Emulating other singers

[Hanalei]

Was reading up on emulating other singers, and came across a post by someone that said something along the lines of how similar you are to the singer you want to emulate in terms of personality has more to do with it than your voice itself. Is that true?

Anyway, I have a couple of questions about this whole thing.

1) Can you just pick any singer(s) that you like to emulate, or do they need to have a similar sounding voice?

2) Where's the line between emulating and mimicking? I don't want to sound exactly like anyone else, but I wouldn't mind picking up some sounds here and there of other singers.

3) Exactly how do you emulate someone, and how long do you have to purposely do it before it becomes natural?

[ronws]

Was reading up on emulating other singers, and came across a post by someone that said something along the lines of how similar you are to the singer you want to emulate in terms of personality has more to do with it than your voice itself. Is that true?

Yes, mostly. You can emulate a singer's feeling, whether you have the same range, or not.

1) Can you just pick any singer(s) that you like to emulate, or do they need to have a similar sounding voice?

Led Zeppelin is my favorite band, Robert Plant is my favorite singer. I emulate the emotion and jazzy phrasing he puts in a line. I do not sound like him, not even a little bit. And I don't care.

2) Where's the line between emulating and mimicking? I don't want to sound exactly like anyone else, but I wouldn't mind picking up some sounds here and there of other singers.

Mimicking, which can also happen accidently, is when you are trying to sound like another singer, rather than just emulation. Mimicking can have purpose, though. You may not end up sounding like the singer but you might come up with a neat sound from the effort to do so.

3) Exactly how do you emulate someone, and how long do you have to purposely do it before it becomes natural?

Exactly 2,000 hours. Just kidding. I don't know. Find sounds that please you. Work on creating those sounds. or something like them.

One of my favorite stories about mimicking was in an interview with Bob Dylan. He said he was trying to sound like folk singer Woody Guthrie.

I think he missed. But he did create an iconic sound, never the less.

In the world of guitars, Eddie Van Halen always talked about how he was inspired by the "brown" sound of Eric Clapton.

[Hanalei]

Interesting... almost seems counter-intuitive, but it makes perfect sense.

I guess a potential problem for me is I really only have 2 favorite singers that I'd want to pick up anything from... I have lots of singers that I like, but only 3 that I love. One of them I don't think I'd want to emulate too much.

[ronws]

Cool vid, Phil.

Too bad that Robert Plant never talks about what he does to sing, other than describe himself as a jazz singer. Which probably does more good than a step-by-step technical tutorial. Just thinking "jazz" helps, even when the song is heavy blues. And Led Zep was a heavy "BLUES" band, not a heavy metal band, as they have often been described.

Anyway, though I have often said, as well, not to try and sound like a carbon copy of some singer, that doesn't mean that you cannot emulate. Or try some of their sounds. For your own version may come up with something neat that is just as valid.

Steven Tyler used to dress and tried to talk like Mick Jagger. According to his own words, he even adopted a faux brit accent, for a while. Then settled into his own look and sound.

In fact, much of the british invasion, especially from the Rolling Stones and on, was based on their attempt to copy delta blues from the southern USA. Blind Lemon was more important to them than any of the pop american singers. They just did them in their own way, inspired by soemone else's take. Led Zep's first album has a cover song on it.

No, I do not have a fan-boy worship of Robert Plant. But i liked the feeling of his singing. And that feeling is what I try to incorporate in what I do. Probably one of my more popular covers was "Ramble On." And I sound nothing like him. But I "feel" the song.

[ronws]

The answers are in the doing.

Sing more, and most importantly, start making your own music and recording your voice on it.

Singing is an art.

Technique is the method to give you more artistic CHOICES .

Excellent post.

[Danielformica]

hey there i just did 2 videos on this on youtube . Emulating singers to me is the way to really find your style. But before you can emulate you need to be able to just sing the song on the pitches with no problem. Then you can start adding the rasp,distortion ,breathiness,nasality that comes with your favorite singer.

[Hanalei]

You are making this more complex than it needs to be brother!

Haha, I do have a habit of that...

Guess it sounds like I'm on the right track then. So far I've just mostly been singing along with my favorite songs and trying to get the general sound of them. That and the added confidence seems to have helped the rock sound in my voice, so I'll get there, I guess. Thanks, guys!

Edit: "distortion, rasp, breathiness...." There's a lot of stuff I don't know how to do yet... :)

[Remylebeau]

Odds are that you're not going to mimick an artist unless you're trying really really hard to mimick every tiny little detail of their sound. The only reason you'd want to do that is if you're fronting a tribute act or you're replacing a lead singer and the band wants you to sound just like their old lead singer.

Taking vocal effects from a singer you like and including them in your sound or a cover of the song they sang, isn't mimicking. That singer didn't invent those vocal effects. They got them from emulating someone else who got them from emulating someone else who got them from emulating someone else.

Nate Ruess and Fun very obviously have elements of their sound that are a lot like Freddie Mercury and Queen. But it's not as though they're trying to pretend that they are Freddie Mercury and Queen. Queen didn't invent multi-part vocal harmonies with top notes up in the 5th octave. They just made really really effective use of them, perhaps more so than any other group in rock music. When Nate Ruess and Fun use them, they're still very much their own band. They just remind us all a little bit of Queen, and frankly that's great because Queen was freakin awesome.

