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

... lol

you sing about as long as I do ... but this .... is great did you take lessons? I also tried yesterday, but I'm not really happy with it (maybe it's just me) but you've a nice timbre and I guess you also have the language plus mmmh, now I have to improve even more ^^

well well ... you should get some better recording device, no shit (like I wrote, that would be worth the bucks) I like it and you also play guitar while singing, that's a plus (for me) by the way ... you said the more you listen, the more errors you notice ... I also have this problem XD one day I'm happy, next day I could BURRRN it ... rofl but when I try again, all is fine until I listen to it the next day ... that's really annoying me ... you're not alone ^^

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

wow Ron, I just listened to the 2nd file and I like it a lot! and it also sounds better than the one in your 1st posting :D

hehe I usually try to fake the "live" feeling when recording I sing and then listen, if I don't like it I'll record it again only if I'm happy with nearly everything I might re-record just a line or 2, but that also depends on the song, often I have to sing a whole verse to get into the correct mood of the lines I want to re-do

that's great I don't know how it feels for you but I had a similar problem before I wasn't able to get a good tone out, I just didn't get into singing, as much as I tried so I ignored music and singing for 2 weeks and tried again and suddenly it was better than before even easier to control the tone

but that's really weird, I'm all alone in my room and can record as often as I want ... if I mess up, I try again, no one pushes me ... hmm, I came up with 2 things: maybe I hear myself too loud and therefore might mishear what I do or I unconsciously concentrate too much on singing correctly which then distracts me from the melody lol oh, btw your name is Ron, right? I'm not sure that's why I address you as ronws all the time

though this confidence is hard to keep up ... often it's like I have a run, everything works as I want it to be/how I imagine it before singing then I do something else, like checking eMail or even just looking out of the window for a moment and if I try singing again it's suddenly totally different and I need 20-30 minutes to get back to where I was when I had this "run" I also noticed another thing I can't explaint right now: if I sit beside the mic, not singing into it, but singing along with a song I hear using headphones I sing along with the correct melody now if I hit the record button -and sing into the mic- the melody I sing is different ... so it's like without recording it I often do it right but not while it "counts" during recording I'm not excited or anything when I sit here singing into my mic, but where's the problem?

wow, I'm sure I couldn't sing that at that pitch AND with that power I surely would hurt my voice! and the scream! really cool :D

ok, this thread mainly is about how low someone can sing, but also about voice ... yesterday I tried to rap for the 2nd time, first time was a few days ago as a sidenote, it's for a cover project that a German rapper and the Deutsche Telekom initiated I didn't feel like I strain my voice but after some takes I suddenly felt like my voice becomes hoarse I don't know if you know this feeling, it was like the voice doesn't "flow" out, it was a bit like some kind of rattle, not strong enough to stop singing, but it took more effort to sing I also didn't shout, I rather tried to just talk with adding some melody so I don't rap at the same pitch all the time. that made me wonder because I usually don't feel strained even if I try to record something for 3 hours or more

oh wow thanks ronws that really surprises me! someone once told me I should sing the chorus more happily, I still try to find out HOW I could do that, for me it "feels" like I already do that ... if I can manage to sing the correct melody I'll make it a complete song try out of it ^^

I've read somewhere that when you do the siren and notice a note that sounds distorted or not clear enough then sing this note longer, it will come back then I often do this siren thing too, but with less power and slower ... sometimes I notice the point where I go into falsetto, it's like an interruption other times I don't notice any interruption at all

well I'm usually tired when I come back home from work. and it's the same today, but I currently can't live without singing at least once a day I just tried Daniel Powter's song, I didn't practice it, it's my 2nd test today I think I mess up the melody of the chorus, but beside that I just want to ask if anyone hears if I make any major or minor "mistakes" while singing something along the lines of "if you go on like that it's bad for your voice" or "you don't support your voice very well" anything that you might notice including pronunciation of words, vowels, S'ses etc beside maybe wrong notes ;D Anything would help me bad day_test2.mp3 Thanks :)

