Singing Pet Peeves.... what are yours?

[rhat]

I guess for me, its people who have the vocals on their myspace page and CDs cooked so hard by the fix meisters at the studio. You hear a band on their page and you hear great vocals ,,, when you pay the cover ,, they sound lifeless and dead and pitchy.

[loveyourstarfish]

No offense Bajazz, but considering Al is a long time professional singing teacher, he probably knows what he's talking about .

 

Also, while range obviously can be improved a lot, your natural voice, etc cannot. I have a large range and am a tenor but its silly to be saying you can nail above high C when you admit that you are singing too low in practice. If you are nailing these metal songs, you're going to have to be singing them with your full voice and not going into a weak mix sound or really heady.

 

For what its worth, I've been training using the SLS method for awhile here in vancouver.

[Bajazz]

 

Also, while range obviously can be improved a lot, your natural voice, etc cannot. I have a large range and am a tenor but its silly to be saying you can nail above high C when you admit that you are singing too low in practice. If you are nailing these metal songs, you're going to have to be singing them with your full voice and not going into a weak mix sound or really heady.

No matter if you're a singer/coach or whatever it doesn't mean you can master all aspects of singing. I have been performing professianally since 80's, but Not much heavy metal. Some hard rock and lot''s of rock, pop, country etc where SLS is nice. Classical and opera was never my strengths.

AC/DC seems to be easier to nail than for instance DIO (even if it goes higher) cause the compression and grit seems to help the cords to zip correctly at loud volumes.

 

About the high C: I could sing it tensionfree in SLS in volume 7 of 10 at full voice (not falsetto or weak mix) for years. Now I'm beginning to learn how to do it heavy metal-wise which isn't the easiest way. And me being slow learning 39 y.o Baritone says that most people should be able to do it. And all all I'm doing is a bit daily training and focusing on the technique while trying to change the way I sing those difficult songs. It's takes time, cause my auto-pilot kicks me into SLS-mode when going into those heights.

[Dr.Innovation]

Vocal coach/teacher myself too.... No matter if you're a singer/coach or whatever it doesn't mean you can master all aspects of singing. I have been performing professianally since 80's, but Not much heavy metal. Some hard rock and lot''s of rock, pop, country etc where SLS is nice. Classical and opera was never my strengths.

 

It also doesn't mean that "anyone" can't master all aspects of singing either.

[loveyourstarfish]

Vocal coach/teacher myself too.... No matter if you're a singer/coach or whatever it doesn't mean you can master all aspects of singing. I have been performing professianally since 80's, but Not much heavy metal. Some hard rock and lot''s of rock, pop, country etc where SLS is nice. Classical and opera was never my strengths. AC/DC seems to be easier to nail than for instance DIO (even if it goes higher) cause the compression and grit seems to help the cords to zip correctly at loud volumes. About the high C: I could sing it tensionfree in SLS in volume 7 of 10 at full voice (not falsetto or weak mix) for years. Now I'm beginning to learn how to do it heavy metal-wise which isn't the easiest way. And me being slow learning 39 y.o Baritone says that most people should be able to do it. And all all I'm doing is a bit daily training and focusing on the technique while trying to change the way I sing those difficult songs. It's takes time, cause my auto-pilot kicks me into SLS-mode when going into those heights.

 

I had initially thought you were {censored} talking teen at first-my bad:lol:

 

I'm sort of going through something similar right now, as SLS method is working great and I can comfortably sing my stuff, but would like to get the power and growl of some not so "technically great" singers like Chris Cornell but without thrashing my voice.

[crewdog151]

Great post Al!

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by astring

McCain dumped his handicapped wife for a much younger (and richer) girl.

McCain was into the adultery thing big time (again he was married to that gal who was in the wheelchair).

McCain divorced his handicapped wife and married the much younger much richer gal.

Cindy (the rich young one) was a drug addict.

Cindy stole massive amounts of drugs from a charity that helped poor third world kids.

The McCains engaged in an unethical coverup that {censored}ed up people's lives.

 

 

 

 

I'm so glad to see the Idiots of the world have their say here too! Some comedian used to say that stupid people should carry a sign, I'm glad to see that in this arena some of them can do just that! :poke:

[pmtrub]

 

What's wrong with working hard expanding your range. Your guitar player has spent thousands of hours practicing learing to play as fast as he need to be to be able to pull it off. All singers can expand their range, there is no such thing as a pocket vocal range.

 

 

Range aside. No matter what your range is, there are still sweet spots and specific keys where your voice sounds it's best.

[Bajazz]

 

Range aside. No matter what your range is, there are still sweet spots and specific keys where your voice sounds it's best.

Just another area to work on.