So to re-iterate, the only way you're going to sound exactly like another singer is if you put in hours and hours trying to sound precisely like that singer. If you simply take the effects and style choices that you like from a singer and use them, you aren't going to sound exactly like them. Some people (especially those who don't know much about singing) will say you sound like them, but that doesn't really mean you sound like them. It means that whatever vocal effect or style you're using reminds them of that particular singer because that's the person they associate with that effect or style.

[Hanalei]

Some people (especially those who don't know much about singing) will say you sound like them, but that doesn't really mean you sound like them. It means that whatever vocal effect or style you're using reminds them of that particular singer because that's the person they associate with that effect or style.

That's kind of what I want, actually. I think (at this point, at least) that it'd be kind of cool for other people to be able to pick up who my biggest influences are ("She reminds me of...") but yet still sounding like me. Personally, there are some bands that I like better if they remind me of someone else. There's a group - I can't think of their name - but they have a song called "Runner", and they kind of remind me of Bon Jovi, so I really like the song.

How much of this emulating stuff just comes through naturally after listening to a singer and singing their songs long enough?

[VideoHere]

all great great advice.

emulation will stretch you ..but as phil said, the stronger your technique the more you will be able to sing different voices and styles.

technique is an enabler...

[ronws]

This is emulation, in a real club with sweaty customers trying to chat each other up. This is rock and roll.

Walking the walk, talking the talk. But the performance is not a carbon copy. The pink cowboy hat is what makes it.

[Danielformica]

Hey that guy is great!!!!:)

[ronws]

Hey that guy is great!!!!

I agree. Like, he's been there, done that, and might have some good pointers here and there, now and then.

I think that guy said that you get better at singing songs by singing songs. I liked his tutorial on Chris Cornell, too. Find the song with a clean voice. Then add the sound effects later.

[MDEW]

I used to wear a big brown cowboy hat. I always knew there was something wrong with my technique. :/

[Danielformica]

You wanna sing high you gotta bring out your feminine side!!:)

[Hanalei]

That's actually really good, Daniel! :)

[MDEW]

You wanna sing high you gotta bring out your feminine side!!

My hair is down to my belt but I balance it out with a beard to my adams apple. I emulate ZZ Top and Ted Nugent. It doesn't help with my singing but if my mic is turned down no one care cares.

[ronws]

Daniel has a pink hat. MDEW has a brown hat. My 10-gallon stetson is black.

It can be just as simple was what hat you are wearing. I also have a watchman's cap that says has the Orange County Choppers "OCC" logo on it (from the Teutels' motorcycle shop in Orange County, New York, the show is "American Choppers.") What does that say about me?

[Danielformica]

I wanted tio thank you guys for the compliments and also just say that I do my best at what i do. Almost everything you hear on my website/youtube/soundcloud is live with the exception of the tower of power tune (very hard song to sing well every time) and maybe a line here or there on rod stewart. I do not want to try and hide behind take after take I want singers to hear imperfections. its important to know that you are not gonna nail your favorite singers in one take(if you do call me I wanna hear it over the phone). The recordings you hear from the original artist is a thousand takes unless you caught a good live one. Anyway do your best over and over and you will nail it better and better everytime

[Adolph Namlik]

Hey that guy is great!!!!

Yes, he IS !!! :cool:

[VideoHere]

dan is a straight up class act...and so friggin' humble.....lol!!! great vocalist.

[gno]

I wanted tio thank you guys for the compliments and also just say that I do my best at what i do.

No.... We should be thanking you! For all your valuable contributions. Your no-nonsense, to-the-point posts, and great videos. You are the living proof of a full time professional singer that has done it right. You certainly have helped me. Thanks for hanging out on this forum and helping us.

[gno]

How much of this emulating stuff just comes through naturally after listening to a singer and singing their songs long enough?

Hanalei - for me, all of it. You naturally gravitate towards what you like. And you naturally listen closer because you like it. It kind-of becomes a "model" of what you think is good singing. And you subconsciously mimic the phrasing and nuances. You can hear it in your own recordings of Bon Jovi songs. Your style, tone, phrasing is already there. You've got a good thing going - keep it up!

[VideoHere]

that is so true.

[Hanalei]

Hanalei - for me, all of it. You naturally gravitate towards what you like. And you naturally listen closer because you like it. It kind-of becomes a "model" of what you think is good singing. And you subconsciously mimic the phrasing and nuances. You can hear it in your own recordings of Bon Jovi songs. Your style, tone, phrasing is already there. You've got a good thing going - keep it up!

So, you can purposely try to emulate someone, or you can just sing and listen to the songs enough and you'll pick it up that way, too? I guess I probably do a little of both. I listen to Bon Jovi probably 80% of the time, and I do somewhat purposely try to say the words the same way he says them, but I've never focused on it too much. It's mostly just how it comes out naturally.

I think at some point in the future, it'd be cool to have someone come up to me and say, "You know, you remind me a lot of Bon Jovi." Especially since they were what got me into singing. Keith Urban got me into guitar, but Bon Jovi got me into singing and really into music itself. Though it is a lot easier to purposely emulate someone when you're not playing guitar at the same time, as I discovered yesterday. :)