Singing like another singer

[CaptainCsaba]

Hello! I've been learning singing for 2 years now with a teacher. My goal with singing is to create a tribute band of my favorite band: Sabaton. I look a lot like the singer and I have kind of the same voice tone as him but not entirelly. I've learned Seth Riggs' techniques on speech level singing for a lot of time now.

 

Now, I know what you are thinking since everybody said this to me about my problem. They say to me: Oh don't try to sing like someone else, sing like your own, be unique etc etc. While I agree with this, in my case, I want to create a tribute band, so I NEED to sing like that singer, I already have another band where I can explore myself.

 

My question is: Does anybody of you know a technique to sing like someone else, or at least to try to emulate their voice? I would love any information about this because I really want to do this, I just don't know how.

[davie]

Hi there,

 

I'm not really an expert on emulating other singers. But here are some general aspects you can work on to get closer to where you want to achieve. It may take some time and trial and error.

 

-study the singer's style and diction, listen closely to how they pronounce their words, such as each consonant, vowel and how words are strung together

 

-work on adjusting your vocal colour and tonal qualities, eg. grit, nasality, overtones, vibrato, etc., some singers do this by making slight adjustments to their breath compression, placement and shaping of the vocal tract

 

-work on vocal technique to help maintain the same intensity of singing as the singer

 

-record yourself often and listen back, then use an objective ear to make comparisons between you and the singer

 

[WRGKMC]

Singing along with the recordings is the only thing I can suggest. Maybe using the same mic as the singer can help a bit too, but I can tell you truthfully. I played if cover bands since the early 70's and over that time, I've never done better then getting close. Same with playing an instrument. I can play music by many artists note for note but a keen ear can tell the difference.

 

The thing is, most people in the audience cant sing period. They can spot talent however, so whatever you do, just do it well.

If the music doesn't match your voice well enough, (notice I said, music match your voice and not the other way around) then maybe you shouldn't be pushing yourself to do tribute music.

 

To do tribute music really well of any kind is really rare. The only convincing band I saw do it really well was Beatlemania. They not only looked close but you could close your eyes and just listen to how close the music and the vocals were. But they were still just close. I have trained ears from playing so many years so I pick out things others may not.

 

This includes the voices of many famous singers whose voices change over time. Some get better and some get worse. The ones who are the most consistent are the ones who don't try and sound like others. McCartney for example still sounds like he did on those old recordings even with his age. He cant belt out the high notes as well as he did and his weight darkens his voice, but it still sounds like him.

 

Tell you the truth, if a person actually has a good voice I'd rather hear that instead of him doing throat contortions trying to make himself sound like someone he isn't because its always going to sound worse or at least less genuine. You sing from the heart and people connect. you sing from memory or some formula trying to color your voice and you wont.

 

There are some people who have a gift for copying other peoples voice, especially comedians. They do the whole impersonation thing well but they rarely become famous because they spend too much time in the shadow of others instead of developing the talents given them. Life is short. Its fine to copy others from an educational aspect or make a little cash playing gigs.

 

Having met many of the famous musicians I idolized as a child (many whose music I played for years) I realized wouldn't want to be those people. They all confirmed it by telling me the same thing. Be who you are because you know yourself better then any one else.

[HollyCR]

There are some people who have a gift for copying other peoples voice, especially comedians. They do the whole impersonation thing well but they rarely become famous because they spend too much time in the shadow of others instead of developing the talents given them. Life is short. Its fine to copy others from an educational aspect or make a little cash playing gigs.

 

Yes, yes, and yes. But...

 

You say that you already have a similar voice and just want to fine tune it to Brodén's. WRGKMC is right about true tribute bands only coming close, but I don't think it's really the main factor. I do imitations of various singers, and that is, admittedly, VERY hard on the voice. If you have managed to acheive a close proximation, you might want to be OK with that for now and concentrate on this (it works for me):

 

Channel the singer. You know how he moves, his facial expressions, hand gestures. Take that knowledge and close your eyes while you practice. BE him mentally. With a bit of time, you should notice that your voice has also developed in the direction you want to take. Bonus: Your stage performance will be so good that it will likely mask the perceived difference in your voices.

 

That said... unless you want to do this project just for fun, i.e. you don't expect to be able to live off of what you make, you might want to reconsider the idea. There are tribute bands that do very well financially, but they are few and far between, and the ones that come to my mind are bands that do tribute to a band with a HUGE following, like the Beatles or Queen, ABBA, etc. You are looking at a niche market, which will make it even tougher.

 

Do you think you could develop your own voice and the imitation alongside each other? You never know, but people might just prefer you!

[WRGKMC]

What it reminds me of are Elvis impersonators. You can dress them up, Put on wigs, and get the moves down and all and its good for a laugh but as far as being an artist its a little kinky. like Holly says, its a Niche market and if the original artist is still alive? You need dire hard fans who are dedicated to wanting to hear that music all the time. I've done the whole Tribute thing playing in a Doors band. The Keyboard player did a fine job nailing Morrison's voice and the entire band nailed the sound.

 

We eventually expanded the music to play other music from that era to get better jobs. We ware able to work it up to about $2500 a night but many of the jobs were specialized. We did allot of private parties and Company sponsored gigs. Bar gigs wouldn't pay nearly as much so we's play a couple of gigs a month tops.