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I've been working on my singing since last summer (I guess that makes a year now, wow). I think my tone and pitch control have improved significantly, but of course I could still use more practice. Once I stopped trying to fight the fact that my voice isn't suited for high pitched pop songs things got a lot easier. I can hit the notes, but my tone just doesn't work with that style. Now I'm trying for a jazzier type tone, and it's working out pretty well. Here's something I posted in the acoustic covers thread; I could use some feedback on the singing. What can I improve on?
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May 6, 2010 20:33
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| # ¿ Apr 24, 2024 19:52 |
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Triple Tech posted:Advice. Thanks for the feedback, I never would have thought of that. I'll try to record something where I focus on that after I get back home in a few days (Oh god the R's!).
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May 7, 2010 15:11
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Well I finally got around to recording some new, and hopefully improved, tracks. At first I had huge trouble wrapping my mind and voice around the whole "don't sing like you talk" thing, but I finally figured it out (I think?) somewhat randomly while listening to "Drops of Jupiter" by Train.  There are a lot of guitar errors, and I flubbed the lyrics a few times on the second track since I just learned it, but you get the idea. I still find myself over-pronouncing R's a bit, but I think I'm getting better. One question I have is: how is my vibrato? For instance, on "Turned araaaaaaaaaaaound" I feel like its pitchy and lovely. Should I try to tighten it up, or leave it relatively wide? As for the redo of Long Black Veil, I know Triple Tech will hate the slides, but it's country and I just can't help it. So what do you think? Obviously there's still work to do on eliding consonants, but what's the next step? When I'm concentrating on singing smoothly, I tend to lose focus on pitch, so I guess I should work on making both natural and reflexive.
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May 28, 2010 05:18
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Triple Tech posted:Sweet Advice Thanks for the tips and explanations; I'll keep working on it for a bit and post something in a week or two. By the end of the summer I'm going to kick rear end.
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May 28, 2010 06:00
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So here's an update on my progress. I'm still pitchy, but I think it's getting better. A lot of times when I try to keep phrases strong until the end, I extend the note too long, but I'm working on it. I haven't had time to practice much lately, as I just took the MCAT, but I should be back on track now that that's done with. Better? It gets mad pitchy at the end because I suck at playing guitar and singing at the same time. I'll stop being lazy and record multiple tracks soon so I can focus on singing alone.
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Jun 12, 2010 03:33
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Thanks guys for the encouragement; as always, you give great advice. I'll try to bring out some more interesting dynamics and variation , since I'm getting better at keeping pitch tight while eliding consonants. I think next time I'll do something lower in my range so you can hear that. And yeah, the second "turned around" pisses me off so much.
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Jun 15, 2010 06:10
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So this was just for fun, but I think it shows what my voice is like towards my lowest range. I actually recorded multiple tracks for this one, so there aren't a ton of guitar mistakes to throw me off.  The only glaring pitch problems are at 0:57 and 2:04, and they both make my soul cry. I also come in a bit early for the second chorus; oh well. Right now I think I'm having the most trouble trying not to say-sing quick lead-ins like "In other words", so I'll have to work on that. Other than that, let me know what you think of my attempt at jazziness.
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Jun 18, 2010 04:13
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Thanks guys for the blunt feedback; its nice to know full well when I make a major blunder. Yeah I was doing the whole wannabe Frank thing. Listening to him is what actually got me interested in singing. Now that I look back, I really did completely throw out everything I've learned from this thread in that performance trying to jazz it up. I'm just not there yet, or even close really. Unfortunately, the music I'd like to be able to sing most is jazz standards, followed by pop songs. Should I try to do a standard I've never even heard before, and see how that turns out, or just stick to pop songs with simpler melodies for now?
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Jun 19, 2010 04:04
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Right now I'm thinking of doing "People Will Say We're in Love", because it looks like it has an interesting melody and I've never heard it before. The lyrics are kind of silly, but whatever. I just started getting into jazz a little while ago, so I don't know a ton of standards outside of Frank's domain, but I really like "All the Things You Are", "Witchcraft", "Body and Soul", "Cheek to Cheek", and "Satin Doll". Now that I think about it I might do the last one, since it's pretty straight forward. I've also been working on a version of "Why Try to Change Me Now" by Cy Coleman. Let me know which one you think would be best to start with.
