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Singing out of tune in karaoke due to loud singing.

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IamHo

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So I often sing out of tune in karaoke because I wanna sing louder than the music which is instruments. How do I stop singing so loud and not to strain my voice up? I always thought that my voice is not loud enough but when I sing loud, that's not really my own voice it's like im straining my voice. Any helps?

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Also, do singers sing louder than other instruments on stage or they don't?

"Louder" is a relative term. Ronnie James Dio sang only a little louder than he spoke. Sometimes, it would seem the volume levels are the same. Please listen to the difference of his singing voice and that of his speaking voice when he thanks the audience. Decibel - wise, it is about the same volume. And remember that RJD sang professionally for more than 40 years. Was suffering from failing health. At the time of his death in 2010, he was still in the planning stages of another tour.

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"Louder" is a relative term. Ronnie James Dio sang only a little louder than he spoke.

Exactly. Especially in karaoke when there's not really a reactive soundman behind the table (most times there isn't, it's just pretty overall-type of mix for just about every singer) you want to find the volume you can hear yourself in and keep to that. If there are passages in the song that technique-wise demand you to sing louder to nail the pitch or the tone then do so, but back away from the mic just a tad so as to take your fellow karaokees into consideration. There's nothing, nothing worse than some amateur opera singer really blasting the PA with some nightwish songs or something. It sounds good, yes, but if the soundman doesn't have the sense to turn it down it's pretty awful to listen to it in a small bar. That, or some CVT-gung ho twanging the crap out of Rolling in the deep for the Nth time that night.

But all in all, for karaoke I sing a lot different than with a band. I tend to sing using more compression to compensate the volume differences etc, and to cut through better since you usually have a lot buzz in the bar. Also it's a good way to train to not strain and sing with less power and more technique, as it is harder (for me) to sing higher and sound good without supporting the living hell out of the sound, and without sound too nasal/thin.

Singing karaoke I tend to sing more headvoicey, and singing with a band I tend to carry more chest and push a lot more. Probably not smart, but hey, whatever.

Also, I had a friend ask me how come I sang Wait and Bleed and the clean vocals sounded louder than the distorted ones. That's just how it goes. For me at least.

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Ron is right.

One of my favorite quotes I was introduced to last year (may be slightly paraphrased):

"Perform to express, not to impress" - Harry Pickens

I think about all the time now whenever I find competition dragging me down or my ego pulling me up too high or anything like that. If you just shut out all that ego-related noise and just sing with the objective of expressing a whole concept, you have nothing left to worry about except the right things to worry about. Because the fundamental purpose of music is expression.

It's not to say you can forget about everything and just let out whatever wants to come out. To really express yourself effectively in a performance you need to be very much in control of exactly what you are planning to do, more so than you may think. That's why vocal technique is so incredibly important.

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I'm not sure we know exactly why you are singing out of tune. Maybe you're right about trying to sing too loud, but maybe it is something else. Can you sing "in tune" to a backing track in your home? You should make a quick recording for us with a backing track. It may be that you don't have sufficient awareness of the backing track. I've seen this sort of thing before with singing out of tune, and also not staying in rhythm - the performer didn't develop the awareness needed to sing / play in an ensemble setting.

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Ron is right.

One of my favorite quotes I was introduced to last year (may be slightly paraphrased):

"Perform to express, not to impress" - Harry Pickens

I think about all the time now whenever I find competition dragging me down or my ego pulling me up too high or anything like that. If you just shut out all that ego-related noise and just sing with the objective of expressing a whole concept, you have nothing left to worry about except the right things to worry about. Because the fundamental purpose of music is expression.

It's not to say you can forget about everything and just let out whatever wants to come out. To really express yourself effectively in a performance you need to be very much in control of exactly what you are planning to do, more so than you may think. That's why vocal technique is so incredibly important.

Awesome response.

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It may be that I can't hear myself so I had to sing louder in order to hear my voice but when my voice gets louder it will go out of tune and that's why. I know when I have a headphone in my room I can sing much better than I do in karaoke.

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The problem with live karaoke is that every person sings differently and the host has to constantly adjust for each person. You might go up after someone who was screaming and the mic pickup got dropped or the person that whispered and the pickup is so high touching the mic sets it off. Just ask the host to adjust right before the song if they don't already.

One important thing to remember is that the position of the speakers may make it seem like you are not that loud enough, but everyone can still hear you fine. Sing in your normal range and don't worry about the mic.

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You can't really use a professionally produced video to show relative volume. Of course, they made it sound equal volume.

I've seen RJD numerous times and can say for certain that when he was speaking between songs, it sounded like he was mumbling and hard to hear. Right up until he belted the song title...."Neon Nights, this one", for example.

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one thing to be aware of in karaoke bars....you are being judged by the d.j...

once the d.j. hears how you sing (assuming he's a good d.j.) he will make adjustments to the sound.

if you are at least a decent singer, he will tweak the system to make you sound your best. good d.j.'s want you to sound your best...he needs the gig.

but...if you area singer with blatant issues, singing out of tune, out of key, timing way off, or you scream bloody murder into the mike it's likely he will limit your volume, or even pass you over so as to avoid an unhappy audience and bar owner.

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I did not read all the posts, but my suggestion is to practice singing your karaoke songs through a PA system. You will get used to it. Monitors are not always going to be perfect, and if you are trying to sound your best, then you really need to work on singing and not screaming to hear yourself. Practicing with a PS will help you. You will be able to hear notes that resonate louder without strain, and notes you need to work on.

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