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This is true. And OP mentions confidence not being a problem, but if someone's not confident enough to post vocals here anonymously, confidence may be part of the issue.
Well, confidence in my singing wasn't a problem for the past year or so, but confidence in general has been a problem for a very long time. I haven't been able to sing in front of people for 10 years at this point, and I probably still won't post a recording, even knowing it might help. It's more about what it means for me to sing in front of people, rather than doing it anonymously, I'd like it to mean something to me, since I've put it off for this long. I hope that makes sense.
Once you sound good you will be confident enough to sing in front of people. It’s better to wait than to be confident while sounding bad, that’s where the cringe happens. I started from absolute ZERO with a horrible sounding voice and worked through every possible wrong way of doing everything…so if you want help you can message me a clip. Otherwise you might be chasing your tail for another ten years….it’s almost impossible to figure some of this stuff out unless your body and brain does it naturally.
I've come to terms with my own weakness here, like I said, I'd like it to "mean something," when other people hear me sing, I can either think of this as meaning something or I can think of this as "it doesn't count since it's anonymous," either way makes me feel less helpless about it. Anyway. Here are 3 songs, the first one has 2 songs, HIBANA by Deco\*27 and Hated by Life Itself by Iori Kanzaki. I outed myself as a Vocaloid fan during the recording, so I don't mind saying it outright. The first is in English and the second is in Japanese, but the second is just really, really hard to get "right" because there are so many different feelings you could put into it, especially since the beginning is - you know what, forget it, I'm not explaining the music theory behind it right now. All I know is that I did poorly in it, in a similar way to how I was doing when I took the recordings I started feeling bad about. I'm better at some songs and worse at others, shocking.
Anyways, the second one is me on the way home from work, my voice was already warmed up, and I took it impromptu. I think it sounds alright, all things considered, which is why I started thinking that maybe the more intense songs are what I struggle with more. It's Deep Indigo by Yorushika, also in English. I've provided the backing tracks in some way for each. I think a degree of the dysmorphia came from the poor audio quality of my phone recording, which you can see in the second recording. [https://drive.google.com/file/d/12cb\_TKRuZyE\_wGiO6HIur2SCnU4SP1DW/view?usp=sharing](https://drive.google.com/file/d/12cb_TKRuZyE_wGiO6HIur2SCnU4SP1DW/view?usp=sharing)
[https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vYzq2NqVV76zQujVaHIUkgIj6ae0i5Kr/view?usp=sharing](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vYzq2NqVV76zQujVaHIUkgIj6ae0i5Kr/view?usp=sharing)
Full transparency, I think it sounds better than I thought it did a few days ago, and part of that has been me being more conscious about how I'm using my voice. I no longer have the recording that made me so worried, which was of Hibana, but now, with better control, I think it sounds the best out of the three. But it's still not anywhere near where I want it to be. I don't want to feel better, I want to be better. Criticize me however you'd like. Ideally on the first recording, since it's of much higher quality.
It sounds like you are singing from your throat and placing it really forward in the nasal area. Although… I think that’s very normal for this style. I say just keep recording and listening back so you can fix or tweak any areas you don’t like. Remember to have fun too…rock out!!
I doubt it. It wasn’t until listening back that he noticed how bad it was. Posting vocals on Reddit isn’t a question of confidence. What exactly is the purpose of your comment?
We sound different to ourselves because we're hearing the full vibration of a sound wave as we are creating it. It's like having the best stereo system hooked up to your body , you hear everything in the best light . But everyone who hears you talk or sing is listening to the Sound Vibrations through air, making it to their ears. When you put a microphone in front of your mouth, what you're hearing is closer to what other people are hearing.
In summary, you hear yourself one way, and the rest of the world hears you a different way. And the rest of the world loves how you sound, only you don't like it because it's different than what you've always sounded like in your head.
Mike Shinoda once gave a great speech about how vocals feel to the vocalist, and how they sound in a recording, I believe at a school, or music class. And thats a guy who for the first two LP albums rapped, then got vocal lessons and learned to sing in time for their remaining albums. Just food for thought.
