How do I sing like this or that singer versus how do I sound like this or that singer?

There are so many threads on singing forums like reddit’s that ask the question, “how do I sing like ________?”  But what I’ve noticed is that most probably don’t want the answer to that question!  That is, they don’t want to put in the practice time to develop the techniques, and instead believe that some “trick” is involved, and/or that a “quick tip” is all they need.

Sometimes they are correct, in that the vocalist is not a good singer in any traditional notion of the term.  However, because so much sound engineering and effects are used, it’s not always easy to tell!  As I told one person who posted a clip of his singing (while he was also playing the guitar):

“There are two major types of advice you could get by providing a short clip like that.  One is if you want technical advice, the problem there being that with some pop genres, the lead vocalists often do things contrary to what is technically-correct.  I understand that many beginners don’t realize this, but that’s all the more reason to point it out.  The other type of advice would best come from producers or sound engineers who specialize in the genre.  They know what you need to sound like to be successful.  Of course, you can also go to open mic nights and just see for yourself whether your vocals can find an audience.  So, as a teacher, I don’t want to give someone advice who will not benefit from it, and actually, the advice might cause problems with the vocals expected in the genre.”

Some people just don’t seem to understand the distinction, and if I could phrase things in a way that would give them this understanding, I would, but I don’t know how to explain things  any better than this.  I don’t think there is anything to lose by learning the fundamentals, however, though if you want to sing most pop genres (and I mean sing, not yell) but are taking lessons from someone who really only knows how to teach opera, you could run into some issues.  One involves breath support; these teachers  tendd to teach very robust techniques meant for high volume, which is rarely necessary for pop singing (and apparently has led to more than a few opera singers getting hernias!).

Another involves embouchure; this may be more of a problem for adult males with typical singing voices.  If you learn operatic technique you will be mostly or entirely using vertical embouchure, but at least in my experience (and with one of these typical adult male voices, probably bass in opera), you’ll likely want to use mostly horizontal  embouchure (in order to work the C-T muscles and bring your range up to an area more common in pop genres).  Of course if you want to sing pop songs with a deep voice, more vertical embouchure may be the way to go.  With most of my singing, there’s usually not much embouchure at all.  The more embouchure, the more difficult it is to control  your singing, which may be less of an issue if you sing in Italian, but it certainly is in English.  Some pop singers get around this by mumbling, slurring, or “rounding off” words in very obvious ways, to the point that one can question whether this kind of vocalizing should be classified as singing in any traditional sense.

But to get back to the title question of this post, if you just want to sound like a particular singer, even if you do have very similar timbre and technique, he or she may be singing into a signal chain that costs in excess of $100,000, so keep that in mind.  Even if you have a “professional” studio nearby, it’s not likely they can match what the “big stars” are using, though of course in some cases that may be possible.  Until you “develop your ear” properly, you won’t know, unless you can find someone who does have that ability, and in my experience, the sound engineering people don’t know enough about singing technique and the singing teachers don’t know enough about sound engineering.  One thing you can do without spending too much is to find a tube microphone that works for your voice and at least learn some editing/effects in fairly simple software like Audacity (you can read my experiences with this in some of my previous posts).

Let’s listen to an example of a singer many want to sound like.

You can fast forward to 6:30. Bon Jovi seems to be over-adducting (as you would do if you were yelling) but it’s at low volume (relative to yelling) and a bit breathy. The sound engineering likely helps a great deal, along with the background music, of course. At 6:41/6:42 there is a vocalization that sounds like singing. Just before 11:00 we hear that same soft yell type vocalization, then a bit of a talky vocalization (11:01), and then at 11:06 to 11:08 he’s back to a breathy singing in lower volume. So, if you want to sound like Bon Jovi in this recording, it’s mostly not singing in any traditional sense that you’d need to learn. You could practice the common vowels to “round off” the end of lines the way he does,” but otherwise you’d have to learn something that tends to be very stressful to the vocal cords (though presumably doing it at lower volume should be better than typical yelling), and of course you could add talking here and there, since you already know how to do this. In this case, you would ask, “how do I sound like Bon Jovi?” Most teachers of singing would not explain relatively low volume, breathy, yelling kinds of vocalizations, though there seem to be some on Youtube who claim to teach this, some calling it singing. Most teachers would have you do all kinds of “exercises,” when in fact you might be able to learn how to sound roughly like Bon Jovi fairlly quickly (but again, you may develop vocal cord issues).

Now let’s say you can sing in a typical pop (low to medium volume), fundamentally-sound way. If you ask me, “how can I sound like Bruno Mars?” I can tell you to be at least a little breathy and a little (or a lot) nasal, so that you feel like you’re forcing some air through your nose. This may not feel or sound all that great to begin witth, but over time you’ll (weeks or months) you’ll develop the right muscle memory for it. In the meantime, find some lines from songs to sing with this technique so that it feels like the words are flowing with ease. Again, over time, you can try more and more difficult words/lines. I also think that most pop singers who demonstrate at least fairly good skills have developed their AES muscle (I would not place Bon Jovi in this category, though he may be better than the yelling type technique and is just using it because that is what his fans want to hear), and that seems to take a long time, and also may require that you learn proper technique, so there is not “trick” to it that can be learned quickly. I speak more about the AES muscle in this post:

https://learningtosing.wordpress.com/2020/12/16/what-is-the-most-important-thing-to-learn/

Of course, a lot of aspiring singers get fixated on “hitting notes” and expanding their range (especially the high end), in some cases to super-human proportions (not realizing it’s not possible and likely the result of sound engineering in most cases, and perhaps it’s not even singing, but rather shrieking). Doing this seems to lead to the opposite result, and then the person might either quit or go with screaming/shrieking//yelling, and again we may be back to a Bon Jovi type situation. You can read about my opinion on pitch obsession here:

https://learningtosing.wordpress.com/2020/06/22/how-concerned-should-you-be-with-pitch/

In my experience, it’s easiest to develop strong muscle coordination/”mixed voice” with Blues and Country type affectation. These styles allow you to round off words without losing articulation or cord closure, and also maintain what Pavarotti called elasticity (assuming you have it to begin with, of course). If you do attain this, you can then work on losing it, so to speak, so that you have a more straightforward sound. With some words/sounds or in some instances, in fact, you may want to use that Blues/Country coordination to keep your singing consistent (and if you learn to use it to a small degree it might not sound like anything unusual or out of place). It may even help you to present a unique sound, which is something I like to work on at times.

Unfortunately, there are plenty of “stars” who are not especially good singers. When people ask how to sing like one of these stars, he/she may cite a video that sounds like effects were used heavily. If that’s the case, you may not want to sing like that star, but you might want to get that sound, which could simply require inexpensive or free software and the knowledge of how to use it, for example:

NOTE: I am not able to offer singing lessons at this time, but you can email me a singing clip if you want a free assessment. I can provide you advice from a technical perspective, particularly with traditional pop songs (crooners, some non-screamy Beatles songs like the beginning of “Hey Jude,” etc.). I’d need a recording of you singing a simple song, even something like Row row row your boat, without background music or stylistic phrasing added. Just use your smart phone’s basic recording app (don’t add reverb, EQ, compression, etc., and don’t use more advanced software like GarageBand). You can sing a few lines from several such simple songs; that would be best. My email is nickspinner55@gmail.com. If you want to take lessons if and when I can offer them again, you can send me an email and I’ll put you on a “call back” list.

Vibrato: what is it, and should you try to develop it?

I’ve seen a lot of posts on the reddit singing forum asking about vibrato, with many who appear to be beginners thinking it’s crucial for them to learn it. Instead, I suggest reading this post first:

https://learningtosing.wordpress.com/2020/12/16/what-is-the-most-important-thing-to-learn/

As to vibrato, let’s start with the Wikipedia definition:

…is a musical effect consisting of a regular, pulsating change of pitch. It is used to add expression to vocal and instrumental music. Vibrato is typically characterised in terms of two factors: the amount of pitch variation (“extent of vibrato”) and the speed with which the pitch is varied (“rate of vibrato”).^[1]

In singing it can occur spontaneously through variations in the larynx.

I won’t speak to opera singing notions, as few on the forum are interested in becoming professional opera singers, and if you are you should study with a specialist teacher. I will point out that when most people think a singer is using vibrato in a pop genre, it’s usually obvious and I’d guess it’s faked a good percentage of the time (by fake I mean they are at the very least significantly exaggerating it). An obvious pop vibrato (though perhaps it was pre-recorded and modified in some significant way) can be heard starting at 2:16 in this video:

And here’s a less obvious example with the same singer, at 0:29:

Vibrato is a consequence of technique (as in learning the moves of chess, then the strategy, tactics, etc., and that leads to being able to checkmate your opponent), and in fact it’s more difficult to produce a constant tone than vibrato if you sustain a note at high volume. The only reason why vibrato would be more difficult is if the aspiring singer is consciously trying to do what he/she thinks vibrato is (causing himself/herself problems), rather than to just sing using proper technique! I have also seen the same kind of situation with those who claim they possess “too much tongue tension” (usually the result of developing a technique that involves straining for high notes).

