Relaxing when the record button is pressed

Timbur

I am having trouble recording my 1st song as a lead vocalist. I am doing a song challenge for a music VIP membership that I belong to and when I recorded the scratch track last month I figured I sounded bad because of my allergies. I re-recorded yesterday and when I practiced the line that I was about to record it took a little bit but when I got it to where I was happy what it sounded like I then hit record with a 2 measure lead in an Bam I tense up and recorded a underwhelming vocal take, usually at very low volume, cracking etc. I then pause the track and take off my headphones and re-sung the part and most of the time it sounded fine with the volume level I want and the tone was fine also. I thought it was the closed back headphones, I tried to only keep it over 1 ear. I tried without the headphones at all, the sound was better but my timing was way off. I can sing it in a lower range and it would ok but I was trying to sing higher in the Pre-Chorus and Chorus to add depth to the song. I know what I am experiencing is in my head because I get the same issues when I am recording a keyboard part. Once that record light is on I become Bambi (Deer in the headlights). Unfortunately I am recording myself and I do not have a producer that can fool me by telling me to do a practice take and actually record it. I am looking forward to hear some feedback!

Tim

Gaston_Jauregui

hi Timbur could you post a track of what you are doing?, maybe you stop focusing on your support, that´s usually the first thing that goes away when we are a little nervous, but im just guessing, i would try to sing sitted on something that doesn't´t have a backrest and incline my back a little bit supporting on my lower abdomen, sing that way, it´s kind of like the middle of a crunch, this will instantly tell you if its your support, this is with your lower ab), but for a better feedback would be great if you post something, doesn't have to be great, just to know whats going on

hope this helps
Gaston

Timbur

Thanks @Gaston_Jauregui. I will post an audio track later tonight when I get home.

Timbur

https://dropbox.com/s/ez72uexgckqrufi/Tear%20You%20Down%20Vocal%20issues.mp3?dl=0

@Gaston_Jauregui, here is my extremely rough version. Let me know if you can open it. If it does not work I can use Soundcloud.

Be prepared..........is my last warning

Tim

Gaston_Jauregui

ok Timbur pretty cool song, here is whats going on:

Your timbre is kind of dancing around, with this I mean, that you are making your voice sound very dark in your low notes and very bright in your high notes, I used to have this problem, when i was doing low notes i wanted to sound something like Eddie Vedder and when i was going higher like Axl Rose, the problem with this is that the throat does not respond well to this type of singing, usually when you do dark low notes, and wanna get your brightness back on the high notes your voice will mostly break and if not, it will close and you´ll get some kind of raspy and unhealthy sound and you will lose range very rapidly...

So basically what you need is to brighten your Low notes, im gonna post you a video where you´ll see Ken doing all his voice very bright and explaining it as he goes, you might feel like you are compromising your sound in the beginning stages of this, because thats not the way you usually sing low notes but that´s the way you´ll grow your voice right, then you´ll be able to make your voice less brassy but has to sound Exactly the same in your whole range, not like two different voices, even though you´ve learned about chest and head, you have to match the tone on both to make one long powerful note!

Try to make this video as bright as you can

How To Sing Any Song - Voice Lessons - Ken Tamplin Vocal Academy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZATunybJm_4


This video will also show you that you must not use your jaw that much, and everything must be in the same space, which is another issue that is common with the problem you are experiencing

hope i was helpful my friend
let me know if you have any other doubt

Gaston

Timbur

Thank you very much @Gaston_Jauregui, I really appreciate the feedback. I will work on this.
I was trying to make sure that I had room in the chorus by going low in the verse.

Timbur

This will take a little work to get down but it will help me a lot. I am only in my 3rd week and I am still not sure I have found my voice yet but this has uncovered quite a few questions that I had of why I have been struggling.

Gaston_Jauregui

Let me know when you re recorded it

Timbur

I will, I am taking a day off because I was "singing" for about 4 hours on Sunday and I did not take a day off from practicing. I look forward to implementing these techniques. Thank you again.

Timbur

@Gaston_Jauregui after quite a few re-recording sessions of trying to punch in line by line I spoke to the the guy that runs the VIP Membership I belong to and his advice was to set up the mic every day and record 5 takes and shut it down. Go back after a few days and listen back. I did that and it still was poor. Yesterday I left work early, set up the mic, I did about 10 takes each with (2) mics after doing my 2nd KVTA exercise / warm up for the day and let it rip. I am not totally satisfied with the result but it is so much better than before. I applied the video that you recommended and here is what came from it. I doubled the Vox from (2) different mics. I still need to tweak the pitch and timing. Thank you again! Next month is mixing. I still would like to harmonize the Chorus at least.

Regards,
Tim

https://www.dropbox.com/s/yb4k46tqvmdctlp/Tear You Down (lVIP #3) .mp3?dl=0

Gaston_Jauregui

Sounds great my friend im glad it worked! Let me iniw when you have the finished mix

Timbur

I will Gaston, thank you!

Timbur

@Gaston_Jauregui, although I would love to re-record the vocals for this song and eventually I think I will. Here is my mixed and mastered song. Now on to my next one.
Thank you for your helping me get it done, I truly appreciate it my brother!

Regards,
Tim
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xgyvbdz3q8epnld/Tear You Down (lVIP #4) Mix & Master 3 Final 6-23-18.mp3?dl=0

[Deleted User]

The red light syndrome. People tense up like that because they tell themselves that it has to be perfect because it is what people are going to have to hear for eternity...........right?
What your brain isn't telling you is that you can hit that record button as many times as you need to. Made a mistake? unless your paying a studio......who cares. Do it again.
You will get to a point eventually where you will get tired of re recording tracks, and want to complete them for entirely different reasons. (It does get old re-recording tracks) It will also change the way you prepare for recording a track.
Just keep recording, re-recording, and then some more until you get it the way you want. That's just the work involved with recording, and creating music/songs. The better you prepare, the easier it will go.

Peace, Tony

Gaston_Jauregui

@timbur sounds very good my friend! you improved a lot!

Timbur

Thanks again @Gaston_Jauregui, KVTA has paid off in so many ways already and I am just 3 months in. Be well!