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[Collin571]

**Explicit Material**  here's my tribute to billy joe, some day soon I'm gonna learn how to back tracks but I hate singing with headphones on.  Also I look 16 but I'm actually 22.  All criticism is welcome!

 

[Gneetapp]

Hi Collin, I think your voice suits this song well. However, it would sound much better, and also be easier for the guys to analyze it, if you recorded with a backing track. I think there is a link to a website where you can purchase backing tracks with a great variety of songs and styles. Cheers and keep on rocking!

[Collin571]

13 hours ago, Gneetapp said:

Hi Collin, I think your voice suits this song well. However, it would sound much better, and also be easier for the guys to analyze it, if you recorded with a backing track. I think there is a link to a website where you can purchase backing tracks with a great variety of songs and styles. Cheers and keep on rocking!

Thanks bro! I was putting on a slight punk rock accent for the fun of it.  Please tell me how do you record songs usually?  With headphones on and the track playing?  Or if I have a nice enough mic can I isolate the sound of my singing while playing music in the background to sing along to?

[Gneetapp]

9 hours ago, Collin571 said:

Thanks bro! I was putting on a slight punk rock accent for the fun of it.  Please tell me how do you record songs usually?  With headphones on and the track playing?  Or if I have a nice enough mic can I isolate the sound of my singing while playing music in the background to sing along to?

I think everyone has his own way of recording, but I do what most of people do: get a backing track (instrumental with no vocals, or with backing vocals for harmonies) load it on your DAW as a track; create a track for lead vocals; set to record; use headphones to listen to the track (and maybe your vocals); and record. After that you can go back and re-record parts that you were not happy with, record other vocals to thicken the lead vocals (double/triple tracking); use EQ and effects; mix down everything; Master the song (more effects); and convert to mp3 and upload the song. I know that some people record vocals without the headphones, using monitors, but I think the volume must be low to not be recorded with the vocals or generate feedback, which can also be avoided turning off the output signal of the vocals. There are a few nice tutorials on home recording in the General Vocal Gear page. Good luck and keep on rocking!

[ronws]

I don't know what DAW you are using but Robert has a link to a site where you can buy a backing track for about a dollar. And you can order it how you want it. With background vocals, without, etcetera. Usually downloads as an mp3 but you can choose other file types. Just remember that wav files are the best, data-wise but they can be huge. 10 to 15 MB for a 4 to 5 minute song. You can drag that mp3 into an open track in your DAW. Depending on interface, you should have live monitor. If you don't, you really need to get one. My first interface did not have it. So, what I would do is pan the backing track hard right and pull off my left head phone to monitor my voice acoustically (reflective surfaces are closer on my left where I am recording.)

This would allow you a better balance of music and voice. Right now, your voice is overpowering the music.

For the singing, you must absolutely realize and accept as a physical law of the universe the fact that singing is different than speaking. Right now, you are speaking this song. In the chorus, when you roll your ah forward and closer to an oh for "eyes," yes, that gives you a bit a punk accent and similar to what Billy is doing. What you need to do is think of that everywhere else. Singing is vowels and articulation. And articulation for singing is different than speaking.

So, in the mornings, wake up, put on your slippers, whatever other morning ablutions you must do and repeat this mantra, "the singing voice is a musical instrument." Because it is, just as much as a guitar, piano, drums, flute, whatever. It is a musical instrument and you are a musician if you are singing. And, in so doing, you will approach vowels more cleanly and articulate softer to the degree that allows the vowels a straight shot out. What goes up, must come down. The earth spins on its axis creating sunrise and sunset. The sky is blue, the ground is firm, water is wet, and the singing voice is a musical instrument. So, there it is, one of the physical laws of the universe.

I think this song is a good match for you and you have a naturally good tone of voice and in a few places, you sound similar to Billy. I would definitely keep this song in your list of songs that you can and should perform, either for others or for more permanent recording.

[Collin571]

What I've noticed recently is my speaking voice varies quite often, and I've been trying to incorporate it into my singing to sound similiar to what I sound like when I speak.  Also I've been working on speaking from my diaphragm to make my voice sound more attractive lol.  I get what you're saying about singing being different from speaking but I was purposely relaxing my vibrato in certain areas to make it sound more like speaking.  During the chorus I was trying to get a whiney sort of inflated sound and I was trying to have my voice crack as I approached eyes it worked pretty well at 1:38.  I get what you're saying about the ah going closer to an oh because it feels more rounded.  I'll take that advice though and apply it for improvement.

[Collin571]

Also lmao!  Stop the presses everyone water is wet.. you crazy ron.