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Pitch issues when singing with a live "electric rock" band

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malo23

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Friends,

I am new to this forum, though I have been doing lead vocals with an all-original rock band for over a year now. I take lessons and consider myself to have good, if not excellent, pitch under "normal" singing conditions, which means, for example, acoustic live, studio (we cut our first full-length CD last year), karaoke, etc.

However, I've been experiencing problems with pitch, particularly in my upper range (I am a tenor), ONLY when singing live "electric." Our band is pretty loud -- distorted guitars, heavy drums, etc. -- and, though I've tried everything, from singing with no earplugs, to singing with two earplugs, one earplug, and even using wireless in-ear monitors (though, admittedly, I am not very used to them yet, as I just invested in them recently; before I had tried using cheaper non-wireless in-ears to little avail), I still have moments when my pitch is off (usually sharp, as if I'm overreaching?). I know this, because we often record our shows, and when I play the recording back...there it is! This rarely, if ever, happens, when we perform an acoustic set (again, I've listened to many recordings for comparison), so I'm perplexed, frustrated, and now beginning to lose confidence, even.

Does anyone have any suggestions at all as to how I can improve my pitch under very loud conditions (and while running around the stage!)? This is something I never dreamed I'd have a problem with when starting out in a hard rock band! Thank you for your time.

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Dear Aelpee and ronws,

 

Thank you for your responses.

 

Aelpee: I always do exactly what you say, in fact. That is, I always give every performance my all, despite that niggling feeling at the back of my mind that some of the high notes I hit may be slightly off, and therefore cause me to cringe upon playback. I tell people: If you want a great stage performance, come see us electric. If you want to hear me singing at my best, come see us acoustic! But, well, it's pretty frustrating, isn't it? Particularly for those of us with good pitch to begin with...

 

ronws: I just started using wireless in-ears, so I'm not 100% used to them yet, but one thing I've been doing (or not been doing) is listening sans a board mix. While I'd love for every mixing board person in every (small) club we play to do a special mix for my ears only, that's simply not realistic right now, so I go with hearing the vocals better than with floor monitors (in theory, anyway), plus whatever the mic picks up of the guitar/bass/drums, which is usually plenty, since the stages we play on tend to be pretty small, and since the band is very loud. So...I don't really have the option of turning the bass (only) up, though I'll see if "following" the bass rather than the guitar helps some. My vocal teacher actually suggested the same thing. Thanks.

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If your wireless ear monitor is plugged in to a mixer you can also plug in a compressor on that channel and send all other channels (all of your band's instruments) to it too. It will mix all of the instruments in your band and crush them. This completely reduces peaks in volume. Just make sure that your voice is also in that mix in a 40/60 ratio (instruments/your voice). This should help you keep track of your pitch without being distracted.

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Dear Aelpee and ronws,

 

Thank you for your responses.

...I don't really have the option of turning the bass (only) up, though I'll see if "following" the bass rather than the guitar helps some. My vocal teacher actually suggested the same thing. Thanks.

That's probably going to help a lot. Something I learned a while ago. While the bass guitar is a rhythm instrument, it is also a harmony instrument. The singer sings in reference to the bass, competing with the guitar.

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Thanks again for the advice, ronws. We have a show tomorrow, so I'll be listening for the bass rather than (solely) following the guitar line, paying extra attention to my "high notes." I'm also guessing that there's probably some sort of "breaking in" period with the (new) in-ears? Hopefully once I get used to them I'll be able to more readily realize when I'm slightly off vs. when I'm dead on. Hopefully. The whole point of investing in them in the first place was to fix the pitch problems I was experiencing with the regular "wedge" monitors at high volume, while allowing myself the freedom to move around the stage...

 

To etekiller: I don't generally plug in to the mixer, as we mainly play at small clubs, where the band's sound is already rather full in the in-ears, and where asking for a personal mix is often impossible, so compression isn't a viable option right now. However, I'll keep it in mind, especially if I keep having these problems. I'd like to keep things as simple as possible, but if it works it may be worth a shot further down the road.

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Malo23:

Here is another approach: Soften the onstage levels of the band, mic the amps and drums through the board and use It to handle all the levels, including to the in-ear or wedge monitors. If you ever want to play a big hall, or out-of-doors, that is what will be required to get 'your sound'.

IMO, with the tech sound tech available today, there is no reason to have SPLs onstage that are hostile to good singing.

I hope this helps.

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I play in a metal band with 2 guitarist playing 100 watt half stacks CRANKED. The volume is ridiculous most of the time. I've never had a harder time hearing myself and it's drawback is clearly evident. I've essentially got our PA system directly facing me and I'm the only one coming out of it and it's BLARING.

 

When you do your mic check at a gig, don't get very loud with it. Let that mic and PA do the volume work. The shows I play, the soundguys generally have the mic down fairly low because there's all these kids cupping the mic and screaming into it, so I gotta get them to crank it up a bit for me, same with the monitors.

 

You've at least got in-ears, which is great. What I'm going to do is build a small vocal rig, as I already run my own vocal effects live, I'm just going to add a small mixer and in-ears. I'll give the soundman an output of the mixer, that way I have *complete* control over my in-ear mix. If need be, I can set up a room mic to hear everyone else but being as loud as they are, it's certainly not a necessity.

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