Singing

[MichaelA]

So, I've been getting tips from various people out there about vocals. And it has really paid off. But I want to ask you guys, what are some good things a vocalist must do? Any good tips on how I can improve my tone, or improve anything else for that matter? What should I avoid? Also, sometimes, it seems like I can sing better then other times. Don't know if this is normal.

Also, this is me singing, BTW. Keep in mind I've never taken choir, and have never even though about singing at all until' a week ago:

Autotuned:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/40367185/MeSing ... ING%29.mp3
Not autotuned:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/40367185/MLPUNCORRECTEDVOX.mp3

Also, TB warning, though the vocals are ONLY at the begining, I'm singing the MLP theme, so there's not really much of a spoiler. Just stop after the pitch bend.

PS:
my mic, is SHIT. Like... It was probably $5 or under new. So yeah. That might also be a factor in the quality. I'm investing in a new one though.

[swivel]

i was in an all city chorus back in like 5th grade, and recently I've considered taking up singing again. I'd like to see what tips others have for this as well.

[Versilaryan]

Overkill and I are probably going to work on a guide on singing soon. After he gets back from wherever he is. >.>

The most noticeable thing right now is that the singing sounds robotic. I remember you mentioning that you sang it slower and sped it up, and I said your phrasing would go right out the window -- I meant it. I'm not sure how much you know about musical performance, so I'mma go over the basics. Feel free to skip over anything you already know.

So you're probably familiar with the idea that all music either goes somewhere or comes from somewhere. That's the basic idea behind phrasing. You need to pick points in the music that will be your high parts, pick points in the music that will be the beginnings of phrases, and when you sing, crescendo into those high parts and decrescendo until it's the beginning of the phrase again. Oftentimes, the high point will be the end of the phrase, so you don't have to worry about decrescendoing. This is harder to do with the faster, more fragmented verses of the MLP theme song, but if you pick something slower like So Many Wonders, you will definitely notice that the music rises and falls in certain places. And when you're singing, you have to adjust your volume to those swells and falls.

The reason why I bring this up is because in your singing, you sound like every single note is the start of a new phrase, making the whole thing sound disjointed and robotic. Meaning, you start every note strong and then die down before suddenly hitting the next note strong again.
On top of that, your consonants are really fast, another result of the technique you're using. =P There's a huge reason why I'm so against speeding things up in the studio like that.

So focus more on making larger phrases with your music and not letting the note decay before it hits the end of a phrase.

Some tips for practicing: If you want to sing something fast and accurate, you're going to need to start slow. Sing it slowly and with a piano, guitar, or something else you can play without thinking too much about it. Focus on hitting every single pitch as in-tune as possible while singing it slowly. And once you've got it in your head and you're hitting pitches properly, speed it up a little. And then once that's down, speed it up more. It's a long and arduous process, but it's the only way to get these things down.

Alternatively, if you're going to T-Pain it anyways, just work on making your pitches consistent so that when you sing it, you can just use the autotune to get your singing in-tune without sacrificing singing quality. I'd recommend this only if you need to get something done quickly, though, 'cause this isn't going to help your singing at all.

[MichaelA]

Alternatively, if you're going to T-Pain it anyways, just work on making your pitches consistent so that when you sing it, you can just use the autotune to get your singing in-tune without sacrificing singing quality. I'd recommend this only if you need to get something done quickly, though, 'cause this isn't going to help your singing at all.

I don't want much autotune. More along the lines of Glaze's work. He corrects his vocals to pitch and slightly autotunes them. Also, the version I'll most likely use is the uncorrected one, it sounds so much more natural. But yeah, when you get this guide up tell me! I'd love to read it!

but yes, more suggestions are welcome

[Tephrax]

As you're still quite young any inconsistency in your voice is likely due to it still developing. Not really much that can be done about this other than training yourself to stabilise through vocal excercises to gain muscle memory not unlike learning a song by memory on the piano.