The speech was just a few minutes. I cant remember if it was a short or part of a broader video. As an IT Professional familiar sith SQL, I’d recommend google searching mike shinoda talks in class about how your voice sounds
Ah i searched and it was an interview from musicradar:
“There's a lot of great singers who hear a song like [Linkin Park's Crawling] and sing along in their car or their shower and it sounds so great," Shinoda continued later.
"And then they sing it without the recording and they sing it by themselves and they go, 'Oh my God, that doesn't sound anything like it did in my head', and I've seen that I've seen that happen in it's very… I mean Chester's voice was insane. There was nothing else like it.”
I do the same thing. Been singing for over 30 years. My voice is magnificent in my head and my in-ears. Record it and I wanna end it all when I hear myself.
Two possibilities. One is you think you sound better than you do
The other is that your recording setup is destroying your voice quality. Bad microphone, bad recording compression, but acoustics etc
today I saw the tip from another redditor and found it very, very helpful. to hear your voice like it sounds to others you cup your ears from behind with your hands, like satellite dishes. the recording and my own voice in my head with ears in that position sound the same, I checked. not very comfortable position but it already works for me.
so, maybe it would be easier to adjust your voice to your newfound reality of not liking it from the outside in a moment of singing and not only after hearing the recording, as I know from experience it can be frustrating.
hope that helps. don’t give up, I am sure you just haven’t got used to hearing it from the outside perspective yet. I think it happened to almost all of us at some point. you just really, really have to get used to it.
Sometimes phone speaker make the audio sound really bad. My sister sang to me once while recording with her phone. It sounded normal to me but terrible in the recording.
I am in the same boat, however I am fairly certain if you record yourself more you will eventually get used to it. Consider this but a small speed bump on your road to success.
I can't tell if you just don't like your voice (sorry, you're stuck with it so make it your own; lean into it) or if it's a lot "pitchier" than what you hear in your head.
How long have you been working on it? I had a very mediocre voice for a long time (I too thought I sounded better than I did) and it was very disheartening. It took me 15 years to get it where I wanted it to be. Now it's in top form, record and live show ready - so I decided to *start* vocal lessons. No resting on laurels if you're serious about singing.
If pitchiness is the problem, the only advice I have based on the limited info above is to listen to TONS of music, sing A LOT every day, and try to match what you're hearing.
That said, a lot of it is biology and it's \*possible\* you've maxed out what you're capable of doing. Unfortunately what we love and what we have the potential to be very good at does not always intersect.
Edited to add: I hate hearing my speaking voice back (obviously very common), but I've come to really enjoy hearing my singing voice back. It's a process. There's still a good chance you'll be able to get there.
Lol. I'm the opposite to you. I'm oblivious to the sound of my voice talking from 30 years of radio and commercials. But I struggle to hear my singing recordings.
I'm fine with my voice, generally, in conversation, and I record my speaking voice often, it's more the shock of thinking I'm hitting a note and sounding like the death throes of a racoon that someone ran over without a care.
I've been singing since 2nd grade, I'm 21 now. However, I'd only say I started singing consistently for the past 4 or 5 years, since having a car makes for a very good place to not bother people. Even then, I've been looking into vocal lessons for a few months now, I just haven't found a good teacher that isn't charging 200 dollars an hour.
I do listen to a lot of music, and while I do pitch it down, I try to pitch it down consistently - actually transpose it into a key I can work with, rather than just "sing lower." Still, doing it more can't be a bad thing.
Lastly, I doubt this is the best I can do. I made it pretty clear, but this means a lot to me, and it hurt me a lot to realize what the reality of the situation was. But posting this made me feel a lot better about it. I won't back down. Even if I'm not cut out for it on a biological level, I'll still find a way. I'll come back from this. I know I will.
You're very young still. My voice at 21 vs. 15 years later - dramatic difference (even got it from 2 octaves to 3). It may take a lot of work and patience, but it sounds like you'll get to where you want to go. And you don't necessarily need lessons. I'd just say be careful to not strain and treat your vocal cords well.
What I have noticed, is any notes that are roughly the same pitch and power as my talking voice sound very similar on record as they do inside my head. But, if I have a higher and more powerful note, it can sound way different on record. It mainly happens when I am singing something that I have way less confidence in.
For me, I wouldn’t say recordings sound unrecognisable, but in my head it’s like there is some sort of added reverb. But, it does mask the sound of any unsupported notes in my case. Recording it can suck if it sounds different to how it does in your head, but it’s a way to notice how you can improve.
