Did my first live performance last night

[Deleted User]

I suuuuuuucked! ha ha. It seemed like nothing went right. I could't get a handle on my breath support, and my chord closure was even worse, and then I noticed that I was over singing, but that was due to the crappy monitoring I had to work with, but mostly it was my poor technique.
I thought I was really getting a handle on everything, but I did learn quite a bit just from this one experience so I guess it was worth a night of misery ha ha ha.

Back to the drawing board!

Peace, Tony

Furious_Phil

Nerves can really screw with your breath support for sure.
The problem with over-singing (even by a bit) is that can and will mess you up if you try to cut back and just use clean or fry... the fry probably won't engage because the cords have become irritated, and your clean range may become affected. As you've realized, this tends to happen in conjunction with too low monitor volume or misplaced monitoring.

What I'd suggest is for you to start recording your rehearsals as well as your live performances. That way you'll get unbiased feedback to correct yourself from. Maybe even video from a Go-Pro, so you can see any weird things you might be doing. Like the way a bodybuilder uses a mirror and video to learn what his/her best angles are; and poses to keep and which to keep.

I'd say you've learned a ton already from the sounds of it.

Keep rockin out brother!

[Deleted User]

Thats really good advice. I think I will start videotaping myself when I'm out singing. I'm sure there would be plenty to learn from seeing it all from a spectators point of view.

I'm not discouraged at all because I was able to hit all of my high notes really well. It was mainly the lower register that gave me the most problems.

Thank you for the advice. I will surely be using it.

Peace, Tony

Furious_Phil

I find if I overdrive my vocals even by a bit, I can sometimes get squirrely results in either the upper or lower range. It will probably be a never-ending battle with me and setup until I can afford some IEM.

[Deleted User]

I think my main problem was not trusting what I've been learning. I was pushing too hard to make sure I hit the notes, and I should have just relied on what I've been learning, and doing for the last 5 months.

Peace, Tony

Furious_Phil

On my Halloween gig, I'll admit I belted a few parts of Lynch Mob's version of "Tie Your Mother Down", but it didn't affect my ability to do a 2 octave rock slider on our rocked out version of "Rocky Mountain Way".
It's about learning your safe limits. When I say belting, I don't mean shouting or screaming at full volume... I mean a reasonable volume and adding a bit more lower throat distortion growl in. Not so much that I have a hard time flipping back to clean, but more demanding then say "Fry". I find fry very fragile and takes a second or two to initially engage. Once it's on, it's on, I guess I need to train it more in order to be more consistent.

Also, I'll tell you that it is allot harder to maintain diaphragmatic support when you're playing in front of a crowd, then it is in one's basement practicing.
This is why it is necessary to perform in public, to shake out all those weird gremlins.

~ "Practice like you're the worst; perform like you're the best

[Deleted User]

I believe that its just a matter of getting out there and performing publicly more. Just like the course itself, I sucked at everything at first, but now I'm doing really well.
I learned in the first week that belting is not shouting or singing as loud as you can. I ended up blowing my voice out which cost me a few days of doing my exercises. So I am very careful, and mindful of that all the time.

Peace, Tony

bentk

I know what this feels like. I had this the first time i went rehearsing with someone. I never sang with a microphone, through a P.A. and everything. There we did, and i was just so much worse than i thought i was. Pitch was off, got tired quickly, over-singing and everything. But after rehearsing several times, i learnt something every single time. Now i am so much further, it's incredible.

It takes time to really understand the whole thing here, but when you start doing so, wow. I say it so many times, but the pro videos with Adam helped me so much. They still do. I have replaced a large portion of VOL3 with the stamina workouts in the advanced pro videos, and this has given me a whole new challenge.

Why am i saying all this? It shows that you don't stop learning, and can always improve. Also, there is a solution for lot's of things. My main issue now is stamina. I just need that little extra stamina to get through certain songs.

I also notice that i tend to sing different when in front of the mic. It just needs time to adjust, i think it's a psychological thing. But it gets so much better after you practice. I usually just sing without a mic and you hear how you sound in a room, and the resonance that room provides. It's important to know how you sound naturally, without amplification. However, I have really start to notice that it's important to get a feel for the mic. You just hear much more detail in your voice, among other things.

I actually really like practicing with a mic now and then, it gets me into 'performing' mode. Like doing a little gig just for yourself, haha. I have a little Fishman acoustic amp with two channels, i hook up the mic and my acoustic guitar in there, then i just use headphones to prevent my wife from going insane. I am a lucky man that my wife puts up with my singing practice, so better not start taking that for granted.......

All the best,

Ben

Furious_Phil

100% agreement on the "mic" part! I had to learn to properly use it almost as I would a new instrument.
The first time I got behind a mic, I freaked a little bit, as the sound was so present and unforgiving.
I also had to visually learn the "magic distance" from the Sennheiser E835 to remove the proximity effect while still allowing a big clear signal without me having to exceed the 85db vocal pressure range. For me, this is the threshold that if I cross it, I'll be entering "over-singing" territory.

... and cheers to patient wives

[Deleted User]

Yes indeed. Cheers to the women that put up with us lol

bentk

Yeah, you really have to 'learn' to use a mic. That's so true for me. You have to play with the distance from the mic too, backing off a little etc. when needed. You can play a little with the gain for the microphone to increase the sound it picks up, sensitivity etc. But that makes it very important to always prepare and rehearse.

Interesting @Furious_Phil that you have found this threshold for yourself. I can exceed 90db, but it's not shouting. The higher, thinned out chest voice range just becomes pretty loud when doing it fully. So not too much mixing etc.

Furious_Phil

Oh I can exceed 90db easily, its just that my voice doesn't appreciate it.
I'm learning to live within the safe boundaries.... maybe a little back story is in order?
Back in the 80's I was tasked to do vocals in a band that did old Van Halen covers, Deep Purple and some AC/DC as well. Add into the mix a poor PA system, and not knowing what compression or safe distortion was... as you can imagine, I wrecked the hell out of my voice and this damage persisted for about a 20 year period. (part of the 4th octave and the entire 5th octave were completely missing... meaning is was just the sound of air when I attempted them. Read, severe vocal damage)
Enter KTVA training a year and a bit ago, and my range is better than it was at a pretty solid G2 - D5... and my diaphragmatic support is wayyyy better, etc etc... you know the deal.

So my voice is maybe not as robust as someone who didn't try to do David Lee Roth banshee screams full voice... so I err on the side of caution now, and that's just fine with me. I can sing pretty difficult pieces for hours and not have a sore throat... and trust me, my band are evil... making me flip from Stevie Wonder to Layne Staley, over to Joe Bonamassa, back to Ray Gillen or Oni Logan etc etc. I literally need to have multiple vocal personalities LOL

Lenora

Snipping a quote here:

Furious_Phil said:

... and cheers to patient wives

And to patient husbands!