In pop genres these days, there is often a stylstic choice not to demonstrate obvious vibrato but instead to “belt” or “flip” into falsetto (or just stay in your “comfort zone” and don’t sustain notes). With belting, you slide or scoop to a sustained note without obvious, operatic-style vibrato, but at high volume (or at least what may come across as high volume, once the “studio magic” is added). If you can do a healthy belt or sustained note, try just loosening up slightly on the muscles you feel controlling the sound and/or use less air (after achieving the belt); that should produce at least a soft vibrato. As to faking vibrato, you can try pulsing air or even just opening and closing your mouth quickly (not totally closing it, obviously) and see if that’s what you want. Just be sure to stop if you feel any kind of strain.

You might want to read my post about concerns over singing on pitch, if you haven’t already:

https://learningtosing.wordpress.com/2020/06/22/how-concerned-should-you-be-with-pitch/

In that post I quoted a passage from the book, “Bad Singer;”

“Hutchins [a researcher] has also studied what he calls ‘the vocal generosity effect’ and discovered that listeners considered vocals in tune when the singers were within half a semitone of the correct pitch, but were less willing to accept such variations from violinists…”

The point here is that some might perceive a singer using vibrato while others don’t! Also, I’ll mention that I don’t have time to give lessons, but if and when I resume I’ll create a new post announcing that students can contact me about available times.

An example of what I consider to be very bad advice.

On a recent post on the reddit singing forum, someone posted a clip of himself doing a “siren” from modal voice to falsetto. He sounded like a beginner to me, but I need to hear someone sing before I can offer much advice. Here is his first/initial post:

Here is a clip of me going from chest to head voice. I’m trying to keep the chest (TA muscles) active as I go up but it seems to inevitably shift to a head-dominant mix, if not head voice alone. Can someone explain to me how to keep the TA muscles more engaged as I go up? My passaggio is around G4; that’s where I feel a tilt in my voice.

Someone else then posted this advice:

Flutter do-fa (root to fourth) a glissando with G4 as fixed tonic. Keep your larynx down while you do this, that is the key.

Consistent breath energy (or breath support) is how you keep the mix steady and smooth. Are you managing volume as well though? Notice how it’s easier to pass through your passagio if you also get quieter as you get higher in pitch (quieter does NOT mean less breath energy). So in essence, not only do you need to manage your breath energy, but you also need to manage transitioning, volume-wise.

If you’re still having trouble. Can you lip roll smoothly from G4 to a fourth above? This may be a good starting point. Eventually lip roll into phonation. Try to recreate that sensation without having to lip roll.

To get through your break you need consistent breath energy. To do that you need to give in to the breath, let it do it’s thing, let it carry you. Singers tend to try and conserve their breath. We must release it fully. Give it all away. Singing is a practice of consistently exhaling and inhaling. Do not hold your breath. Do not try to conserve it. Just try to smoothly: take, release, take, release. If we don’t, we get breaks and inconsistency in our sound.

The “OP” [the person who started the thread and wrote the first post] then responded back with:

Yes, lip rolling is quite simple for me; I can go from G4 to G5 without much strain. I do tend to lighten the tone as I get to G4, which allows me to stay connected. Staying connected is not an issue for me; I think what I’m struggling with is maintaining chest resonance as I go higher. I’m trying to resist and resist, but the head voice continues to take over as I get to around A4. Perhaps my breath support could use more work.

As for the larynx, if I maintain cord closure and use forward placement, it remains neutral.

And the second person responded to that with:

Sounds like you need to work on releasing your breath and maintaining general breath movement and support, then. Farinelli exercises on a light hiss for X measures would be a good start. That and a lip roll glissando from G4 (or even F4) to a fourth above, like I mentioned in my original reply, but with an AW vowel on the fourth. With the lip roll, focus on releasing breath as easily and rapidly as your voice demands it. Give it away. Then simply breath it back. Focus on the resonance from vowel coming from the mask, and focus on reaching the pitch as soon as you phonate, as opposed to adjusting and sliding into it.

And lastly, the dopey goo. This ones super super documented, I’m sure you’ll find tones of videos of this one that are explained better than I could.

These three exercises should get you working on what you need to.

Neutral larynx position is fine, especially in contemporary music. But for optimal openness, you actually want your larynx to go lower as you reach higher pitches. It’s like a counter balance.

Ultimately however, keep in mind the intensity of the breath energy, and the volume. Like I mentioned in my original reply. Those two are the keys to maintaining a smooth mixed voice. Keep those in mind as you work on these exercises.

My response to the OP was:

I don’t hear any strong C-T muscle there, so you need to work on loosening up on the T-A and strengthening the C-T, assuming you’ve got breath support and cord closure. I would need to hear you sing simple songs to even know if you are at the point where you should be thinking about expanding your range upwards.

So what was the awful advice given by the first person who responded to the OP? First, we don’t know if he even understands what “flutter do-fa (root to fourth) a glissando with G4 as fixed tonic” means, but being told to do that with his larynx down could result in serious physical harm! Some aspiring singers have tried to use their hands to hold their larynx down and in fact harmed themselves; anyone familar with singing pedagogy would likely know that! Then this “expert” talks about breath support and volume (not knowing if the OP has adequate breath support), but not explaining how to coordinate the two, assuming that is deemed necessary (that is what it sounds like is being claimed).

He/she asks the OP, “notice how it’s easier to pass through your passagio if you also get quieter as you get higher in pitch,” but how does he/she know the OP can in fact do this based upon one very short quick which contains no singing? Then he/she talks about using lip roll exercises if the previous advice doesn’t work, which in my experience just reinforces bad habits. In this case, it might lead to the OP developing more muscle memory for falsetto and modal voice where the T-A muscles are too strong relative to the C-T muscles. The only thing that makes sense anatomically/physically is to figure out how to get the aspiring singer to strengthen the C-T while simultaneously weakening the T-A and not using falsetto, as I’ve pointed out in other posts.

Then he/she goes back to breath support and makes useless statements like, “let it carry you” and “give it all away,” which sounds like the scene from the movie, “Florence Foster Jenkins” (2016), in which the teacher tells the apparently tone-deaf student such things, presumably in order to sound like an expert and get through the lesson without doing anything difficult:

And when he/she said, “singing is a practice of consistently exhaling and inhaling. Do not hold your breath, “I was thinking that this is true for anyone who wants to do anything (other than perhaps swim underwater for a while) and remain alive. Nonetheless, there was no indication that the OP had inhaled too deeply, which could be an issue. In the second response, he/she advises, “focus on the resonance from vowel coming from the mask.” I got no sense from the short clip that the OP was “singing in the mask,” though I don’t use this concept because it is more likely to confuse students than help them in any way (it may help opera singers who are at an advanced stage of learning that genre). But if you do want to do it, don’t you need to determine that the person is at such a stage in their development first?

As to “dopey goo,” that would be fine if you intend to sing the words, “dopey” or “goo” often but otherwise, if you want to sing in any kind of traditional way, you should focus on the simple vowel sounds of the language in which you want to sing. This is fundamental; these other things are “tricks” that certainly could help someone at some stage in his/her development, but it is a terrible idea to asssume it will help any particular person, especially if you have never heard the person sing! You only suggest a “trick” after you have assessed his/her singing and know what the issue is.

Then there’s’ the claim about “neutral larynx.” You can’t keep your larynx in one position if you sing any kind of common song or if you talk with any kind of typical vocabulary, and to me this suggest the individual is some sort of “know it all” who want to pose as an expert. The next claim, that “neutral laryx” is fine for pop but not opera makes no sense. Again, for any kind of typical singing your larynx isn’t staying in one position. As to “optimal openness,” this requires explanation. Don’t all singers, or at least nearely all pop singers, care about the sound they are getting first and foremost? Sure, some care about not putting too much stress on their vocal cords, and if that is the point, then say that (not that the vast majority are going to care), but I don’t think any pop singer has ever said, “you know, I think I have a huge problem because I don’t sing with optimal openness.” Nor do sound engineers nor producers nor audiences say that they are disappointed because the singer doesn’t possess optimal openness. Few would even try to guess what that means unless the conept were to be explained to them in detail.

And at the end of the second post, he/she talks about two “keys to maintaining a smooth mixed voice,” but that is not what the OP asked. He thought he needed to, “keep the T-A muscles more engaged as I go up.” But as I pointed out to him, you need to allow the C-T muscles to become stronger and the T-A muscles to weaken as you go up, and if your C-T muscles are not well developed, as is the case for most adult males who take up singing, these other notions will not likely help and may be counter-productive (and possible lead to damage vocal cords!).