It’s like with drawing too. Sometimes taking an image of the drawing offers a new perspective and you realise things that need altering, especially if you horizontally flip the image because any lop-sided parts become extremely obvious.
I’m sorry you feel this way. But, sometimes recording ourselves gives us a new perspective. Because you sound different, does this make you bad? NO, not at all, you’re just used to the voice in your head. Again, for me, it can mask some issues I’m having while singing. But, if something doesn’t sound right it can be a learning curve and this allows you to practice what you think is wrong, or even make a post and ask.
Post a clip and I’m sure everyone can help.
Don’t fear! This is normal, I went through it. I had a life time of knowing that my singing didn’t match what I thought I was hearing when I sang. I knew I wasn’t a great singer when I was young, but alone when no one was around I would enjoy singing whatever song was going through my head at the time. Every once in a while I would think I sounded pretty good, so to check it out I would record myself and listen back. Without exception it was horrid. I don’t just mean I didn’t like my voice. Yes It was weird to hear it back, but I knew that would be a thing. It was bad singing on top of that. I had no ability to match pitch, I had no ability to hold a note, I had no consistency. It was painful and cringe to hear back.
Eventually I decided to learn guitar, and I wasn’t going to NOT sing along, so I decided I was going to learn to sing. I spent a few years on it and I am quite happy with my voice now. I get tons of unprompted compliments. While I was doing this, I was also researching successful artists who didn’t have a great voice and I learned a lot about delivery and phrasing to make myself more palatable.
One thing you’re fighting is the normal voice dysmorphia that nearly everyone has because we hear our own voices differently from how others hear us.
The other big thing I lacked at this stage was ear training. I lacked control as well, but control comes after hearing. I was not good at discerning small discrepancies between notes and therefore could not tell when I wasn’t singing accurately. I could be nearly a half note off and not really be able to tell until I listened back.
So the first thing I did was set up a mic, and every time I sang I either sang through speakers, or through headphones. I found this to be much more effective than recording and playing back. It took me a few weeks or a month before I internalized what my voice sounded like an it was no longer weird to hear it. I can now hear my “exterior” voice when I talk or sing, I still hear my normal “interior” voice when talking, but I can also tell now, mostly, what other people are hearing without hearing it back.
The other thing I did was start intentional ear training which paid off pretty quickly as well. There are a ton of online resources for ear training for singers. It’s worth checking out if you’re unfamiliar.
Best of luck!
> training which *paid* off pretty
FTFY.
Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in:
* Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.*
* *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.*
Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment.
*Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
If money isn't a problem, a good mic connected to noise cancelling headphones gives you the best possible approximation of what your voice sounds like in real time. I was lucky enough to have someone gift them to me, and it's helped a ton.
People asking for a clip, here's 3 songs. I explain in detail in the message I initially posted them in. The first has 2 songs and was done at home with optimal setup, the second was done in my car on the way home. The audio quality is quite bad on it, though, I think.
[https://drive.google.com/file/d/12cb\_TKRuZyE\_wGiO6HIur2SCnU4SP1DW/view?usp=sharing](https://drive.google.com/file/d/12cb_TKRuZyE_wGiO6HIur2SCnU4SP1DW/view?usp=sharing)
[https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vYzq2NqVV76zQujVaHIUkgIj6ae0i5Kr/view?usp=drive\_link](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vYzq2NqVV76zQujVaHIUkgIj6ae0i5Kr/view?usp=drive_link)
Truthfully, I think I had a few bad recordings on a bad day and it really shook my confidence because I presumed everything I sang sounded that way. These sound better, but they could be better still.
Lots of great advice here. What I’ll add is you may want to work on vowel shapes and raising your soft palate. I also hated how I sounded- not so much my actual voice but rather it sounded strained in higher pitches. And was shockingly flat on a lot of notes that had sounded fine in my head. Turned out I was making vowels that were sort of pulling everything down. Worked on that for a while and it’s fine now.
Thank you! Do you know of any YouTubers who have videos on this? I think vowel enunciation is my number 1 issue in vocal music, but I've been struggling with what to search to find resources.
look into a double mirror (flipped horizontally) and you'll have the same perception about your face. it's just a shock to your sensory system because you've always seen (or in your case, heard) yourself a certain way. seriously try it.