If you have the money or don't mind Yarr Harring celemony melodyne is a very nice vocoder; it's one that Jackleapp and Glaze use frequently to tune their vocals. It's expensive but it makes in-depth editing of the vocal structure possible. You can pretty much change the vocal into anything with it.

If you have FLstudio, There's a plugin called newtone that has a feature where you can compress the pitch so it's more normalized, though to save the audio you have to buy the full version (OR RECORD THROUGH AUDACITY - shhhhh), though it's very simplistic. Keep in mind normalizing it too much though will make it sound again very unrealistic. Natural voices do have slight variance no matter who you are. It will sound robotic otherwise.

And yeah definitely do get a new microphone the white noise is blocking off your awesome voice =). There are some very decent condenser microphones off amazon for around £40.

[MichaelA]

As you're still quite young any inconsistency in your voice is likely due to it still developing. Not really much that can be done about this other than training yourself to stabilise through vocal excercises to gain muscle memory not unlike learning a song by memory on the piano.

If you have the money or don't mind Yarr Harring celemony melodyne is a very nice vocoder; it's one that Jackleapp and Glaze use frequently to tune their vocals. It's expensive but it makes in-depth editing of the vocal structure possible. You can pretty much change the vocal into anything with it.

If you have FLstudio, There's a plugin called newtone that has a feature where you can compress the pitch so it's more normalized, though to save the audio you have to buy the full version (OR RECORD THROUGH AUDACITY - shhhhh), though it's very simplistic. Keep in mind normalizing it too much though will make it sound again very unrealistic. Natural voices do have slight variance no matter who you are. It will sound robotic otherwise.

And yeah definitely do get a new microphone the white noise is blocking off your awesome voice =). There are some very decent condenser microphones off amazon for around £40.

I do have Melodyne, that's what this was autotuned with actually. But I would love to know how to learn how to stabilize my voice though!

[Tephrax]

I do have Melodyne, that's what this was autotuned with actually. But I would love to know how to learn how to stabilize my voice though!

Though I know a few things about it, I don't personally own melodyne. I would love to! rather than struggling with newtone's bugginess, but I don't have much money left and I don't trust cracked versions not to be riddled with viruses


This Tutorial should prove useful to you still =)

The modulation section is basically the same as newtone's variation control and should help you stabilize yourself a bit by reducing vibrato in your voice, and the correct pitch function has obvious implications.

If you look hard enough on youtube there will be tutorials for pretty much every aspect of melodyne so you'd just have to look around a bit if you're still unsure

Hope it helps!

[Howlgram]

Is that really not-autotuned?
i thought not autotune songs would sound more like
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/48487890/mlp-theme-lol.wav
that awesome singer

[Darktrot]

Are any one of you pony's up to sing for this dragon?

[H8_Seed]

I'm actually studying (rather, was before I enlisted with the Navy) Music Education with an emphasis in voice.

Basically, your intonation and tone are fine. Where most singers' technique goes wrong is with the breathing. Remember that you want to have your spine as tall as you can make it, and try to keep your ears centered above your shoulders. This posture allows for the easiest breathing and best breath support.

When you breathe in, you probably already know that the muscle you're using is your diaphragm. What you may not know is where exactly it is in the body; it's basically right below where you think your lungs are (i.e. just below the ribcage). As a result, proper breathing doesn't truly feel like it's coming from the lung area at all, but rather from the belly. When you breathe in, as opposed to trying to expand your lungs as far as they will go, think about expanding your gut as you inhale and try to get that feeling. You will take in much more air, you'll have it faster, and you'll be better prepared with your breath support to actually start singing.

Sorry for getting all technical when you probably wanted more musical notes, but I hope this helps!

DJ Spike, I'd love to sing for you, if you feel okay with me and my suck-ass mic

[Andy Feelin]

Training your breathing is just first but one of the most important things before you want to sing musical notes correctly (aka stabilize your voice).