Overall, the exchange between these two came across to me as people having little to no idea what they are saying, or are saying inappropriate or irrelevant things, in confusing ways, for whatever reasons. This is a good example of why singing can be so difficult for a lot of people, and it should be avoided easily, but learning how to sing is not like learning something like basic chemistry, even though both are rooted in the physical world in whichi we find ourselves.

Finally, I can update you on my experiences trying to find the right microphone!

It’s been a while because I got side-tracked with non-singing things, but I am now on a vacation and want to update on this subject. I was able to obtain a tube microphone that I thought sounded considerably better than any others I’ve used. It’s an MXL V69 Mogami Edition tube mic, and that tube in it was upgraded (cost was only about $20 for the new tube). I also found a free plug-in that generates a similar effect, but it can only do so much and I think it’s best to start with a tube mic that works for your voice and then you can try to tweak it slightly here and there.

Now tube mics can be quite expensive, so I don’t think you should buy one until you test it out or unless the seller allows you to send it back if you don’t like it (without “restocking fees” or any other fees, though you may have to pay for return shipping). I bought my V69 used and it cost around $100, but I think $200 is more realistic, and you also have to decide whether you want to try changing the tube on your own, which some might have difficulty doing. Then you’ll need phantom power and digital conversion if you want to record on your computer. I bought an MXL MicMate, which does both, for about $30.

And if you don’t know, you’ll at least want to know how to use a simple DAW-like program such as Audacity (which is free). The mics require a power supply and a speciality cable, so buying just the mic may be a bad deal no matter what the cost (since the power supply or cable that goes from the power supply to the tube mic may be very expensive on the secondary market if the retail market is sold out). The cable that goes from the power supply unit is basic and inexpensive, so if that is missing it’s only likely to cost a few dollars to obtain one.

What I noticed is that the sound with the right tube mic is very smooth, and some sounds that can be harsh, such as in the old song, “The Best is Yet to Come,” the st sound in best and the various s and t sounds can be too harsh, even after deessing and trying other enhancements in your DAW. Of course some people may not notice this or not judge your singing by it, but it’s clearly not “professional recording.” To hear what I’m talking about, you can go to my SoundCloud page and listen to several tracks, just remember that it may take you repeated listenings over weeks or longer to fully appreciate the differences:

The top four tracks were recorded with my tube mic. They were all enhanced slightly and in the usual ways (EQ, compression, reverb), but the first also had additional “tube warmer” effect added to it (this is a free plug-in). The fifth track, “The Best is Yet to Come,” was recorded on a cheap smartphone using the free Echo app, which can add a bit of echo to your recording. Then I added the tube warmer effect to it. The next track is the original one without the tube warmer effect added to it. You can read in the descriptions of the other tracks which mic I used and how I enhanced it, if at all.

If you do get a tube mic, be sure to follow the instructions on how to use it, or you may damage it or injure yourself. And if you decide to modify your tube mic, even just to change the tube, be sure everything is unplugged! You can ask questions on sites like Gearslutz and Realgearonline if you can’t find the information you want after contacting the manufacturer or with a quick online search. The special cables needed (usually 7 pin but sometimes a bit more or less) are not interchangeable, so it it’s missing you can’t necessarily just go to ebay and buy the cheapest one you see listed, and again, as with everything else with tube mics, if you use the wrong cable or power supply you can damage the unit or injure yourself.

I’ve also learned that in some cases the tube is soldered into place, so unless you have the requisite skills, it would be a bad idea to buy it (tubes do eventually burn out even if you like the way it sounds). In some cases a model that used to be held in place with brackets was changed and is now soldered, so you really need to see it before buying it. Even if it’s not soldered, it might be quite a hassle getting it out, so search for information on the particular make/model for that as well (and you should never touch the glass of the tube; I think if you wear cloth gloves to handle the tubes that is best). There are also people who will “mod” a tube mic to your specifications, so an online search might help you find those who are still doing this. They may provide the mic or you send them yours and tell them what kind of sound you’re seeking. However, the service is usually at least a few hundred dollars and includes modifying other parts of the mic to get a true “pro sound.”

Note that I am not currently able to offer singing lessons but when I can get back to it, I’ll create a post announcing it.

What is the most important thing to learn first?

This may seem like a simple question with an obvious answer, but I certainly can’t say that I have found it to be! Of course some people will tell you to learn breath support first, and that might be right for you, but is it right for everyone (and is the technique being taught good for everyone?)? I suggest trying to learn the several fundamental things that are required if you want to sing well in any kind of traditional way, and see if at least one of them comes to you quickly/easily. Why not? I don’t see any risk, and the reward is that not only do you have something “down pat,” but it might help you learn one of the other fundamentals!

Opera voice coach Jack LiVigni, for example, believes cord closure is most important and should be learned first:

Most singers fail at the very source – the cords, and this is across the board the biggest reason why people fail – their inability to maintain a grasp on their cord closure throughout the musical line with varying vowels and pitch, and to fine tune it with varying dynamics.

…Your language is a huge disadvantage because your AH OH and OO vowels in speaking are produced by loosening the cords so as to darken. AH OH and OO should be bright bright bright. What is this dark thing? This is a false sound that never is theatrical. These swallowed dark sounds are not right. They unavoidably lead to pushing, particularly when your rep calls for volume.

Exercises for cord closure on the EE vowel are truly important, as well as the EH, especially for English speaking natives.

The link to this used to be (it appears he deleted it):

http://gioacchinolivigni.com/2017/01/cord-closure-for-all-voice-types-post-1/

This is excellent advice, but how many aspiring singers (especially beginners) will understand it? Here is another voice coach’s suggestion on this subject:

As to breath support, the technique I’ve suggested to my students is to take a deep breath mostly in the stomach (not chest) that is perhaps 3/4 of what they could do, but not to tense up the muscles in the neck or head. Then you place one or both hands on your stomach and press lightly. Now you have no choice but to keep air in reserve for singing! This will likely feel at least a bit weird at first, so give yourself time to get used to it. From the chest up there should be no tightness; if there is you’ve got to relax those muscles.

However, other teachers/voice coaches seem to think it’s essential to teach high volume opera singing breath support for acoustic singing to people who want to sing at much lower volume using a microphone (and technological enhancement, such as reverb, which is nearly always used in pop genres), so this is another factor that might cause major prolems. If you can’t afford lessons and are having great difficulty with breath support and cord closure, you can sing simple songs, whatever you sing well. Post on sites like the Reddit singing forum for feedback. If you don’t sing anything well, work on common words that contain the crucial vowels, like you, me, go, in, way, etc. Then make up a song that contains these words, like, “you, you and me, me and you, we can go, in the way, what it was, not to be, so much luck.”

Try to sustain the vowels in these words, not all in one go, but rather work out different phrasings so that, for example, the “uh” vowel in luck is sustained in one phrasing but quickly passed over in another. Some will find this very difficult without learning breath support first, so again, it’s all quite variable, from one person to another. This is even true for professional opera singers – here’s some evidence to that point:

Professional opera singers activated the TR, INT, RC and OBL muscles to higher levels than the student singers did. Another finding was large inter-subject variation in muscle usage, showing an idiosyncratic composition of the muscle contribution to subglottal pressure.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15260181/

And listen to as much singing as you can! You will learn all kinds of useful things, such as how articulated the words are. The more muddled or slurred, the easier it is to do just about anything with singing, and of course “scooping” and “sliding” are common in pop and can help you not just sing well, but add interest to your phrasing. If you can, work on changing your volume levels within a song; so long as you are going to sing with a mic, technology exists to keep the volume consistent (expecially compression). Some aspiring singers actually think their favorite “stars” sound like superhuman singers, but in fact it’s mostly due to things like reverb, EQ, and compression (often at a 5 to 1 or even 10 to 1 ratio!). And if you can, obtain a copy of Henry Pleasants’ “The Great American Popular Singers” and read it more than once.

If you do listen to a lot of different kinds of singing, one thing you should notice fairly soon is that words are always sung the way they are usually spoken. And obvious example is the “ee” vowel, such as in the word me. Often it will be sung as “may” instead. I’m not saying this is good or bad, just something you can consider when you practice singing a song and try to get it right, or at least right for you. An interesting example is the original recorded version of Led Zeppelin song, “Black Dog.” Plant vocalizes “hey hey momma said the way you move,” but he does vocalize “the” as “thee” or even “duh?” To me it sounds more like “di” or “dih.” Try it yourself and see what happens. If you try to sing it as most Americans say the word “the” you probably will become “tongue-tied.” By consciously trying to sing it as “di” or “dih,” there’s a smooth transition to the word “way” that you may not get singing “the” in other ways.

