Why I sounded out of tune live but I heard myself in tune? (Vocals)

jimistone said:
Well, if not having the ear is a contributing factor anything else that could be a contributing factor wouldnt matter would it?
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If you don't have a good ear, then you are in trouble.

But you can have a good ear and still be fooled by what you think you are hearing.
 
Joboo1966 said:
First of all if you got a great response from the crowd it was either they were ALL drunk or you were in key spot on. There is no in between. Now I have to caution here this is just one of many possible scenarios but its possible that another instrument was a half step off, any of the guitars or bass not properly tuned may get lost in the translation on stage enough that you didn't hear it until playback where all there was was th pure pound of what the audience heard. Les remember what we hear on stage can be far different than the ambient mix in a club where sound spreads out as it widens through travel. That's where I'm at on this. I've had a gig or two go great and later we watched a video of two girls doing belly shots during the performance and this was a real good camera too, and the whole damn mix out in the club where the crowd was sounded like piss. On stage was great I couldn't hear any tonal issues at all.

I'm sure there's just as many more theories on what causes this to occur, but lets not call the guy an egomaniac yet, if he truly was he'd not be here looking or answers admitting he was off at all, those guys sound great even when they hear themselves sound like crap.

Well that's my 31 years As a performing vocalist and singer songwriter and session man speaking. It's happened to me. And yea sure ok you might have been the problem but based on what you wrote I doubt it was a single issue outside of my aforementioned theory. I know I've had pitchy notes on nights I thought it sounded great. Occasionally it was me other times the mix or a combination of the two. If its that concerning, and as most vocalists are anal about the way they sound, I'm sure it is , I might be inclined to suggest an ear monitor. They gotta be good tho cuz the cheap ones suck. If you go that route don't skimp.

Dig into it a bit and be sure to let us know what you conclude.
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What, no recommendation for a Digitech? Fixes everything right?

I call.
 
Joboo1966 said:
First of all if you got a great response from the crowd it was either they were ALL drunk or you were in key spot on. There is no in between.
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I disagree with this completely. I am NOT a great singer and I damn well know that I will not get everything "key spot on," but I still manage to get great responses from crowds when I have sung. There is definitely an in-between.
 
CrowsofFritz said:
I disagree with this completely. I am NOT a great singer and I damn well know that I will not get everything "key spot on," but I still manage to get great responses from crowds when I have sung. There is definitely an in-between.
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yep ..... in general the audience doesn't have a clue if they're not musicians themselves.

A story I often tell that illustrates this:
Years ago some friends of mine that did an excellent jazz duo were playing at an upscale jazz club where the local business 'movers and shakers' gathered to sip martinis and 'listen' to jazz.
We were talking about this very thing and when they got up from the break they played 'Misty' and the played it half a step apart! :eek:
James played in in one key on guitar and Jo played it on piano in a different key 1/2 step higher!

NOTHING could sound worse than that .................................. no one noticed.
 
Lt. Bob said:
NOTHING could sound worse than that .................................. no one noticed.
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A couple of musician friends of mine were at a wedding in Mexico that had a large band playing from sheet music but the musicians didn't know they were supposed to transpose. (Notation for lots of band instruments is transposed to put the bulk of the notes in the five lines of the staff and you have to transpose it back to be in the right key. Different instruments are transposed by different amounts.) They couldn't keep themselves from laughing hysterically and ended up getting in a fight with the other guests. That wasn't so funny.
 
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lol ...... and I bet they were the only ones that noticed.
it's pretty amazing how tonedeaf some people can be.

I see a lot of folks around here say no one is tonedeaf but I'm here to tell ya' .... out amongst the masses there are some seriously non-hearing people!
:D
 
If you're out of tune just tell anyone who notices that it's like modern art and if they don't like it it's because they're not smart enough to appreciate it.:D
 
Lt. Bob said:
yep ..... in general the audience doesn't have a clue if they're not musicians themselves.

A story I often tell that illustrates this:
Years ago some friends of mine that did an excellent jazz duo were playing at an upscale jazz club where the local business 'movers and shakers' gathered to sip martinis and 'listen' to jazz.
We were talking about this very thing and when they got up from the break they played 'Misty' and the played it half a step apart! :eek:
James played in in one key on guitar and Jo played it on piano in a different key 1/2 step higher!

NOTHING could sound worse than that .................................. no one noticed.
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My favorite band is like this, actually. No one really cares.


 
Woot, thanks for the comments, here's my reply!!

Comment 1 (The best!!):

How was it recorded? Is this on someone's phone? The quality of microphone has a LOT to do with it. If the mic gets overwhelmed with the volume then you start to lose overtones and what is left can sound flat/out of tune.

Have you tried recording yourself in a more controlled environment to compare?


My Answer: Basically this could be the issue, me playing in a small place (I was practically beside my bass player and my drummer), it was a veeeery small place, so I barely could hear my own guitar.

Yes, I recorded with a phone (HTC EVO 4g LTE), it's a good phone but whatever, it was like 10 feet from the music, so I guess it messed up too (if the phone recorded my out of tune voice, I guess everybody heard it too)

So yeah, this could've been the issue.

PS. Yes, when I record on my home, with my mic, my headphones and everything, I sound in tune most of the time, here's a link (probably you don't like the voice, but I guess it's in tune).

No end in Sight by Alberto Palacios - Vocal Cover - YouTube


And thanks for pointing out everything man, it's gonna help me in the future for more live gigs.


Comment 2:

I'm sure there's just as many more theories on what causes this to occur, but lets not call the guy an egomaniac yet, if he truly was he'd not be here looking or answers admitting he was off at all, those guys sound great even when they hear themselves sound like crap.


My Answer: "But let's not call the guy an egomaniac yet", what a passive-agressive comment, really??, It's really rude man, even that you haven't called me egomaniac "yet".



Well that's it!!
 
TheComposer said:
(if the phone recorded my out of tune voice, I guess everybody heard it too)
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Me and Lt. Bob JUST explained how tone deaf the audience can be. I know you want to be perfectly in tune and that's definitely a good goal to strive for, but I would stop worry so much about this.
 
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