Hello, review my vocals

[mvrasseli]

Hi, It's my first post here though I know this forum about 2 months I think. I realy need a vocal review, some people said I'm better but I realy don't like my voice I think it's so horrible tough I know I have a fair pitch, altough my records sound a little unpitched because I use to do thoses in a Dry Room where is my computer and I realy dont have much feedback from my voice.

Try to listen it:

http://www.4shared.com/audio/R6uQeOl9/moonchild1.html

What do you think?

[jonpall]

I liked the song and I think you sang it really well! It's time to start liking your voice a bit more It could also be helpful for us to know what exactly you DISLIKE about your voice. IMO, for this type of music, your voice is perfect. And I'm sure it will work for lots of other types of music as well.

[ronws]

It's a good recording and I think you did well. The pitch problems you said come from vocalizing in another room and not having feedback. That seems like an easy fix but I could be wrong. You have way better equipment than I have. Maybe you could have some headphones with a long cord so that you have a closer reference to the music.

As for quality of your voice, I'm with jonpall. I don't hear anything wrong with your voice.

[mvrasseli]

jonpall

Thank you jon! The point is that my voice to me sounds like it has not enough articulation, sounds like it's a little "lazy" to get the notes I don't know why, maybe listening to Greg Lake to much

ronws

Thank you!

I don't have a professional equipment, I have a common computer mic and an onboard sound with medium quality. My first records were not good as well, but spent some time recording I discovered some "tricks" to get the recordings a little better, like the distance between the sound and mic and another things. I use to add some compression and reverb too, I have some experience with sound processors(about 4 years) what help me to do a little better works.

I tried sometimes sing with feedback phones, but I had to much delay like 0.3 sec so I give up.

Thank you guys, greats from Brazil.

[jonpall]

That "lazy" sound of yours is perfect for this song, even though it might not work for a Megadeath cover. I like it. And I'm sure you could sing with several different sounds, depending on the song choice.

[ronws]

I tried sometimes sing with feedback phones, but I had to much delay like 0.3 sec so I give up.

Thank you guys, greats from Brazil.

I know what you mean. When I choose monitor while recording, there is a delay of at least .3 and it throws me off entirely. So, I turn off monitor while recording and use just the overdub function which just creates another track and still plays the previous track or tracks. I take out one earbud. That way, I can still hear the music but I will sing toward a wall or flat surface in order to hear my own voice in relation to that.

Other times, I record "live," in that I will just play guitar and sing at the same time but that is problematic, too.

Again, I agree with jonpall. You are capable of more than you think you are.

[analog]

mvrasseli,

I have to be honest...your voice is exactly the kind of voice I would listen to for personal pleasure(as opposed to all this acrobatic BS I need for performance.) Man that phrasing that you call "lazy" coupled with your accent is feckin' genius(IMO.) I really think it's the quirks and imperfections in one's own voice that give it originality. There are thousands upon thousands of cookie-cutter technicians(look at all the vocal mill bullshit with '{insert country} Idol ' or {insert country}'s Got Talent.) What they are missing are the quirks that make a voice captivating(to me at least.)

Dude...record an album and I would buy it! No shit.

[ronws]

Excellent point, Analog. I call it the Simon Cowell effect. In his career as a talent "producer" he is looking for a specific "package" with everything having that polished Phil Specter kind of sound. A modern "Motown," so to speak. He probably would have panned Janis Joplin and the world would be a poorer place without her. Even I cannot imagine anyone doing "Born to Run" other than Bruce Springsteen, even though his voice had a rough quality. Bob Dylan's odd style totally fits "Like a Rolling Stone." "Jumpin' Jack Flash" needs Mick Jagger to sound "right."

And I think mvrasseli has a better voice than those people, at least in this offering. Mv, you might suffering from the occasional hindrance of most any singer. The current inability to hear yourself as others hear you.

[gracesong]

I agree with the other posters here above me. Your voice fits this genre of music, and your timbre is clear and likable.

Keep up the good work! :)

[Steve]

I liked that. I think you voice sounds clear, relaxed and pleasant and suites the style.

When you say you dislike your voice do you dislike it for what it is or what what it is not? For example do you dislike the fact that recorded it doesn't sound like the voice you hear in you head when singing? Nobody's voice does because we hear a coloured version of our own voices. Or is it that you have someone else's voice, an ideal, in your head and you are disappointed you voice doesn't sound like that? Trying to be someone else is a wild goose chase - just be the best you you can.

On the technical issue you mention with monitoring and the sound being late it this is because there is a delay while the sound goes in the sound card, round inside the software on the PC and then back out the soundcard. Depending on which OS and software you are using there may be some tuning possible - check out "low latency audio". The other possibility is to take some of the signal from the mic and mix it into the signal going to the headphone or monitors in analogie electronics rather than inside the PC. Some audio interfaces designed for musicians have this feature - if not and you have a traditional analogue mixer you could trying rigging that up manually.

[mvrasseli]

analog

Thank you by the good words!

Steve

Thank you !!

I realy can't explain why I dislike, but most of singers I hear have a timbre far from mine. About the voice in the head, I knew that and the first time I recorded my voice(2000) I realy felt the diference and since that day I've trying acept it.

About the low latency audio, I'm using WinXP(very old I know....) and Linux Ubuntu. I can get realy low latency but I lost in quality. I can use a amplifier to have the feedback but I can't record with it.

