Soft singer

[PRR]

I think I'm a soft singer by nature. What should I do so I can cut through a loud mix on stage? Is it possible to train for my volume to increase while not sacrificing range? Is it also practical to tweak microphones or look for microphones that are good for softer singers? Or should I look at how to monitor myself better?

Thanks in advance for any comments and suggestions.

 

[fgl]

1. work on lung power (belt out them songs when you practise)
2. Get good mic - best U can afford
3.bribe soundman (if any) to give you the best sound

 

[sage]

Another soft singer here

Whilst I kinda enjoy the fact that I sing softly, my band requires me to belt out so it was vigorous work trying to work on vocal volume. How I worked on it took time, but it was basically choosing specific songs that has powerhouse vocals and added it to my list of songs to practice. It took me about.. 3-5 years before my throat started to open up, but it basically took practice and time, and you have to keep maintaining that or else you'll go back to the habit of singing softly.

Sometimes soft vocals (especially for those starting out) is psychological, like.. you're afraid to let your full voice out cos you're shy or something. It's a confidence factor playing its part as well and most people don't realise that it has a part in vocal volume and strength, and they tend to worry solely on technique or pushing the voice till it strains. Just food for thought, listing the possible drawbacks to it.

After doing some vocal warmups, try choosing some powerhouse vocal songs (that is WITHIN YOUR RANGE, don't choose difficult ones!) and start practising. Pay close attention to your vocal "breaking" limit, and don't push yourself. Reflect also the possibilities of a confidence factor, or whatever else is holding you or your voice back. Keep practicing~

 

[btherl]

There's a nice summary of ways to vocalize here:

http://www.completevocalinstitute.com/node/47

If your voice sounds nice and soft then you've probably got the 3 basic principles already, and the neutral vocal mode. But it's the other vocal modes you need to discover:

http://www.completevocalinstitute.com/?q=en/Vocal-Technique/Four-vocal-modes

You can read there about the volumes possible in each mode, and how they sound.

As for learning to access them, you can try using the hints on that site (whining for curby, shouting for overdrive, "duck sound" for edge).

Whatever you do, don't try to push more air out. That will take you out of a healthy singing configuration and push your larynx up.

 

[PRR]

Thanks to everybody for your replies.

FGL: Which mic do you suggest? How do you train the lungs and belt?

btherl: That was a real good read, thanks!

Sage: You got some good points that I've never thought of. Will you actually think bands nowadays are really in the a war of volume and loudness? And that we're playing way too loud?

 

[sage]

Mmz.. No, not all bands I think? It depends on the musicians and the genre I think; they feel the need to crank their volumes up to get that "high" in a jam, although I have met others who crank the volume up because they're slightly deaf

Then there's the number of musicians in a band as well I think. If you're in like say.. a 7-piece band, and the equipment in the jamming room gets unpredictable.. the jammers tend to pick their volume up to be heard.

And then there's the matter of playing really heavy music where it just feels good blasting your sound out..

I think it depends? For my case, sometimes my band doesn't realise they're playing loud, and they tend to match up with my drummer who whacks the damn thing really loudly. I kinda relented and just bring along earplugs Most of the time I can't even hear myself at all.. just hearing it randomly over the music, here and there Well it's either they're too loud or I'm -still- too soft~

 

[fgl]

TRY NOT TO BUY THE BELOW $10 KARAOKE TYPE MIC

I like the SHURE SM 58s - industry standard

The senheisser line also not bad - google it & check

Lung power - practice singing the song full voice on your own in isolation - to the max lung capacity and volume.

 

[PRR]

FGL: Ha ha, I'll never get those mic man; but come to think about it, you usually sound bloody good in karaoke lounges - I wonder if it's something they did to the EQ or the mic. I am using a SM58 currently but during a gig recently, I just couldn't hear myself most of the times and guess I overcompensated and lovelovelovelovelovelovelove tired by the end of the set. I've rehearsed on Senn e835 if I'm not wrong, pretty good. Warfedale mikes are usually loud and won't sound muted like some other mikes may. Problem is, they are very noisy, in a sensitive way - touch them lightly and they make a sound - it's irritating. What about condensers built for live use?

Sage: Yea, I'm in the same circumstance you are in. The rest of my band will always try to match the drummer's volume, which almost always drowns my vocals. Will EQ-ing help in this case?

 

[sage]

Will EQ-ing help in this case?

Yes and no I think? I'm not too much on the tech-side of singing but the most we could do is bring the volume up to its highest without touching feedback, and adding reverb effects to let the voice ring/cut through the music a little. Not very useful if you're trying to hear your words and intonation..

In my experience of some studios, I tweak the vols up to near feedback and my voice literally "rings" through the mic (though it isn't exactly feedback). When that happens, the volume cuts through the music but I end up just falsetto-ing all the way just to prevent the bounceback feedback from the speakers (you could hear a slight echo cos the mic's picking up from the monitors and bouncing that sound back).

I don't have much experience with the EQ-section, in fact I'll be quite surprised if anyone has a clue to what I've been trying to say lol, does anyone have any other thoughts on this? There's a pinned thread in the main subforum discussing EQ settings as well, maybe you could look for ideas there?

 

[PRR]

Yea I'm reading through, thanks very much!

 

[soft]

Condenser is not good for loud band kinda environment. Cos it will pick up all other instrument. Easy to feedback also.

You can try to sing closer to the mic. Just try different position to get the best sounding. There's this 'effect' called proximity which gives your sound a bit more bass when you are singing close to the mic.

Honestly, you can only do so much as a performer. A lot will depend on the sound engineer. If you can't hear yourself, communicate to him to feed more of your vocal into the monitor speakers.

If you find that your voice cannot cut through your band's overall sounding, re-arrange the music such that they do not dominate your tonal range.

As for EQ, that's a sound engineer's job again.

 

[PRR]

Thanks everybody, for your input.

 

[boofeng]

um. i found that after doing classroom teaching for some time... i can sing much louder. and i don't get tired. maybe it's relative, like you get so much more tired using your voice in class that singing is just peanuts.

moral of story: practice does help.

 

[ANDY82]

hm..

for me you can try different range of a song.

 

[sage]

um. i found that after doing classroom teaching for some time... i can sing much louder. and i don't get tired. maybe it's relative, like you get so much more tired using your voice in class that singing is just peanuts.

moral of story: practice does help.

Bingo~! You have to keep using your voice to keep it working. It's kinda like how gears rust and get stiff after a while if you don't use it..