Trying to sing rather than just singing is another major issue I’ve encountered often. What this means is that you are trying to do one or more things you think you need to do, such as keep the soft palate raised or the tongue in a certain position (in some pop genres, you might even want to keep the soft palate down!). While such things may be important once you get beyond the fundamentals, I think it’s a huge mistake, at least most of the time, to even think about such things before you have learned them. If you listened to the advice of someone who told you to do this or that before learning the fundamentals and now you find yourself fixated on it, I’m not sure I know what to do to help you in particular. Perhaps if you listen to singing in genres that never interested you in the past, and try to emulate that singing, it might help you get out of a bad habit.

Many beginners are embarrassed to be beginners, but what’s more problematic is to get into bad habits, which no one teacher, no matter how good, may be able to get you out of! And I would also emphasize that you should not be straining in any way as a beginner. I would get far away from anyone who tells you, “no pain, no gain” or anything remotely like that. Many people I’ve taught only wanted to sing on a “basic” level, and that’s fine – it works for many popular songs. Others want to become “virtuoso” pop singers, even if they don’t realize it, and that is something it’s important to avoid until after you master the fundamentals (and probably the vast majority don’t realize they will require “studio magic” to accomplish this, no matter how well they sing!).

If and when you are ready to expland your range in order to be some kind of virtuoso singer, there will be three options:

1. yell/screech (bad idea health-wise, and not singing in any traditional sense, but can be cleaned up by the sound engineers to sort of sound like singing); in terms of biology, you would be over-adducting your vocal cords with this approach (common in Rock and Gospel, for example).
2. soften/lighten up, perhaps become slightly breathy, use plenty of reverb (you’ll likely need to use a mic with this approach), but be careful not to strain your vocal cords because there’s a tendency to push more than is safe to get an extra tone or two.
3. learn Bel Canto type technique, which involves singing the “pure” vowels up and down your range, “pushing” ever so slightly every few weeks to expand that range, then learn to modify the vowels; I suggest doing this under the guidance of a competent teacher.
4. use falsetto (for adults males; female pop singers usually use this if they go beyond a tight range, but it’s generally just considered the higher part of their range).

Some pop vocalists will use a combination of 1 and 2 (and men often add 3 too), as well as add a short, high-pitched vocalization here and there. Most pop vocalists/singers do not use 3. If you want to understand such differences in more detail, I suggest reading the book, “The Great American Popular Singers” (1985), by Henry Pleasants. You can use it in conjunction with listening to the songs he discusses on Youtube. It’s almost like taking a college course on the subject! Be prepared to read it more than once (I suggest waiting at least a few months before you go back and read it again) if you want to get the most out of it. Jerome Hines’ books may be of interest too, especially if you want to sing opera/”Classical Crossover.”

There’s one other key thing to learn, at least if you want to be the best singer you can be, and it is to develop the AES muscle. This allows for less breath support if you want to sing traditional pop songs with a microphone, so it has that additional possible benefit. There are various claims about “quick tricks” to develop it, but in my experience it develops if you sing for a period of time with proper breath control and cord closure. Trying to develop it before the other two may be a big mistake, and I don’t see any reason to rush things, as that seems to be tyhe biggest mistake you can make when you learn to sing! Though I am not endorsing all that is said in this article, I suggest reading through it after you master the fundamentals.

The Teacher’s Secret Weapon: The Method You Never Got Told To End Vocal Strain Forever

Note that I am not currently able to offer singing lessons but when I can get back to it, I’ll create a post announcing it.

Do you want to be a recording artist or a live performer?

I’ll get to the title question a bit later, but now I want to mention that a few posts ago, I cited a Youtube video posted by the creator on the Reddit singing forum. To me, it seemed unnatural and a possible lip sync. The creator contacted me and said he wanted to disclose exactly how he created it, which I thought was a great idea (and wish more would do this!), so I told him I’d post it in a blog post so that my readers could see it. Now I am not going to tell you that I know for sure it’s accurate, but because he says it is very easy to do (and the software is free if you have a requisite Apple/Mac device, which I don’t), you can try it for yourself and see if you get a similar result (you can try Audacity if you use Windows or Linux, or don’t like Garageband for some reason):

Another video on this same subject is more technical and seems to confirm the advantages of this approach:

The key thing is not to try and be the Singing Police; there’s so much enhancement these days in the pop genres it’s not really worth worrying about. Instead, you can use the enhancement to develop your ear. Over time your abilities will get better. At first, I was a bit frustrated that I could barely determine anything, but I knew that it was highly likely that if I kept at it, I’d get better, possibly much better. And I’ve very content with how things turned out, though I continue the endeavor (who knows where things will lead?).

And lately I’ve been recording my singing using different microphones, as well as doing research into the subject. For example, this is what I found on one forum about one popular microphone:

tracks recorded [with the Audio Technica 4050 microphone] seem like they’re made out of elastic; they take compression, eq, whatever SO much better than anything recorded w/ w a crummy mic.

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/low-end-theory/36472-anyone-used-mxl-770-mxl-v67g-mics.html

Now I wouldn’t mention this claim if I hadn’t experienced something similar myself. To recap, I started with a smart phone mic, then used the Samson Go, then the Aokeo AK-6, then the Aokeo AK-30, and then the MXL USB.006. I was pleased with each new mic, but the MXL really seemed to sort of sculpt the sound, whereas the smart phone and Samson Go were too “muddy.” The two Aokeos were clear but a bit harsh/crude; they may have also been too bright.  The MXL keeps everything “tight,” so I’m not worrying about making some odd sound that throws everything off (such as when the lips create a “click” type noise). There’s no muddiness yet it seems more “full bodied” than the Aokeos.  To listen to my tracks and decide for yourself go here (read the descriptions so that you know what the recordings represent):

Generally, if the track has “dry” in the name, it is not “processed,” though there may be some reverb used that is built into the Aokeo mics. If the word “all” is used in the name, that means at least a minor amount of processing was used.  This usually means EQ, compression (rarely more than 2.5 to 1 ratio and most earlier tracks were 2 to 1 ratio or no compression), echo and/or reverb, and perhaps a “touch up” to a short segment of the track (such as to take the volume down slightly). I have never used any kind of pitch correction on my voice. Also, in recent days I learned to take out the background noise, which I think is worse in the some mics (the AK-30 and MXL especially).  You don’t need much money to experiment with mics these days, and you may be able to get to a local music store to try some out for free.  Also, if you know what to look for, there may be good deals on sites like ebay or locally, such as on Craigslist.

So, as to the tittle question, of course you can and perhaps should be both, but can trying to be one hinder your endeavor to be the other?  Of course I can’t say I know for sure and it may vary from one person to another, but if what I encounter online (Youtube, the Reddit singing forum, etc.) is any indication, too many aspiring singers think they need to sing acoustically (like opera singers, meaning high volume is required), but are rather unaware of what recording their singing in a “professional” way entails.  My sense is that once you get the fundamentals down, you should start learning about recording, because you can do the same thing live, assuming you have the right equipment (which doesn’t have to be expensive).  If sing live at high volume, though, you may be surprised at how difficult it is to get the sound you are seeking when you record.

A key difference between the live performer and the recording artist, it seems, is control.  The live performer, especially in the context of most live venues, can basically get on a stage and start screaming.  Take a look at Youtube “cover” vocalists to see what I mean (and there are some previous posts where I cite such videos).  Even if you want to be a “screamo” vocalist in the studio, though, you still need to control your vocals well.  Here’s an example:

And learning control means you are likely to learn how to do a lot more with your vocal “instrument.”  And it’s basically free – you don’t need to take formal lessons and the software isn’t that complex.  The easiest to learn is likely Audacity; there are a bunch of tutorials for this software on Youtube alone (I don’t think it will work with smart phone operating systems, though; you can use Bandlab or Garageband if for some reason you want to process your vocal tracks on a phone).  However, as I discussed in the previous post as well as above, the microphone you use can seem to make a significant difference.

NOTE:  Due to something non-musical I’ve become involved in, I can’t offer lessons for a while.  However, I will still offer a free assessment of your singing, just email it to me:  nickspinner55@gmail.com.  It may take 48 to 72 hours to get back to you, and you should just use your smart phone’s basic recording app (hold it a bit off to the side; don’t sing directly into it).  If you use a different mic and/or software, just let me know.  Don’t play any instruments or mix the vocals with other tracks.  I’ll create a new post announcing that I am back to teaching, but I intend to write up new posts if I have something I think is interesting, informative, etc. to say.  And if you have any questions involving something about this post, you can post a comment.

What to make of this or that singer? Diana Krall and Bjork edition.

