Singing?

One thing that always helps when you are in doubt, push on the tragus of your ear with your index finger. Seems to help find the pitch (for me, at least).

(in case you don't know what it is... I didn't, had to look it up! :D )
http://www.infovisual.info/03/048_en.html

Yeah either do that or (better) monitor your singing (with headphones).

We always hear ourselves higher than we actually are because the sonic waves not only travel through the air to our ear but also through our jaw.

That's the reason why many people are quite shocked when they hear their "real" voice for the first time when they are recorded.
 
  • Tenor: C3 – C5
  • Baritone: G2 – G4
  • Bass: E2 – E4
Once you know youre range you can start sining along on some tunes you like that's in your register.

I had to check with melodyne... shit, I'm a tenor? Never would've thought, because I can go _really_ low, but not cleanly. The notes were almost on key between C3 and C5, below that just horribly off key :puke:
 
I'm not great at vocals but I did work on them for while by myself, basically learning songs and by training my pitch by playing a note on the guitar, then matching it.
What I found helped alot was singing the note, taking about 15-20 seconds break, then singing it again over a chord progression holding the note. This way I was able to kinda develop more of an ear for tuning and at the same time got to practise breathing and consistency.
Gets really tricky when you play a note and then try and harmonise with it right off the bat.

Recording helps SOOOO much, I recorded several acapella pieces. All really short and most of them horrible but the practise was great- I'd come out a much better singer after each session ( each one took me a couple of hours, but the more I did the faster I became). I only did all this on and off for a few months, if you kept this kind of practise up you'd be an amazing singer in no time. Obviously for all this recording you keep well away from autotune/melodyne etc...
 
for those without melodyne a good way to practice(for free) is with

Gsnap,keyboard/piano and a microphone
gsnap free download link :http://www.gvst.co.uk/gsnap.htm

Gsnap has 2 lines...one with your desired pitch and other showing in which note are you right now

i havent started yet because im too busy with recordings and my studies but
i really want to start practicing my singing as soon as i can
 
oddly enough i've discovered a fairly recent (in the last year or so) desire and somewhat of an ability to sing (though to what degree i pull it off successfully is for the individual listener to decide i guess, lol) and have both clean and "heavy" vocals on a recent, upcoming album i've produced and will be mixing.

i guess i've been singing for years really... usually over the talk-back to singers in the bands i've produced... teaching them the line, or the harmony... i just finally decided to move from the CR to the booth and project a little. the band leader / songwriter for the project i've added my vox to says my heavy vox remind him of Thomas L., ha... not so sure about that one myself.

i am 100% sure though that i'm not using exactly proper technique, so i have picked up some DVDs in the hopes to remedy that as soon as possible. can't really recommend them yet, as i haven't had any time to dig into them, but the ones i've picked up so far are The Zen of Screaming and The Zen of Screaming 2 from Melissa Cross, and The Art of Screaming from Susan M. Garr.
 
I only started singing 3 years ago... Got sick of recording music without vocals... Though it was only during Summer 08 when I got good at it. I downloaded Tony Bennett's greatest hits, and if you haven't heard him - The guy has one of the most amazing voices with the most amazing vibrato ever. I loved the music & would just sing along to it... I found it soooooo singable, like couldn't help myself. So I consider him my teacher in one aspect.

So... Get a bunch of your favourite singers & sing along to them. Try and learn their techniques through experimentation etc... That's my tip anyway. Just make sure it's more than one singer. Like 5 or 10 of your favourite vocalists. Make a track listing and sing through it everyday.

That's probably the best advice I could give.
 
I highly recommend The Zen Of Screaming. It helped me immensely with both growling and melodic vocals and having a daily routine that keeps my voice in shape. 15 minutes a day is all you need to get your voice in shape and keep it there.

As far as range - you're born with what you have to an extent. It's not to say you can't get your voice to sound better, or get a few extra notes with some practice, but you have to really learn to embrace the strengths of your own voice - which will never be the extremities of your range - so it's not likely that you will sound like your vocal heroes unless you naturally have a similar voice.

