JPF Home Page Forums Musician Gear and Techniques Microphone and Vocalist Forum singing without a band

hey i sing and play guitar in a four piece band that is pretty loud and i can sing pretty high and loud when i'm playing in the band. for some reason when i'm not singing with the band i suck! i cant sing very high before my voices cracks and goes all weird, i was wondering if anyone could tell me how to sing like i do when i'm with the band when i'm not? i'm going to be recording a demo soon and i'm worried that this problem will affect the recording.
thanks,
chris

Most likely, the difference (and the solution) is nothing more than sound levels.

Have you ever taken a long road trip with a friend, and you feel like you're talking in a normal tone of voice? But then you get to where you're going or make a stop and your ears are ringing and your throat is sore.

You didn't know you were yelling in the car. Sounded like "talking". But the road and engine noise caused you to have to talk louder than a normal tone. You probably didn't even notice.

Same thing in a club setting. You yell over the music, sometimes til you're hoarse, and that is to just barely be heard.

When you sing with a band, the level of sound supporting you as you sing is usually quite loud. So you naturally "push" your voice srength to keep above it.

When you are singing alone, generally the noise level surrounding you is much less. So you push less. Hitting highs becomes harder, holds become weaker or tremulous.

In the studio, just make sure that your headphone mix reflects the right volume balances for you. It sound like you would benefit from a mix that was heavy on the music and a little low on the voice. That way, you'd always be "pushing" to perceive being heard "above the music" (especially if it's rock you'll be singing).

One more thing to consider...

Maybe you aren't as "on" as you think you are in the band. The band "noise" may be so loud as to cover your voice, even when singing out strong, and you just don't HEAR all those imperfections. Then when the band is removed, you hear what you really sound like.

Let's hope your problem is the former and not the latter!

Good luck in the studio. It's a blast!

Erik / Baz
www.eriktyler.com
www.soundclick.com/eriktyler

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"The only way to get anywhere is to cross a few lines."

thanks for the help. and by the way i've sung with a decent pa system where you could hear the vocals and it didnt sound too bad! lol

Well, THAT's good news! So, it's probably just the volume of what you are hearing while you are singing. Just make sure that headphone volume is high enough that you feel you need to sing loud enough to attain the same vocals you have in your band (if that is what you are going for in the studio).

Baz

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"The only way to get anywhere is to cross a few lines."