I was reading “Al Schmitt on the Record: The Magic Behind the Music” the other day and Schmitt talked about how Diana Krall is an excellent singer. I remember listening to her before (more than a decade ago), but couldn’t remember my opinion at the time (other than not being particularly impressed), so I was quite interested in listening to her again (especially because of my recent singing of some of the same songs). I found these live tracks:

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, but I won’t take credit for what others have said long ago, for example (from 2007):

Very overrated singer… poor tone, kind of a closed-mouth delivery
often off pitch…kind of out of place as a jazz singer, her voice belongs
more in rock and roll if any. Her studio work is doctored up enough to be
reasonably decent, however live she is not that impressive. I think her
husband is Elvis Costello.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/off-topic-discussions/368642-diana-krall-horrible.html

But there was something else. One was that her re-phrasing of classics was totally off, but this is jazz and presumably “improvisation” is held in high regard, even if it seems to “butcher” the originals. No, what was worse, at least to me, is that her singing was “all over the map.” I had no idea what she was trying to do, other than perhaps get though the songs without being too much of an embarassment to herself.

Now we will probaby never be anywhere her “league,” at least in terms of earnings potential, however she got there, but what’s most important is to learn from the mistakes as well as the accomplishments of other singers, and that’s what I want to focus on. How can you avoid this if you are a beginner and are also just trying to get througth without making an obvious mistake? First, don’t be afraid of making mistakes! You should use them as a learning experience. Sure, if you are going to perform for others, that’s not the time to “take chances.” Do that when you are rehearsing or practicing.

But ask yourself a key quesstion, why am I singing this song? Even as a beginner. there are enough songs in English so that you can try out a bunch of them and see which ones you can “get into” (and avoid the ones that you sing in a stiff, uninspiring way). A couple weeks ago, I recorded part of “Ramblin Man” by the Allman Brothers. It was my first recording of the day and so I wasn’t expecting it to be one I would save, and a couple minutes later I sang it again, then compared the two to each other. The difference was huge, but I’m not sure how many would notice such things in their own singing unless you told them that there was a significant difference and they were really intent on listening carefully to try and hear what you heard.

In the first recording, I was bland. Everything was “okay,” but there was nothing even slightly special about it. The second one felt energized. It’s an upbeat song but not “over the top,” and these songs are good for learning subtlety. I remember watching a documentary or reading a book about acting in which the author said that the most important thing is to “ham it up,” but only very slightly. You can’t act like you normally do but if you try to “act,” then you are over the top and audiences think you are bad at it. So, with singing, ask yourself how the song is supposed to be presented, then do three takes, one straightforward (but try not to be outright bland), one energized, listen to those two, then do a third that is a bit more or less energized than whichever of the two you thought was best (depending, of course, on which was you think it should go).

Now some people are a lot better than this than others, but you are not stuck with what youve got, so to speak. Take acting lessons if you must! If you can’t afford that, study acting on your own, and then when you choose a song, decide upon what character you are going to play, and what story you are going to tell as that actor. If your first attempts are bad, that’s fine, so long as you can tell it’s bad, then you can study why it is bad and work on fixing it. The worst place to be is not knowing where you’re at or even where you want to go, and that’s what many if not most “voice coaches” take advantage of, from what I can tell. You need someone who can point you in the right direction, because learning to sing, I’d guess for most people, means going off in the wrong direction over and over again. Think of it as a challenge, but don’t be stubborn and stay on the wrong path!

It’s often just a “little thing” you are doing wrong, and if you can’t figure it out, ask others and see what they think – you can get sometimes get good advice from “the general public,” but don’t assume it’s good advice.  And just to make it clear that I’m no stickler for “proper singing,” listen to Bjork’s “Gling Glo” album to hear how to make something work even if you are not technically anywhere near perfect:

There are also some live performances of these songs on Youtube, which you may find enjoyable as variations on the theme, assuming you like this style/genre, of course. She’s not stumbling her way through the songs, but taking charge and dominating them (perhaps to a degree that is too crude for some). Even if you try something like this and it doesn’t work (such as Fergie’s bizarre rendition of the National Anthem), learn from it (though you might not want to sing it in front of anyone, let alone millions):

But perhaps a few years later, it will be something that works! However, I suggest doing what you enjoy rather than just being an actor. In this case, Fergie seemed to come across as, “look at how great I am,” whereas with Bjork it’s more like, “this is what I need to do to live as a creative person.” If you do the latter but get perceived as the former, ask yourself if perhaps there’s a “little something” you can change that might be appealing as well as consistent with your creative/artistic vision. And don’t fear failure, but do be observant and try to figure out why. Then persevere! In Fergie’s case, her singing was also quite abrasive (somewhat similar to “no headroom” recordings), yet it wasn’t clear why it should be sung that way. With Bjork, by contrast, the impression is that of a very passionate “artist.”

The benefits of recording your singing and what microphone should you buy, if any?

 

First, as to the benefits.  It helps you develop your ear and your ability to detect issues you may have, even if you never want to sing using a microphone.  You can also try out different stylistic approaches, or just with with more or less energy, to see what kind of difference that makes.  You can also ask anyone who will listen what they think.  You never know what most people prefer.  In my case, I’ve been surprised at how popular some of the songs I sing in a soft/breathy voice are.  I don’t  like doing it all that much, and began due to curiosity more than anything else, but at this point I might as well work on it and see if it goes anywhere.

If you do record, it will need to “go” into something, such as Audacity software, which I believe works with Apple, Windows, and Linux (not Android; you can use Bandlab instead).  The good things about Audacity are that it’s free, fairly simple to use, and there are a lot of tutorials on Youtube for it.  Other “DAWs” (digital audio workstations) tend to be considerably more complex, though Audacity doesn’t have the advanced features (like “automation”) that “true DAWs” possess.  At minimum, I suggest working with EQ as well as echo and/or reverb; these are basically “industry standard.”  You can also record yourself, then bring in a karaoke track of that song, match those two up chronologically, and change the pitch of the karaoke track to match the pitch you are singing in, if necessary.

As to what microphone to use, that is a big, complex topic.  There is at least one forum devoted to it:  homerecording.com.  Over the last few weeks I’ve been researching this and “experimenting” with two microphones (both USB): Samson’s Go and Aokeo’s AK-6.  Both have a headphone jack so you can listen to yourself while you are singing, but I have not used this feature (I have read that there can be lag on the Samson, though).  Both are condenser mics, meaning they are more sensitive than dynamic mics, which are almost always used in a small venue such as a night club.  Condenser mics are more common in studio environments due to being more sensitive and possibly having a different “pattern” than most dynamic mics.

Dynamic mics for singing only pick up your voice well if you are very close, so if you “belt,” you might want to turn your head while doing it (I’m sure you’ve seen a singer do this at some point, though in some cases they may be doing it because they think the audience believes they are doing something special).  Some do use them in a studio environment, and there are claims that they enhance a deeper male voice, while others claim the opposite.  Apparently, some companies are selling USB condenser mics yet call them dynamic, but if you want to study your singing I think the more realistic condenser is the way to go anyway.  And the reason to choose USB is that you won’t need to buy an audio interface and/or a phantom power unit too.

The Samson has three pattern settings (one that’s good for interviews or for singing while playing an instrument), but I found it to be too “muddy” no matter what I tried.  I did edit many of the tracks with Audacity but then the sound seemed less natural.  When I began researching mics again (I did 2 or 3 years ago), I decided to try a large condenser mic (the Samcon is small), because that is apparently better for singing.  And that led me to the Aokeo AK-6, which I have a feeling was designed incorrectly, in a way that’s good for at least some singers, but not for podcasters.  And keep in mind that most USB mics are meant for DJs, podcasters, and voice actors.  They want a sound that makes talking sound “big,” deep, and rich, but the range is not especially important to them.

By contrast, I want clarity and no muddiness, which the AK-6 does well.  It’s got a mute button that for a singer is more like a kind of boost, though I don’t think it’s especially important.  The built-in reverb works well, but most podcasters, etc. have no use for it.  And the volume dial allows you to adjust your output to software like Audacity; if you have more than one singing style and they are quite different, as I do, this is useful.  You click on where it says “monitor” in Audacity to see how strong the mic is.  Right now it’s less than $20 on Amazon, and you get a stand, USB cable, earphones, and bracket to attach the mic to the stand.  It’s all metal too.  Now if you have a shrill/strident type voice, this mic may not be for you, but you could put a large piece of foam in front of it, and for $20 it may be worth having a backup around, or you can experiment with it.  I hold the AK-6 in my left hand while using Audacity with a mouse in my right hand.

Here are some other things about mics I now believe to be useful information:

If you don’t know how to use a mic, don’t assume it will sound good no matter how you set it up, hold it, etc.

It’s not uncommon for even expensive mics stop functioning or become dysfunctional in some way, so don’t think that expensive means it will last for decades.

You will likely want a mic that has a cardioid pattern, whether it’s condenser or dynamic (another type is ribbon but I suggest avoiding those for the time being, at least).  It’s fine if there are other patterns as well (figure eight, super-cardioid,  omni-directional, etc.), and be sure you’re not buying a mic that is designed for musical instruments.

