Singing Tips & Recording Questions

[Guest kwok]

A few questions come to mind ;D..

I have the same question as JungYunho<3..How exactly do you know if you're using your diaphragm?

Also, I was wondering what a head and a chest voice is? How do you do it and how do you know if you're doing it/doing it properly O_O?

And how is vibrato achieved, I've been trying for a long time and it doesn't seem to come out T_T.

If anyone can answer these questions, it'd be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[Guest pickup.stix]

Okay.. breathing with your diaphram.

Try taking a really deep breath.

Do your shoulders go up?

Or does your stomach go out?

Because breathing with your diaphram makes your stomach go out when you breathe in.

Laying on the ground and practicing helps. XDD

[Guest kwok]

^You mean does your stomach(not shoulders?) go in or does it go out when taking a deep breath?

[Guest pickup.stix]

^ Ahh.. I don't completely understand your question. But I'll try answering anyway. n_n;

When you're breathing correctly (with your diaphram):

when you inhale: your stomach should go out

when you exhale: your stomach should come back in.

Not taking the sort of deep breath you take when trying to suck your stomach in. It's the opposite of that.

[Guest JungYunho<3]

Okay.. breathing with your diaphram.

Try taking a really deep breath.

Do your shoulders go up?

Or does your stomach go out?

Because breathing with your diaphram makes your stomach go out when you breathe in.

Laying on the ground and practicing helps. XDD

Thanks for the advice!! ^^ I think I get it now... THANKS!! Goshers... I would be so lost.... Hahah.... Thanks!! ^^

[Guest lshluvr]

i have a question..lol how do you sing with feeling!? like even if you don't like the words you have to sing, how do you make it believable?? i know this is kinda an abstract and personal question (personal meaning its all up to the individual) but i mean, my VC told me on certain songs he doesn't believe me (when i sing) he said i hit all the right notes, and i sound nice and all, but my face gives me away...that i look like i'd rather be somewhere else....so my question to you guys is how do you all make your singing believable, even when you're singing a song that you really don't care fore.

for example: my face is like this when it should be like this ...but i just can't ''fake the funk''.....but i know that i need to learn how...so..yeah, lol help?

Am I too late? XD

For me...at first, I didn't get the emotion thing. Then, I started paying attention to the feeling of the song. If the song is sad, I think of something sad that happened. I know for sure if I have displayed enough emotions if I'm in tears...not literally. It's enough to make my heart hurt. Just find out how the song can apply to your life.

If I'm singing an upbeat song, I think about something happy that happened.

[Guest UNINSPIRED.]

Man. This is what I call really bad procrastination. I really didn't want to write any more for my paper (but it's due on Monday?) so I went through this thread and compiled an FAQ for singing because it doesn't seem like there's one yet. I editted some of the answers for grammar and content (without changing the original meaning).

I will be including unanswered questions. If you can answer them, please do. Also, try to refrain from giving the obvious answers (ie. "practice more, duh") because I'm sure other Soompiers have considered that, as well -- a bit of detail about techniques that should be used or specific ways of practicing would be appreciated, I'm sure.

Anyway, enjoy!

SINGING FAQ

What is head voice?

Wikipedia: The head voice is often used when a person shouts or is highly excited. In these situations people tend to produce higher pitches, and these resonate in the mouth and in the bones of the skull, producing the sensation of the sound coming from the head. A person uses the head voice when singing notes at the upper end of his or her vocal range. The tonal qualities of the head voice are usually described as being sweet, balladic, lilting, lyrical, or pure. On the negative side, this register may sound light, unsupported, or breathy, and may not be as loud as the chest voice.

What is chest voice?

Wikipedia: The chest voice is the register typically used in everyday speech. It is so called because it can produce the sensation of the sound coming from the upper chest. This is because lower frequency sounds have longer wavelengths, and resonate mostly in the larger cavity of the chest. A person uses the chest voice when singing at the bottom of his or her range. The tonal qualities of the chest voice are usually described as being rich or full, but can also be pushed or belted. Trained singers can usually control this register, but some untrained singers may experience vocal problems if they sing excessively in this register without proper training.

What is a falsetto?

sikkony: Falsetto is the technique of singing on very loose vocal folds that do not adduct. Since you are singing on the edges of the vocal fold, and they are loose, one creates a "false" high sound.

davestroud.com Falsetto is the maximal elongation of vocal cords with minimal glottic gap. It is the breathy sound that occurs when the vocal cords are allowed to separate. Falsetto will not blend with chest voice, therefore making it impractical to use except for special vocal stylings.

How can I warm up before singing?

babiixru: You can do scales. Some suggest various exercises such as sticking out your tongue and moving it side to side like 3 times, doing arm circles, holding out your arms in jumping jack positions and raising them so that it looks like you're about to dive into a pool and then lowering them down to your sides.

How can I get more emotion into my singing?