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Jun 19, 2010 05:48
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Another progress update; I hope these aren't too frequent, but I felt like recording lately and I think I've almost got She's Got a Way down. I just need to polish the softer parts, keep the long notes steady, and stop loving say-singing certain lead-ins. I believe I'm finally getting a handle on focusing on all of these different elements at the same time, though let me know if I am mistaken. I also took a crack at Cheek to Cheek, and I think it's much more "me" than my previous foray into swing. I still do a few Frankisms out of habit; I've been parroting him while singing in the shower and such for so long that its a bit ingrained. I'm working on making my performance more individual though. I still don't really know the song that well, so some more practice is definitely needed. As such, think of this as a preview of what is to come, but feel free to critique.  Edit: Sorry about the nasty clipping on the first track. I had the preamp turned a bit too high. The Mystery Date fucked around with this message at 04:09 on Jun 22, 2010 |
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Jun 22, 2010 03:03
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What do you guys think of this dude's videos? I've been doing his vocal warm-up and it seems like it helps a ton with avoiding unwanted tension. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5CWsFaVnWM Edit VVV: Yeah the first video is just talky stuff. I should have posted the subsequent parts as they are more singy. I'd skip around, because most of it is just piano scales. It basically consists of doing liprolled chords up and then down by halfsteps for a bit, then doing scales up and down a bit using different vocalizations. Does this seem like a useful warm-up to you? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZ_RwV52DMw&feature=channel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSOn-b3V6rQ&feature=channel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnmlpVe3B40&feature=channel The Mystery Date fucked around with this message at 03:13 on Feb 4, 2011 |
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Feb 3, 2011 20:48
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It's been a while since I posted progress in this thread, so here's After You've Gone, my attempt at a swing standard. I think I've improved a lot, but I'll leave it up to you guys to critique. Edit:vvv I'm more just trying to do it the way I like it, so I guess not really classic jazz styling or anything. I'm not the best at classifying rhythm, so I'm not quite sure what you mean when you refer to my straight 8ths as "clearly not on purpose". I suppose I should have called it a pop cover of a swing standard I guess. I'll play around with the rhythm and keep the tempo more straight and see how I like it. The Mystery Date fucked around with this message at 05:55 on Feb 21, 2011 |
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Feb 21, 2011 04:37
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I see what you mean. I'll work on my swingin' for the next little while and post a follow-up in a week or two. I also think my tempo is generally inconsistent as Pyrthas pointed out, so I guess I should practice more/break out the metronome.
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Feb 21, 2011 20:13
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AriTheDog posted:You need to focus on hitting your vibrato on the beginning of every vowel. I've been working on fixing my rhythm, but when I came across this part of your post, I'm not sure I get what you mean. I thought notes were supposed to start out straight and get vibrato towards the middle or tail. If you start at the beginning of every vowel, you'd sound like Fiona Apple, who seems to have a very unique style which is not the norm. If that's not what you mean, perhaps you could record an example focusing on this, or find something on youtube that makes it really obvious.
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Feb 28, 2011 21:03
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Since no one has responded to this yet I just want to say, ComposerGuy:  .After hearing the second track I actually said that out loud in appreciation (the first was awesome too, I think I said probably said something like "Holy poo poo"). You make me excited about singing.
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Apr 3, 2011 05:12
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With all this discussion about smiling while singing, I'm curious as to what you guys think about something like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERsjRsCBlBo
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Apr 24, 2011 04:46
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It's odd that he would call it a B#...
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Apr 23, 2013 17:12
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^^^Thank you for this. I hate eeeee sounds.
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Oct 14, 2013 20:02
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https://soundcloud.com/someguybrian/mack-the-knife If anybody would like to see what a difference 4 years and some effort can make, check out the first reply to this thread on page 1.
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Jun 30, 2014 23:39
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Morning Bell posted:Holy poo poo, sounds grand, and like a completely different singer. What was your practice regime like over the four years? Thanks! I never really had anything formal laid out. I find the most important thing is to keep mindful whenever I sing, recognize mistakes, and do the best I can to correct them and improve. I'm sure things would have gone a lot faster if I'd had some sort of instruction, but it's rewarding to accumulate knowledge on my own and figure things out. Special thanks to Triple Tech, whose advice nudged me in the right direction when I didn't know what the hell I was doing.
