• Kitty
  • VC New Member
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  • Registered: 2012-06-27
  • Posts: 2

Topic: I really REALLY hate the sound of my voice

I honestly don't really think I can sing, I sound a bit weird, but I have made myself sing everyday for like a week now, even though I have been practising singing on and off over the year my voice still sucks, I mean I can sing a song but it just doesn't sound that great, I started to smoke to try and deepen my voice to make it more Husky and adult, as I feel I sound like a kid sometimmes and I'm 20, but I don't think the cigs are changing my voice much, and I sing rock music and sometimes I would strain my voice ON PURPOSE in aim to make it husky. Ugh I don't know what to do, to change the sound of my voice

  • From: United Kingdom
  • Registered: 2011-12-23
  • Posts: 308

Re: I really REALLY hate the sound of my voice

Hi Kitty,

This is not what you want to hear,

DON'T SMOKE. It damages your health and your voice.

DON'T strain your voice, you will damage it.

If you need to change the tone of your voice, either eq it on the desk a bit, or get a vocal processing unit, which can add lots of color and effects to your voice that will help you in your situation, have a good look at the TC-HELICON range and see if you can try one in a store, I think you will be very impressed as to what they can do with your voice.

Best of luck,

Editors for VoiceLive Touch and VoiceLive Touch 2

shoxproductions's Website

  • From: Victoria, BC
  • Registered: 2011-07-25
  • Posts: 2,176

Re: I really REALLY hate the sound of my voice

Hi Kitty,

Learning to do pretty much anything, even tying shoes etc. takes far longer than a week. The best advice I can give it to stick with it AND know that some of the most recognizable singers have "different" sounding voices. If you can present yourself with enthusiasm, confidence and charm, as well as some practice to back things up, you'll find that people accept your voice pretty easily.

Almost every singer I've known has had some issue with their voice, most times it's the "I sound so weird!" when they hear themselves recorded for the first time... but then they get over it, because the alternative is to stop trying altogether.

Keep at it and make sure you sing songs that give you an emotional connection with the music. Things will fall into place.

Cheers,
Craig

Craig @ TC-Helicon's Website

  • Kitty
  • VC New Member
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  • Registered: 2012-06-27
  • Posts: 2

Re: I really REALLY hate the sound of my voice

shoxproductions wrote:

Hi Kitty,

This is not what you want to hear,

DON'T SMOKE. It damages your health and your voice.

DON'T strain your voice, you will damage it.

If you need to change the tone of your voice, either eq it on the desk a bit, or get a vocal processing unit, which can add lots of color and effects to your voice that will help you in your situation, have a good look at the TC-HELICON range and see if you can try one in a store, I think you will be very impressed as to what they can do with your voice.

Best of luck,


You see I want to sound naturally good without the help of technology x

  • From: United Kingdom
  • Registered: 2011-12-23
  • Posts: 308

Re: I really REALLY hate the sound of my voice

Hi Kitty,

Apologies, I probably came across a bit sharp on previous post.

Craig has given you some good advice, if I remember correctly Craig was/is a singer in a labelled band, so he might have had similar experience himself.

Practice Practice, I always tell new people that I am recording, to practice with Good Studio Headphones at a good level, so you can hear your voice through your ears, not the resonated sound through all your skull bones. Remember any P.A. will make your voice sound different, for lots of technical reasons.

Nearly every singer uses technology on their voice, slight compression, bit of delay (echo) and slight reverb generally will thicken your voice and make it sit in the mix better. You could EQ your voice a bit, ie reduce the Hi freq slightly, and increase the Lo frequency slightly, will also help.

Experiment till you get the sound you like, it might take sometime to get used to your own voice, once you are used to how your voice sounds, then you will know which songs etc you can take on successfully.

If you find a particular song that you can't crack, leave it on the back burner for a bit, and come back to it after a week/month, you generally find that it will all come together then.

Practice Practice Practice

I hope that helps


Best of luck...

Last edited by shoxproductions (2012-06-28 04:48:07)

Editors for VoiceLive Touch and VoiceLive Touch 2

shoxproductions's Website

  • Registered: 2012-07-10
  • Posts: 32

Re: I really REALLY hate the sound of my voice

At first I found that thread quite funny/weird but it is NOT and it may help others experiencing similar feelings about themselves.  Accept your range and totality. It doesn't mean there is nothing to do to improve it, but you can't modify the overall. Let's say, I'm only 5' 9" but always wanted to be 6'2" will I stretch my body overnight in order to reach that goal? Hope not!... ;-)  If you only wanna sing for fun, go for it without effort, if you plan to do it for living (or part time...) I suggest you first:
Record a few songs you like the most. Then, write down what you liked about your performance and the things you didn't. Then FOCUS on the good assets and GO ON WITH IT.  From now on, what really counts is what your good at.
Give yourself a chance...

  • From: Newmarket, Ontario
  • Registered: 2012-07-29
  • Posts: 317

Re: I really REALLY hate the sound of my voice

I would suggest also if you can find a good vocal coach, good being the operative word!!  I suggest anyone who has come up under the Seth Riggs program or now that Dave Stroud has broken out on his own.  There is an iPhone/iPad app called vocalizeU which is sort or an intro or practice app that you can use.  It's from Dave Stroud and your probably going to get more out of it if you have had some lessons so you know a bit about what you are doing.  You can use the app to set up some online lessons and it may even help you find a local coach that teaches this system.  I've been singing in bands for over 30 years and I really wish I had found this a long time ago. 

How you shape your vowels has a huge impact on the tone of your voice and if you can learn to keep you larynx down and sing through your bridges seamlessly you can extend your range immensely.  For so many years I thought guys like Brad Delp and Mickey Thomas, Steve Perry etc were just freaks that they had those ranges, in reality they are just kind of Wayne Gretzky's of the singing world, they just naturally figured out how to do this well where as others have to work at it.  I've been happy with the tone of my voice, finessing a song is something I was able to learn naturally, but I have been able to extend my range by learning these techniques and practicing what I should be practicing instead of just straining and pushing to try to get into the upper ranges and hurting myself.

I'm not affiliated with any of these people, but I found a good coach in my area that teaches these methods and it changed things for me in a big way.  That is why I am recommending it.  As far as credentials, if you saw the list of high profile recording artists that Seth Riggs and Dave Stroud have that come to them for lessons it speaks for itself.

On the other end of the spectrum when it comes to applying technology, if there was no place for technology in rock music then every song would just have acoustic guitars, stand up basses and a small trap drum kit and enough singers to get the job done.  A tape recorder in the middle of the room and GO!!!  But the reality is that technology always has and always will play a part in crafting rock music, from the subtle to the extreme.  Yes you should be able to sit down with an acoustic guitar and sing with no mic and sound good and maybe that can be your thing, there's always room for that kind of thing. But since getting my VoiceLive Play GTX, I am learning that getting the right vocal effects, especially for cover songs, makes a huge difference.  When it comes to using the harmony effects, if anything I have to be even more precise with my singing.