Please Tell me Everything Wrong With my Singing.

[X-Trav]

http://soundcloud.com/x-trav/toastbeard-the-musical

This was my ToastBeard entry last night, and i'd like whatever advice on singing I could get.

I heavily edited my voice using the following:

Volume Limiter.
Autotuned (Newtone)
Equalized sibilants.
Added reverb.
muted low and high frequencies (C0-C2 and C9 onward.)
Soundgoodizer (set to "C" at full blast.)


Also

Lyrics:
Tonight’s, the night, our community will end.
These songs aren’t right we have lost what we depend.
Our music’s not what it once was tonight
For we have lost what we do best tonight

Makkon has lost his chest
I-Pies non troll entry is the best
sci’s song is sample free
all of the worst vocals are from Cats Milly.

Tarby’s song is just two minutes,
Hoovers volume came with limits.
And the worst thing we hear.
Jackles entry is very near.
We press play and it’s pure poison,
Jackles Music isn’t broken!

[Calamus_Dash]

LOLed at the end.
I don't really know anything about singing but it sounds pretty good to me

[Howlgram]

I can't tell if autotune is involved ^^U

[Interrobang Pie]

THIS FUCKING SONG.

My troll entries were weak this time around. Thanks for filling in <3

The voice reminds me of whatever Ratboy Genius used, hahaha. But no, it sounds fine.

[Versilaryan]

We can't critique your singing if you've modified it so much. =P The best singing is singing that doesn't need to be modified (sole exception for effects, like filters to make it sound more distant, autotune turned to 11, etc).

I can actually hear the autotune A LOT in this song. It's really apparent in how short the slide is between notes and how every sustained note doesn't have any sort of movement at all. The limiter made everything the same volume, destroying phrasing and bringing out the autotune a lot more. But that's all assuming you didn't want it to sound autotuned. Ignore me if you were.

[X-Trav]

We can't critique your singing if you've modified it so much. =P The best singing is singing that doesn't need to be modified (sole exception for effects, like filters to make it sound more distant, autotune turned to 11, etc).

I can actually hear the autotune A LOT in this song. It's really apparent in how short the slide is between notes and how every sustained note doesn't have any sort of movement at all. The limiter made everything the same volume, destroying phrasing and bringing out the autotune a lot more. But that's all assuming you didn't want it to sound autotuned. Ignore me if you were.

Bro, I have no idea what the hell i'm doing.

Though I did purposely remove the shaking because it was terrible, I made the soundwaves(?) straight as could be and sometimes while singing i forgot what note to go to next so i had to fix it with the auto-tune.

Here are the unedited vocals.

I'M WARNING YOU NOW MY VOICE IS THAT OF NIGHTMARES.

http://db.tt/5vFoUDtg

[Versilaryan]

Two biggest things I can tell you are that you should work on your breath support and relaxing while singing. Fix those two, and a lot of other problems will just disappear. Shakiness included.

Breath support is the big one. Basically, there are two things you need to know: You're not using your lungs correctly, and your diaphragm is a really weak muscle.

Breath support itself is a two-part problem. First, take a deep breath. Hold it. And now, force the air as far down as you can make it without it hurting too much. If you've never done this before, it should hurt a little bit down in your gut because you've never really used that part of your lungs before. This is where you should be breathing all the time when you're singing. Your shoulders should not budge at all, and your chest should only expand slightly. Your stomach, on the other hand, is what should be moving when you take a breath.

Secondly, when you sing, flex your abs a little bit. Don't act like you're doing crazy acrobatics -- it should only be just a little bit. When people say to use your diaphragm, that's what they mean. Your diaphragm is a really weak muscle -- it knows how to contract to breathe in, and then relax and let your lungs deflate naturally. Relaxing isn't good for supporting anything, so some other muscle has to contract to hold up your sound -- hence, your abs.

To get an idea of how to use your abs, take a really big breath, and then exhale as fast as you can. Notice that you're pushing your air out by flexing your abs. So just work on doing that to a lesser degree when singing. Not only will that help a lot of unsteadiness, but it will give you a fuller sound and help you immensely with phrasing and dynamics.

The second big thing is to relax while singing. Breathing like I just described should relax your shoulders and neck, but another important thing to relax is your jaw. You sound like you're really tense when you're singing -- hence the nasal tone. So work on lowering your jaw a bit and force yourself to stay relaxed while singing. It sounds counterintuitive at times, especially when you're going higher or singing louder, but trust me when I say that when you go higher or louder, you need to relax /more/. Eliminating the tension in your voice will make you sound more loose, natural, and helps you not waste energy when singing. It'll also let you sing higher, lower, softer, and louder.

Now obviously, these are things you need to work on a lot, but you've got a good sense of pitch as it is, and that's really important. Just work on technique a bit and you'll sound great!

(Geez, so many singing threads lately. Need to get cracking on that guide... ._.)

[X-Trav]

Awesome words.

You sir, are a gentleman and a scholar.

Thanks for the guide, that needs to be a sticky somewhere. I was very nervous and tense because I hate my voice and was about to release it on a track. Everything you said makes perfect sense and I will be sure to follow your advice.

Thank you!