Therapy for the vocally challenged

[kiramdear]

I was wondering if anybody besides me finds singing to be the hardest part of making music. I love to sing but I find it daunting.

I'll explain later but I just wanted to test the water before going into a long post.

I just wonder what some other people might find difficult about vocal work and how they manage to perform in spite of it.

[captsandwich]

I often find myself thinking 'I wish I could sing'.
It is so frustrating to lay down a nice guitar track, then take a run through the vocals 15 or 20 times and still have nothing to work with.
Live is a different story, because I can always blame it on the monitor mix.

What's worse is the lead singer in my band is a natural, one-take type singer. She just makes it look so easy. No big warm ups, no excuses, just goes in and belts it out.

[beatlefreak]

If the problem is that you can't sing, then perhaps some vocal training would help. If you can sing the notes, but just don't like the way it sounds, remember that John Lennon never liked the sound of his own voice, either.

[tennis_nick]

I just don't like how I sound I guess, makes me nervous and shaky, but when I'm on, it goes well.

[jimk]

In any event, a little vocal coaching wouldn't hurt.

We have a musician in our band who has never really sung. He can make the notes all right; he just tends to sing from the upper respiratory system, rather than from his diafragm. It sounds odd, but so much of singing depends on how you breathe.

JimK

[jdogric12]

It's weird. I have some people tell me they love my voice and some people look at me like a cat is drowning. My advice: Drink lots of water, learn proper breath/diaphragm use and control, and practice with recordings of yourself a LOT, even if it's just a cheap My First Sony cassette recorder you have to borrow from your kid's toybox. What you hear inside your own head is NOT what others hear.

PS Smoking doesn't help, but then, most singers smoke. Go figure.

[kiramdear]

Wow, I'm glad to see I'm not the only one with trepidations.

My voice is very limited and unruly. I also have a vocal disorder that makes it even more difficult and sometimes impossible to perform at will. Sometimes I can't even speak for my SD (spasmodic dysphonia) chokes off every word. You can hear a lot of rasping in the background vocals of my songs. If you could solo those tracks you'd be shocked at the sound. But somehow when I stack them up and add delay and reverb they sound OK. In any case, by the end of every vocal session my voice is absolutely blown to bits.

People say my records sound like a man singing. They can't believe it's me. But that's the effect of my disorder. Interesting, eh? I really have no idea how long I will be able to keep singing. In any case, you can see that it gives my the most concern of all the parts of making music.

So how do I deal with it? There are injections I take sometimes in the vocal chords that will take away the raspiness but leave my voice breathy and weak in place of that. I haven't tried singing right after injections. I speculate the raspiness is preferable to weakness to most ears.

[beatlefreak]

Most people aren't crazy about the sound of their own voice. They're used to hearing themselves as they speak, with the sound reverbrating through the bones in their face and ears. It's very different from hearing your recorded voice.

[whojamfan]

I talked to a few vocal trainers who said that they didn't think they would live long enough to teach me how to sing

Live is a different thing, I usually can't hear myself very well, and as long as they're not throwing bottles at me, it must be passable.

I don't sound too bad singing along to my tapes in the truck, but take away the tape and it's amazing how much worse I sound.

So yes, I need therapy for my vocals.

[antipodean]

Most people who hear me sing need therapy after the experience!

[kiramdear]

Who likes to sing in the shower?

[antipodean]

Who likes to sing in the shower?

For some reason that innocent question brings disturbing images into my head......

I've just imagined the entire membership of RRF, singing in their showers... now I need therapy!!!!

[Ric O'Sound]

Who likes to sing in the shower?

What's a shower?

[tennis_nick]

Who likes to sing in the shower?

What's a shower?

It's a vocal booth in your bathroom with that funny looking mic at the top.

[whojamfan]

Who likes to sing in the shower?

Last time I sang in the shower, the cat showed his appreciation by creating a horrible smell in his litter box, which is in the bathroom. I haven't sang in the shower since, and he's found other ways to bring tears to my eyes

Sheesh, everyones a critic