:c Everyone is better at vocals than me.

[vladnuke]

How do you do it, you wondrous singing stallions? How do you sing so well?

Tell me your secrets, because I've done the choir for two years, but that was 4 years ago. Mv voice has dropped, and now I need to completly rethink the way I sing. All the vocal tracks I produce are just downright terrible. So how do you work with that?

http://soundcloud.com/vladnuke/pillows-cover-one-man-band
The bad singing starts halfway in. That's all I'm left to work with after 4 years of neglect.

Gosh darn it this is frustrating.

[GhostXb]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlCRfTmBSGs

On a more serious note, you seem off tune, try hitting some notes on a piano or simple synth like 3xosc, and try matching that note with your voice, do this repeatedly until you can hit each note naturally, like kyoga and fatal1ty say. Practice practice practice!

[senntenial]

Sounds like you need a better mic first off, secondly get something to tune your voice. Stuff (esp with electronic) can sound really off tune.
And practise all the time~

[LunchBagMusic]

To keep in tune, sing scales, arrpegios and other exercises like that. But sing them right.

This will help you learn what notes you are likely to sing next, and help if your trying to sing a melody to compose.

Also really learn a song to sing. Get the melody exactly right and practise it.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot (I can't believe how anyone hasn't said this before)
PRACTISE

[bartekko]

[Versilaryan]

Intonation isn't the only thing to work on. Work on timing -- changing notes perfectly in rhythm. Even if you're sliding notes around, make sure you know exactly where the beat is and change exactly according to it. Metronomes are your friend. One of the biggest reasons it sounds unprofessional is because the vocals and the guitar are out-of-time.

Also, you sound like your voice is out of control. You're singing so loudly, you've lost control of your vocal technique. It's extremely important to keep your voice at a level where you can manage it, no matter how raw you want it to sound (unless you want it to sound so raw, it sounds bad). Work on maintaining an even airflow and keeping your pitch steady at lower levels, and then work your way up louder and louder. I know I'd much rather hear vocals that are too constrained but sound good than vocals that match the music but sound bad.

Also on that note, learning to sing really softly will, actually, help you sing louder. The idea is that when you sing really soft, you have to really focus on keeping your air steady or you'll have a really wavery, thin voice. Having a tighter control over your airflow translates to louder singing, where it's a lot easier to keep your air steady.

It would also help to get a better mic, but the biggest problem I'm hearing is that your mic is clipping. That happens when you sing so loudly, the mic can't handle it and it distorts. Turn down the gain on your mic and make sure that whatever you sing doesn't ever hit the maximum the audio channel can handle. It's better to record something too quietly and turn it up than to record something too loudly and have it clip.

From a mixing standpoint, compressors are your friend when it comes to things like rock and pop. Learn to use a compressor on vocals (remember: too little > too much!) and you'll have more even-sounding vocals without having to turn the volume all the way up on the vocal channel.

Lastly, a note on practicing that I wish I'd been told when I was first starting: Practice doesn't make perfect. Practice makes permanent. So if you just sing through stuff and you sound like shit, but you think, "Oh, I'll do better next time", you'll keep sounding like shit. Don't settle for okay. Settle only for the best, and don't let up until you can sing it perfectly. That's the only way you'll improve.

[vladnuke]

Man, thanks guys. I'm seriously taking notes. I'm trying to improve, I mean, shit, when I was in middle school, I was one of the main guys in my choir, a regular Justin Bieber, but now that just faded away.

But I'm working on getting better. Trying to get more tonal and all that fun stuff. Compressing. Buying better gear (which I have no cash for, but will find some). Labor of love, eh?

[Ed Viper]

Honestly, I didn't think your voice was so bad, it just didn't go with the song.

You've got kind of a Jack White thing going on.

But yeah, your main issue in this particular case in my opinion is that your recording just didn't match the tempo or tonality of the song. I don't know much about singing other than that I'm a terrible singer, but there's a lot of good advice here :3

[vladnuke]

Guise
Guise
I did some digging around and found this quarter year-old collab I did.
Is this any better?
Also, after reading dat post, I looked up Jack White.
And now I'm gonna get all his songs.
http://soundcloud.com/nosnibormada/confessions-ft-vladnuke

[EnnervateIndustries]

Hey, you're a better vocalist than me, and I can tell that even before I listen to the track. Last time I sang was in fifth grade because my irritating "music" (aka just choir) teacher made me. Taking actual classes pays off. Stick with it, and you'll get better.

[Anforium]

It doesn't matter if you have a great voice. I mean hell, look at Ozzy Osbourne.