Many reviews are not written for or by singers, but by podcasters, DJs, and voice actors, so don’t assume a bunch of great reviews are relevant, even if genuine.

Many really cheap mics are fine for singers, so long as there are no extreme vocalizations (like shrieking or a soprano singing her high notes or vocalizations for certain metal sub-genres).  For these, the very expensive condenser mics might be the best option.

Some mics are good for those with deeper voices but not for those with lighter/brighter voices, and vice versa.

You’ll likely want a cardioid pattern (omni may be good if you want to play guitar while singing, but is generally good for interviews or capturing sounds in a large area).

Hold the mic off to the side or over or under your mouth, rather than using a pop filter, which might muffle your voice.

If you want to be a crooner, say Frank Sinatra style, you may want a large condenser tube mic (the least expensive I’ve seen was less than $200 new). However, some tube mics are apparently not meant for crooning, such as the Manley Reference (around $3000), which, from the reviews I’ve seen (some including singing clips), may sound quite a bit like the AK-6!

When you listen to your recordings, the speakers you use can distort your assessment. Very expensive speakers might sound great, for example, but those listening on much less expensive speakers (the vast majority) might experience things quite differently.

Which mic is best for you will depend to some degree on what you want to do, for example, pro studio recording, playing your acoustic guitar and singing in a small venue, being the lead singer in a loud band, or doing your own “home” recording. If you are a beginner I think it’s best to learn about at least one inexpensive but “halfway decent mic (if you don’t want to spend much, which makes sense, since you don’t know what you will eventually prefer).

Don’t be too concerned about background noise; if your mic has a cardioid pattern, that should be all you need, so long as you don’t live in a noisy neighborhood.  If there are a lot of loud noises all the time, then you can try using foam to create a small enclosure for your mic.  I have used foam pads that came in packages as cushioning material as well as the foam padding found on beds (I cut out pieces to fit my enclosure).

Do be concerned about the room you are recording in.  If the walls are all bare you will likely get harsh acoustic reflections.  If you can’t find a room that doesn’t produce such reflections, then again you can try to create a foam enclosure for the mic (leave one side open, which of course you’ll need to sing into, but place the mic towards the back).

Do one thing at a time.  For example, don’t work on singing technique and mic technique at the same time, or style and mic technique; this is a recipe for the development of new problems.  At the very least you might confuse yourself and waste some time.

And if you want me to personally teach you what I know, whether it’s about Audacity, recording in general, mics, etc., it’s the same rate as for my singing lessons ($25/half hour).

To hear the AK-6 and Samson, go to my Soundcloud page:

I began using the AK-6 on July eleventh, 2020, so those tracks have “7 11 2020” in them, or a later date.  Some of my early tracks were done with just my smart phone’s mic, so that will be mentioned in the descriptions of the tracks.  I was a bit more aggressive on 7 18 2020 tracks or later, but I also was on a few of the previous ones (it should be obvious); over the next few days I plan on being even more aggressive, so you can check back on my Soundcloud page and read what I’m doing in the track description.  I was generally trying to sing smoother for the past couple months or so because that was the advice given by a pro audio engineer (in a book on the subject).  Speaking of books on this subject, here are some quotes worth considering:

A major part of the silky-smooth, hit female vocal sound is singing softly and breathy very close to a large diaphragm condenser mic (U47, C-12, 414, and such).

From “The Recording Engineers Handbook” by Bobby Owsinks.  This goes against basic notions of singing, as it would mean singing without “cord closure!”  However, I think it’s best to learn the fundamentals of singing and only then experiment with mics to try and get the sound you want.  Not everyone does that, obviously.  Here’s another two quotes:

…the kind of distortion that has become acceptable, and almost an expectation, is that thing that would have gotten us fired 15 or 20 years ago.
Now, it’s become a thing where I can hear that as distortion and as something I would have avoided at all costs 15 or 20 years ago, but I think that a lot of people that are listening to music now might hear that as what
a record sounds like, because so many of them sound that way.

And:

…There is one thing about the Motown stuff, which I talked earlier about in terms of that period of time, that it really helped with. Nowadays the vocal is really upfront and in your face; it wasn’t necessarily like that in the Motown days. I always wanted to pull it out just a little bit, because again, it’s about the compromising of the old tradition with the new…

From “Audio Mastering: The Artists: Discussions from Pre-Production to Mastering”
by Russ Hepworth-Sawyer and Jay Hodgson.  As one expert has pointed out:

…a mic that sounds great on one voice, one guitar, or even in one key, may sound very different on another voice, another guitar, or even in a different key.

And that’s where the problem lies when people try to compare a mic to other mics, and especially when you hear people say things like “this Chinese mic sounds identical to a U87”, or whatever. For that singer, that guitar, or in that key, that may be true. It just means that the peaks and dips in the two mics didn’t get pushed so hard that you could hear the differences between the two mics. On something else, the differences can be night and day.

https://homerecording.com/bbs/equipment-forums/microphones/some-things-think-about-when-choosing-mics-56685/

He goes on to say that you have to train your ear to detect the subtle differences, but then the obvious question is, if hardly anyone will notice, do we really want to spend a lot of time worrying that some audio engineer or audiophile notices a minor flaw?  I think he’s talking about how the track will “sit in the mix” with instrumental or other tracks that might lead to a frequency conflict, if that’s the right phrase for it.  So, overall, I think you might want to get at least two inexpensive USB mics so that you can compare them, and at least one of those should be a large diaphragm condenser.  And give yourself time to “absorb” it all.  I put aside a couple hours a day, and never went beyond that, in order to avoid frustration or obsession.  Just like learning singing technique, it will likely take weeks or months!

And as with nearly everything else, listen to different points of view.  For example, you can search Youtube for “how to use a microphone for singing” and watch some of the videos, such as:

However, be wary of microphone comparison videos because there is almost always “processing” used, and they rarely tell you what that is.  Even if they did, you’d have to be familiar with the hardware and/or software in order to get a sense of how that would translate into what you want to do.

Note: I have no affiliation with Aokeo and do not get anything from them; I purchased the mic at Amazon, and have never been given any audio equipment for free.  And I still offer a free assessment, just send me a clip of you singing a simple song, such as “Row Row Row Your Boat,” sung in a straightforward way (but try to avoid being flat), with your smart phone’s basic recorder app.  Don’t use any backing track or play an instrument and hold the phone off to the side to avoid distortion.  Email it to nickspinner55@gmail.com.  My lessons are $25/half hour and you can also send me a clip or two between lessons so I can check on your progress (no charge for that).  If you want to read about my approach first, read this blog post:

https://learningtosing.wordpress.com/2020/07/12/back-in-business-and-here-is-what-to-expect/

And if you have any thoughts, experiences, or information that might be helpful here, please leave a comment.

UPDATE:  The AK-6 is a “hot” (sensitive) mic when the mute button is in it’s normal position.  When that button is pushed in, it becomes a lot easier to control (and it seems to smooth out one’s voice a bit).  Some have complained that the mute button doesn’t actually mute the output, but one can do that with the volume dial, so perhaps whomever made this meant to call the mute button something else, but it got translated into English as “mute.”

UPDATE 2:  I tried using a headset and was able to hear myself, so that worked, but then I lost the reverb feature.  I tried to figure that out, changing the settings, but that led to a terrible sound.  It took me a while but I was able to get the settings right and everything was back to the way it was before I used the headset.  So, if you don’t need to use a headset, I’d suggest not even trying it out, unless you are a good troubleshooter.  I don’t know if it was a hardware issuee, an Audacity issue, a mic issue, or something else, or some combination.

 

Addendum to my previous post.

Because the previous post was quite long, I thought I should just create a new one.  I want to make a clear distinction between my approach to learning how to sing with the approach apparently used by the vast majority of “voice coaches.”  They seem to be mostly focused on “warming up,” doing scales, and various “exercises,” such as so-called lip bubbles.  They don’t seem to care what the students’ long term goals are, or whether the student is even capable of doing scales without unhealthy strain.  One even claimed that straining was necessary (being something of a screamer himself, this is not all that surprising).  Overall, they seem to have a notion that there is one thing, singing, and that it’s all the same.

The reality is that low volume, microphone singing is not the same as high volume singing, such as with opera, for example.  Singing in a studio environment is different from singing live.  In a studio you can experiment with different approaches and your goal is a recording that can be engineered to be “radio quality,” presumably.  Live, you want to get the audience involved, and you don’t know what their perception of the performance is, which might be acoustically rather bad (due to the venue, the equipment, the sound engineering, etc.); they aren’t going to hear your singing the way they listen to “pro” studio recorded music.  Also, you might be happy learning the fundamentals and have no desire to try and expand your range beyond it, which requires a second stage in learning how to sing.  How many “voice coaches” ever point this out, or even understand it?

