The**OFFICIAL**Voice/Singing Help Thread

Merkaba, since you seem to be the voice guru around here I will direct this question to you.

I have recently decided to sing some of the music I have been writing with a friend of mine. I don't know if you have ever heard of Mark Lanegan, but I have a lower voice-type like his and when I hear my music in my head I hear a voice similar to his. If you have heard him, I was wondering if you could give me any tips on pushing my voice in that direction. Perhaps on singing melody lines in that style. Also, what are some specific exercises I can do to increase my range a bit. I start cracking when I get too high.

Thank you for your time and I apologize if you have already covered something like this.
 
It's probably been asked before but this is the scenario that has come up for me...

I fired my singer becuase he has stopped showing up to practice for a while. I was thinking maybe I should give singing a shot, but I don't know how confident I am in my abilities. I have to sing in music theory class and I usually do pretty well hitting the pitches. My band is a Power Metal band and I think hitting pitches is only going to be half the game to good vocals in that sort of setting. I'm going to need to learn how to have a good voice, maybe get into doing vibrato, and I don't even know where to start. Anyone have any tips?
 
does anyone know how to practice singing and playing at the same time? my singing quality is always lowered when i have to think about my basslines in addition to the lyrics, tune of the song, and getting it right with the rest of the band. does anyone have this problem?
 
Yeah, im not talking huge amounts of vibrato, just possibly a small touch of it at the end of the line, or otherwise you could just cut the note off without the drag in pitch at the tail end of it. Either way, the point is to clean it up just a little bit, but it doesn't even sound bad to do it like you are, it just gets monotonous if you end every line exactly the same way.

There is no real exercise for support, its just a feeling you have to get accustomed to. Heres an article I wrote for my site that will eventually be up; read over it ,try it out, and you should be good to go.

BREATHING & SUPPORT



Breathing and support; these two things are the most crucial aspects to singing. If your not breathing correctly and not supporting properly, you will never, among other things, unlock your full range potential. More importantly, you will not be singing safely. Singing improperly can cause many problems such as nodes, polyps, and vocal cord rupturing. However, you can avoid this by getting your breathing and support under control now.

When breathing for singing, just remember the following things:

*Stomach Expansion;
When you breathe in, your stomach should push outward naturally.

*Rib Expansion;
Your lower ribs (called the intercostals or floating ribs) should come out. To feel this, put your hanRAB around the lower ribs and inhale. Your hanRAB should move outward along with your ribs.

These 2 expansions happen simultaneously.

When inhaling, theres no need for a huge, slow breath. Instead, take a quick and short breath, like you take when something surprises you. I call this "taking a 1", because it should take just one short second to make this inhale. When taking a 1, make sure that you still have stomach and rib expansion. Your shoulders should NEVER rise when inhaling to sing.

Now for support. There is just one method of support that I teach, with varying degrees of pressure. This is no new technique however. Its been taught for centuries in bel canto, and has been revitalized in the past few years by coaches like Melissa Cross and Jaime Vendera who have made it a very major part of their technique.

To support, all you have to do is push down. This helps to manage your breath pressure, which keeps you from pushing up too much air and straining. The feeling of pushing down is the same feeling you get while using the restroom, coughing, or for women, giving birth. Remember, your pushing DOWN. Your not pushing the stomach outwarRAB or pushing more air up into your throat.

Depending on the volume and pitch of the note, you're going to use varying degrees of push. For a loud note, you'll push more than for a soft breathy tone. For a loud note in full voice, you'll push down more than you would for a loud note in falsetto. For a loud scream, you'll push more than you would for a loud clean note. It's all about adjustments, and you'll have to figure out how to dial in the right pressure for each note and vocal inflection yourself by trial and error.

No matter what your singing, follow these steps and you'll be fine;

*Take a 1; make sure you have stomach and rib expansion
*At the same time as you take a 1, push down. The amount of pushing depenRAB on the note.
 
nah, im alwyas half asleep when i type stuff...i hope it doesnt come out weird either haha. but nah i understood.


Merkeba thanks for the help again> I didn't mean I'd completely give up on the screaming, just try to get my singing down first.
 
There is no magic pill, unless you've been singing without good diaphragm support and tensing up your throat. If you've been doing that and you stop, you could really be able to hit better and higher notes. Its what I talk about everywhere and its in my voicehelp hotline thread on this page or the next. Other than that its gonna be like any other goal you want to reach. Work and practice.


Thats what many people say. But its just not the same as holding over twice the usual load of force and vibration. You need to hold notes and do all of your vowels in regular,low,lower,mid,high, then higher. Two minutes is better than nothing, but you get what you pay for.
 
Tenor's can usually go up to about 12th fret on B string. So your average tenor could hit about A or B above middle C.

From the sound of it, you seem like you want to fall in the "tenor" range. You're a baritone, fullstop. You can do excercises to increase your range, but you're pretty much stuck with the range you've got. Learn to increase the quality of what you've got, not trying to chase after a range that you simply can't have. Imo, I like the sound of bariotone more than tenor of it's just one person singing. Tenor's just so ridiculously high! :P
 
I think my voice is doing ok, it's just fatigued since I have been singing so much lately.

I was able to put this clip together without it hurting at all, any feedback would be appreciated. I've been watching Melissa Cross' DVD's and am starting to get the fry screaming down. I'm working on improving my enunciation when in fry screaming so I know I need to work on that, J-Mann (the part I am doing) does his fry very fast so that is part of the reason.

