How do you sing?

[Spunodi]

I've been working on a ReMix of E.G.G.M.A.N for some time now and I'm at the stage where lyrics are to be added. Having tried every known technique to extract the vocals from the original, it dawned on me that the only way to add them (rather than a ROBOvoice) would be to sing.

Now, I don't sing. I've made many attempts at recording the lyrics with huge variation in quality - what I would like to ask is, what tips do any of you have for singing?

This may be overly general, but I can't think of another way of wording it.

[Nineko]

OT:

there's a way to extract vocals from the original file, I had this some need some time ago too.

but you have to find an instrumental version of the original song.

then you can do an algebraic operation like:

Full Song - Instrumental Song = Vocals Only

maybe my old thread is still around here, zircon gave me a great help on that topic.

/OT

back to your question... I can't sing. check my remixes on olremix.org if you want to feel not alone

I heard there are some softwares that allows you to edit your voice and make it seems good. no clues on this topic anyway.

[Cerrax]

I can't speak for others, but I know Garage Band and Logic have a voice enhancer that you can use to keep your voice in the correct pitch and tempo even if the recording of your singing is off. I'm sure FL and others have something like that as well. Maybe not. Maybe theres' a free plug-in? I don't know. Just telling you that I have such a thing on my computer.

For extracting the vocals, if you have a audio editing program like ProTools or something, you can take an instrumental version of the song and inverse the waveform and merge it with the vocal version to neutralize everything but the voice.

[Spunodi]

Cheers, but Re: Extracting vocals - the original and instrumental recordings of E.G.G.M.A.N differ enough to make it impossible to successfully extract the vocals. Even on parts of the wave where it sounds the same, the peaks do not match (even inversely). Also, extracting what is panned to the middle of the recording does only make a tiny difference. So, singing it is.

I believe there are programs out there that would enhance my recordings and if you can name them then I would be grateful - however, techniques of actual singing would be more satisfying.

[Chavous]

Use a vocoder. I don't know if it will fit with the song, but it'll always keep you on pitch.

[Navi]

Download better samples for your voice first.

[Nicole Adams]

I like to sing, but I've had no professional training. To help stay on pitch I use breath support (taking a deep breath and keeping your abdominal muscles tight) and also opening your mouth kinda wide helps. Somebody get pixie in here.

[quine]

I like to sing, but I've had no professional training. To help stay on pitch I use breath support (taking a deep breath and keeping your abdominal muscles tight) and also opening your mouth kinda wide helps. Somebody get pixie in here.

Those are pretty much my school's choir director's biggest gripes. I don't sing though, I'm the choir pianist. Heh. He always talks about having enough air (to keep yourself from going flat) and opening your mouth wide enough (and your throat, as if you're yawning). But perhaps that's just choral techniques, I really have no idea.

[Malcos]

We can give you some better tips if we hear your singing first.

A few general tips I can give, from my limited experience:

1. Make sure you have enough breath - sing from the bottom of your lungs.

2. Be sure to take extra care that you pronounce your words clearly - your lips will be all over the place, but it will sound good lol.

3. If you know the lyrics by heart and feel them you'll give a better performance.

[ubernym]

Just wanted to clear up/elaborate some things here:

1. Make sure you have enough breath - sing from the bottom of your lungs.

This is probably what you meant, but to be more specific, sing from your diaprhagm, i.e. your gut. Untrained singers tend to sing from their chests, and this really harms the control of pitch and tone.

2. Be sure to take extra care that you pronounce your words clearly - your lips will be all over the place, but it will sound good lol.

This requires further elaboration. When you sing in a group, you have to exaggerate most of your vowels and soften most of your consonats (with the exception of plosives). There's quite a lot to remember, actually (rolling certain "r" sounds and opening others, pronouncing "v" sounds closer to "f" sounds, etc.). Sounds kind of like a snotty but slightly retarded Briton. This is done to make it so that several people and sing the same words at the same time and still sound coherent. If 20 people sing a closed "r" it sounds really, really bad.

This is not so crucial in (most) solo singing, because you're all on your own. You should develop a solo singing style that is comfortable to you, that you can own. This may or may not involve specific enunciation. The most important thing to remember as for as singing words goes is avoid widening your mouth. If you sing with a wide open moute (i.e. horizontally wide) your voice will sound squashed and flat (pitch wise). You want your mouth to be vertically wide, in a general oval shape. This also helps control the flow of sound.

One really tangible exercise you can practice is singing while pinching your nose. If you find it difficult to do this, you aren't singing correctly. A lot of people sing through their noses, which, naturally, creates a nasal tone and doesn't sound very nice. In reality you do have to use your nose for certain words, but you shouldn't be using it for the actual singing. You want the sound to come out from your mouth.

There are also three types of singing voices: chest voice, head voice, and falsetto. Chest voice is similar to our natural speaking tone. It's very powerful. It will be the easiest to sing from, but without head voice, it's a pretty limited range of notes.

Head voice represents the higher register of notes, but can also sing part of the chest voices register. Head voice is airy and light sounding, quite different from chest voice. They are called head and chest voice because that's where the sound resonates in your body.

Also realize that the more you sing the better you'll start to sound. That is, as long as you're singing correctly. If it ever hurts to sing, STOP. It should never ever hurt to sing. Ever.

3. If you know the lyrics by heart and feel them you'll give a better performance.

Very sage advice. But we're only scratching the surface here. Singing is a technique so refined that there are people who devote their lives to it. There are also lots of different methodologies. Much like martial arts, they are all based on some core principles, but differ in practice and execution. Singing, however, is 90% psychological and 10% physical.

[Hale-Bopp]

Ubernym made an excellent post and I'd like to add just a little tidbit to it.

When singing from your diaphragm, as one should, it's a muscle like any other that develops over time until you reach the point where singing from your gut becomes mostly effortless. So don't expect to be able to do it and get it down right away (if you haven't already been singing like that), but to practice singing that way every day, or as often as possible in order to strengthen the diaphragm muscle. It's well worth the extra effort if you enjoy singing and if you think you might be recording your voice often. Exercising your muscles keeps up your strength, obviously, so it's good to practice as often as you can and in an environment where you can completely let loose and without restrictions. Of course, it isn't always easy if you're like me and live with other people who need their quiet space, or if you're shy about people hearing you sing. I tend to practice in my car on the way to and from work most days.

Also, regarding the nasally thing, I've realized with some of my own recordings that my voice sounded a tad nasally. It's not because I'm nasally in real life, because I'm not, I'm told. Rather, it's the positioning of the mic when I'm recording my voice that causes it to sound that way. I learned that it's best to try and not aim the microphone at your nose when recording your voice, but to place it at a slight angle. It's good to mess around with different positions until you get one with the most clarity or whatever sound you're going for. I tend to aim my mic slightly downward while I sing off to the side of the mic, rather than directly into it and from about 4 inches away, using a pop filter as well. That way I still get the clarity I need, minus all the messy stuff.

[Henrymop]

Here's some quick tips:

1.Don't drink milk, it will produce a lot of snot and get in the way.

2.When you sing, stand up, if you need to sit down, sit up strait.

3.When you breath in, put it all in your gut. Push your stomacth out.

Got them from here:

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Singing

Hopefuly they'll update it soon.

I also have my own advise:

Do you know the Do,Re,Ma,Fo,Sa,La,Te,Do or whatever thing? Then, when you sing, press the according key on a piano or keyboard and sing that note.

Example:

Do is C. So sing,"Do" while you press the C key. You might notice that your singing is a little flat or sharp.