What if your vocals suck

  • Thread starter Thread starter walshinator666
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walshinator666 said:
Yes I understand practise,practise,practise but in the mean time is there anyway to "polish the turd" at least enough to make it not so laughable?I'm having fun with it but would like to make it better.
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Yes. Do what I do. Don't sing. Recite. Or, if you insist on singing, afterwards, load it up in a sampler, and completely fuck it up with LFOs modulating pitch every which way, granular processing, etc. In other words, make it sound like anything but singing.

If you insist on your vocals having some semblense of actual singing, then learn to sing. Simple. Problem solved.
 
benage said:
Nice.

To be honest I've only ever used it on my singing, which is alright usually, to thicken it up, but Ive heard people say 'double tracking can cover all manner of singing errors' so I thought I'd throw it in. Sure it'll probably still sound like dick, but it'll be a thick dick.
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Double tracking is something people have been doing for a long time, and it can suck or sound great. The Beatles had a switch on their console called ADT for "automatic double tracking". It's something that came from playing reel to reel tracks in playback vs record mode together.

It could be that your vocals aren't as bad as you think. Lots of singers like Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson and Mick Jagger have...er...."unique" voices.

People tend to like flawed voices like those better than Michael Bolton "good voices".

I'd work with what you've got. If the track is in time, in tune and has feeling the other stuff can be worked on. I tend to hear people's voices and hear magic in them where those people might think it's terrible. I've heard very few people that I didn't think I could get useable vocal tracks from.
 
Would it be possible for you to post a recording of what you call "bad?" It might be better than you think. It will be easier for us to help you from there.
 
Greg_L said:
Yeah double tracking bad performances is really the right answer. :laughings: :laughings:
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I did say at the start of my post learning to sing was what he really needed. The guy just sounded like he wanted to impress his mates with his mixes tonight or something, so I thought I'd throw it in. If he uses it, likes it and decides not to bother to learn to sing properly, your right it was bad advice.

Edit: Just read original post again and he said it was just for him, sorry, but yeah, I didn't mean it as an alternative to practise.
 
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Actually, double tracking sub par vocal tracks can make them sound better. The thing is, one sucky vocal track is all laid out there bare for everyone to clearly detect the flaws, but two bad vocal tracks rarely suck in the same way at the same time. Played back simultaneously, when one track is sucking, the other is typically not so bad and vise versa. It really does moderate the ill effects of moderately poor pitch, but seems to rob the overall vocal sound of some of the emotive qualities. It can also add a spacious quality as an effect that may or may not be desirable depending on the song.

I am pretty confident that taking the time to practice and become the best singer you can possibly be is gong to yield the best results in the long run, but realistically, a lot of people don't have the time or the inclination to do this, and that doesn't mean they can't have serviceable vocal tracks. There are shortcuts one can take and this is one of them.
 
Sometimes, double tracking can be the answer. But it's a double edged sword because if you get a good or let's say, serviceable vocal, you could get lazy and feel "Ah, this is what I'll do each time, stuff all that practice malarky" and it becomes Ocnor's magic wand.
Unlike musical instruments or backing vocals which can benefit from all manner of jiggery pokery, vocals on their own are so exposed that trickery can only go so far.

You've got little choice mate. Practice.
Or do instrumentals.
Or ask any friends if they can sing.
 
walshinator666 said:
What if your vocals suck ?
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As I type this, I'm watching a "Classic albums" programme on Lou Reed's 'Transformer' and his voice is just
ocnor said:
facepalm_picard_riker.jpg
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It really is awful. They separate the tracks so that you can hear the various elements on their own and his singing voice is most of the time pretty ropey when exposed and with the music. Near torture. And they're doing a whole programme on him ! Because his songs were so strong. Are yours ? Are they sufficiently strong that sub par vocals aren't that much of an issue ?

You still need that magic wand, though. It's called practice !
 
No offense intended, just an honest question that I'm surprised nobody has asked yet:

If your vocals are that bad, why are you even recording them? It seems to me that the two obvious solutions are to either a) wait to record until you can sing, or 2) have someone else be the vocalist.

G.
 
walshinator666 said:
I tried double tracking,one track with delay and one with chorus.Here's a sample of what it sounds like(still sucks)
http://soundclick.com/share?songid=9637999
Maybe some better editing would help but like I said it's just for me but I'd like it if it were better.
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Good of you to post a sample which certainly helps since "suck" can be a very relative term.

You didn't say you were trying to sound like Rob Halford :eek::D! That is kind of a tall order to say the least.