 

From the first sound you made until the first song you performed it took many hours of using the voice. This was all practice. Some tend to think it's just was there at the beginning, but the only thing we can do with our newborn voice is to cry. From there we copy the people around us and try to do what they do.

 

Learning and practice is just not something that happens when we take lessons and sing scales. It's a process that's constantly in work. Whether we learn or not depends on focus, opening your mind and repetition.

 

That's why I think it's strange that som people think that suddenly at one point our voice is carved in stone and can't be changed. You might try to tell me "ok, but you learn much slower at age and can't do any major changes" I call it a myth. Tests show that age and experiencer make you learn faster. But this only works if you are open minded.

 

If you think you can do it or not do it, you are in both cases right!!

[Terry Allan Hall]

Sorry if this sounds jerkish, but as a guitarist I have a pet peeve about singers wanting to sing songs outside the original key, and just expecting the players to follow along no matter what. For guitar-centric tunes, sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn't. Sure, a guitar player can capo a tune in C up to C# with no problems, but if the singer wants to take it down to Bb and there are a lot of embellishments involving open C and G chords, it's a completely different story. Also, God help the singer who insists on key changes and then gets impatient on stage when you are fumbling around with a capo and trying to tune your guitar, or tuning the whole thing down to Eb or D.

 

 

 

 

 

Recordings was made in that vocalist's natural key/range...You can only take a voice so far out of it's natural range, while any good guitarist can play any song in any key.

 

Some guitarist will use a guitar strung a little heavier and tuned down a whole step for some songs, like when you want to play a song w/ "E" riffs, but sing it comfortably in "D".

[Terry Allan Hall]

i heard stories about when chris isaak was starting out. even if he was playing to just the bartender and the cocktail waitress, he gave it his all. he figured that if he won over just one person as a new fan, then it was worth it. to me, that is a great, professional attitude. there is absolutely no excuse for putting on a poor show because of a bad turnout.

 

X 1,000!

[JTEES4]

I suck at singing...that's my biggest pet peeve.

[Bryan316]

i heard stories about when chris isaak was starting out. even if he was playing to just the bartender and the cocktail waitress, he gave it his all. he figured that if he won over just one person as a new fan, then it was worth it. to me, that is a great, professional attitude. there is absolutely no excuse for putting on a poor show because of a bad turnout.

 

 

 

EXACTLY! I've never treated any gig like a small gig. When I'm on the stage, I'm just as insane and maniacal and exhausted afterwards no matter the crowd size. Always be professional, always look good and sound better, always engage the crowd, always give everything you got. Cuz the bar owner might be watching, and realise how much he likes your band BECAUSE you gave it your all for an empty bar.

 

When Edguy last came to the I-Rock and played for 30 people, compared to their usual 20,000 European festival audiences, they STILL ripped it up! When Kamelot did a show in Minneapolis for maaaaybe 300 people compared to Wacken Open Air's typical 300,000, they STILL brought their whole stage setup with crazy lights and smoke and everything and played 2 hours solid.

 

Professionalism goes a long way.

[careful now]

here is another one that has led to a lot of wasted time auditioning singers:

 

a singer's real abilities are often inversely proportionate to the amount of smack he or she talks.

 

no more. now, if in the initial phone conversation, the singer is the least bit of an ego-maniacal me-monkey, i say, "thank you for your time.", and hang up. maybe by doing this i am missing out on the next great rock singer of our generation, but somehow i really, really doubt it.

[MDLMUSIC]

I am a singer/guitarist who works as a hired gun in a bunch of local bands, as well as having my own R&R trio and doing solo work.

 

One of my biggest complaints is singers who insist on doing a song in what I would consider a strange key when by moving it up or down a step, it could easily be played and, in all likelihood, not affect his or her performance. For example, I worked with one band where the girl singer insisted on doing "Old Time Rock and Roll" in C#. Yeah, I know it's only three chords (in her case, C#, F#, and G#) but I asked if she could either move it up to D or down to C so that I could use the low open strings on a few of the chords to get more of a rock and roll sound. She told me that she could only sing it in that key. So I capoed at the 4th fret and played it in A.

 

The other problem I have seen is with singers who think they know more than professional soundmen when it comes to making them sound good in a particular venue. I once worked with a latin singer who insisted that the soundman had to set her voice so it was all treble, no bass, and full on reverb. Of course this made her sound like she was singing from the bottom of deep well. I took the soundman aside and told him to set it up that way in her stage monitors, but do it correctly for the mains and for everybody else's monitors. Which is what he did. After the show the singer went over and told the soundman, "See, I know just how to set up the system for my voice."

[Bajazz]

Yes! It's just like the guys who tune the guitar down 1/2 step because it's much easier to sing then...

