx earlier in this thread. Writing for your own voice gives you a huge advantage.

Anyway, how are you getting on mrx?
 
songs

Hello, I suggest taking singing lessons with a qualified teacher numero uno. There is breath control and scale practices that gives you humongus cojones.
Then find ONE good song that you wrote that you KNOW is quality. And sell that song at every open mic you can find every week. When other performers and the audience find the conviction in your voice when you sing it...you will notice it from the stage, people will stop doin what they were doin and listen to your song. You need to have good relative pitch (not absolute or perfect pitch) to keep their interest. You can also try that experiment with a cover song that you perform well. Our open mics in Hartford allow 3 songs or 15 minutes. The singing lessons I took were 35.00 per half hour. I took for about 6 weeks and really progressed. Now I know my range and more importantly what is outside my range. You just gotta get over the sound of your own voice.
 
Garry Sharp said:
Anyway, how are you getting on mrx?
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Still finding it hard to go up and do my own thing. Perhaps recording something and posting would be a suitable 'first step.' I went back and found an old song that will work - something where the focus will be on recording and performance, rather than getting sidetracked with "first, I need to write a NEW song..."

The points made in this thread have been great, and it's just a matter of making the next move. I feel the ghost of Pat Tillman around me lately, lending badly needed support in my battle against the forces of procrastination.
 
Yes, recording and posting would be a good move. You need others around to motivate you sometimes and I'm sure the tender mercies ;) of this forum will help. Reworking an old song also sounds good. Don't dismiss the singing lesson idea that has been mentioned twice now.

We've got two new tracks - getting some bv's down on Sunday and will post them (here for songwriting comments - they won't be full mixes) after that.

later

Garry
 
I've been leary about lessons. I took them once in college and learned a valuable lesson - that pitch can be 'learned', and that with practice most people can name an interval or a note by ear. I've also worked with people who were not good singers, but were big fans of lessons. One guy, in particular, was an incredible guitarist and writer who found himself in a similar position - we couldn't hold on to a good singer so we decided to use his voice. Taking the advice in this thread and gearing the material to his voice might have worked, but after getting roped into lessons he got all technical and started believing he was something he wasn't. It basically turned bad into terrible.

(I won't go into the female 'rock' singers who got hooked on 'coaching' to the point of becoming a 'Three Stooges' opera parody..."

I definitely need to post so we have a frame of reference.
 
Opinions on the voice

MRX, if you just want opinions on your voice sound and qualities etc, why not just record a cover version of a song you feel you can do OK. When you post it here just ask specificaly for help on the voice not the song.

Might be quicker than writing a song first. You might be surprised about the comments you get back (positive) which may help your confidence with writing for your voice.
 
Good point, Gynb - only problem is copyright concerns - some song hosting hosts can get in trouble for that.
 
hey guys speaking of vocals and fitting the melody to the singer....

i don't have a direct link to the song..but if you go on www.platinumaero.com its a link to our bands garageband.com site...our song is called 'break the rock' and i'm the singer...feedback is appreciated :-D

thanks guys
 
mrx said:
'my god, why doesn't his wife stop him...' (Kind of sounds like karaoke...)
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Everybody can sing. Some people have the ears, the pipes and the CONFIDENCE (oh -and the environment) that makes them into 'natural' singers. Other take what they call "singing lessons"

Everbody can sing.

About using a mic - it was *awful* the first few times I did it - and I was recorded. Ugh - also my breath control wasn't great, and my pitch control wasnt great - so I was recorded as being slightly off. so embarrasing.

Well, you know what they use Autotune for? singers who can't keep pitch.

Its *all* aquired skills. True, some people will have better pipes for gettting out a pure clean sound, or for belting a broadway tune. But our art is largely about our individuality.

take lessons. learn to endure the horrible humiliation of listening to your recorded voice. And keep going till you develop confidence in your own unique gift. Don't deprive us of what you have to say.
 
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