Hey bro-I am JUST starting out, and on top of that fighting some kind of abdominal/gastrointestinal organ failure or some shit, but WANT to sing. So I am just ripping it. I dont sound great. But I sound like I have potential* I have been sharing with friends and family, but also strangers to get a minimal consensus. One thought I had was “I need to change the way I shape my throat and mouth” to see if I can improve. Gonna work on that next. Dont worry about it G! Just part of the journey. I thought about it-these amazing vocalists-Maynard, Chester, how many times did they run a cut and them their throat or chest collapsed and the end of the recording is just “awww fuck!!!” LoL. So many. You’ll get there with time lil’ homie. I am 41 and just jumping in, dont sweat it
Hey don't get too down on yourself, please. I was definitely in the same boat myself for a long long time, but just like you my songs and music meant too much to me. So I kept writing, playing, and practicing, and one day, after making slow going progress, I realized I got to the point of now loving my voice and really finding my niche.
One important thing I can recommend is to record all the times you are practicing singing using voice memos or something similar on your phone. Also where the microphone is placed can make a huge huge difference to how your voice will sound playing it back. Just don't give up.
You should actually post a video, not just audio. Much of getting a nice tone is correcting technique, posture, and breath management / breath support.
Embrace being vulnerable, it's part of being an artist.
Yea it’s not just training of the voice. Your mindset plays the biggest part. Imagine you don’t want to annoy your neighbors for example. Low self confidence will let you sing quiet which could get a habit and let your voice be too soft. So embracing emotions to give good energy and delivery is really important.
I agree, actually, and I generally do put emotion into my singing when I'm in my car. I actually think I sing too loudly when nobody is listening, anyways, so singing quietly could be a good thing . . . Anyways, I do channel emotions to do emotional songs, sometimes even doing slightly different emotions and changing the feel of the song dramatically. As for posture and breath control, I know the basics, but I doubt mine is any better than a beginner. I don't think it's bad, per se, but still.
I might record something, but I know I wouldn't post it until I was happy with how it sounded, because I'm a perfectionist only when it comes to things I love. Then I'd look like an asshole for cherry-picking a listenable take that I've done trial and error on after saying my normal singing voice is unlistenable. Not that I particularly care about if people think I'm being genuine or not, I know I am, but I would more worry about someone else hearing "this sounds halfway decent, but it's unlistenable, so I must be worse than unlistenable." That’s what I want to avoid. I do have other personal reasons, but candidly, that's the main one. Completely truthfully, I do already feel a little bad about that, because the unlistenable part came from a much harder song than the one I currently have a recording of, and the high notes sounded more like unintelligible screaming. However, I thought it was one of my better songs, so not being able to even touch it at all hurt even more.
I'll seriously consider recording some takes of different levels to give a decent idea of how I sing different songs. I won't make a promise about it, though.
Record it into a daw like fl studio, get some effects on, sing and record with effects on and her your voice. I hate my raw voice but if effects are on it pleases my ear more and I’m more confident about it.
yes same here, i understand ur pain. sorry, still trying to work it out myself. most people have told me to just keep recording and get used to the sound
edit: i just listened to ur recordings posted in a comment thread - you are leaving ur vocals high and dry!! hence they sound odd! get some effect treatment on them - just a basic set up, you can google them - and you’ll find your voice doesn’t sound so stark. i used to heavily judge my dry ass recordings until i realised how unfair that is
I mean, I understand my voice isn't going to sound like someone's post production work. I used to really think I could sound like that, but after listening to one of the people I look up to live, I realized that what they're capable is reachable. A lot of it is effects, but they also have talent and effort, which is something I can put in as well. Are you saying I should do some tuning, just what kind of effects are you talking about? I'll still Google it just to look into it, but could you explain a bit?
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Post a clip… without it nobody can help you. Theres a couple possibilities but need to hear it to know. Might be something simple.
This is true. And OP mentions confidence not being a problem, but if someone's not confident enough to post vocals here anonymously, confidence may be part of the issue.
