Question about singing?

Question

I've played musical intstruments my whole life, and so I would say I have a pretty good ear for music. When I try to sing, I can hit notes that are within my range, but when I try to record what I sing, I hate how I sound. All though I hit the notes, I don't like the way I sound when I sing. Is there anyway to improve on style. Because I write songs on the piano, and would love to preform them, but I don't feel I sing well enough. Any tips would be appreciated.

Answer 1

Well, you could do it at least three ways:

1) Get voice lessons and go through vocal coaching. Spend years, money and I don't think you're that interested......so I'll stop. Maybe there's a good software tool to teach you to sing better.

2) Hire a man who can sing to record you're written material. Pay handsomely again, but at least you've got them down forever on CD. Who knows you could audition women to sing it too. You might like how it sounds an octave up. Plus the vocal coaching that you could do....hehe...more to the right....hehe. You could be an Andrew Lloyd-Weber, without stealing from Puccini's Arias. Sopranos would swoon. Mezzos would shatter glass, then swoon at your feet.

3) Use Pro Tools. It's a computer application that fixes all the boy/girl bands voices in real time. Sing off pitch, no problem, the program automatically fixes it. Too weak, the signal gets boosted....have soul? No, you just sold out. See: Milli Vanilli without the record skipping....it costs your soul and serious bucks to do it "live". Why do you think the Simpson sisters can't sing acappella?

4) Yes I said that they was three but the first three are LAME....so here's your bonus....Try not to care how you sound. I feel the same way about my voice, but if I compare that RINGO STARR, Billy Corrigan, Keif Richards, Neil Young, Tom Waits, and tons of other Stars can't sing or sing terribly, then I don't feel so bad. If anybody says crap about you being off key, scream at them "Thanks for supporting, you should be a therapist, but at least, I WROTE a SONG" then drive your car into the nearest Holiday Inn Pool....lol...Keith Moon style.

5) Whoah, I'm freaking out.....but I had another one. Record your voice singing the notes without the backing music, just singing along with the melody. Then playback the voice recording through your headphones and try to harmonize. Have your headphones; one earmuff on, one off... Barry Gibb from the BeeGees style. Then record that session, minus the vocal coaching of yourself and see if you're getting better.

"Ah ah ah ah Staying allllliiiiiiiiiiiiiii-eeee-iiiiiiiive"

Good Luck
B

Answer 2

In my opinion the two most important things about a singing voice are:

1) authenticity, i.e. communicating authentic emotion directly into the heart of the listener.
2) being in tune.

If you can let go of being self-conscious and really "feel" the lyrics and really let your true self come through your voice, then it doesn't matter if your voice is nasal or too high or too low or too scratchy or whatever.

But you also should be in tune!

(Based on some acts I've seen on late night TV though, you apparently do not HAVE to be able to carry a tune to make it big these days. Strange but true.)

Also, transpose songs to the key that works best for your voice. Don't struggle to hit notes that are out of your range if you can avoid it.

Answer 3

Keep practicing. Most people don't like how they sound on a recording. Don't try to hit notes that are out of your range. If you need to sing a note that is out of your range, you can just change the octave of the note and you should do just fine. Or, you could just do like everyone else in the world and put your recording on Myspace and ask people what they think.

Answer 4

Your greatest critic is yourself. Why not put the songs down on cassette tape or cd ( if you are up to that technology) and carry it around in your boom box and/or car player and let others hear it (just kinda leave it running in your player type of thing - like you've always been listening to this new "artist". You don't have to tell them who the artist is...you got it off the radio or somethin. >> Besides, you want is "their reaction"<<. However, if these friends have heard you sing live then they know its you. You need people that don't know that you sing. If they want a copy or don't would tell you somethin. Get what I mean?

I always find the bathroom has the best acoustics for hearing myself - probably not so good for recording in though.

Answer 5

It could be that what you are recording on to is just making a low quality recording of your voice. Most people don't really like the way their voice sounds recorded but a quality recording makes a big difference.
If you want to improve your singing the best thing is to get lessons, they can help with lots of things and give you more control over your voice.

Answer 6

What most instrumentalists never consider is that the voice IS INDEED and instrument which must be developed without studies and technique.

So if I were you, I'd get a vocal coach who understand vocal placement, style, techniques, bel canto, and other styles. You must learn to use the voice as an instrument. It is very technical and it IS worth the trouble and time.

The Vennard book is the bible, but there are other good books on what happens to the voice. But live instruction IS needed. And, a bad teacher can ruin you.

Answer 7

dont worry, alot of people are stuck up and love there voice when its actually bad, but people who dont really like there voice are sometimes some of the best singers ever. Im sure u have a great voice if u can hit the notes so dont worry. get other peoples opinions

Answer 8

I think it's pretty normal for people to not like the way they sound, since to your own ears, you sound different when recorded than you do when you hear yourself talk. If you're hitting the notes correctly, don't worry about it.......let someone else listen to it and see what they think.

Answer 9

try going to a singing class that way they can show u how to sing better. and also people also sing better if they sit up straight. what our music teacher used to tell us was do BUSFOF. it stands for Back Up Straight and Feet On Floor.

Answer 10

ask a lot of people what they thikn, and then if your good than keep singing, but if your bad find a singer