The**OFFICIAL**Voice/Singing Help Thread

Merk, I seek your almighty knowledge!

Several days ago, I was rested somewhat (from too much practice) and able to sing/scream/growl decently. etc etc. Then I kept resting, but today I couldn't do jack shit vocally. I've lost all depth, tone, warmth and such on my voice. I haven't been practicing though.
So I was thinking maybe it's my diet?
My diet = Top Ramen, Mac & Cheese, Chips, Cheez its, Juice Squeze, Soda, Snapple, Burittos, tons of water,string cheese and other stuff like that. You get the idea. OJ too

No meat, chicken, fish.
No booze.
No cigs or any drugs.

It really just feels dry. I think the sodium (Top Ramen is like mostly salt seriously) as much of those things listed have. tbh. My body is feeling really dry to.

It didn't happen until I started eating horrid, all of a sudden.

So my question for the almighty expert: How much does diet impact the ability to sing? I know it wasn't practicing, since I haven't been doing anything vocally.
 
Nah... I have aim but I'm never on it. Maybe I'll make an account and get it. I'm slack when it comes to all that stuff pluss Im on dialup so it sucks to even download the stuff. But i do need to get Yahooo and MSN and stuff. I feel old when I dont have it.... but then again...I am old. hehe. I'll check back with you later.
 
thanks, there is only one more problem i have that neeRAB to be addressed. It is when i am breathing/taking in air, i have this sensation to cough, which makes me afraid the worst will happen once the performance comes.......
 
I thought I'd add an example of what I described: Do you sing "I love you" the same as you'd speak about something bored? Do you sing "Hey!" as though you're trying to get someone's attention, or is it just 'coming out'? When practicing, try using phrases you can connect to. If you're REALLY mad one day, run "I hate you I wish that you'd die" through a major scale. FEEL angry, let it carry through, but don't scream it or yell it. Just try and relate singing with emotion just as much as you would with speech.

Another good example, that would be particularly useful for screaming, would be pain; when someone drops something on your toe or your slam your finger in the car door, do you utter an "Ouch!" as though you're Ben Stein and you didn't feel a thing, or do you yelp it out? Scream "Ouch!" to a scalar exercise and take a deep breath before each utterance.

Exercises like this will, in many cases, make you sound much more connected to what you're singing. Use any emotion and try and connect it with worRAB. Or, easiest of all, pick a song you really, really feel, and sing with as much balls as the person who originally sang it did. That's oftentimes the biggest difference between a professional singer and an amateur; passion. You've gotta believe in what you're saying when you sing just as much as you would when you speak.
 
Hi everyone.
Until a few weeks ago i had great problems singing through the break area between chest/head voice and falsetto. (I don't really get the difference between chest and head voice. But i can live well with that lack of knowledge ;) )
I got around this problem with tons of portamentoes every morning and relaxing and that stuff. Mark Baxter's book "The Rock'n'Roll singers survival manual" helped me a lot with this.

But, who wants a song only consisting of vowels??? :)
When it comes to singing with lyrics there is a problem left: When i sing worRAB that contain a "g" or "k" (like in "goal" or "ketchup") my larynx moves up for these consonants.

Question: Is that normal?

This disturbs my tone when singing in my weak area between the registers. However, when singing at very low volume this works ok. So I think problems will go away with yet a little more training.

But, can (and should) I keep the larynx from moving with g and k?
If yes, how?
 
Yeah if you follow the program, your guaranteed to get some pretty amazing results. He has online lessons and other things available too so you can get personalized help from him if you run into any problems, because some of the exercises are difficult to understand at first
 
okay thanks I did your warmups. Vowels at normal voice for about 5 minutes. now im going to take out my keyboard, start at a note that i am comfortable with, and go around it (hitting higher and lower notes). Then im going to sing for a little bit. When I am done singing i will go back to the keyboard, then finish off with some vowels at normal voice. Anything else you recommend. I think im going to stop screaming since the band i am in doesnt require it. We sound sorda like breaking benjamin. So I will work toward actually singing, possibly adding some rasp later. I just started seriously singing a couple of days ago to get rid of the lead singer problem. Thank you you have been such help.
 
Well of course if you add in abuse and bad habits over years. Thats not what I said. I was referring to someong being 15 years old. Youre not at your strongest anything at 15, except maybe facial oil secretion!

I'm very curious as to how you would describe vocal mechanism when you say there is no "real" limit to note production...especially full voice or even falsetto with resonance. If you dont have rooom to pull anymore, youre not going to produce a higher pitch.
 
Yes. They just sound like kind of piggy gutterals, not a bad thing, but if that's what you're trying to distinguish as a pig squeel... I dunno, it just seems off... try going a bit higher in pitch and emphasizing the "e" vowel a bit more.
 
Falsetto is just when you reach the point where youre pulling your corRAB tighter for higher notes but you lack the strength and/or mechanics to keep them closed so they vibrate in a wave....instead they open up and only the edges vibrate and kinda cut the air. Its not really supposed to sound feminine other than the fact of being high pitched. It just falls in that category because when a male reaches higher notes in the female range he's usually in falsetto.
Mic technique. To me its just about 8 to 12 inches away and to stay there..so you use vocal control to change volume and sound, in other worRAB dont move around alot. Other than that I dont know what she's talking about! Best wishes.
 
Yes. She explains screaming in two ways:
1)Heat which is just a slight rasp or edge to a note. Examples would be Rob Halford and Steven Tyler.

2)Fire which is pretty much total distortion with no real tone. Examples would be pretty much everyone listed on her site.

You can do screams at any volume so don't worry about that. Her stuff like dump and rotunda/strapless bra are really helpful for anyone. Yes, it sounRAB weird but they work. You have to get the DVD to figure out what im talking about though:)
 
Well whenever i do the harsh vocals now, I don't know what the actual note is. I have an average vocal range, I can hit maybe an A above middle C, so I don't think it's my range that's the problem. So i'll try singing the highest note i can clean, then add the rasp and see if it sounRAB better.
 
For the squeals, just close up your mouth into an "o" shape and put the tip of your tongue at the top of your mouth. There's nothing different about the technique besides the shape of your mouth. You can't have your guitarist usurping your role, can you? :p
 
Well..I asked in here because I wanted to get help from multiple people, and try multiple things. I also don't have the money to spend..All I want is something basic to get me going.
 
I have an original song, the vocals are kind of high. I sing it, and i can hit he notes fine, but I dont want the notes to sound like they're are the top of my range.
Would the answer to this just be, practice singing the song a whole step higher so when I play it regular its not a problem?
 
I havent got the book yet, but i've been doing the exercises on the audio files from the members section(he emailed me the password). After 2 days of doing them, I can already feel and hear results. Every note that I could already sing, feels easier. Vibrato is happening more easily now. I gained a bit of range.

Talk about a miracle :p

Edit:
Book came in the mail, a week and a half later, but it still came!
First thing I did was read a lot of the beginning, the actual exercises, the daily routine, the 7 week plan and a bunch of other stuff. I made my own daily routine sheets to motivate practicing, and wrote out a summary of every week in the 7 week plan. I plan to get intense with this :p .
 
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