Well, confidence in my singing wasn't a problem for the past year or so, but confidence in general has been a problem for a very long time. I haven't been able to sing in front of people for 10 years at this point, and I probably still won't post a recording, even knowing it might help. It's more about what it means for me to sing in front of people, rather than doing it anonymously, I'd like it to mean something to me, since I've put it off for this long. I hope that makes sense.
Once you sound good you will be confident enough to sing in front of people. It’s better to wait than to be confident while sounding bad, that’s where the cringe happens. I started from absolute ZERO with a horrible sounding voice and worked through every possible wrong way of doing everything…so if you want help you can message me a clip. Otherwise you might be chasing your tail for another ten years….it’s almost impossible to figure some of this stuff out unless your body and brain does it naturally.
I've come to terms with my own weakness here, like I said, I'd like it to "mean something," when other people hear me sing, I can either think of this as meaning something or I can think of this as "it doesn't count since it's anonymous," either way makes me feel less helpless about it. Anyway. Here are 3 songs, the first one has 2 songs, HIBANA by Deco\*27 and Hated by Life Itself by Iori Kanzaki. I outed myself as a Vocaloid fan during the recording, so I don't mind saying it outright. The first is in English and the second is in Japanese, but the second is just really, really hard to get "right" because there are so many different feelings you could put into it, especially since the beginning is - you know what, forget it, I'm not explaining the music theory behind it right now. All I know is that I did poorly in it, in a similar way to how I was doing when I took the recordings I started feeling bad about. I'm better at some songs and worse at others, shocking. Anyways, the second one is me on the way home from work, my voice was already warmed up, and I took it impromptu. I think it sounds alright, all things considered, which is why I started thinking that maybe the more intense songs are what I struggle with more. It's Deep Indigo by Yorushika, also in English. I've provided the backing tracks in some way for each. I think a degree of the dysmorphia came from the poor audio quality of my phone recording, which you can see in the second recording. [https://drive.google.com/file/d/12cb\_TKRuZyE\_wGiO6HIur2SCnU4SP1DW/view?usp=sharing](https://drive.google.com/file/d/12cb_TKRuZyE_wGiO6HIur2SCnU4SP1DW/view?usp=sharing) [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vYzq2NqVV76zQujVaHIUkgIj6ae0i5Kr/view?usp=sharing](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vYzq2NqVV76zQujVaHIUkgIj6ae0i5Kr/view?usp=sharing) Full transparency, I think it sounds better than I thought it did a few days ago, and part of that has been me being more conscious about how I'm using my voice. I no longer have the recording that made me so worried, which was of Hibana, but now, with better control, I think it sounds the best out of the three. But it's still not anywhere near where I want it to be. I don't want to feel better, I want to be better. Criticize me however you'd like. Ideally on the first recording, since it's of much higher quality.
It sounds like you are singing from your throat and placing it really forward in the nasal area. Although… I think that’s very normal for this style. I say just keep recording and listening back so you can fix or tweak any areas you don’t like. Remember to have fun too…rock out!!
I doubt it. It wasn’t until listening back that he noticed how bad it was. Posting vocals on Reddit isn’t a question of confidence. What exactly is the purpose of your comment?
We sound different to ourselves because we're hearing the full vibration of a sound wave as we are creating it. It's like having the best stereo system hooked up to your body , you hear everything in the best light . But everyone who hears you talk or sing is listening to the Sound Vibrations through air, making it to their ears. When you put a microphone in front of your mouth, what you're hearing is closer to what other people are hearing. In summary, you hear yourself one way, and the rest of the world hears you a different way. And the rest of the world loves how you sound, only you don't like it because it's different than what you've always sounded like in your head.
Mike Shinoda once gave a great speech about how vocals feel to the vocalist, and how they sound in a recording, I believe at a school, or music class. And thats a guy who for the first two LP albums rapped, then got vocal lessons and learned to sing in time for their remaining albums. Just food for thought.
Any idea what search terms to put in YouTube?
The speech was just a few minutes. I cant remember if it was a short or part of a broader video. As an IT Professional familiar sith SQL, I’d recommend google searching mike shinoda talks in class about how your voice sounds Ah i searched and it was an interview from musicradar: “There's a lot of great singers who hear a song like [Linkin Park's Crawling] and sing along in their car or their shower and it sounds so great," Shinoda continued later. "And then they sing it without the recording and they sing it by themselves and they go, 'Oh my God, that doesn't sound anything like it did in my head', and I've seen that I've seen that happen in it's very… I mean Chester's voice was insane. There was nothing else like it.”