@chele1000: you say it that easy I once read that you don't have to scream or anything, all you need is good hardware and a good singing technique but I can't imagine how to sing so soft to not hurt your voice but at the same time make it sound like screaming, or raspy etc I think I still often sing with too much power it doesn't hurt or I won't get hoarse as easy as when I startet to sing, so all alone it's hard to find out what is best at the same time I actually discovered a little rasp recently in my voice, it will disappear after I sing a lot, but it wasn't there a few weeks ago edit: I forgot the important stuff, lol: I like this cover maybe it's intended, but IMO the reverb/room hall is bit strong, but beside that I don't know what else to say except that I think it's good :o

oi, some song that I know your voice really fits this IMO, it doesn't sound aggressive or intrusive (don't know if you get what I try to say, lol) so listening was fun Snax wrote that you're perfect for this style, so if you like Simon and Garfunkel, could you try to do "Mrs Robinson" or "The Boxer"? whole song or part of it :)

lol you guys XD wait ... *switches on vocalist to top you all* :P

Thanks Michele and Ron I suppost Michele is talking about the 2nd verse mainly. I still have some trouble because this one is kinda fast. though I manage to sing through all of it, it kinda still prevents me from adding more expression to certain words. The accent - it's really hard. I myself don't notice it. If I try to "copy" how people from the states or britain talk I totally fail. I don't know where to start or where to "attack" ... lol my other problem is, I only write English, I have no practical exercise except singing. And singing is different from talking. My last time actually talking English was around 9-10 years ago. Half a year ago I once talked to a friend from UK and I had to think so much about what to say and how to pronounce it that there wasn't a real flow in that conversation. And I didn't know what to say on the other hand ... lol. That time I noticed my accent really badly. I try to get rid of it but not noticing my accent makes it even harder. You know, I concentrate on singing so much that I don't really have time to think about how I might look in front of a camera. I manage to look into the cam now and then but I would rather sing with eyes closed. I usually do that if I don't have to look at the lyrics. I think sitting in front of a cam singing looks totally stupid and I guess it's one of the hardest things that everyone has to overcome after the decision was made to record a vid for youtube etc. I stopped thinking about this more or less.

Hey all! In another thread Videohere suggested me to make a post about this song here. This is my 1st try of Junebug, originally by Robert Francis, it's available on my TMV profile and also on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gak_E5cMTE&hd=1 While trying to cover this song (and I didn't exercise this song much before I made the 1st try public, that's why the question was asked not long before I finished my video) I noticed a problem with my voice. I went to the Vocal Technique section and opened a thread about it: http://www.punbb-hosting.com/forums/themodernvocalist/viewtopic.php?pid=10857#p10857 Maybe anyone of you knows what's up and how I could get rid of my problem :)

hey ya'll @ronws: you mean adding a bit of an oh-sound to the "a"? like opening the mouth forming an "o" instead of making in wide? hmm it's hard for me writing about it, I suppose I could write it like "hawl~lelujah"? @g0dvollie: that might be the case I tried different approaches recently. a few weeks ago after I didn't sing for a few days my jaw started to ache after some singing. so I tried to relax all muscles while singing. but this also caused me trouble with sing with a bit more power, it felt like I don't have any power at all. now it feels like I can do that a little easier, my jaw didn't hurt at all recently but I also don't feel any muscles in my throat or, in other words I don't exactly know which muscles/where in my throat another thing which might restrict me somehow is the fact that I can't really scream. I mean I never screamed like AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH *scared*, for a long time I had troubles singing something like yeah~~~eahh, heyyy~~~yeah ... I can do it a bit better now but still not satisfying lol in a book about vocal lessons I read about imagining where the tone is created. I tried to "create" it in my forehead, in my belly, right behind the front teeth, around my uvula(?) etc I didn't notice a difference which causes me a little trouble because I always think I sing "wrong" I also don't feel the "support" caused by the diaphragm/midriff. I might use it without knowing it (I breath into my belly though) do you know any exercise concerning this problem? @Wooferine: well, I'll be 30 in a few months and I sing for about 3 years and 3 months now. Before I only sang in my car while driving, then I became fan of a German band and this kinda was like a kick in the butt for me to finally start singing in a more professional way. Recording it, listen to it, recording it again but making it better than the previous try. The first time I heard what I sang was the worst .... LOL ... I so wanted to get rid of my microphone and do something else than singing, but then gave it another try and yeah ... that brought me to this forum after 3 years I don't have any idea about vibrato, I sometimes notice that my voice "vibrates", but I often can't replicate it or it only works a short time (for example right when I start singing for the 1st time of a day) I can fake it but not for every note/tone and I fake it in my throat but not using the midriff. if I try using the midriff it sounds like I give it a sharp pulse, faking it in the throat adds a fading before and after this "pulse", hard to describe I just thought it might be good to develop it since it makes the sound of the voice a little more interesting. with rasp you probably mean the kind of voices Rod Stewart or Bon Jovi have, right? I really struggle trying to sing Bed of roses by bon jovi but I experimented with Runaway by Del Shannon and I managed to sing a little bit raspy there but again, it doesn't always work. it seems like I have to really relax the throat to make something "swing" and cause this sound, but I could be so wrong about this I usually just sing. I chose a song I feel like singing and sing it. That's all I do because I don't know where to start or what exactly to practice I'll redo hallelujah, I don't know when exactly but I plan to release a "try 1" instead of just tests and I also want to make a video for youtube if it's good enough thanks for listening and helping me :)