Both growling and melodic vocals you say?
I was almost going to buy Zen of Screaming, so I could learn to do vocals for my own projects, but I was told I shouldn't bother since the techniques it teaches cannot be readily applied to death growls.

Sure being able to scream would be cool anyway and I would maybe get it for that, but I'm more of a death metal fan than a metalcore fan and obviously that means I'm more interested in wanting to learn how to growl.
So you definite that the techniques that get taught in that DVD can ensure you wont cause any harm to your vocal chords doing death growls? (well I know all death growls cause damage, obviously I mean minimizing damage as much as possible)
 
And try to find songs in your own comfortable range. At first, don't try to sing along to songs that are (even slightly) out of your range, as it will only make it unnatural and uncomfortable. After you've had some practice, you can start expanding the range.
 
I would also recommend the Zen Of Screaming, actually great exercises for clean vocals to, its been helping wonderfully for me, make sure to get the extra CD thats about 30 minutes of additional instruction.
 
Both growling and melodic vocals you say?
I was almost going to buy Zen of Screaming, so I could learn to do vocals for my own projects, but I was told I shouldn't bother since the techniques it teaches cannot be readily applied to death growls.

Melissa noted that Death was similar to other screams however they are quick bursts of low pitch screaming. Its more of dropping your larynx as low as possible without strain and for a short period of time hold the same amount of air that you would do with say a fire technique.

well I know all death growls cause damage, obviously I mean minimizing damage as much as possible

not true, damage causes from the improper use of the sound which results in inflation of the vocal chords, if you are screaming and have no inflammation, absolutely no damage is being done.
 
But dont let the range-thingy be to a limit. It's just some general guidance lines.
  • Tenor: C3 – C5
  • Baritone: G2 – G4
  • Bass: E2 – E4
Once you know youre range you can start sining along on some tunes you like that's in your register.

Actually, voice type depends just as much on timbre (or tessitura if you want to use big Latin words for no reason) as range. In operatic singing, there are like 7 or 8 different classes of bass, depending largely on tone - basso profoundo, dramatic bass, basso cantante, and so on. They're all centred in the bass range, but dramatic basses sound much lower than cantantes when they sing the same note - hence people having seemingly low voices that have typically 'tenor' ranges.

Chris Cornell is a baritone, even though a lot of his singing in up in the tenor range - he belts the top notes (that's actually the technical term for it bizarrely). Axl Rose does sing baritone on a few songs, and his voice sounds much better like that than his "normal" tenor head voice. I have a typically 'bass' tone, but my range is Eb2 to C#5 on a good day, and I'm most comfortable in the baritone range. Just find out your range, and don't worry about the names.

Expanding your range tends to happening naturally to some degree. The more you sing, the more trained and flexible your vocal chords become, which naturally makes it easier to go higher. There are specific exercises that can help too - lip rolls is the big current trend, and tongue trills

Personally, as I've said on here a couple of times before, I don't think the Zen of Screaming is helpful in the slightest - nothing is properly explained or demonstrated, most of it is just guys with good technique growling down the camera. She also uses her own terminology for everything (again, never properly explaining any of it), which makes it fairly useless for transferring to an actual real life vocal coach - the worst thing is her constant referencing to using "the dump" like it's something she's discovered, when in fact it's actually just diaphragmatic breathing, which is lesson one with any vocal coach. The worst part is the lack of information on what she calls "heat" (and everyone else calls "vocal fry"). She mentions it very briefly, and then says using it is how to make things sound angry - but she never once demonstrates how to do it properly, even though doing it wrong it a very easy way to wreck your throat.

The warm-up CD with it is good though, it's very straightforward. It's just a simple warm-up across the whole range, with some sneaky muscle stretching added in for good measure - nothing involving stupid phrases etc.

Steve