Finding your voice and/or other people singing your songs (1 Viewer)

[egg_]

I've been working on some solo shit lately, kinda hip-hop/electronica based stuff. I've only played a few fragments of it to a few people, but I've been getting doubts expressed that my voice can carry it off. My timing is good, my pitching is ok (and that shit is fixable nowadays anyway) but the actual timbre of the voice itself isn't exactly sonorous

So I have 2 options - first is to try and improve it. I've been trying out different things, for example I've noticed that when I'm singing without thinking I tend to blast the sound straight from my throat, and if I instead try and direct it upwards into the back of my nose it kinda gets easier to control the pitch. Also noticed that sometimes when singing I tend to close over the connection between my mouth and the back of my nose, and this is when my voice sounds at its absolute worst. So, I know I can probably improve various aspects of my voice, but I'm not sure I can turn a EUR50 fiddle into a Stradivarius, y'know?

Is it worth my while bothering? Another thing is I seem to be able mimic other people more convincingly than I can be myself - on Saturday I recorded myself rapping one of my tunes as ODB, and it sounded fucking WAY better than me rapping as me ... which kinda makes me feel like I mightn't really have found my own voice yet (despite my advanced years). Any thoughts?


And of course the other option would be to get someone else to sing the songs. Mrs. egg_ disconcerted me a bit by suggesting this directly when she heard one of them (it's very modern-urban-pop, like Rihanna or some shit, dunno if even a good male voice could really carry it off, never mind mine (though maybe someone like Yeasayer could)). Anyone any experience of doing this? I'd feel a bit odd about it, especially because the lyrics in these tunes are ... well, they're real, and tbh I'd rather sing them myself. But I don't want the songs to be shit because I'm unable to sing them well enough

Thoughts appreciated

 

[GO]

My first thoughts..

Your instinct is king man.Has to be followed.I'm getting the impression you already know you cant cut it yourself.
If thats the case you gotta find someone who can do the song justice.No shame in it..I have songs I cant sing...although I just shelve those ones.

Nasal sounding isnt the way to go.Thats just bad singing.

 

[Scientician 0.8]

A lot of people, myself included, can sing better when putting on another voice. It's surreal. I can blast a cod-tenor the bate the band but if I try to apply that strength, projection etc. to my standard vox it just doesn't really work for me. By the way Gaz DMed ya there on the twitter.

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

I was struggling with this very problem myself this morning - can't sing.

 

[washingcattle]

Putting on a voice is grand Tom Waites has been doing a shite Captain Beefheart impression for 30 years and no one seems to give a shit.

 

[Deleted member 3435]

Why not just mimic jinx lennon or someone who sounds kind of like you rather than ODB. This is the thing in Ireland I reckon: no precedent for how it would work.

I'd say if you want to make money get someone else but if you just want to express yourself maybe do it yourself?

 

[ann post]

I'd say if you want to make money get someone else but if you just want to express yourself maybe do it yourself?

getting someone else is not going to mean you will make money. i costs me more money generally. i get someone else for probably more than 50% of what I've done in the past few years. unless you have hours if not days to work with the person expect things to come out a little different than you want. its definitely fun. anyone want to sing on my new record?

 

[Anthony]

I feel your pain.

 

[hugh]

I don't see why impersonating someone else's voice is necessarily such a bad idea. We'd need the audio evidence to judge, but I am pretty sure you didn't actually sound like ODB, you probably sounded like something original. But not necessarily good mind you ....

Oh and .. singing lessons?

 

[Deleted member 3435]

getting someone else is not going to mean you will make money. i costs me more money generally. i get someone else for probably more than 50% of what I've done in the past few years. unless you have hours if not days to work with the person expect things to come out a little different than you want. its definitely fun. anyone want to sing on my new record?

Well of course I didn't mean there were any guarantees and I've never just got someone else to just sing my stuff even though I've just the right voice for that, but if you don't actually want to get someone else to do it and you're not relying on people actually liking the music for any reason then what's to lose?

 

[dudley]

aye, a course of singing lessons could be great. you should look into it

 

[Cryptid]

Maybe try singing an octave lower than you normally would. Personally I prefer my own singing voice towards teh lower end of my rather limited range. Breathing and posture and all that stuff might help too.

 

[pete]

aye, a course of singing lessons could be great. you should look into it

... too easy

 

[hermie]

You sing in Stoat, right? You're not a bad singer at all. Is it just the rapping you're struggling with?

 

[egg_]

You sing in Stoat, right? You're not a bad singer at all. Is it just the rapping you're struggling with?

(blushes)

Thanks dude - I do some of the singing in Stoat, yeah. It's not just the rapping, no - I'm also trying to carry lines in the choruses that rely more on melody than the songs I tend to sing in the band.

I'm all for lessons in general, but I'm not sure how to go about looking for someone. I need someone who will teach improve me the sound of my voice rather than any of the usual things like pitching or timing or projection, and tbh I'm not sure if it's going to be possible to do that at all, without changing the shape of the resonant cavities inside my head/chest

Anyone here ever had singing lessons? How did you find them?

 

[egg_]

Another thing about singing with a band, of course, is your voice has to fit in with the instrumentation, and you're used to singing in a high-volume environment, so your options for the way you approach the vocal are limited. With electronic stuff you can choose whatever instrument you like, so there's kinda too much choice vocally - sing/rap quiet or loud? Roughly or sweetly? With feeling, or transparently?

Really what I'm after is for the vocal to sound kinda like my actual speaking voice, as if it was me talking to you, because in the lyrics it's me speaking as me. That's another reason for avoiding the ODB-impersonation approach to the rap ... not that I'd rule that out if I can't make me-as-me sound good

 

[egg_]

if you don't actually want to get someone else to do it and you're not relying on people actually liking the music for any reason then what's to lose?

You know the answer to this dude - my songs are like my children, I'm not looking to gain anything from them, I'm just trying to parent them as best I can

 

[Anthony]

I took a few singing lessons in Navan. Pretty good.

 

[RED(tape)MENACE]

MDR did some too.

 

[ann post]

just wondering egg, have you considered messing with a pitchshifter?