Music Forum / Vocals

I know there are some aspiring musicians in here. How do you guys go about doing your vocals for your projects? I sing for my band and I hope to get an mp3 up from our demo we're working on soon, but I feel like I am not happy with my vocals. Though everyone seems to tell me I am getting the job done. I have been taking lessons every week for an hour the past six months with multiple practice sessions in between each lesson. I suppose there is an improvement and I suppose I am not terrible, but I am just curious if you guys have any tips that help you in your singing.

I give you credit for even trying it.
All I have to say is your always going to sound worse to yourself then you really are, so try not to get to down on yourself.

if you have singing lessons im guessing that you are singing "properly" ie not screamo. kudos for that.
just have confidence in yourself, that helps alot.

you're always going to sound worse to yourself then you really are.

this. i've been recording for a while now, and i was never pleased with my voice. i love my voice when performing live, but i was just never pleased with it on a recording. it's something that's really hard to get over, but it makes things so much easier when you do. chances are, if everyone around you says the vocals are good, they're good, even if your ears don't think so.

You guys bring up some good points. I mean I always thought that it was just because it was me who was singing was the reason I thought it sucked. Although, hey, it might really suck and everyone is just being nice, who knows. But I usually am confident with my voice. I remember when I first started I was so hesitant to getting up to the microphone; now its nearly second nature to me, and I have fun doing it at least. I like what you guys are saying, thanks. ;D

i'll start a new topic tonight and throw up a song for you guys. k? k!

^yes please!
and if you dont mind, i'll show you a little sampler of what i've been working on lately as well:]

but yeah bro, singing takes a lot of patience and confidence, which i'll admit, i tend to lack frequently lol.
i have basically the same problem as you, as to where i think my vocals sound horrible, come to find out other people like them.
so i mean, i think it all really comes down to is just having confidence in yourself, and singing with emotion.
if you dont put your emotions into it, no matter what kind of music it is, it wont have that "honest" factor in it.
thats the key to getting your music to really sound like it came from you, and isnt something you're performing just to perform.
:]

You know, technically I think there's really only two important points with vocals -- (1) are you hitting the right notes (2) are you conveying the feeling of the song properly. And both of those can get better with practice. I thought I was terrible at first, and I still don't think I'm very good, but I have noticed some improvement. What works for me is to remember not to over-sing everything. I get better quality in my voice when I just sing it normally and let the microphone do it's job. It also helps a lot if you can hear the melody clearly in your head. Sometimes I will take the extra step of playing out the vocal melody note for note on the keyboard or guitar so I know what I'm striving for. There should always be room for interpretation obviously, but there's no reason to think you need to be a classically great vocalist to get your point across. Most of my favorite vocalists have terrible singing voices in a classical sense. Billy Corgan, J Mascis, Bob Dylan. These are guys that I will listen to and my mom tells me they can't sing. That's only true if you listen to top 40 radio though (where all the vocals are processed and pitch-tuned anyway). I listen to those guys and I hear genuine emotion-- and that I can relate to. Especially since they're writing their own songs. And that's what moves me musically, so that's what I shoot for. I've only been recording for a couple months though, so I'm sure other people can speak from more experience.

Oh yeah, and record and listen to yourself a lot. A lot! Your voice always sounds different in your own head than it does on a recording. To be able to "play" it properly like an instrument you need to know how to control it. I've found it takes a lot of time to tune your ears so to speak by listening to yourself on recordings.

You know, technically I think there's really only two important points with vocals -- (1) are you hitting the right notes (2) are you conveying the feeling of the song properly. And both of those can get better with practice. I thought I was terrible at first, and I still don't think I'm very good, but I have noticed some improvement. What works for me is to remember not to over-sing everything. I get better quality in my voice when I just sing it normally and let the microphone do it's job. It also helps a lot if you can hear the melody clearly in your head. Sometimes I will take the extra step of playing out the vocal melody note for note on the keyboard or guitar so I know what I'm striving for. There should always be room for interpretation obviously, but there's no reason to think you need to be a classically great vocalist to get your point across. Most of my favorite vocalists have terrible singing voices in a classical sense. Billy Corgan, J Mascis, Bob Dylan. These are guys that I will listen to and my mom tells me they can't sing. That's only true if you listen to top 40 radio though (where all the vocals are processed and pitch-tuned anyway). I listen to those guys and I hear genuine emotion-- and that I can relate to. Especially since they're writing their own songs. And that's what moves me musically, so that's what I shoot for. I've only been recording for a couple months though, so I'm sure other people can speak from more experience.

Oh yeah, and record and listen to yourself a lot. A lot! Your voice always sounds different in your own head than it does on a recording. To be able to "play" it properly like an instrument you need to know how to control it. I've found it takes a lot of time to tune your ears so to speak by listening to yourself on recordings.

This pretty much covers it on the non-technical aspects...

On the technical end of things my main advice is to never strain for notes in your neck: relax. If you're doing it right you'll push air past your vocal cords, rather than into them, kinda? I don't think everyone has to do that but my voice has a lot of dissonant under and overtones that sneak in if I'm not pushing things correctly. And I record myself a lot...

Then again don't listen too much to me, I've been trying to sing for the last 2-3 years and I'm still just trying in my book.

Ride6