Vocal help!

  • Thread starter Thread starter elenore19
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elenore19

elenore19

Slowing becoming un-noob.
I'm not sure if this site is really the place to ask about this, but it has had every answer that I have needed. Alright, so.

I'm wondering how to improve my vocals. I have recorded some songs of the band I'm in and everyone has said they are pretty good except that the vocals are just bringing everything down. I live in a small town and I don't have the opportunity to find someone to teach me.
Does anyone know of some good techniques? Or anything that would help improve my vocals. I have been singing on my own for quite a while and I didn't think I was that bad, but yeah. I want to improve. Any help would be awesome! thanks so much!

-Elliot
 
Well this is quite a general question, I've been studying vocal technique recently and there's just a lot of stuff going on with your body in order to produce voice, that you need to take care of loads of stuff in order to produce a good sound. But first I might ask, what kind of music do you sing? because that probably determines if you use your throat a lot to scream or reach high raspy notes (BAD technique and very very bad for your vocal cords, i.e. screamo, hardcore and that kinda stuff), or you just want to sing something more intimate or soft, which takes a lot of breathing and posture exercises.
I'm afraid your question won't be able to be answered like "yeah do this and do that and you're done", because you need a lot of practice, a lot of teaching (bad luck you can't find any in your hometown), but what I would recommend is that you listen to good examples of singers and try to get familiar with their sound and the way their voice comes out, and try to mimic them yourself, not in the sense of "you have to sing like them", but in order to get a kind of correct sense of voice control.
Oh yeah and if you smoke, drink a lot, scream a lot, etc., your vocal cords will get eroded with time.

So what kind of music do you sing/listen to as a good singing model? Maybe if I could listen to something I could tell you a bit better.
If everyone says "it's bringing everything down", I'm betting you need to practice intonation at the very first. Anyway this is a guess, I'd need to listen to your singing.
 
I think that one of the best things that you can practice, on your own, without coaching, is word pronunciation. Listen *very closely* to how a few good singers in your chosen genre pronounce words. Mimic those sounds. There are a few really tricky ones that you have to work out. The long, drawn out "eeeeeee" sound. It can really sound nasal if done wrong. The "er" sound at the end of the word never. A bunch of others. Takes practice.
 
Nick98338 said:
I think that one of the best things that you can practice, on your own, without coaching, is word pronunciation. Listen *very closely* to how a few good singers in your chosen genre pronounce words. Mimic those sounds. There are a few really tricky ones that you have to work out. The long, drawn out "eeeeeee" sound. It can really sound nasal if done wrong. The "er" sound at the end of the word never. A bunch of others. Takes practice.
Click to expand...

Yeah basically your whole face has to be free of tension. Correct sound has to come out by the use of your tongue in the case of vowels, practicing correct chest positioning and breathing, and opening your mouth in a 0 shape, trying to lay zero tension on your jaws, cheeks, lips, eyebrows, etc.
It involves several voice registers (chest, head, falsetto voice, etc.), practicing to smoothen out the boundaries and transitions between them, etc. etc. ...
 
rf1 said:
Well this is quite a general question, I've been studying vocal technique recently and there's just a lot of stuff going on with your body in order to produce voice, that you need to take care of loads of stuff in order to produce a good sound. But first I might ask, what kind of music do you sing? because that probably determines if you use your throat a lot to scream or reach high raspy notes (BAD technique and very very bad for your vocal cords, i.e. screamo, hardcore and that kinda stuff), or you just want to sing something more intimate or soft, which takes a lot of breathing and posture exercises.
I'm afraid your question won't be able to be answered like "yeah do this and do that and you're done", because you need a lot of practice, a lot of teaching (bad luck you can't find any in your hometown), but what I would recommend is that you listen to good examples of singers and try to get familiar with their sound and the way their voice comes out, and try to mimic them yourself, not in the sense of "you have to sing like them", but in order to get a kind of correct sense of voice control.
Oh yeah and if you smoke, drink a lot, scream a lot, etc., your vocal cords will get eroded with time.

So what kind of music do you sing/listen to as a good singing model? Maybe if I could listen to something I could tell you a bit better.
If everyone says "it's bringing everything down", I'm betting you need to practice intonation at the very first. Anyway this is a guess, I'd need to listen to your singing.
Click to expand...
Alright, yeah that all makes sense, Thanks.

I sing sometimes some 'nicer soothing' stuff...but mainly I would like to have a good voice for sort of punk vocals...or actually, I love Matt Bellamy's voice from Muse. But yes, there is what type of music I sort of sing into. and here...

www.myspace.com/freakerswithspeakers

I don't sing on Choreography...

On 10,000 Leagues Under The Free I'm the second voice to come in the chorus...."...the way we thrive....the lies of the powerful..." and so on. You'll see what I mean

on Some Things Are Better Left Said I'm the singer during the choruses. "I dont really want to fight...." yada yada yada. You'll hear it.

Thanks for the help :)
 
Hey elenore19, I listened to your songs, and I think the thing you must work out first is not singing with your throat... because this could feel very comfortable when you're singing pitches in your regular range of speaking, but when you try to reach high notes, your throat gets jammed, you need to make some grins to get the unaccurate note come out and you'll end up aphonic (unable to speak for a bit, if you do this a lot)... My point is, when you are really forcing your throat to create a note, your air flow is not constant, so this makes your vocal cords vibrate at not a steady note, so that's why both vocalists (you and your friend) were out of key.

You can try singing to very soft melodies trying to stay very tuned but also controlling how air flows through your chest and back of your soft palat (you will feel vibrations in these areas, not in your throat... which makes it waaay more healthy), this way you can practice air flow and also colocating your voice, not using your throat.

I guess throat singing is kind of fundamental to punk-like music like yours, but you need to watch out because this can damage your voice severely if abused... say Underoath's screamer won't have any voice in 10 years. I know this isn't your case, though, just an example.

elenore19 said:
or actually, I love Matt Bellamy's voice from Muse. But yes, there is what type of music I sort of sing into.
Click to expand...

I LOOOVE Muse and Matt's voice! that's a greaaat example of a good, nice, controlled voice... if you listen carefully, he doesn't need to force his throat in order to reach high notes, his voice doesn't sound saturated at all.
You can practice singing to songs like Endlessly, for example... that's awesome for breathing practice.

Good luck!
 
elenore19 said:
Alright, yeah that all makes sense, Thanks.

I sing sometimes some 'nicer soothing' stuff...but mainly I would like to have a good voice for sort of punk vocals...or actually, I love Matt Bellamy's voice from Muse. But yes, there is what type of music I sort of sing into. and here...

www.myspace.com/freakerswithspeakers

I don't sing on Choreography...

On 10,000 Leagues Under The Free I'm the second voice to come in the chorus...."...the way we thrive....the lies of the powerful..." and so on. You'll see what I mean

on Some Things Are Better Left Said I'm the singer during the choruses. "I dont really want to fight...." yada yada yada. You'll hear it.

Thanks for the help :)
Click to expand...


Nice rip of Keller Williams for the name, but thats beside the point.


-jeffrey
 
OhSh1rt said:
Nice rip of Keller Williams for the name, but thats beside the point.


-jeffrey
Click to expand...
Oh you mean the whole 20,000 leagues under the sea movie or whatever? ha, yeah. We were joking with 10,000 leagues under the free at first, then decided to keep it because we liked the sound of it. But yeah.

-Elliot
 
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