Do you like your own voice?

[grace_slick]

See, that's good, that you place importance on the feeling and genuine emotion involved in delivering a vocal performance. Very good. It's more important than the technical aspects IF you have a fairly good voice to begin with. If more people focused on this, many more GOOD singers would be more confident about their own voices.

[LC0728]

The thing I really don't like about my voice is even that I know I've progressed VERY far, people tell me all the time, vocal coaches and friends who're singers, I can feel it when I sing compared to a long time ago. But on recording I still doesn't sound good, I dunno if it's the song choice or what. >.

[grace_slick]

It could be song choice...you may not be familiar yet with what really suits your voice...

 

Also, sounding good when being recorded / listening back to the recording, it takes a while to become comfortable with how you sound and also to learn what sounds good for your voice.

 

It may not be as simple as this, but it may also be just that you hear one thing in your head when you sing, and then you PROPERLY hear yourself when played back on a recording, and you just have to get used to that. Everyone goes through that.

[staticsound]

We are our own worst critics, especially when it comes to recording. I've learned just to track it and let other people be the judge. If I'm recording a song, I used to spend hours doing retakes until I thought it was perfect, only to go back to the original and realize that it sounded fine in the first place.

 

I agree with Polly. I tend to listen to all the technical aspects of the track...which drives me nuts. I do that with other singers too. Drives me crazy!!

[NeverTheMachine]

Maybe the op was referring to tone only. I like my tone for my normal register. When I belt high maybe not so much. It takes some perfecting. That's why Cornell is successful because he can belt and the tone happens to be good too. A lot of people can do the physical act of belting, but not everyone can do it with good tone.

[LC0728]

If he's referring to tone, I don't like my high tone, or low tone, but my mid-range sounds fine.

 

EDIT: And, grace, I get what you're saying and try to keep in mind when I listen to myself recorded that I won't sound the same, it's the way the human body works =p

[Jersey Jack]

See, that's good, that you place importance on the feeling and genuine emotion involved in delivering a vocal performance. Very good. It's more important than the technical aspects IF you have a fairly good voice to begin with. If more people focused on this, many more GOOD singers would be more confident about their own voices.

 

+100!

[grace_slick]

Thanks Jersey!!

[Pankot]

Hmm, strange coincidence! I blogged on a very similar topic yesterday:

 

"Longer ago than I care to admit, I was in my first band. Back then my singing sucked. We are talking dyson-level suck, ladies and gentlemen. My voice was thinner than a rice pancake, my range was risible, and pitching forgettable.

 

How I long for those days again... "

 

Continued here: The horror of "OK"

[KJI105]

I used to hate my singing voice and I still hate my talking voice when I hear it recorded. But when I hear properly recorded vocals from myself in a style I like and think I pulled off well... I don't hate my voice anymore.

[EightString]

I like mine fairly well.

[grace_slick]

 

I used to hate my singing voice and I still hate my talking voice when I hear it recorded. But when I hear properly recorded vocals from myself in a style I like and think I pulled off well... I don't hate my voice anymore.

 

 

Very good to hear you don't hate your voice anymore when it's properly recorded...that's good.

 

I used to also find my speaking voice REALLY...uncomfortable to listen to played back at me...but I've kind of become used to it over the past few years...if you can sort of try to adopt a slightly different "persona" or style to your speaking voice when recorded, you will most likely be much more comfortable hearing it back. Or else just make a billion webcam videos of yourself talking to someone you're in love with who lives over the other side of the world, like I do, and you tend to get very used to your own voice very quickly. lol

 

And Eighty, you SHOULD like your voice fairly well! It's amazing!!

[MikeyParent]

I don't love my voice but I don't hate it either. I think when I am in my comfort zone I sound decent but it gets sketchy when I go outside of that I think.

[bloeff]

First, I'd like to apologize for throwing my music in your guys' face and getting out of Dodge. That's been very selfish on my part. Despite this you all have been very friendly to me and given me positive feedback even though my music is quite different from stuff on this site.

 

As far as liking my voice, I don't. I don't think I ever will. Even though I can overlay several tracks and get a decent sound, you wouldn't believe how crappy individual tracks sound without effects - probably because I've never had voice training. In any case, if anyone hasn't checked out A stroll in the English countryside, please do so and let me know what you think.

 

This forum has a certain vibrancy to it, and I would love to participate more, if you would have me.

 

Thanks,

Bruce

[ido1957]

 

First, I'd like to apologize for throwing my music in your guys' face and getting out of Dodge. This forum has a certain vibrancy to it, and I would love to participate more, if you would have me. Thanks, Bruce

 

 

I take Paypal....

[rockerdiva]

On a good day I like my voice. On a bad day, I still believe it is good but it sounds like it takes a lot more effort. Though a bad day singing now is still better than my best day when I started singing in front of people 25+ years ago, so I just try to remember that.

 

I really hate hearing my recorded voice. I can appreciate what is good about it but there are some things I really can't stand (and don't know how to change.)

 

I must like my voice ok though, once my husband asked me, hypothetically - if you could snap your fingers and have someone else's voice = whose would you choose?

I said, "nobody's."

He said, "WELL! It must be nice to think you are the BEST SINGER IN THE WORLD"

I laughed and said, "Far from it! But you didn't ask me if I wanted more range, or strength, or agility added to my OWN voice. You asked me if I'd like to trade MY instrument for someone else's - and no, I would not."

 

Know what I mean?

I doubt Bob Dylan would ever have traded his voice away.

