NCdan

Thoughts appreciated. I did the song in about, oh... 7 hours or so. But it's obviously a critique on my vox that I'm after here: good, bad, or indifferent. It's the last song listed: "I Don't Wanna Be." http://www.myspace.com/rejectconvention

Thanks for the continued help, Steven. I wouldn't be surprised if I'm exhaling too much air, in fact, there are times, especially on difficult material, that I will run out of breath early, so I can only assume that I'm switching to my reflexive breathing, which would be exhaling like I'm playing trumpet. As far as the firmness of my upper abdominals goes, all I can say is that my abs/stomach don't contract unless I'm trying to sing really loudly, like pushing my vocal cords to the point where sustaining a steady pitch is really difficult. Otherwise, the area between the sternum and navel does get slightly firmer when I inhale, and the firmness continues when I sing a note. If I flex my abs I sound constipated. Maybe I am using up a bit less air when utilizing my "constipated mode," though?

Well, I had the whole breathe from your stomach thing drilled into my head, so I do that subconsciously. It's just natural for me to inhale down there and exhale starting from there as well. To me, singing from the diaphragm means not using my throat as the power behind my singing, but using my throat more as a rudder and my stomach-ish area as the power. Although, I'll admit that when it comes to singing I sometimes do use my throat to generate more power, especially on high notes or when I try to sing loudly (which is most of the time). I guess that describes what I try to do when I sing. Thanks for the help. I have never heard of vocal modes before. I do know that the vocalists who scream aren't really screaming but doing some technique that I can't figure out that doesn't hurt their vocal cords. I did figure out how to do punk vocals, but I'm guessing that singing as hard as you can and forcing your vocal cords into pitch is not considered a vocal mode, lol. I'll see what I can dig up on this whole vocal modes thing. I can see how I might be singing in "neutral" and as such my vocal mode might not be appropriate for vocals with more oomph or whatever it's called. Thanks for the advice. I had sort of thought that I just might not have a naturally edgy voice. So far the only way I can get my voice to get edgy is to sing loud enough so that my voice just sounds raw and out of tune which I'm pretty sure is not good for the vocal cords.

Thanks for the feedback. I think at least one other person has said something to the effect of, "You're holding back." That is where I'm lost. I know I'm singing from my diaphragm because I can switch between the throat sound and diaphragm sound. I am also singing with my throat and mouth open, because I can change back and forth between a cramped, nasal sound and a bigger, more open sound. But what am I supposed to do, physically and/or mentally speaking, in order to not hold back, or push my vocals more? And I mean push in a good way. Sure, I could push even more air from my diaphragm and start losing control of pitch and getting gravelly vocals, but I'm guessing that isn't the key here. Does anyone else who listened to my posted songs have any idea what I may not be doing or need to do in that regard? Thanks and happy new year everyone. :)

I'm starting to get sort of annoyed, because I always get the same comment on my vocals, namely that they sound too weak, or there's not enough breath, etc... I know I'm not the next American Idol and I wander on and off key, but I just don't understand how my vocals aren't strong enough if I'm about 2 db's away from screaming. I'm a classically trained trumpet player and I think I have the whole breathing from your stomach and let your diaphragm do the work thing down pat. However, people always say that my singing isn't strong enough. I guess I'm just at a loss and I don't know what else I can do to get my vocals sounding bigger or whatever they need to be. Attached are a couple of songs I recorded: nothing great, just some quick demos I did. I know, the first song "Wonderful" really sucks, but I just did it for my fiance in like 5 hours total, so I suppose that's a pretty accurate picture of my singing. So, can you guys be so kind as to tell me what my vox seem to be lacking? Thanks and happy new year. http://www.myspace.com/rejectconvention