Topic: Singing

I recorded myself singing and playing the other day and when I played it back I couldn't believe how terrible it sounded to me. I told my wife I probably should not be talking much less singing with this voice but she said it did not sound bad. Apparently most people do not like the sound of their voice when they first hear it. Has anyone had any experience with this and if so how long does it take to adjust to the sound of your voice. Will I ever know what other people hear when I sing?

Re: Singing

Try to smooth out your voice with a compressor, or a little reverb, or chorus. It helps. Also there is pitch correction. I don't know much about it other than they make such things. There are also harmonizers as well. I know that won't help when its just you and your guitar in the living room, but as long as your recording...

Re: Singing

Before you start getting all crazy with effects, get used to your voice.  How you sound inside your own head is not how you sound to other people.   Set yourself up with a microphone and an amplifier, and start singing and talking into it.    Once you're accustomed to that sound, you can practice and you'll be surprised how good you sound after a while.

Singing well is 99% confidence, and 1% talent, and I'll argue the talent portion every time.

Someday we'll win this thing...

[url=http://www.aclosesecond.com]www.aclosesecond.com[/url]

Re: Singing

Jerome what about the lead singer from Nazareth or Joe Perry a lot more then 1% talent in my H.O. awesome vocals but there is truth in having confidence in ones own ability with regards to improving yourself I can agree with you on that smile

"Growing old is not for sissies"

Re: Singing

Jerome's advice is excellent.  The other thing is just keep on recording yourself and listening.  It does take a bit of time to get used to your own voice recorded.  Eventually, yes you will get used to it and as far as how long that takes, well that's all up to how much you listen to your own voice!  When I took voice lessons, THAT was a huge part of my training.  Question, was it just the sound of your voice that you thought was horrible, or were you way off key and too pitchy?  The sound is one thing to get used to, the other stuff is something that you can work on and improve by singing along to your recording and trying to improve upon what you're hearing.  Also voice training will help with hitting the right notes of course (play a single note on the guitar and then sing it, do scales!  Record, then listen and see where you were off and try to improve).

Art and beauty are in the eyes of the beholder.
What constitutes excellent music is in the ears of the listener.

Re: Singing

Yep.  What I did is to start recording myself playing the same song once per month (once per week at first) so that I could go back and listen for improvement.  I also did some on-line research for singing lessons (there's good ones out there) and started to put that advice into practice.

- Zurf

Granted B chord amnesty by King of the Mutants (Long live the king).
If it comes from the heart and you add a few beers... it'll be awesome! - Mekidsmom
When in doubt ... hats. - B.G. Dude

Re: Singing

Very few like the sound of their own singing voice---I've been singing for 30 yrs and last summer was the first time I actually said "well, *that* sounds good" :-)  Many times I've had people tell me I sounded great, when I thought "my GOD, that SUCKED"...

Good advice from the other posters about recording your voice! It DEFINITELY helps with actually hearing yourself and making corrections.  Don't get discouraged; if Tom Waits and Bob Dylan can sing, YOU CAN! :-)

Re: Singing

Hi: An open question. What equipemnt do you use or need to record yourself?  Can you use a computer to record your self? I would like to follow some of the suggestions made but I don't know 'how to'. lesl.

Re: Singing

Hi Lesl,

  Wander on over to the "Recording" section and check out some of the posts there (especially Russell Hardings Audacity tutorials),
very doable and lots of suggestions on software and stuff in there to help you get started.

Take Care;
Doug

"what is this quintessence of dust?"  - Shakespeare

Re: Singing

Russell_Harding wrote:

Jerome what about the lead singer from Nazareth or Joe Perry a lot more then 1% talent in my H.O. awesome vocals but there is truth in having confidence in ones own ability with regards to improving yourself I can agree with you on that smile

Honestly, I think Joe Perry is terrible.  So is Steven Tyler.  And yet, they both sound great when they're out there belting it out.   Neither of them aught to be doing the National Anthem, though.   smile

More examples of terrible singers we all love because they're awesome.    Tom Petty.   Niel Young.  Bob Dylan.   Lemmy.  Shane McGowan.   Anthony Kiedis.    The list goes on and on.  They're great, not because  they're talented singers, bug because they're talented song writers and showmen. 

That's what matters.

Someday we'll win this thing...

[url=http://www.aclosesecond.com]www.aclosesecond.com[/url]

Re: Singing

All of those singers can sing in key, even though they have a bad or gravelly voice.  I have to add Willie Nelson to that list.  He is a great singer with an average voice.

You can see all my video covers on [url]http://www.youtube.com/bensonp1000[/url]
I have finally found happiness in my life.  Guitars, singing, beer and camping.  And they all intertwine wonderfully.

Re: Singing

The Audacity tutorials are no longer available if anyone has one downloaded they can share it if they wish if I had recieved a dollar for each download(over 4000) I could have purchased a nice camper for my chess tournaments but I am happy those who downloaded them are able to record there ideas smile

Doug_Smith wrote:

Hi Lesl,

  Wander on over to the "Recording" section and check out some of the posts there (especially Russell Hardings Audacity tutorials),
very doable and lots of suggestions on software and stuff in there to help you get started.

