*Vocal tips, techniques, wot and wot not to do!?*

[freak], 16 January 2004 - 4:02am

Hey, i put a topic on here a while back but didn't get alot of feedback. I'm desperate for vocal tips and techniques and wot and wot not to do in the vocal area (if u hadn't already gathered that from the title). I've recently become frontman for this band and have only ever done backing vocals before and im not too confident with my voice.
Any tips or techniques wuld b VERY welcome.
Plus does neone know any good sites for vocal techniques and stuff that are free?
My band is a nu metal kinda band i guess (like blindspott) so if that makes any difference to how i should be training my voice plz let me know.
I'd also be very open to any ideas on how to growl and or scream. I'd love to learn how to do that without f***ing my vocal chords!
Cheers
Jonny

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Forums: The Bar,

What is it u are not confident about? ...

What is it u are not confident about? Using your voice, the singing performance itself, the wot-not-to-do, or just the sound of it?
Be more precise, and the answers will follow.

Toy

Toy, 16 January 2004 - 4:39am

//I'd love to learn how to do that ...

//I'd love to learn how to do that without f***ing my vocal chords!

Why do you think all his screams are pre-recorded? Actually I was thinking at the big day out that he should pre record all his vocals.

pissmefish, 18 January 2004 - 3:38pm

yuh, ur not gonna be able to scream ...

yuh, ur not gonna be able to scream like that *without* fuckn up ur vocal chords..

anjelus, 18 January 2004 - 5:07pm

I recently downloaded a series of ...

I recently downloaded a series of articles from getsigned.com, by a guy who coaches people in Hollywood or something. Anyway, his advice is awesome, and afer reading only a few pages, I've already found it beneficial.
Email me at thedeputy_@hotmail.com, and I'll send you the entire set of columns, dating back to 1999, which I have collated into a single Word file. Sweet.

The Deputy, 19 January 2004 - 1:04am

From a sound engineer's ...

From a sound engineer's perspective:

Don't cup the microphone - if you emulate music videos and cup your hands over the grill of the mic, then you change the polar pattern of the mic, turning it from (usually) cardioid to omnidirectional - this causes feedback.

Be wary of the monitors. Most feedback occurs when you get a mic close to a stage monitor, causing a feedback loop. Not only does it make the engineer look like an idiot (to those who don't know better), you're at risk of getting an earful of damage. This also applies to singing infront of the front of house speakers.

Be aware of the proximity effect - particularly with the Shure SM58 and similar vocal mics, the closer the microphone is to the source (in this case, your voice), the more bass is picked up. Spend some time playing around with this and work out where your voice sounds good.

Sing on axis - vocal microphones are usually optimised to pick up sound primarily front on, so when you're standing up tall, the mic should be roughly horizontal. This gives the best delivery to the mic, giving a big signal to work with at the desk.

Get your own mic - mics owned by venues are generally used by alot of bands every month, and their popcover (usually underneath the grill) will get clogged up with sweat, spit, blood (and in the case of Meatyard from CHCH... liver), and dust. You can clean your vocal mics every time if you have to use a venue's one, or be safe - get your own. Shure SM58's are the industry standard, and have a presence boost to give a little more sparkle to a vocal. They're used by nearly every genre and style of vocal known to man. They're also great because they last. I've seen one work after being run over by a Toyota Corolla Wagon. :) SM57's are also a good choice, and you can check out mics from AKG and Sennheiser as well. Experiment, find something that compliments your voice. The other musicians in the band have to buy their own instruments, why shouldn't you have *your* own instrument?

WarChild, 19 January 2004 - 10:54pm

To add to the feedback issue, and ...

To add to the feedback issue, and seeing as you're something like Blindspott, hopefully you saw them at BDO. If you did, you'd notice that when the singer got close to the monitors, he was usually *past* them, so that they monitors weren't delivering straight into the mic. You would have also seen him quickly skipping back from the monitors at certain points when he heard feedback coming, and there were a couple of small squeals that were noticeable, where you could see him consciously getting away from the monitors.

WarChild, 19 January 2004 - 10:56pm