Sou: If you're singing a sad song, think of something really sad in your life. If it's an angry song, pretend you're yelling at your boyfriend or something. Musical performance is half about vocal quality and half about acting. You have to commit yourself to a song in order to get the proper conviction across

NO-1: Singing is half acting, or maybe even ALL acting. When you sing someone else's song, you become that character, you become the one that is trying to convey all the lyrics and emotions of the song to the audience and you need to really think about it from the song's character's POV. My voice teacher actually made me study the lyrics, think up who the character I was to be and answer questions about how I would think about what the words are saying, etc. It was really hard for me at the beginning because I'm pretty shy about that stuff and I prefer to just DO it and not think about it, but it really does help. I also think it really helps if you choose to sing songs that share the emotion or experience you're feeling/going through at the moment you want to sing.

I sound nasal when I sing. What can I do about it?

Sou: The reason some people sound stuffy (or nasal, I'm assuming) is that they're not resonating in their sinuses. It's why you sound kinda bad when you have a cold; you sound dull and nasal because your voice isn't resonating properly in your sinuses. To fix it, you just have to relax yourself, breathe right (via your diaphragm), and try not to tense up when you sing. Dropping and relaxing your jaw helps too.

How can I develop a vibratto? How long will it take? Should I try forcing it?

sikkony: Learning the vibratto can take years or months. Regardless of time, it really comes down to the technique you're using to produce your vibratto because there are forced techniques and natural techniques.

VictorGalaxy: You can try to sing two adjacent notes and switch back and forth. Then, do it more quickly to reach a vibratto.

Sou: It's not good to force a vibratto by fluctuating your air flow with your stomach/diaphragm. It's incredibly unhealthy and it'll result in a dangerous muscle memory. Vibratto, by nature, is a natural oscillation of the vocal cords that help relieve the stress put on them. It has nothing to do with the diaphragm. If you force it, you can hurt yourself.

How can I sing in a higher register?

sikkony: You have to access your head voice to sing higher. Otherwise, you may strain, build up tension, and/or damage your vocal cords. I think it's best for you to vocalize on scales. Don't be scared that you have no high notes, high notes can be achieved by training/practicing with singing techniques, so it's in there, just you don't have access to it yet. Try to vocalize on a comfortable note on your chest voice (the voice you use to speak with) and slide it up (much like a scale) without holding onto your larynx. It's hard to describe what I'm saying, but if you put your mind to it, and some experimenting, you'll understand what I mean. Let it slide up, don't worry about how you sound. If you crack, that means you are still imbalance, which is definitely OK. From here you'll probably end up vocalizing in falsetto (that breathy tone, sounds false, soft etc, unless pushed hard, where it would sound hooty). Now try to work on that crack place in your voice, trying to let go of your larynx. Basically what you should aim to do is join those top notes (headvoice) with your chest, hence making a mixed voice (middle voice). When going up in your chest, don't pull it, meaning, don't strain. If you're straining, you're doing it wrong, and you should try to continue to correct this. Singing in headvoice, in (light) mixed voice, chestvoice should be as easy as talking. Headvoice will feel like falsetto, yet only more rounder in tone. Initially your headvoice would be closer to falsetto, but your cords will soon learn to adduct more.

How can I sing with my diaphragm?

sikkony: "Singing with diaphragm and not with your throat" (or something similar) is a misnomer. I notice a lot of people tend to say it here, but I never seen it being said elsewhere honestly. Let's clear some things up: all sounds from your voice come from in your throat, behind your larynx (the bump on your throat as you run your finger downwards from chin), where the vocal folds are situated. The diaphragm and stomach don't make sounds but actually only aid the singing process with "breath support". Breath support means to apply sufficient amounts of air when singing. Normally, without good breath support, we tend to like to blast more air than what is needed. With proper breath support, it helps you to sing correctly (it's not the only component to singing correctly though).

How can I improve my falsetto?

kokoling: It's a very mental thing. Think of a flying feather, and pull your voice vocally upward. As soon as you get throaty and chesty, the falsetto goes out of the window.

When I sing to myself, I sound great but when I sing in front of other people, I don't sing as well.

xJun: Personally, I think it's a matter of confidence. If you can sing well to yourself, there really isn't a problem with your voice. Just calm down and, if this works for you, pretend that no one else is in the room and that you're just singing for yourself. You could also try singing in front of people that you know very well to get over that initial fear of performing.

How can I increase my range?

vivosergirl: Believe it or not, your vocal cord is a MUSCLE. So think of trying to increase your range as trying to increase your flexibility. What do you do in gym to increase your flexibility? You stretch! A good way to stretch is to go slightly over the limit, but not so much as to tear your muscle. It's better to stretch your vocal cords little by little for 10 minutes at a time. It might put a strain on your vocal cord if you try to do it too much. Practice continuously, a little bit at a time.

Okay I'm up to page 13 now. I'll update this when I have some more time.