Take Care;
Doug

"Growing old is not for sissies"

Re: Singing

bensonp wrote:

All of those singers can sing in key, even though they have a bad or gravelly voice.  I have to add Willie Nelson to that list.  He is a great singer with an average voice.

Sure. There is some level of technical proficiency you have to have to sing well, but that can be trained into you, unless you're completely tone deaf.

Personally, I love Willie Nelson's voice, even if it's not classically perfect.   It's "old timey," as the old timey guys like to say.  You could add a whole lot of old time bluegrass guys to the list of people that cant sing, but are still awesome. 

I've got tickets to see Willie play on the 16th, and can't wait.

Someday we'll win this thing...

[url=http://www.aclosesecond.com]www.aclosesecond.com[/url]

Re: Singing

I'd love to see Willie.  I like his voice, it just isn't the best voice in town.  I have always been a huge fan of Dylan, but that voice was never considered good.  I don't knock em, I just listen to em.

You can see all my video covers on [url]http://www.youtube.com/bensonp1000[/url]
I have finally found happiness in my life.  Guitars, singing, beer and camping.  And they all intertwine wonderfully.

Re: Singing

Some of the best music in the world is just simple music, sure they can sing in key but nothing great about their voice, I'd add Jimmy Buffett and John Prine to that list, I love both of them, but nothing great about their voice, just good simple music.

Cam

Keep a fire burning in your eyes
Pay attention to the open sky
You never know what will be coming down

Re: Singing

That's the way I see it, cameron.  We might add Rod Stewart to the equation also.

You can see all my video covers on [url]http://www.youtube.com/bensonp1000[/url]
I have finally found happiness in my life.  Guitars, singing, beer and camping.  And they all intertwine wonderfully.

Re: Singing

I too, could not stand the sound of my voice, singing or talking because I was not use to just hearing it. Feeling/speaking with your voice is so much different than just listening.
I also found that I would sing to high for my capability because the original singer of the song sang high.  I found that dropping an octave or two can make a lot of difference. 
Practice, practice, practice is the name of the game.

Picking away at life, one tune at a time.

Re: Singing

I have to tell you, I run across this problem as well. I work on a Help Desk and we get recorded all the time. When it comes time for QA, we have to listen to our calls. This just started in August and I haven't quite gotten used to it yet. I am looking in to recording myself playing and singing and I hope what you all say is true that I will get used to it. In my head I sound like I have a deep voice, but it is definitely higher when I actually listen to a recording. I will have to see how it works out....

Scott aka caromshot

Re: Singing

southrnrockr wrote:

I recorded myself singing and playing the other day and when I played it back I couldn't believe how terrible it sounded to me. I told my wife I probably should not be talking much less singing with this voice but she said it did not sound bad. Apparently most people do not like the sound of their voice when they first hear it. Has anyone had any experience with this and if so how long does it take to adjust to the sound of your voice. Will I ever know what other people hear when I sing?

My playing is bad enough, I really can't afford to throw my bad singing in the mix!

Re: Singing

Everybody is shocked the first time they hear their voice recorded. The sound in your own head is much different than others hear.
I was lucky to learn to sing while onstage. I learned right away that the sound I needed to improve was what was coming out of the P.A. speakers.

We pronounce it "Guf Coast".
Ya'll wanna go down to the Guf?

Re: Singing

When I sing I sound like a cat tossed into the shower. Throw the dog in at the same time and that's me singing and playing.

Re: Singing

Butch8844 wrote:

When I sing I sound like a cat tossed into the shower. Throw the dog in at the same time and that's me singing and playing.

And you still sound much better than me!

Middleaged Redneck sorta guy who refuses to grow up...passion for music, especially Southern Rock but like bout everything cept Gangsta/Hip Hop. Collect guitars, mandolins, and love to ride Harleys.

Re: Singing

tubatooter1940 wrote:

The sound in your own head is much different than others hear.

In my head I've got the clarity of James Taylor and the gravitas of Johnny Cash.  You are right that the sound in our heads is different!  It sounds more like a mixture of the clarity of Mumbles the Dick Tracy villian and the gravitas of Mickey Mouse.

Granted B chord amnesty by King of the Mutants (Long live the king).
If it comes from the heart and you add a few beers... it'll be awesome! - Mekidsmom
When in doubt ... hats. - B.G. Dude

Re: Singing

I hope I'm asking this in the right place. I have been singing and playing using a alternating bass country strum for a while but i just started to use more complicated strum patterns, for me anyway, such as ( d du udu ) and ( d  d uud) and I get lost in the strumming or the singing. I can do either by it's self but togeather after a few bars I mess up. I know i will get it but, does anybody have some suggestions to help me out?

Re: Singing

That happens when you are used to singing with a certain strum pattern. You just have to keep practicing and it will come to you.  There may be some tricks to it, but I don't know any.  I would just use the newer strum pattern by itself until you feel good with it then, sing without thinking about the strumming if you can.  You'll get the hang of it.  Good luck.

You can see all my video covers on [url]http://www.youtube.com/bensonp1000[/url]
I have finally found happiness in my life.  Guitars, singing, beer and camping.  And they all intertwine wonderfully.