Vocal volume

Shepherdr

Hi guys I’m new to the forum and am absolutely blown away by Ken’s vids, I have made such great progress in just the last 2 months! I have been writing songs and singing for about 15 years but I was never confident with my voice (mainly because I was never taught)

since doing kens tutorials my pitch has improved, I understand breathing , resonance and am singing with very little tension now and have noticed that I actually have quite a powerful voice ( before I was quite meek, whispery, shaky sounding)

I write folky type songs (Paul Simon, Nick Drake etc style) and wonder if it’s ok for me to sing this style with good volume in my voice? The reason I ask is that listening to Paul Simon for example he sounds quite soft voiced and I tend to feel like I’m putting more feeling into the songs with softer vocals but someone told me yesterday that they said I needed to sing louder as I was behind the guitar volume , I can certainly add it but I guess what I’m trying to get at is “is it better to sing full and rich Regardless of style” ?

HuduVudu

You should sing at the volume that is appropriate for the song. If the guitar volume is not of your making then you need to negotiate with the person that is on the guitar and let them know that you need a lower volume to properly evoke the feelings of the song. If you are behind the volume of the guitar then bring the guitar volume down so that it doesn't override what you are trying to do with the singing.

Shepherdr

Thanks for your help

Klaus_T

@Shepherdr , just reading this now, I agree with @HuduVudu , the performance should be centered around the song, not around technical aspects (sacrificing expression for volume, for example). You might need a means of amplifying your voice. it is quite possible that the guitar player needs to play as he does (in terms of what serves the song), so you will have to take this into account. it would be a coincidence if the expressions and volumes matched on the different instruments at all times. that's when amplification and mixing come into the equation