Best way to try out a singer?

[JayB]

Hey guys , I was just wondering , when looking for a singer these days, do you bother having every reply (to an ad or whatever) come and jam with you? Or do you just upload a sample of your music and have them send a sample , (if they don;t have any previous recordings.) My band needs a singer and we would like a decent one, and I would rather keep things impersonal until I know we have someone we might want to keep. If someone comes in and sucks really bad , not only is it going to be an uncomfortable practice but also I would feel bad telling them to go away

So what do you think? Should all reasonably good singers have access to at least SOME form of recording equipment/ basic computer skills? At least to use Audacity or something...Especially since we practice at my drummer's place ( only two guitarists and drummer right now ) and we would have to rent rehearsal space for a singer to come try out...
Ideally I would love to put an ad out and I just get a bunch of samples sent to me and I get to pick the best ... is that plausible or no?

 

[Force666]

Not really. You'de be really cutting your chance of finding a great singer to probably 5% of potential singers. Don't flame me, but singers are usually the least hard working, and least likely to be recording metal musicians out there. I'de be more apt to make them send an old recording of a prior band....and if they don't have that, then you can guess they don't really have any experience. As far as ads and stuff, that's the first thing I ask for for any instrument, and also filter by age, influences and gear.

 

[JayB]

Yeah ... my old band had a terrible singer (he started the band and I joined later) and I just want to hold out for the right one this time. That's what I was thinking , if they don't have ANY previous recordings they probably aren't very experienced. If I was trying out for another band , and I was replying through email , I would definitely send a sample of my playing before ever going to jam

 

[Moonlight_Seeker]

When I had to do this I prefered in person and I tell everyone we try many singers/musicians/lalala. So no bad feelings. So if the person asks : so am I in? You say, dunno more people to try.

 

[Mago]

or "don't call us, we'll call you"

I wouldn't rely on that good singers have to have a recording allready or recording equipment/skills, because there's good people out there who just havent done anything recording related.

 

[slashvanyoung]

IMO, especially with singers, the "soft-skills" are basically equally as important as the actual musical talent (especially if you plan on playing live/touring), therefore anyone gets a chance in a rehearsal situation unless there is already information to disregard him/her from the get-go.

 

[JayB]

Thanks for the replies guys. Our drummer actually had a great singer in his old band , like incredibly good , unfortunately he apparently is a dick of epic proportions. I told him I don't care how good he is , if he's a total douche I don't want him in the band. We have too great of a vibe in the band now , and I'd hate to ruin all the fun we have with some over controlling douche singer.

 

[Mago]

Thanks for the replies guys. Our drummer actually had a great singer in his old band , like incredibly good , unfortunately he apparently is a dick of epic proportions. I told him I don't care how good he is , if he's a total douche I don't want him in the band. We have too great of a vibe in the band now , and I'd hate to ruin all the fun we have with some over controlling douche singer.

yep. no one likes ego-b-ass-'tards...

 

[JayB]

So true... especially when they are talentless

 

[Nebulous]

Given my experience with my best mate who is a developing vocalist I would suggest that the rehearsal route might be the best to weed out the boys from the men.
Anyone can spend hours recording a sample, but to pull it off in a room with other people would be a different story. Especially for singers IMO.
Pretty much all members of the band have something to do for the majority of the song except the singer, so you'd want to see how a person carries themselves between singing their parts. Do they keep up some energy/ vibe/ intensity, or do they just put the mic on the stand or hold it at the side of their body and stand looking bored during a solo? How much do they seem to be into the music? Etc...

One thing I would recommend as far as choosing or not choosing a person, if they definitely don't get the gig- tell them. Doesn't have to be face to face on the day, but you don't want a bunch of pissed off people bad mouthing you as unprofessional because you suddenly announce a singer and you never got back to them as a common courtesy.

 

[JayB]

Of course I would tell them. I just would rather be sent samples so I know they have at least some talent and are at least in the spectrum of what we are looking for. We put an ad up stating that we like bands like Machine Head , Chimaira , Lamb Of God etc , and we got responses from nu metal singers and even power metal... we got one response from a dude who sent a sample of his old band and was decent , but flaked the fuck out every week and every week called to say he would be there... like who the fuck does that? Just say you can't come for fucks sake. Talented , reliable , well- mannered singers have to be the rarest breed on the planet.

 

[joelplagues]

my band has recently been through this process so here is what we did.

basically we already had mp3's ready for people to download and record over. only problem is some people dont have recording gear.

we had the people that could record just have a go at our tracks and send it back to us. If we thought they were decent and had potential despite the crappy quality of recording we invited them along to rehearsel.

everyone else who had no previous samples or gear we just setup a rehearsel day where we might audition 2-3 vocalists one after the other obviously at seperate times, say 1 every hour.

dont write people off just cause they're myspace photo looks lame or they have never been a vocalist before. you might find yourself a diamond in the rough.

 

[JayB]

thanks for the response trivkidd ! I think we'll put some mp3's up like you said.

 

[Mago]

Given my experience with my best mate who is a developing vocalist I would suggest that the rehearsal route might be the best to weed out the boys from the men.
Anyone can spend hours recording a sample, but to pull it off in a room with other people would be a different story. Especially for singers IMO.
Pretty much all members of the band have something to do for the majority of the song except the singer, so you'd want to see how a person carries themselves between singing their parts. Do they keep up some energy/ vibe/ intensity, or do they just put the mic on the stand or hold it at the side of their body and stand looking bored during a solo? How much do they seem to be into the music? Etc...

One thing I would recommend as far as choosing or not choosing a person, if they definitely don't get the gig- tell them. Doesn't have to be face to face on the day, but you don't want a bunch of pissed off people bad mouthing you as unprofessional because you suddenly announce a singer and you never got back to them as a common courtesy.

good point.

 

[Nebulous]

Of course I would tell them.

That's cool. Just thought it was worth mentioning. I tried out for a high profile band once who didn't get back to me, then suddenly they were announcing their new member on the net.
Would have been nice to at least get a "thanks, but we found the right person".