@Fahim: you don't sound like a jerk at all. And I know, I don't listen to anyone except people who try to help me So to make it short and easy: people who don't know much about music and singing are only good for "yes, I like"/"no, I don't like"-reviews ... lol you don't sound rude either the problem is, the moment someone makes a comment it's already gone through the ears right into the brain ... so it affects a little bit, but then I say "you don't know anything about it, shut up" (not that rude though) @all: well, I still took some time off from singing and music, but mainly because of the hot weather now. Yesterday I made a new try of Neil Young's "Heart of gold", after 1 year not singing it. Today I tested some other songs like Del Shannon's "Runaway" and also did a new Halleluja test. I usually look at the pitch of each note I sing and it makes me happy that I somehow hit more notes after the break I took. I mean I hit more frequencies (the notes could still be wrong though but I'm not that much off anymore as I were before) I wrote I hear some noise especially when I sing Hallelujah. In the new test I still hear it, to me it sounds like noise/swoosh etc (I don't find a good word for it) it's a shhhh chhhhh sound I hear, some kind of hiss but not the hiss in ESS-sounds I suppose it is because of the limited frequency range of the backing, which ends at 8 kHz, but mostly is up to 3 kHz. In other songs I limited some freuquency ranges of the backing track with a multiband compressor and noticed that my voice doesn't mix into the backing anymore or suddenly seems rather flat. that's why I think the noise I hear in my voice is somehow amplified by the backing. if I mute the backing it's not as strong anymore. only some sound engineer could explain this to me, I guess or maybe it's just me hearing things ... lol I decided to upload the new test, the whole song this time. BEWARE, it's just a test, I know I sing wrong notes and I think my pronunciation is also not that correct I also think it sounds pressed when I sing the louder higher parts, the "halleluja" on the other hand sounds relaxed. Jens suggested to connect the words some more. I didn't concentrate on doing this here. I even intended some breaks/cuts between the words to make it sound more dramatically, but I'm not sure if it worked out or sounds good. hallelujah_nik_test1.mp3

wow, nice cover, Snax that song's kinda high and you also have that vibrato thing while singing with so much power I also tried Nazareth songs (love hurts, dream on) before but it doesn't work for me, I can't sing with that much power at that pitch, it would sound scary if I tried ...

Hey Wooferine, sorry, late reply right now I listen to your new try and well, in my opinion that's way better than the try I heard before! in this new version it's also easier for me to understand what you're singing, in the previous version I had the feeling that the harmonies distract a little too much so, great version, yes edit: by the way, I also tried this song again ... lol

Hehe Fahim ^^ you know, it's easy dreaming about that, but doing it is so hard what you say about whiny or flat notes ... you as the singer always heard that, more than other people do. one day I like a new try I recorded, the next day I hear so many mistakes and "wrong" sounding notes that I want to turn back time and not publish it ... lol I always say "if other people laugh about it why don't they try singing it and we'll see", but this doesn't always help ... and if I imagine myself singing in front of a mirror ... hahaha I even had a hard time recording some of my youtube videos ^^