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Jul 1, 2014 08:36
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I hate to disappoint, but all I've really done is sing a lot and focus on improving. It certainly helped to know another instrument first so I had a decent sense of pitch, and recording myself has been important to actually get an idea of what I sound like, no matter how miserable it was at first. If you're looking for pointers, I'm probably not the one to give them, but you can check out Triple Tech's advice to me in the first few pages to get some basic fundamentals (I'd just be reiterating his points and he did an excellent job of articulating them). The key is practice, practice, practice (i.e. singing a lot). I didn't sing a ton of scales or anything, mostly just various songs at home, in the car, in the shower, etc. Realize that each vocal cord is associated with around 6 different muscles (some are shared between them), which need to be harnessed and mastered to have control, so just knowing isn't going to cut it; it takes doing over and over and over.
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Jul 1, 2014 17:58
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gandlethorpe posted:So I have this problem where I have a pretty powerful falsetto (I think) range, but can't access it practically because getting there from lower notes is extremely rough. You seem to hit notes better in your falsetto, which is interesting. However, you're still missing several. I think you have a really big problem with waaaaaaaay to much strain when you are singing. The reason I'm so blunt about this is it sounds like you're getting ready to do some real damage, evidenced by a bunch of unwanted grating and gravel like at 0:12 in the second track and 0:16, 0:36, 1:02, 1:12 in the first. I think that your focus on falsetto is making you strain in your regular voice in anticipation of the high notes, so try to focus on relaxing and letting your throat stay open when you sing. This is not entirely intuitive, but the best way I can describe the feeling is that it's somewhere between yawning and speaking. The answer to your first question is that, yes, it is somewhat of a waste of time. Falsetto is a shiny gem you pull out of your pocket every once in a while so people can say "Ooo, that's nice". If you have it out all the time, it becomes mundane and boring. It's a really nice trick and can really make a performance interesting, but if you have no foundation in a normal register it doesn't really have a place to stand on to provide contrast. I recommend practicing mostly in your non-falsetto range and focusing on relaxing and hitting notes. Reeeeeally concentrate on hitting those notes, and if you miss, try the section again.
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Aug 17, 2014 19:33
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Finger Wagon posted:(Extra Edit: Someone tell The Mystery Date I've been listening to Mack The Knife on repeat all evening and that they're absolutely an inspiration. God loving drat.)  Your singing actually reminds me a lot of myself several years ago. Ari is right on in that you need to really pay attention to, learn, and follow the melody of the song you are singing for the most part. I used to do the same thing you do and kind of make things up as I went along, thinking it sounded jazzy. Really, it was just messy and awkward. Pitch and rhythm really are about 90% of good singing. Once you gain control over those two aspects, then you can start to jazz things up more and play around. I am not great at advice, so listen to Ari. I'm fairly sure he's one of the ones I heeded most when I was getting on the right path. You've got really sweet tone, and I think you have it in you to learn the control you need, so I look forward to hearing your progress.
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Jan 23, 2015 17:55
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Finger Wagon posted:Well, actually, I think I might just be putting off accepting that I am really just going to have to practice over and over and over, no getting around it, which is something I will do if I have to (I'm gonna have to) but will absolutely hate doing because I'm the sort of intuitively bright piece of poo poo who usually learns quickly and effortlessly and never learned to actually apply myself as a result. So yeah, that's almost certainly what I'm doing. Let me mellow in denial for a bit- the going through old advice thing can't exactly hurt me, anyway. quote:On a different note, I'm curious what you mean about me having a "sweet" tone, though- did you mean that figuratively or as an actual descriptor? Because while I'm vaguely familiar with people referring to tone/timbre with words like warm or bright or dark, that in particular is not something I've ever heard and wouldn't really have associated with myself, being that it has been made abundantly clear to me over the years that I have an unusually low voice for someone so short and small (the one time I met my high school's vocal teacher was at an audition and she got incredibly excited and started babbling about me being a tenor, whatever that means) and I'd always heard lower voices called dark or warm. I guess I'm just curious what you meant because I'm starting to become aware that my tone is generally what carries me into the "tentatively listenable" range of ability, and is absolutely the only reason I can listen to my own recordings without flinching my way through them.
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Jan 23, 2015 23:12
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