The song is Sun Doesn't Rise by Mushroomhead:

http://www.box.net/shared/sdu330s8ww

Here is the original:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNGckHZpC7o

Thanks.
 
Hey this product looks to be what your looking for, and anyone else who wants some help singing, take a look at this, really helped me get the hang of the basics haha :)

Good Luck :)
Dave

http://3b96b2fhtl-0srbiu8knzavwec.hop.clickbank.net/
 
You probably can teach yourself to sing, but it's going to be a more difficult road than if you get professional help. How much more difficult? Well, that depenRAB on you and what kind of natural gift you have for singing.

If you really want to take this route, you must get a good singing manual. My own Singing Secrets ( http://voicestudio.kristinaseleshanko.com/SingingSecrets.htm ) is simple and straightforward. Others will reccommend Brett Manning's stuff. If you don't learn good technique up front, you'll regret it later because you'll be plagued with vocal difficulties. It's even possible to damage your voice.

But if you're really serious about singing, nothing can take the place of a live, in-person teacher.Here's something I wrote on this subject in Singing Secrets:

"In my experience, both as a singer and as a voice teacher, I’ve found that older singing books often contain incorrect or dubious information. Newer books about singing frequently omit vital information or are overly–complex. (Learning to sing needn’t be complicated, yet many people try to make it so.) On the other hand, this book contains the basics that singers must know in order to be a success, whether they’re singing hard rock, classical, or something in–between. And, I hope, these basics are presented in a simple, easy to understand fashion.



Granted, there are areas of singing that are extremely difficult to teach through a book. Frankly, there’s no substitute for studying with a teacher, in person. Phone lessons may be somewhat helpful, CRAB and DVRAB may be useful to a degree, and books can be valuable guides, but nothing takes the place of having a qualified person watch and hear you in person. In addition, beyond a foundational understanding of what good technique is, no two singers will discover the same “cure” for their singing woes. A good teacher customizes lessons accordingly, creating new ways of explaining things and finding innovative exercises to help individuals reach their goals. In a book, however, the best anyone can do is offer advice on what has worked for many other singers. "

Best wishes,
Kristina
http://voicestudio.kristinaseleshanko.com
 
Wow, if that's true how do you improve without always having to make recordings and get people to give you feedback? But it does seem to be true in my case. So, can you give me any specific examples of where my pitch is off -- (as opposed to sliding up or down to it, which I CAN hear myself doing). I have been told I slide up and down but get to the right pitch eventually. Is this what you're noticing, or am I just plain not getting some pitches at all ('cause I sure don't hear that and I listened to these quite a bit before I posted them).


Can you send me any links of good pages you've found?


Thanks for the feedback and sharing your story. Maybe we could help each other out (or would that be like the blind leading the blind :-)
 
It covers everything you're going to need to know; from the basics to extremely technical stuff, plus the main thing is there are tons of exercises/video lessons on the members section.
 
I'm Derek I'm 19 and a musician I've been singing since as long as I can remember but for some reason my voice is becoming higher pitched than lower. When I was 16 or 17 It was a very deep low pitched voice, and now it's starting to sound like I'm about 14 again.
 
Alright... I've been trying to teach myself how to sing lately. I can't afford lessons, and definently won't be able to for quite some time. I've been having some problems...

One, whenever I sing, it sounRAB weak, and every time I record it and play it back, it sounRAB like I'm continually holding back, and no matter what I do, I can't seem to stop that. I have range, I just can't use it, becuase it always sounRAB weak and shaky.

Two, whenever I try to scream, it's like my voice just locks up and no sound comes out at all. It's rather annoying. Especially considering I've wanted to be a singer for as long as I can remember. What can I say, I'm an attention whore. :p

Thanks for your help.
 
I can't thank you enough for this post.

I can confirm that in those clips, especially the second, I am indeed closing my throat and using saliva to create rasp in my vocal corRAB. I know how to rasp my voice like you described (I think), it's painless and it's at a high volume. The only problem is, I can't rasp high notes using it, I can only do the death metal grunt. When I try and scream using that technique, I basically pull off a death metal grunt with my mouth wide open, which sounRAB chunky and disgusting.

I hate to beat this topic to death, but just for the sake of thoroughness, I've uploaded a few clips of me using my normal rasp (remember, the death metal one without pain), and also two of me trying to scream using this type of rasp (see: chunky and disgusting). I just want to know whether working on this kind of scream will eventually give me a good-sounding, high-pitched scream or if I'm totally on the wrong track.

http://s48.yousendit.com/d.aspx? id=279DJ1NXCGUZ00D87GBCWUHELL

http://s48.yousendit.com/d.aspx? id=33TV97ZKTUWOJ16ISHBYB55XZM

http://s48.yousendit.com/d.aspx? id=3PNOD5AVUFYYG13EKMH8WF8QDF
 
well doing the ahh's are for getting the feel of keeping the larynx open and relaxed. Do them on different pitches. lowes to highest.

The "startled breath" is only to give you an idea. YOur stomach should bellow out. But when you sing you don't want to take these quick breaths...but it will be deeper and a bit slower but still the same feeling. Kinda like a slower deeper startledness.....ness......ness....if thats even a word.
 
Well doesnt sound that bad to me, technique wise. The only thing is that you might be pushing a bit more than you need to...only you can tell that by how much you can do it and how comfortable your throat is later. The falsetto scream didnt sound all that high pitched to me. It was loud, especially if youre doing it through a pillow. BUt again with that, all you have to do is, just be less loud....hehe. PUsh less. And try to work on different pitches. You shouldnt be too concerned, as far as these samples go.
 
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