Then there are those who assign the student a song, yet it never seems clear why, and in every case I’ve encountered, there was never an explanation given.  In most cases, where I was able to hear the student sing, it was clearly too difficult for the student’s level of development.  By contrast, I ask the student to sing the simplest of songs first, or even just sounds, because the goal is to work on specific techniques, which I articulate.  There are “song coaches,” who usually work on the intricacies of singing songs for music college auditions.  However, to ask a student to sing a song he/she may have no interest in singing makes no sense.  After learning the fundamentals, the student may want to continue to work with the teacher on genre specifics, but the student has to choose the song, and then the teacher can suggest something simpler or more difficult, but still should explain the reasoning involved.

After figuring out what the student wants to do, I may talk to them about other ideas, but diagnosis is the key next step.  One teacher of fiction writing, Peter Selgin, has said that he doesn’t teach writing but rather re-writing; he judges writing and makes recommendations, but he can’t tell someone what to do who has yet to write anything.  I think that is largely applicable to singing as well, but if the teacher has little or no idea what to listen for, it wouldn’t matter, of course.  I try to establish the boundaries, so to speak: what are the student’s strong and weak points.  There is also a possible scam aspect to a lot of “voice coaching,” in that if you tell a student what needs to be done and how to do it, they may not come back for any more lessons, so instead, what they “teach” students may not result in any progress.  In fact, it seems like much of what is taught is counter-productive!

Another kind of “voice coach” will use all kinds of abstract notions, such as, “you’ve got to put it in the mask,” but they don’t explain how to do anything.  Some are even insulting, such as:

A more humorous example:

“Use the air… on the breath… project forward… think of the mask…”

And then there some “voice coaches” who use all kinds of technological effects to make it seem like they can sing and/or their students have made great progress.  One “trick” seems to be for the person to simply sing along to a studio recording, but they are singing at 10% while the recording is at 90%, so you can hear just a tiny bit of their sound, and apparently a lot of people don’t realize that they may not even being singing anywhere near on pitch!  The reality is that a lot of pop singers don’t sound all that good if you just listen to what’s called a dry solo track, the reason being they (or the producer, or audio engineer, or manager) are thinking of what the song will sound like when the “mixing”is done.  Here’s an example:

And this doesn’t appear to be a dry solo track, as in places there seems to be a kind of chorus effect used (I’m not referring to the obvious harmony singing parts).  His voice is shaky and tentative at times, almost creaky.  These days, typical pop songs are often “compressed to the max” because it’s an easy way to do the sound engineering as well as to clean up bad or mediocre vocals, and listeners expect such extreme compression.  I’ve cited many examples of this in previous posts (even shrieking can be made to sound like singing during live performances, so long as you have the right equipment and know how to use it).   Speaking of equipment, my next post will be about microphones, in particular, why you should consider obtaining one, which one you should obtain, and how to use it.

I have often said it’s crucial to avoid getting into bad habits, especially developing the wrong muscle memory.  As a well-known opera singing teacher, Anthony Frisell, has said:

Voice teaching must never be an uncharted journey of exploring the unknown, trying out all sort of unproven exercises, then observing what effects they have had. This naive approach quickly ends in failure, since once a certain vocal exercise proves to have a negative effect upon the voice, it cannot so easily be undone. A wrong exercise, assigned by an inexperienced teacher, with any tone or group of tones, will also exert a negative effect on all the remaining tones of the singer’s range.  With a beginner’s first lesson, an experienced teacher generally understands what’s right or wrong and what must be done to redirect the voice toward success.

Teaching singing is somewhat like being a doctor, “first do no harm!”  You shouldn’t tell the student to do generic things for no other reason than that is how you were taught or you saw it being used by a supposedly competent “voice coach” in a Youtube video.  And you shouldn’t give “exercises” (like a doctor writing prescriptions for medications) because it could lead to bad habits.  Here are a few more things Frisell has said:

When a new student comes to me for help, and after I have heard him/her sing a simple song, I often discover that the “raw” chest voice had been forced upward in the range and has thrown the entire voice into a state of rigid dysfunction. To undo this muscular rigidity, especially with the passaggio tones, I am obliged to start a long process of “undoing” undesirable muscular “jam-ups”, which sometimes takes two to three years to accomplish.

Undeniably, there exist two primary and extremely different muscular controls which all singers encounter when they attempt to ascend and/or descend the pathway of their complete ranges. If the muscular adjustments of these two separate, antagonistic muscular controls are not properly dealt with, there is no chance of vocal success.

In [the late 60s and into the 70s], many new students, coming to my studio, could already sing rather well, but were still seeking to improve. Some of them would say that presently, they were no longer making progress with their present teacher and had decided to make a change…  But since about 1970, whenever I asked an auditioning-beginner to sing something for me, he/she would immediately say, “If you don’t mind, I’d prefer not to. I’m so embarrassed…I’ve been studying voice for many years, yet I can’t even sing a simple song…”

From the above time period onward—95% of the new students who came to me, could not sing at all, despite many years of study…

He didn’t teach pop singing, but I’ve seen people doing “exercises” with their “voice coaches” for about a year or even more, and I’d ask them why they weren’t singing.  They said they weren’t ready, but then why can most children sing?  I still wonder what is going on in the minds of such people.  Do they think they need to do “exercises” to become “great” singers, bypassing the ability to sing well on a very basic level?  It’s true a few may have biological issues, such as readers encounter in the book, “Bad Singer,” but that will not be aided by these “exercises.”  Singing is easy to do for nearly everyone, but few do it very well.  Most who are “successful,” such as George Harrison of The Beatles, was no better than mediocre, and that is by pop music standards.  He was working with the best audio engineers, producers, musicians, and equipment, or those were available to him (after The Beatles became incredibly popular and then when he went on to his solo career).  Many students and aspiring singers I’ve interacted with are at least at this level, but they think they are “bad.”

Yes, you would be a bad opera singer, but is that your goal?  Not likely.  So, be realistic and accept success (meaning you’ve reached the next realistic “plateau” in your development).  And then decide if you want to go further, and if so, if you want to postpone pursuing that goal for a while.  However, to be clear, I don’t necessarily agree with everything Frisell has said (and he’s written a whole lot on the subject), but his teaching of opera seemed to be quite similar to my views on teaching fundamentals for aspiring pop singers.

Contact me at nickspinner55@gmail.com for a free assessment; you can include the two clips of your singing (a simple song like Row Row Row Your Boat and the most difficult song you think you sing well), along with telling me your goals, and I should be able to get back to you within 48 hours. However, I can’t offer lessons at the moment.  My fee is $25 per half hour, but I expect you to to be warmed up (if you don’t know about that, we discuss it during the first lesson).  I don’t waste time on “small talk” so you might want to keep a pad and pen available to write down what you might forget.  I don’t string you along to make extra money (I’m retired and not “money motivated” at this point in my life), but I do expect you to take things seriously and practice between lessons. Otherwise, you’re just wasting our time and your money.  It’s okay to take a few weeks between lessons, whatever works for you.  And if you lose interest for a while, that’s fine, just come back when your interest is renewed.  If you think someone has a better approach than mine, go ahead and see if it works for you, because that’s what really matters.  Also, if you don’t understand why I am giving you certain advice, just ask; the more you understand the better off you will be in the long term.

Back on hold, and here is what to expect…

The original title of this post was “Back in Business!  Here’s what to expect,” but I had an opportunity to get involved with a project, not music-related, and that lilkely will take up too much time, so lessons are on hold.  However, I will still offer a free assessment, and if you want to be placed on a waiting list, I’ll contact you when I can get back to providing lessons.  Below is the rest off the original post, which will give you an idea of what lessons would be like:

____________________________________________________

I am now able to do online lessons again (I won’t go into the reasons why I couldn’t for a while, as this post is long enough), and unlike other “voice coaches” I want be as clear as possible about my methods and reasoning (based upon personal experience and research, though I did take college music courses that involved singing long ago). First, I’d like to hear your singing, and what seems to work best is a clip of you singing a few lines from a very simple song, such as “Row row row your boat.” I’d also like to hear you sing a few lines from the most difficult song you think you sing well. If you don’t think you sing any song well, anything you can sing well will do, including a couple or words or sounds. I’d like you to just use your smart phone’s basic recorder app and no instruments (but do hold the phone off to the side to avoid distortion). Do not process the file in any way.

I also want to know what your long-term goals are, which could be something as basic as wanting to sound better at karaoke night (many people have sought lessons for this reason, so don’t be embarrassed). For example, if you want to sing opera or musical theater, you might need more breath support than how I teach it, but I believe my technique is a good foundation for any kind of future singing. I can sing opera with my technique, and while I may not get any roles at Lincoln Center, I can produce the notes, demonstrating it does work. Once you get down the fundamentals, I may or may not be able to help you if you want to pursue things further, and if I can’t, I’ll tell you who I think you might want to work with or at least get some advice from.