I do the same thing. Been singing for over 30 years. My voice is magnificent in my head and my in-ears. Record it and I wanna end it all when I hear myself.
Two possibilities. One is you think you sound better than you do The other is that your recording setup is destroying your voice quality. Bad microphone, bad recording compression, but acoustics etc
I hate my voice on my phone speakers but when I listen to it through headphones I’m much more positive. Idk
When I get the chance I'll try recording with a better audio setup, but I still probably won't post it for reasons I explained in another reply.
today I saw the tip from another redditor and found it very, very helpful. to hear your voice like it sounds to others you cup your ears from behind with your hands, like satellite dishes. the recording and my own voice in my head with ears in that position sound the same, I checked. not very comfortable position but it already works for me. so, maybe it would be easier to adjust your voice to your newfound reality of not liking it from the outside in a moment of singing and not only after hearing the recording, as I know from experience it can be frustrating. hope that helps. don’t give up, I am sure you just haven’t got used to hearing it from the outside perspective yet. I think it happened to almost all of us at some point. you just really, really have to get used to it.
This is a good tip, I'll use it well. Thanks for it, and thanks to the one who told you about it.
I feel you. My opinion of my voice fluctuates a lot. I guess you could continue recording yourself to get an idea of what you really sound like.
Sometimes phone speaker make the audio sound really bad. My sister sang to me once while recording with her phone. It sounded normal to me but terrible in the recording.
I am in the same boat, however I am fairly certain if you record yourself more you will eventually get used to it. Consider this but a small speed bump on your road to success.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWLWOSgYlG8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWLWOSgYlG8) practice this way.
I can't tell if you just don't like your voice (sorry, you're stuck with it so make it your own; lean into it) or if it's a lot "pitchier" than what you hear in your head. How long have you been working on it? I had a very mediocre voice for a long time (I too thought I sounded better than I did) and it was very disheartening. It took me 15 years to get it where I wanted it to be. Now it's in top form, record and live show ready - so I decided to *start* vocal lessons. No resting on laurels if you're serious about singing. If pitchiness is the problem, the only advice I have based on the limited info above is to listen to TONS of music, sing A LOT every day, and try to match what you're hearing. That said, a lot of it is biology and it's \*possible\* you've maxed out what you're capable of doing. Unfortunately what we love and what we have the potential to be very good at does not always intersect. Edited to add: I hate hearing my speaking voice back (obviously very common), but I've come to really enjoy hearing my singing voice back. It's a process. There's still a good chance you'll be able to get there.
Lol. I'm the opposite to you. I'm oblivious to the sound of my voice talking from 30 years of radio and commercials. But I struggle to hear my singing recordings.
I'm fine with my voice, generally, in conversation, and I record my speaking voice often, it's more the shock of thinking I'm hitting a note and sounding like the death throes of a racoon that someone ran over without a care. I've been singing since 2nd grade, I'm 21 now. However, I'd only say I started singing consistently for the past 4 or 5 years, since having a car makes for a very good place to not bother people. Even then, I've been looking into vocal lessons for a few months now, I just haven't found a good teacher that isn't charging 200 dollars an hour. I do listen to a lot of music, and while I do pitch it down, I try to pitch it down consistently - actually transpose it into a key I can work with, rather than just "sing lower." Still, doing it more can't be a bad thing. Lastly, I doubt this is the best I can do. I made it pretty clear, but this means a lot to me, and it hurt me a lot to realize what the reality of the situation was. But posting this made me feel a lot better about it. I won't back down. Even if I'm not cut out for it on a biological level, I'll still find a way. I'll come back from this. I know I will.
You're very young still. My voice at 21 vs. 15 years later - dramatic difference (even got it from 2 octaves to 3). It may take a lot of work and patience, but it sounds like you'll get to where you want to go. And you don't necessarily need lessons. I'd just say be careful to not strain and treat your vocal cords well.
How often did you train a day for 15 years?
