another try to get opinions and help ... :)

[Nik]

Alright. Hey all

so ... a few days ago I tried to sing crash test dummies' mmm mmm mmm mmm.

After that I slipped into another new singing crisis ...

again, it was like the power was reduced, voice seemed to sound scratchy (but not like it sounds when you've overdone singing or while having the flu, etc)

along with that I -again- didn't like the sound of my song mixes. To me it seems like there's no bass in my voice (in the song mix), and as if the mid band is too strong (makes me think I squeak)

Currently I'm experimenting with the vocal filters I put on my raw vocals. I'm about to reduce them because they often make the sound muddy, expecially when I listen to the mixdown via my mp3-player and (cheap/common) standard-in-ears. I don't really notice this using my studio headphones.

But reducing them removes some kind of thickener effect that occured in the mixdown, which makes me sound even squeakier in my ears. I usually try to create the sound I hear during recording, how I hear myself via headphones, while singing.

And like usually, I'm trying to find help, if possible from professional sound engineers. I don't want to find someone to produce me (lol), I'd rather want to get some suggestions, hints, help on everything. Singing, mixing, recording ...

buuuuut these people seem to hide ... very very good! ... I swear!

I don't know any studio around my place and I'd also be too shy to just walk into one and ask for help (even thinking about that sounds kinda dumb) ^^

anyway. Today I recorded 2 test songs for you. I didn't practice them much today, but I sang before I recorded them, so my voice was warmed up.

I didn't work on the raw vocals, there are parts when my voice starts not the moment I want it to make a sound. I sometimes have this problem, it's sporadic, but I don't know what's causing it.

There also might be some wrong notes.

And one of my other problems is, I often don't notice wrong notes. Maybe I hear them 1 day after, or never. All I can do is compare the notes I sang, but they usually are close around the center of the tone I sang. But that doesn't mean it's the correct note ... lol

edit: I think I can only song loud right now (see the williams song). if I try to reduce the power of singing my voice is gone. On the other hand, I sang the mctell song kinda the same way, except that it has lower notes. Odd. Again.

here are the 2 songs:

robbie williams' she's the one:

she's the one - try2 test0.mp3

ralph mctell's streets of london:

streets of london - try3 test0.mp3

if you notice anything, no matter what: please tell me!

Thanks for your time!

Nik

[Nik]

... lol

[jonpall]

In general, I liked it and I think that you have a good sounding voice. I suggest you work on singing the absolute correct english vowels because a) it sounds like you have an accent and you will sound more resonant that way and c) it will be much easier for your throat. I also suggest that you try to work on having an even flow of air when you sing. Cheers!

[gno]

Nik - everything jonpall said on the vowels and such. As far as recording goes - I only listened with my laptop speakers, but it sounded pretty good. I'm not sure what you are using to record. But here are a couple of things to consider:

1) get a decent mic - you may already have one.

2) try to eliminate the effects of the room when you record. If you don't have any soundproofing you can set up the mic in-front of an open closet of cloths, or put some blankets on the walls. Try to get rid of the reflections off the walls - this is what will make your voice muddy. And once that muddiness is in the recording, there is really no way to get rid of it. You can't add filters to eliminate it. EQ can only mask it, but it becomes part of your vocal recording.

3) if 1 & 2 are taken care of, don't put any filtering on your voice prior to recording. Just record as is. Set the gain levels so you don't peak.

4) get a pop filter (they are cheap)

5) keep your mouth a least 6" away from the mic when you record. This will eliminate the "proximity effect" of being too close to the mic.

6) once you've got a decent recording, you can shape the sound with EQ (although I would keep it flat if you want us to evaluate your voice), use a tube pre-amp sim, and add reverb to taste, and any other plugins you want to use.

I hope this helps.

Geno

[ronws]

Both songs are really neat. I agree about the accent, only as far as you may or may not want to sound english or american. In british and american english, a s at the beginning of a word is a hard sylibant. In German, it's pronounced like an english z, but in English, it's pronounced sharper or harder. Also, in English, the w is pronounced with a weak proximity meeting of the lips, not quite meeting. As opposed to German, where the w sounds like a v, with the upper teeth contacting the lower lip.

As for a squeaky sound, I'm not hearing. But I am hearing a pure tone when perhaps you would like some overtones that flesh out the sound. In which case, drop your jaw a little bit. This does a few things. It stabilizes the front of the larynx. In so doing, it keeps the throat open, allowing for the darker overtones to resonate and it opens the mouth, which allows those overtones to be heard, rather than absorbed by the tissue in the mouth.

[Nik]

hmm very hard to do, Ron, I don't hear much difference or none at all, so I don't know if I do it right or not ...

and about the vowels: I don't know how to achieve that either :/

I'm kinda all alone, listening to english songs doesn't really help me and english news broadcasts aren't a good idea IMO

I don't have any practical English exercises, I usually only write

also I notice a big difference between sung English and spoken English (in my case)

I even noticed that when I try to talk in a deep voice, my accent is nearly gone, but if I talk in my higher normal voice it's pretty much there

guitartrek: 1 is done, 2 is nearly done, I have pyramide foam on the walls, not completely but at least as much as I can realize here

if I sing in any other room I actually hear myself louder than in my room ... lol

3, I only use the voice live2 with a little bit shaping/compression

4 is done with 1, 5 too, depending on the song, but yeah, I'm around 10-15 cm away

for 5: if I don't use any filters or just slight EQ my vocals don't mix well and it sounds really weak hmmm