Breath support and “cord closure” are things to get established early on, as they are crucial and can be learned quickly. However, some people want to sing with a weak/breathy voice that a the hallmark of the lack of breath support and/or cord closure. I can only teach one way, though; I can’t modify things to fit dubious technique. It’s like asking a builder to build a house that likely will collapse in less than a decade; it’s not ethical and it’s not necessarily even to do. As you learn cord closure and breath support, or after you have, the next step is to sing a song well from start to finish. This will demonstrate several crucial characteristics, such as phrasing and articulation. Don’t be discouraged if you perceive an issue, because there’s a lot to learn; instead, be glad that your ability to recognize problems is developing!

It’s probably true that most voice coaches will have you do scales and focus on pitch, but you aren’t going to be able to sing on pitch as a beginner unless you only sing songs that are in a tight range. As you develop the relevant muscles correctly, your ability to sing on pitch should also develop (a small percentage of the population have physical issues, though, and are often way off pitch; you can read about those conditions in the book, “Bad Singer”). You should never strain, as that is an indicator your muscles are not ready. When they are ready, you should be able to gently push a little higher without strain; it might feel a bit tight and take several days to get it where you want it to be, but remember that range is expanded slowly; you don’t go up a couple tones in a week (if so it would be unusual). You can also study intervals, starting with up to a fourth or fifth, using an online keyboard if you don’t have any instruments. Just keep at it, a few minutes here and there, and eventually it should develop. If you can get someone to play you the root and another note, allowing you to guess what the second note is, that is a good way to start (after you’ve studied the intervals for a week or two).

“Warming up” seems to be something many if not most voice coaches spend quite a bit of time on, but I think you should come prepared to sing at the beginning of a lesson (and it will cost you less money), though in the first lesson or two, I’d like you to show me how you are warming up so I can see if there are any issues. Again, sing on pitch, even if it’s just simple words or sounds (you may be a bit off but that’s okay at this point, and researchers have found that audiences tolerate up to about half a tone of inaccuracy anyway). I think words common in English pop songs work best; you can make up a nonsense line like, “Who said, you and I, letting me, always go, so they say.” I don’t believe in “exercises” like “lip bubbles.” If you want to develop your singing I don’t see what this sort of thing does that is productive, and you can spend your time singing actual songs! Many people have told me they don’t understand why these exercises result in no progress, and the short answer is that they don’t develop the right muscles, instead sometimes leading to bad habits.

More advanced issues involve consistency, how to deal with hard consonants, vowel modification, embouchure transitions, and how to sing for recordings versus live (“energy” being a key element). It’s common for beginners/intermediates to sing some songs or parts of songs well but not others and it can be quite frustrating, but I have yet to find a “voice coach” who goes into this in detail. After you get the fundamentals down, you can make a decision about whether to stay within a tight range or work on a technique to push your range higher. I explain that in this post:

https://learningtosing.wordpress.com/2020/03/17/what-is-singing-what-is-the-best-way-to-learn/

I always ask you to work on certain things and you can come back for another lesson once you think you have mastered the task, or if you think it’s not working out, I’ll try to figure out what the problem is, and possibly give you something else to practice that might be better for you. One common example is jaw and/or tongue tightness or “wrong” positioning. This is usually due to the student using the wrong technique in the past, for whatever reason. You can do some searching on Youtube for solutions because if you find one, that will save you some money and might be quick (instead of waiting for the next lesson). Remember that tightening anything up is always or nearly always a bad idea in the context of singing, so let me know if you are experiencing this. However, the “ee”‘ vowel, as in “we” or “keep,” might give you some issues with tightening early on. This is normal and my advice is to just stop when you feel the tightening rather than trying to push through it, and let me know what’s going on, of course.

Now if you want to “do your own thing” and create your own techniques, style, etc., that’s your decision, but you can still learn how to sing optimally first, which I think is the best idea. Some ask about how to sing a particular song better, and there are actually “song coaches,” who focus on helping those who need to sing “art songs” well for a music college audition. However, in that case it has already been well-established what the judges are looking for, whereas with pop music some want to be “cover singers” while others want to be unique or even idiosyncratic. So, before you can ask for advice on singing a song, you need to explain what you’re going for; I can then tell you if I think you are ready for it, though it is just a guess because today so much audio engineering is used that I’d have to also be an audio engineer to figure things out in some cases.

Contact me at nickspinner55@gmail.com; you can include the two clips mentioned above along with telling me your goals, and I should get back to you within 48 hours. My fee is $25 per half hour (I think an hour tends to be too long, unless time is wasted on “small talk” and “warming up”). I don’t string you along to make extra money (I’m retired and not “money motivated” at this point in my life), but I do expect you to take things seriously and practice between lessons. Otherwise, you’re just wasting our time and your money.  If you lose interest for a while, that’s fine, just come back when your interest is renewed. And if you don’t understand why I am giving you certain advice, just ask; the more you understand the better off you will be in the long term.

I will close this post with some “general rules” that might be helpful (not necessarily applicable to opera, musical theater, harmonized singing, or choir):

1. Never strain. “Pushing” slightly may be necessary but the only good way to get better is to sing what you are able to sing for a while (perhaps 2 to 3 weeks if you practice quite a bit, though not to the point of feeling weak or getting hoarse), then sing slightly higher or sing a slightly more difficult song (or parts of a song).

2. Sing songs that fit with your strong points. This may mean trying out hundreds of songs, but if Sinatra can do that, why can’t you?

3. Never try to emulate other singers (unless your only goal is to cover in as exact a way as possible) and pay no attention to studio recordings (try to find live performances with minimal “processing” if you want to study a singer). And you’ll likely be well-served by studying technological processing/audio engineering; otherwise you won’t know what’s real and what is not.

4. If you don’t have the fundamentals down, don’t expect to learn one or two “secrets” or “tricks” that will make you “great” within a few days; singing tends to me more, not less difficult than learning to play an instrument well.

5. Decide upon an approach and stick with it for a while (generally two to three weeks is needed to develop a new singing skill, if not more)

6. If a teacher wants you to do something that doesn’t make total sense to you, ask about it and if the response isn’t 100% satisfactory, find another teacher (there are 1000s to choose from at this point, it seems).  Do not be intimidated by a teacher and  if things don’t work out, that’s not especially rare, even if he/she is a good teacher and you are a good student.  Some teachers tend to get frustrated if the student isn’t learning at a certain pace, for example, and that can lead to friction.

7. Remember that you have to develop your ear, so listen to as much singing as you can, especially live, non-lip sync performances. Always try to be as perceptive as you can; don’t dismiss anything as trivial. Write down anything that you think is even slightly noteworthy, in your singing or anyone else’s.

8. Accept the fact that things might not work out for you, at least in the short term. Singing well is not just technique; there is also phrasing, overall musicality, and possibly performance (if you plan to sing in front of an audience). However, it’s often the case that if you put something aside for a few months or even a few years, you will be able to recognize what you didn’t understand in the past and make quick progress.

9. Do not compare yourself to anyone else, but rather think about what makes you unique and try to figure out how that will be presented in the best possible light to other people. Too many aspiring pop singers think that they need to sing the typical songs one hears on “The Voice,” but that’s mostly a “dead end” anyway.

10. Think about where you want singing to take you. Do you want to perform clubs as a solo singer/songwriter/guitarist, or do you want to create Youtube videos, or do you want to be a “cover act,” or do you want to be a “recording artist,” or do you want to be the lead singer of a band? This has implications even for a beginner, such as what type of microphone you should be working with.

11. Always be open to learning news things, no matter how minor these may appear to be.  On the other hand, you don’t want to try and sing in several different styles before you have even mastered the fundamentals.  In many ways, and unlike musical instruments, singing is a “balancing act.”

12. Don’t over-react to negative criticism, but rather ask yourself what the reality is. Are you a “good” singer with a bad mic or just did a bad job of phrasing here and there in a particular song (it’s interesting what the “ignorant public” pays attention to)? Are you singing an unpopular genre? Are you trying to do something different, that few will appreciate in the near future? Do you have legitimate issues that you should sort out (I don’t know how many people sing flat but think it’s on pitch, for example)? Or is the criticism simply the result of ignorance or even malice?

NOTE:  I intend to post about my experiences with another microphone in the near future.  I had been using the Samson Go mic for a while but decided to try a much larger condenser mic, and found a great deal on the Aokeo AK-6, so I purchased one.  To sum up, at least with my voice/style, the Samson is too muddy, though to someone with a different voice type or style it might out well.  The Aokeo is clearer, brighter, and I use considerably less in the way of effects (I’m not compressing at all with it!) after I get the track recorded to Audacity.