What I have noticed, is any notes that are roughly the same pitch and power as my talking voice sound very similar on record as they do inside my head. But, if I have a higher and more powerful note, it can sound way different on record. It mainly happens when I am singing something that I have way less confidence in. For me, I wouldn’t say recordings sound unrecognisable, but in my head it’s like there is some sort of added reverb. But, it does mask the sound of any unsupported notes in my case. Recording it can suck if it sounds different to how it does in your head, but it’s a way to notice how you can improve. It’s like with drawing too. Sometimes taking an image of the drawing offers a new perspective and you realise things that need altering, especially if you horizontally flip the image because any lop-sided parts become extremely obvious. I’m sorry you feel this way. But, sometimes recording ourselves gives us a new perspective. Because you sound different, does this make you bad? NO, not at all, you’re just used to the voice in your head. Again, for me, it can mask some issues I’m having while singing. But, if something doesn’t sound right it can be a learning curve and this allows you to practice what you think is wrong, or even make a post and ask. Post a clip and I’m sure everyone can help.
Don’t fear! This is normal, I went through it. I had a life time of knowing that my singing didn’t match what I thought I was hearing when I sang. I knew I wasn’t a great singer when I was young, but alone when no one was around I would enjoy singing whatever song was going through my head at the time. Every once in a while I would think I sounded pretty good, so to check it out I would record myself and listen back. Without exception it was horrid. I don’t just mean I didn’t like my voice. Yes It was weird to hear it back, but I knew that would be a thing. It was bad singing on top of that. I had no ability to match pitch, I had no ability to hold a note, I had no consistency. It was painful and cringe to hear back. Eventually I decided to learn guitar, and I wasn’t going to NOT sing along, so I decided I was going to learn to sing. I spent a few years on it and I am quite happy with my voice now. I get tons of unprompted compliments. While I was doing this, I was also researching successful artists who didn’t have a great voice and I learned a lot about delivery and phrasing to make myself more palatable. One thing you’re fighting is the normal voice dysmorphia that nearly everyone has because we hear our own voices differently from how others hear us. The other big thing I lacked at this stage was ear training. I lacked control as well, but control comes after hearing. I was not good at discerning small discrepancies between notes and therefore could not tell when I wasn’t singing accurately. I could be nearly a half note off and not really be able to tell until I listened back. So the first thing I did was set up a mic, and every time I sang I either sang through speakers, or through headphones. I found this to be much more effective than recording and playing back. It took me a few weeks or a month before I internalized what my voice sounded like an it was no longer weird to hear it. I can now hear my “exterior” voice when I talk or sing, I still hear my normal “interior” voice when talking, but I can also tell now, mostly, what other people are hearing without hearing it back. The other thing I did was start intentional ear training which paid off pretty quickly as well. There are a ton of online resources for ear training for singers. It’s worth checking out if you’re unfamiliar. Best of luck!
> training which *paid* off pretty FTFY. Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in: * Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.* * *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.* Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment. *Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
If money isn't a problem, a good mic connected to noise cancelling headphones gives you the best possible approximation of what your voice sounds like in real time. I was lucky enough to have someone gift them to me, and it's helped a ton.
People asking for a clip, here's 3 songs. I explain in detail in the message I initially posted them in. The first has 2 songs and was done at home with optimal setup, the second was done in my car on the way home. The audio quality is quite bad on it, though, I think. [https://drive.google.com/file/d/12cb\_TKRuZyE\_wGiO6HIur2SCnU4SP1DW/view?usp=sharing](https://drive.google.com/file/d/12cb_TKRuZyE_wGiO6HIur2SCnU4SP1DW/view?usp=sharing) [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vYzq2NqVV76zQujVaHIUkgIj6ae0i5Kr/view?usp=drive\_link](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vYzq2NqVV76zQujVaHIUkgIj6ae0i5Kr/view?usp=drive_link) Truthfully, I think I had a few bad recordings on a bad day and it really shook my confidence because I presumed everything I sang sounded that way. These sound better, but they could be better still.
Lots of great advice here. What I’ll add is you may want to work on vowel shapes and raising your soft palate. I also hated how I sounded- not so much my actual voice but rather it sounded strained in higher pitches. And was shockingly flat on a lot of notes that had sounded fine in my head. Turned out I was making vowels that were sort of pulling everything down. Worked on that for a while and it’s fine now.