[Guest AMIbunny]

I have a WEbcam with a built in mic... do you guys think i can record my singing with only AUDIO?? ><

[Guest raspberylotion22]

Alrite when i sing for a while and prac like my neck hella feels wierd. It doesnt hurt but during singing i pressure my neck alot so after if i push my neck i feel like barfing. i need ur guys help

you prolly shouldn't sing through your neck cause firstly, it doesn't give you enough support for high notes, and secondly, you get tired easily if you sing through your neck and after a while your voice will start cracking lol.

try to sing from your chest first. and then after a while you'll learn to get support from your abs...which i have no idea how it feels like ><

[Guest alicee]

When you guys usually record your music, do you stand up and sing or do you

sit down? I sit down because I have a crappy microphone and if I move it, it'll

sound all staticky and stuff (it's a desktop microphone -.-, but I have one attached

to my headphones too).

I control my voice better when I sit down, which is kinda weird, because when I

stand up, I guess I'm not used to controlling how much intake of air I have and

my voice is all wavery and I run out of breath =X I don't know how to fix it. I've

been trying to practice for the last two months and even though my voice is more

powerful when I stand up, I run out of breath faster and it's still wavery.

And yeah, I practice breathing control before I sleep and I do my SLS scales

when I have the time, but I usually do basic scales for a warm up =\

[Guest JF21©]

I think you should video record yourself one time when you sing. Maybe contemplate on the songs your singing. If it's a happy song, think happy thoughts. And if your feeling just okay, I think you should be more dramatic about it. Like, go a step further than happy and be silly about it. [make sure not to overdo it though xD]

I'm no professional, I'm still trying to make sure I hit every note right, but I think I get how easily emotions can show up on a person's face. Also, I think if you watch live performances, like Jiang Li In's, you can see the emotions she has. It looks all corny, but I believe that it works. ^__^ I hope all that chatter and nonsense helped some. xP

yeah my VC told me to record myself so i get a look at how i appear to others..lol and it's weird..cuz i look hella bored, but i'm trying to change that...it's just my facial expression in it's natural state looks bored/angry....iono >.<

Am I too late? XD

For me...at first, I didn't get the emotion thing. Then, I started paying attention to the feeling of the song. If the song is sad, I think of my current sad situation. I know for sure if I have displayed enough emotions if I'm in tears. It's enough to make your heart hurt. Just find out how the song can apply to your life.

If I'm singing an upbeat song, I think about what I will achieve.

thanks, i tried doing that as well, but i start crying...alot...lol i know it's a good exercise to help release the emotion in the song tho, so i think i've got to just get thru it without worrying about crying all over everything and just let it happen...

thank again for your advice guys (or girls) i'm going to give it a couple more go's and see if i can make any significant progress...

[Guest AMIbunny]

Hiii!! the program i am using is AUDACITY...but when i save my project, it saves the file as .aup.... i want to save it as MP3.... :[ how can i convert it?????

[Guest JunRi<3]

Just wondering, I generally have a pretty low voice (which I don't mind) but if I try to hit those.. how do I say, "balance notes" between high and normal/low, I strain a lot. For instance, like for "If I ain't got you" by alicia keys, that part where she starts singing "some people want it all." That would be the hardest part in the song for me, obviously. I'm not saying I expect to hit that generally hard part by magic, but what could I do to actually sing that area?

[Guest JF21©]

^^

you have to ''stretch'' your vocal cords. try doing exercises on the piano going up the scale. go as high as you can go, then come back down, keep doing it till you get comfortable then go higher.

[Guest jwarder3001]

sorry if someone already received an answer for this question, but i couldnt really find it

how does everyone record themselves with the music of the song they're singing? without the voice(s) of the singer(s) who initially sang the song...like they record their voices with the music..how do you do that? is there a program?

[Guest JF21©]

sorry if someone already received an answer for this question, but i couldnt really find it

how does everyone record themselves with the music of the song they're singing? without the voice(s) of the singer(s) who initially sang the song...like they record their voices with the music..how do you do that? is there a program?

you need an instrumental or back track. some people just play it in the background and sing (so that you can still hear the music) and others will sing and then mix their vocals with the track. for that you need an audio editing program. i have goldwave..there are others (audacity, cakewalk, etc)

check the pinned topic for instrumentals. if you don't find any you're looking for you may place a request and we'll try to help you. (just make sure you dont request an ungodly amount of instrumentals...it's kinda rude lol)

happy recording

[Guest K-Free]

I was wondering what is wrong with my voice lately, before i have been just Yelling, just normal yelling and screaming. after i did that i couldnt use any falsetto or make my voice really high, my friends say its puberty but im not sure if it is or i damaged it, its been like this for 2-3 months now.. and i just turned 16 a month ago, do u guys think its puberty or i did soemthing??

[Guest JF21©]

wait--what?

you mean it's hard to sing falsetto after you've been screaming, or it's hard in general.

if you want to keep your voice healthy, yelling and screaming is not the way to go about it.....lol

also ur puberty might be playing in as to why you cant go as high as you used to, but i suggest doing some scale exercises now to keep your voice in shape...it will be easier than if you wait till puberty has turned you into the jolly green giant

[Guest yoori]

how do singers like christina aguilera and mariah carey make their voice "rumble" when they're singing?

[Guest A.lee]

sry if this was already asked b4 or wutever... but i dont really understand... is falsetto the same thing as head voice? cuz in the descriptions given here it kinda seems like they are?...