 

Its' been some talk about whether range is expandable, but let's ask the question a bit different:

- Do you think you have reached your full potential as a singer? I bet you aren't even close!

 

I thought that I couldn't reach higher, so I started to work on different areas: vibrato, techniques, sound, distortion etc... After a while my range had decreased a bit so I decided to work it back, only I gained some extra notes. So I started a little push-pull game with my vocals, and after a while, everything was more fun and exciting. I kept pushing further, a little at a time.

 

I now see singing as a ongoing tour and learn new things along the way. I might practice 30 minutes a day and sometimes 5 hours, but the most important is that I do something everyday. I hate boring excercises, so I need much variation and try to make things fun. One of the things I like to do is play the Singstar (karaoke) game on Playstation. After practicing hours for days on difficulty "hard" I score 95% and I can clearly hear my pitch is much better. I also tested myself on a online pitch test and score much better after a week with lot's of Singstar playing. (See attachment) Not bad for a guy who had a hard time tuning his own guitar.

 

Then again I am very dedicated. I know hard work pays off. I'm lazy by nature, so I have to fool myself into making it all seem like having fun instead of work. There are lot's of demanding excercises I skip because I haven't made them fun yet. So I'll need to apply the "work smart, not hard" on those too. And maybe some day I will reach a tiny bit of my potential...

 

BTW: Sing like there's no tomorrow!!

[JacieFB]

 

One of my biggest complaints is singers who insist on doing a song in what I would consider a strange key when by moving it up or down a step, it could easily be played and, in all likelihood, not affect his or her performance. For example, I worked with one band where the girl singer insisted on doing "Old Time Rock and Roll" in C#. Yeah, I know it's only three chords (in her case, C#, F#, and G#) but I asked if she could either move it up to D or down to C so that I could use the low open strings on a few of the chords to get more of a rock and roll sound. She told me that she could only sing it in that key. So I capoed at the 4th fret and played it in A.

 

 

 

This is totally an experience/confidence thing. When I first started out singing with the group I am with now, I would do a similar thing. We do a lot of songs that I've heard a zillion times, so I have the original album pitch etched in my head. I hadn't been singing that much for a few months prior to joining the group. It was easier for me to reference what I had in my head rather than depend on...well...it's hard to know what to depend on when you're first joining a group. Will it be a great monitor situation? Will you be able to hear guitar? Bass? Other vocals? Etc. As I got more comfortable (and set up practice like an on-stage monitor mix), I was a lot more comfortable really being in the song with the other musicians and not just depending on what was in my head. Honestly, I'd say cut her some slack, especially if it's not your band. If she's sang something 1000 times in the same key, it's likely gonna sound a heck of a lot better if she sings it the 1001st time instead of having a sub guitarist come in and move the key around. As a musician, she should be able to move it around, though, I see your point. It's definitely something to work for.

[Bajazz]

And my repeat button is still pushed down, Here I go:

 

What's wrong with practice? Is it so hard to take a few hours and come together and play/sing songs or to sit at home and sing along to mp3 tracks?

 

Everything is so instant today, we demand results at once. Everybody wants fame and fortune for free.

 

It's not OK to give up if you can't do it right away: You are supposed to try until you can do it! It might take 10 tryouts, or it's gonna take 241 291 or zillion times.

 

But' that's the standard today when you've reached a certain level, especially singers: Stop getting better and start being a diva!

[vanlatte]

Pet Peeves- 1. Jaw wobble vibrato. Vibrato comes from the way you move the breath thru your cords, not your jaw. Moving the jaw creates tension in the jaw, face, and throat and is thus detrimental to your tone. I want to grab people who do this by the mouth and hold them still. 2. Vocal masturbation, i.e. the Whitney-wanking mentioned earlier. Best illustrated by R&B singers asked to sing the Star Spangled Banner at baseball games and they do it at 1/4 tempo and do so many gymnastics the whole way thru it becomes nearly unrecognizable. It's the national anthem and it's actually supposed to be at a medium uptempo speed. STFU and sing the song and get off the field. No one cares about your vocal Yngwie-like wanking.

 

 

*golf claps*

 

[BigMac5]

Sound guys who flip out when I want to use MY microphone. Sorry you mediocre prick, but my mic is better than your beat-to-{censored} house mics, and I prefer my audience to be able to UNDERSTAND my singing. That, and I ain't using the same mic that death metal cookie monster yogurt gargler just used before me. I ain't a germophobe, but you can't tell me to ignore the crabs that jumped from his Kerry King beard and started crawling on the windscreen! {censored} monitors. Why, oh why, can't somebody just order up some BFM full-range monitors? Please? I'll build em FOR you if you just let me!!!

These sound like sound man pet peeves, not singing pet peeves.