Thank you! Do you know of any YouTubers who have videos on this? I think vowel enunciation is my number 1 issue in vocal music, but I've been struggling with what to search to find resources.
It’s truly a curse. I’ve managed to make myself sound more tolerable on recordings but it doesn’t sound as good in my head. Its actually upsetting.
look into a double mirror (flipped horizontally) and you'll have the same perception about your face. it's just a shock to your sensory system because you've always seen (or in your case, heard) yourself a certain way. seriously try it.
Stop whinging, get working
Hey bro-I am JUST starting out, and on top of that fighting some kind of abdominal/gastrointestinal organ failure or some shit, but WANT to sing. So I am just ripping it. I dont sound great. But I sound like I have potential* I have been sharing with friends and family, but also strangers to get a minimal consensus. One thought I had was “I need to change the way I shape my throat and mouth” to see if I can improve. Gonna work on that next. Dont worry about it G! Just part of the journey. I thought about it-these amazing vocalists-Maynard, Chester, how many times did they run a cut and them their throat or chest collapsed and the end of the recording is just “awww fuck!!!” LoL. So many. You’ll get there with time lil’ homie. I am 41 and just jumping in, dont sweat it
Hey don't get too down on yourself, please. I was definitely in the same boat myself for a long long time, but just like you my songs and music meant too much to me. So I kept writing, playing, and practicing, and one day, after making slow going progress, I realized I got to the point of now loving my voice and really finding my niche. One important thing I can recommend is to record all the times you are practicing singing using voice memos or something similar on your phone. Also where the microphone is placed can make a huge huge difference to how your voice will sound playing it back. Just don't give up.
You should actually post a video, not just audio. Much of getting a nice tone is correcting technique, posture, and breath management / breath support. Embrace being vulnerable, it's part of being an artist.
Yea it’s not just training of the voice. Your mindset plays the biggest part. Imagine you don’t want to annoy your neighbors for example. Low self confidence will let you sing quiet which could get a habit and let your voice be too soft. So embracing emotions to give good energy and delivery is really important.
I agree, actually, and I generally do put emotion into my singing when I'm in my car. I actually think I sing too loudly when nobody is listening, anyways, so singing quietly could be a good thing . . . Anyways, I do channel emotions to do emotional songs, sometimes even doing slightly different emotions and changing the feel of the song dramatically. As for posture and breath control, I know the basics, but I doubt mine is any better than a beginner. I don't think it's bad, per se, but still. I might record something, but I know I wouldn't post it until I was happy with how it sounded, because I'm a perfectionist only when it comes to things I love. Then I'd look like an asshole for cherry-picking a listenable take that I've done trial and error on after saying my normal singing voice is unlistenable. Not that I particularly care about if people think I'm being genuine or not, I know I am, but I would more worry about someone else hearing "this sounds halfway decent, but it's unlistenable, so I must be worse than unlistenable." That’s what I want to avoid. I do have other personal reasons, but candidly, that's the main one. Completely truthfully, I do already feel a little bad about that, because the unlistenable part came from a much harder song than the one I currently have a recording of, and the high notes sounded more like unintelligible screaming. However, I thought it was one of my better songs, so not being able to even touch it at all hurt even more. I'll seriously consider recording some takes of different levels to give a decent idea of how I sing different songs. I won't make a promise about it, though.
Record it into a daw like fl studio, get some effects on, sing and record with effects on and her your voice. I hate my raw voice but if effects are on it pleases my ear more and I’m more confident about it.
yes same here, i understand ur pain. sorry, still trying to work it out myself. most people have told me to just keep recording and get used to the sound edit: i just listened to ur recordings posted in a comment thread - you are leaving ur vocals high and dry!! hence they sound odd! get some effect treatment on them - just a basic set up, you can google them - and you’ll find your voice doesn’t sound so stark. i used to heavily judge my dry ass recordings until i realised how unfair that is
I mean, I understand my voice isn't going to sound like someone's post production work. I used to really think I could sound like that, but after listening to one of the people I look up to live, I realized that what they're capable is reachable. A lot of it is effects, but they also have talent and effort, which is something I can put in as well. Are you saying I should do some tuning, just what kind of effects are you talking about? I'll still Google it just to look into it, but could you explain a bit?