Edit:

I was testing asio4all now and I get a low latency audio. The lastest test I did I had another CPU and It didn't work well because had a "plock" in the audio. Thank you!

[ronws]

analog

Thank you by the good words!

Steve

Thank you !!

I realy can't explain why I dislike, but most of singers I hear have a timbre far from mine. About the voice in the head, I knew that and the first time I recorded my voice(2000) I realy felt the diference and since that day I've trying acept it.

About the low latency audio, I'm using WinXP(very old I know....) and Linux Ubuntu. I can get realy low latency but I lost in quality. I can use a amplifier to have the feedback but I can't record with it.

Edit:

I was testing asio4all now and I get a low latency audio. The lastest test I did I had another CPU and It didn't work well because had a "plock" in the audio. Thank you!

Just remember, Mv, you hear yourself, mostly through your bones. And, in playback, you are hearing yourself through both the limitations of the mic and of the playback software and devices, such as speakers or earphones. Personally, I have been using earphones so that I can all the better hear any pitch problems. Also, since I record the guitar track first, I leave just one earbud in so that I can hear the music better than if it was in a speaker. This also avoids the accidental reverb of picking up playback when I record the vocal on a separate track.

I have tried any number of post recording mixing tricks, from eq settings to compression to slight echo. I end up hearing a chopping of the signal and sometimes, it makes me sound slightly off when just regular playback shows that I was not off. Now, more often than not, I have not done anything to the vocal track.

My employment status has been spotty, which ruins my budget for anything outside of regular bills. But, as soon as I can afford it, I plan to get a better mic than the standard desk mic that I have but it must be usable in the jack of my sound card. Then, we'll see what I sound like. It will never replace what I sound like live or through an active pa, but I am inching toward better technology, one excruciating step at a time.

Perhaps you feel that you don't like your voice because you don't sound like some favorite singer of yours. So what? It's actually better to have your own sound. Jack Russell of Great White had to put up with a lot of comparisons to Robert Plant, especially when he was with Stone Fury and their copy song that sounded similar to "Moving through Cashmere." Even when he was with Great White, they would do "Babe, I'm gonna leave you" just so that the fans could scratch their Led Zep itch.

For me, though I have sang as long as I played guitar, I didn't get serious about it until Appetite for Destruction by Guns and Roses. I will never sound like Axl Rose and truthfullly, I'm not that interested in producing distortion. But that doesn't stop me from performing "Sweet Child o' Mine." Just as it didn't stop Sheryl Crow or Fergie. I have hit the high note in "Bohemian Rhapsody" even though I don't sound like Roger Taylor. But that won't stop me from hitting that note whenever I want to. I don't sound like Geoofrey Tate but I will go right ahead and sing "I Don't Believe in Love" as if it were mine.

You have a good tone and presentation. Accept the fact that you are a good singer and go from there and rejoice that you have your own sound.

If it's a matter of replaying the voices in your head from family that said you couldn't do it or you are wasting your time, quit listening to them.

I used to get in trouble for playing in the dirt. Now, I get paid pretty well to play in the dirt (digging ditches and installing electrical pipe.) My family always considered my musical interests secondary, at best, a hindrance at worst. But I am as stubborn as my parents were and I forge ahead. Join me.

[Sheepdog]

Dude, you've got a great sound! Your voice has a similar appeal, in my opinion, to Morrissey.

It's up to you whether you want to fix your pronunciation or not - nobody here is going to stop you. But right now your "lazy" pronunciation gives you a human quality, a vulnerability, that fits right at home with your tone. It's a very pleasant combination.

[gracesong]

mvrasseli, I noticed you don't seem to like your sound, but I think the very thing that makes an artist appealing is exactly their unique sound.

With the exception of a few artists, I personally feel that top 40 music has become very generic and sounds very much the same. There is always a certain sound that would appeal to the audiences at large and that is what is sought.

However, push past the status quo, and use that unique sound you've got to your advantage and embrace it.

Good luck!

[mvrasseli]

ronws

Thanks for the tips. Do you work with electrical stuff?? I'm an eletrotechnical enginer and I play guitar too, I know it's not the aim from the topic but if you want to listen my classical guitar Jam I've made:

http://www.4shared.com/audio/90Xm8gbU/thekingisdead.html

It's realy an improvisation, some parts are good anothers not so much.

See you!

Sheepdog

Thanks, Morrissey is a great singer, I think his vocal range is close to mine as well

gracesong

Thanks!I think that is an interesting point. Most of people listen to the music just for fun and they are not worrying about the details, that's why people listen to low quality audio from internet. People who listen music for secondary purposes that put the music on the tops.

[ronws]

I liked your classical piece. And how it ends on a somber and sad note. Well Done.

As for Electrical work, what I do involves the installation of power schemes to energize plugs, lights, utilization equipment, which can include outside devices, such as pole lights in parking lots, etc.

[mvrasseli]

I think it's a interesting job, but I realy rather to work on a PLC(Programmable logic controller) system .

[ronws]

Ah then, perhaps you will end up having to change not too long from now. Here, in America, there are plenty of factories that use PLC. But, when they can afford it, they change over to networked controls. I did change out job in a paint factory that had PLC. An engineer had made new wiring harnesses to fit with a new system that uses removal cards that look like your sound card and that base is connected to the net and the entire operation can be controlled from one computer, anywhere in the company's network or through company internet portal. The base is connect by harness to the machine then, later, it's just a matter of changing cards. Much simpler and less expensive, after the initial change-over.