Vocals Affected by Inhibitions??

[Monkeywithumbs]

This topic came up while I was responding to a great review of a song I wrote called "Flowers in the Rain". I think it is an interesting point and would like to hear any thoughts you all might have on the subject (particularly "reason #2" in my response).

First, the Review:

"The solos where great. You need to work a little more on your voice. It needs more strenght. You have a very nice voice and if you work a little more on your style I now you could get even better results as you are now. I think the lyrics needs a little more strenght, specially on the chorus. But It was a very nice song.
Listen to kamelot. Roy Khan has a low voice like yours but he has more control and balance. Check it so you get what Im talking about."

and my response:

Thanks for the honest review. You are 100% correct in your analysis of my vocals. A good analogy would be your spelling. You have great insight and honesty in your reviews but you lack the fundamental element of proper spelling. (And this even SHOWS any words that get misspelled!!!) LOL! I am way kidding, man!

Really, I think that my vocals lack power for 2 reasons:
#1 is that I don't sing from my diaphragm like I should cause doing that forces you to "belt it out..." (Hmmm... I wonder if that's where that term came from...? Anybody know?)

Reason #2 is psychological. When I recorded the vocals on nearly all of these cuts, there was always someone within hearing distance and that really inhibits me way more than it should. I know that when the headphones are on, all anyone can hear is my voice and that just freaks me the fk out! I would literally have to be on a deserted island, hundreds of miles from anyone to be 100% un-inhibited to be able to sing with all of my might, heart and soul (and balls, of course). Or maybe in an iso. booth with someone that sings worse than me running the board...lol
Now, don't get me wrong, I still would not be able to really "sing well" ...that's just not going to happen, but I would be able to use what ability I do have to it's full potential. It's all in my head and that sucks.

This seems like a dumb question, but does anybody else have this problem? even better (and less stupid): had it but figured out how to make it go away?

Alcohol doesn't work cause the more drunk I get, the less I can sing and just don't get any good tracks laid. If I am drunk enough to where that inhibition disappears, I'm probably passed out and/or pissing myself and don't care about that either.

The same hurdle applies to creating material. I can not write a song on the fly within earshot of another soul. When I get the itch to write, I will go to the beach or an old dairy barn around here where I can be completely alone and 9 times out of 10 I come home with a song Then I lay the tracks with the half assed vocals topping it all off. lol. I've always been shy to some degree and if I was a bully, I would kick my own ass.

[jarrydn]

At 7/15/09 06:39 AM, Monkeywithumbs wrote: This seems like a dumb question, but does anybody else have this problem? even better (and less stupid): had it but figured out how to make it go away?

Alcohol doesn't work cause the more drunk I get, the less I can sing and just don't get any good tracks laid. If I am drunk enough to where that inhibition disappears, I'm probably passed out and/or pissing myself and don't care about that either.

If alcohol isn't working for you, try speed. Or even better, a big fat line of coke. Say goodbye to your inhibitions, and say hello to an overwhelming sense of self importance ;)

[Bitqrusher]

What I normally do is wait for the house to be empty before laying down any vocals, then you have free reign to belt it out as loud as you want without feeling like you are getting in anyone's way.

Have you ever performed live on stage?
That helped me alot with recording. Because at my college the recording sessions always had 6-7 people attending and the sessions were quite short; you couldn't afford to come over all shy if you wanted to lay your track down.

Avoid caffeine heavy drinks, stick to water to stay hydrated and breath deep.
(p.s DEFINITELY work on the diaphragm singing)

[Khuskan]

I see where he's coming from. You need to work on really sounding your words. You've got a good ear for pitch but the words are loosing their sound and it's a bit hard to work out exactly what you're singing.

[sorohanro]

I'm a trumpet player, I'm not into singing (well, I id that just once in my life), but playing trumpet is similar to singing because:
1- Diaphragm controlled breathing
2- Hearing yourself different than you really sound (vibrations going through bones and resonating in internal ear).

For recording, helps me if I have quite high level of the backing track in headphones and none of my microphone, then I play loud enough to be forced to use proper breathing and have good sound.

[Unknown865]

Your vocals are fine

[nathanallenpinard]

Diapragm is important, but not only your vocal skills are important, so are your engineering skills.

Your voice needs to be EQ'd just a tad (boost the 10k range) and compressed to reall "pop" out.

[Envy]

I'm the same way with almost anything I do. I HATE making music when anyones around, or even listening over something of mine. I ALWAYS have headphones on while doing that, and if anyone comes within ear distance of hearing something over my headphones I turn the volume down. Concert band sort of helped me because I had a couple solos (like timpani solo's or a snare solo). It's something some people don't ever get over but they learn to sing past it. They can use their nervousness as a form of strength because your adrenaline may be flowing. Learn to work with it instead of trying to work around it.