Having heard this, while I'd venture to guess that the double tracking does sound perhaps slightly better than either vocal track on its own, I'd have to say the issues with the vocals are much more related to the performance than the processing.

I think people here could give you lots of advice on how to make the sound quality better, but realistically, there are enough issues with your pitch and your delivery that I would focus on that for now. It doesn't really do much good to have a well-processed recording of a poor vocal take.

The only thing I might offer is what was suggested to me (I found it helped with pitch and whatnot), is to turn down the backing tracks when laying down your vocals. Even mute some of the tracks and keep just the beat and enough guitars to keep track of the melody, then you can hear yourself clearly and can focus better on your delivery and your pitch. This sounded really pitchy and the delivery is kind of monotone. Sorry, just what I'm hearing.
 
Hi, just listened to the sample, you have a nice character to your voice but it all sounds out of tune, or at least it's not matching the backing, If you can fix that I think it'll sound pretty good.
 
analogy time!

Q: i'm hoping to play guitar solos in the style of jimi hendrix, slash, eddie van halen and yngwie malmstein all at the same time... i only know 12 chords and use a line 6 pod through sonar. are there any 'recording' suggestions that you could help me out with?

A: play guitar hero.

ok... no offense here, but you might want to practice or take vocal lessons. there are no easy answers... ESPECIALLY on the internet or the BS world of 'buy this software and be a star'. good music takes a lot of work and practice whether you have the natural talent or not... i'll bet if you ask peter gabriel or sting how they sound so good when they sing they would not tell you it was because they had a good engineer or used a magic plug in.

s
 
Agreed how are you monitoring and recording the vocals? The vocals are not in a very high range which is a good start (i.e. you're not straining which is a whole different issue). You voice seems like it can reach the notes, it's your pitch that's off - it's consistently flat.

You should focus on improving your pitch, otherwise when you sing live you'll suck and that you don't need.

You could try approaching it like guitar riffs (which you're very good at BTW). Warm up with a good vocal warm session (buy a CD with warm ups on it).
Attack each line individually until the line is right on pitch and try not to move ahead until you've nailed that line. You'll have to record/listen to be sure. Repeat until you've mastered the entire song. You might need to do this over a few days depending on your voice and how long it takes.

You may not have an opera singer's voice but it's what god gave you. If you're on pitch, it will sound a little better.

I don't recommend any magic bullets - I prefer to focus on the problem.
 
walshinator666 said:
... Maybe some better editing would help but like I said it's just for me but I'd like it if it were better.
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Here's what I heard: your raw voice is no worse or better than lots of successful artists. You could sound great but it won't come overnight.

The best thing you could do is go on eBay, punch in "Seth Riggs" and buy one of his study courses that comes with a CD. All the problems you are having could be solved that way. Thinking that you can fix what's wrong electronically is not true - you can't. It's the acoustic part that needs to be fixed, and it is very fixable.
 
You could also try playing the melody on a midi piano and have that play with the track to get you used to where your aiming for. Once you've sung it a few times in tune you might be alright then ( I'd probably take it out to record final take)
 
Well thanks for everyone's input.I know there's alot of shitty singers that sound good on the cd but can't sing it live,I just thought maybe there was something like that for me but i'll just keep on keeping on.Like I said i'm having fun with it:D
 
walshinator666 said:
I know there's alot of shitty singers that sound good on the cd but can't sing it live
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I wonder how true that really is. I've heard it for years but I've not come across evidence of that. I don't dispute 'processing'. And I'm not talking about a Milli Vanilli/Boney M scenario where the 'faces' never actually sang. I'm questioning whether or not that statement is true, especially given that at some point they'll have to sing live.
 
walshinator666 said:
Well thanks for everyone's input.I know there's alot of shitty singers that sound good on the cd but can't sing it live,I just thought maybe there was something like that for me but i'll just keep on keeping on.Like I said i'm having fun with it:D
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If your having fun with it why not attempt to get better?

Although its not my favoured style, you have a decent tone to suit your music. At least your not one of those people who just dont have the tone in their voice to sound good. If you want to get better use recording as your mentor. I dont think many people realise that by recording your self and through the process of tracking and mixing you have an exelent chance to pin point where your going wrong. You do sound out of tune. what I would do is figure out the melody on either a piano or guitar, when your, hearing the notes you can match your voice with them. thus getting better. practise does'nt mean working your ass off for hours. Just by keeping on with recording vocals you will soon find your self getting better.

Also learn to hear your voice. I find it really strange hearing myself sing the more you listen and stop thinking about how crap you think you are. the sooner you can think about getting better, belive me its not as hard as you think

I say. Keep on the good work :)
 
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