And for the record, I'd rather sing like Tracy Chapman than Celine Dion. And Tracy couldn't dream of pulling off the things Celine does, right?

But I'll bet she wouldn't trade her voice away.

 

So yeah, I guess I like my voice well enough.

At least it is uniquely my own.

[Pankot]

I've got past the stage where I can't bear to hear my own voice, but on a bad day (and I mean psychologically as opposed to having a technically bad day) I feel that there's something about my voice that's fundamentally unlikeable - I can be on pitch, and on rhythm, but the result just sounds... "why would anyone want to hear this?" There are so many other better or more charismatic sounding singers, with whom the listener will compare me.

[Jersey Jack]

 

I've got past the stage where I can't bear to hear my own voice, but on a bad day (and I mean psychologically as opposed to having a technically bad day) I feel that there's something about my voice that's fundamentally unlikeable - I can be on pitch, and on rhythm, but the result just sounds... "why would anyone want to hear this?" There are so many other better or more charismatic sounding singers, with whom the listener will compare me.

 

 

I often feel exactly this way. It's nice to know there are others out there.... But still, we persevere.

[rodclement]

I must be really ego maniac since I seem to be the only one that loves his own voice!

 

Rod

[EightString]

Some of us prefer to preserve at least the appearance of humility.

 

 

 

I'm getting some serious triple deja-vu here...

[chamcham]

I really hate my voice.

It has a wimpy, breathy, feminine tone (think Mike Tyson) even though I'm a guy.

 

I just came back from karaoke with my vocal teacher and her other students(some were voice students, others studied piano or guitar).

 

Good lord. I had the worst voice in the room by a mile.

I felt totally outclassed in every way.

 

Everyone was AWESOME. And when I started singing, I started getting stares and looks from other students that said "omfg! his voice sucks. let me cover my ears". And then they gave me this fake smile and said "your singing is good", but I know it wasn't. Even the people that just started to study piano were amazing.

 

Most of my training up until now has been music theory, scales, and Concone. But recently, we started working more on vocal exercises/drills,breathing, and songs.

 

Anyway, I'm not gonna let it bother me too much.

At least, it gave me an idea of how good I can become if I keep working at it.

 

From now on, I'll definitely need to record myself more often.

 

Last week, I just saw the opener for Season of Sing-Off on NBC. Maybe the best singing competition I've seen on TV so far. Really hope I can sing like the Sing-Off contestants one day.

[chamcham]

Sing-Off Season 3 Intro (song starts at 1:54):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZXiuixxqxA

 

Sing-Off Season 3 Afro-Blue (song starts at 2:10):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEP42mk6Q_o

 

Really like the jazz harmony in Afro-Blue's song.

It was my favorite song in that episode.

 

Anyway, all of the groups so far were really good.

Can't wait to see what's next.

[reddude333]

 

Sing-Off Season 3 Intro (song starts at 1:54): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZXiuixxqxA Sing-Off Season 3 Afro-Blue (song starts at 2:10): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEP42mk6Q_o Really like the jazz harmony in Afro-Blue's song. It was my favorite song in that episode. Anyway, all of the groups so far were really good. Can't wait to see what's next.

 

Makes me want to stop singing, they sound good.

[Squeakbox]

I think it all depends: maybe you have expectations to sing a certain style (like R&B) and you find out you sing like another type of style (e.g. Country), so you may not like country, but you have a country-style voice. Sometimes you can have a few preferences in music, maybe you want to sound like a pop singer, but you sound like you're better off with opera, or maybe a new style. You could be quite happy with that.

 

Sometimes it's just... tone deafness, you expect to hear yourself a certain way, so you believe you sound that way until you record yourself and hear it. It's a type of hallucination. It's not a bad thing to have that happen, it's normal, and it happens to a lot of people. Just look at all the bad singers going up and thinking they're "all that". Perhaps a bad example, but there is an understanding on how someone can hear things the way they hear it (whether they expect it or not), and become deluded to the sound that they hear.

 

Not saying it can happen to you, just saying it's an example of how easily it can happen to anyone. In fact, many singers experience it.

[chamcham]

 

I think it all depends: maybe you have expectations to sing a certain style (like R&B) and you find out you sing like another type of style (e.g. Country), so you may not like country, but you have a country-style voice. Sometimes you can have a few preferences in music, maybe you want to sound like a pop singer, but you sound like you're better off with opera, or maybe a new style. You could be quite happy with that. Sometimes it's just... tone deafness, you expect to hear yourself a certain way, so you believe you sound that way until you record yourself and hear it. It's a type of hallucination. It's not a bad thing to have that happen, it's normal, and it happens to a lot of people. Just look at all the bad singers going up and thinking they're "all that". Perhaps a bad example, but there is an understanding on how someone can hear things the way they hear it (whether they expect it or not), and become deluded to the sound that they hear. Not saying it can happen to you, just saying it's an example of how easily it can happen to anyone. In fact, many singers experience it.

 

 

I went to karaoke again a few days later. This time I only sung with one friend (instead of 15) for the whole afternoon. So I got a chance to sing a lot of songs.

 

It really gave me the chance to see what works for me and what doesn't. I tried to sing many styles.

 

I'm strongest at the middle range (C3 to C4), OK at high range (C4 to E5) and really suck at low range (C2 to C3).

 

Across the board, it seems like top 40 pop/r&b and modern rock doesn't match my voice at all. Apparently, oldies and jazzy/bluesy ballads at the middle range are what works best for me. I really wasn't expecting that. But it became obvious after just a few songs.

 

So, apparently, I'm good at music that I hardly listen to.