davie

Hi and welcome to the forum, I had a few listens to your clips. I think you sound not bad for someone who only started singing a few months ago, but there's definitely room and potential to improve much more. In my opinion, it's pretty difficult to make progress using exercises off of Youtube and websites. Not all vocal programs and techniques are created equal. Regardless I would probably prioritize vocal health above all else for new singers. I find it best when singers establish good vocal habits early on in their vocal journey. If a singer picks up too many bad habits, then it may take more time to correct things, stalling progress even further. This is why getting a voice teacher is an invaluable resource, they can guide you to do things in the right way and can help you make the appropriate adjustments in real-time. From what I heard in the clips, you currently sound like a baritone. Though voice type isn't always obvious in new singers. Usually a singer's voice will change gradually as they train their voice over time. When I started with my first voice teacher I sang like a bass-baritone. Now after training with my current teacher for a number of years, I'm actually a tenor. Regarding technical issues, I do hear some tongue tension in your sound, especially when you're singing the lowest notes in the 'Bruises' clip. I think vocal exercises using 'rolled R' or consonant L might help with this issue. Hope this helps. Feel free to send me any questions.

Hi and welcome to the forum, Jennifer Singing is a great form of expression. Singing is as much an art form as it is a technique. Regardless if you're a beginner or a seasoned singer, its always good to keep on finding new ways to improve the voice. I had a listen to your singing clips. Though I'm not familiar with those songs, I think you made a good effort. My recommendation would be to work on the songs gradually, line by line. Focus on a few phrases at a time until you feel confident with it before moving on to the next part. Record yourself often, and listen back to the recording even more often. Take mental notes after listening back to the recordings on how you think you can improve. To improve the overall sound of the voice, I would recommend taking voice lessons to get more guidance on vocal technique. I hope you find this helpful. All the best.

Very nice. Those are some nice classic mics. Is there a way to get your vocal mic closer? I feel like it might help with the recording overall. Awesome. Looking forward to it!

Great to hear you singing again, Jordan. I always like hearing new and original music. Your vocals kinda remind me of the singer from the band Silverchair. Who are some of your influences? What kinda mic are you recording into? Any plans to develop this song any further?

Hi there, I recommend uploading your video or sound clip to a streaming platform and then posting the link so others can view it.

Hi Chicoi and welcome to the forum, I had some listens to your recordings. I think you sound not bad for a beginner. I think you could become a good singer with proper training. At the moment, the main things I would point out to you would be to watch your body posture and make sure your ribcage isn't collapsing on itself. The breath won't flow efficiently. Secondly, try to sing a bit louder. You may be holding back too much with the voice and trying hard to keep your volume low. But forcing yourself to sing quieter can actually put more tension in the throat. Hope this helps.

Dizziness or lightheadedness isn't unheard of it for beginning singers. It either means you could have been singing with too much tension in the neck or it is an issue with breathing. In your case, it is probably the latter. The issue is called the stacking of breath pressure, it happens when a singer hasn't expelled all the leftover breath from the previous phrase and the singer gradually builds up too much old unused air in the lungs, causing the feeling of breathlessness. Focus on taking a slow and relaxed breath. Once you achieve the feeling of low and deep breath into the body then it should be easier to manage.

Hi Misha, I had a few listens to your recording. I think your pitch is fine. Perfect pitch is a really rare trait and its not essential for becoming a good singer. Relative pitch is more important for singing. You may sometimes feel like your pitch wavers a bit, but that's mainly due to the result of "loose breath". Meaning the breath isn't flowing out evenly enough. In order to sustain a tone and keep its pitch the breath support needs to be more steady. It could be an issue with singing posture or simply the muscles for engaging breath support haven't been fully realized. I think you can bring out more from your voice if you focus on this concept. If in-person lessons are unavailable at the moment due to these circumstances and you need guidance to continue your progress then I suggest you explore options to take voice lessons online. I hope this helps. Stay safe and be well.

Hi and welcome to the forum, I had a listen to it. As KT said, pitch seems fine. In my opinion, that didn't sound too bad. Sounded a bit on the strained side, but its understandable, you're mostly singing in the upper range without vocal training. Diction and enunciation could use some work. Words were difficult to make out. It might be a stylistic intention, but getting a lyrical message across to a listener is very important. Interestingly though, your voice reminds me a lot of the singer from the band "X Japan". I think if you had training you would have the potential to be a very good singer.

Hey KT, good to hear you're still keeping in good spirits and singing it out. We gotta keep improving ourselves and not let this situation get the better of us. To be honest, I've been under a lot of anxiety and haven't been in the mood for doing much lately. Just staying home most of the time and doing things around the house to keep my mind off of things. How are you doing? Hope you're staying well and safe.

Yeah I can understand the issue you're dealing with. When the kick drum mic isn't deep enough it may pick up more of the overall kit. But if you put it way close to the beater then the kick drum becomes much louder relative to the rest of the kit, which will give you an easier threshold to work the gate. If you want a potential bandaid fix then you could always try doing sidechain compression, use the snare track signal to duck the kick drum track. But since you have plenty of time to record it again, I would go back to the recording process and adjust the microphone instead. It's always best to get the sound source right first rather than trying to "fix it in the mix".

I never used a AKG D12 before, but like Phil said it gives a more old school type sound. I think if you want more beater or attack then you should place the mic deeper inside the drum. I use an Audix D6 and I place it inside the drum with a couple of inches away from where the beater meets the inside head. This method almost gives me too much attack given the sound profile of the D6. But its probably the most "modern" sounding kick drum mic on the market. Also if you're dealing with snare bleed into the kick mic, then you take it out easily using gate processing. You're probably joking.. (I hope 😆) but a kick drum would probably destroy your shiny new M5. Please don't.. lol If you really wanna get intricate with kick drum recording, you can always supplement the sound using a 2nd kick mic. Steve Albini's recording method involves hanging a small microphone (can't remember the mic, but you can find it on youtube) outside the drum but next to the beater. He primarily uses it just to get the beater sound. Here's a photo of how I set up my D6 kick drum mic. Ignore the SM7B.. I don't even use that anymore on drums. https://www.instagram.com/p/B9kgarwJDLV/

I just asked a friend who does audio and used to work at a music store, he recommended the Yamaha HS8 over the Adam T7V if I'm not intending to use a subwoofer. But when I read the HS8 owner manual, it says the speakers should ideally be at least 1.5 meters (5 ft !!) away from the wall/corner.. That's seems like a lot.. I'm not sure what to think now..

Never heard of this technique. Is it similar to Recorderman or Glyn-Johns? I've been recording drums for a few years and over time I naturally progressed towards using more close-mics.

I'm kinda leaning towards the Adam T7V. Saw a lot of good reviews for it. I also read the owner's manual for the Adam T series, it mentions that there should be at least 16 inches distance from the nearest wall to achieve a balanced bass response. With that in mind I could probably accommodate a few more inches distance no problem. I first took notice of Adam speakers because I have a friend who uses the A7X in his studio. Super clean sounding. Judging from the reviews I saw, T7V have a very smooth high end, probably due to the ribbon tweeter technology. The Presonus ones look pretty cool too. Very nice features, front-ported, a lot of options for frequency adjustment. I think I'm most likely gonna switch away from KRK. Try something new.

I might be considering either the Yamaha HS7, HS8 or Adam T7V. Any thoughts on either of these? Any others worth considering too?

Thanks for the response, Phil. I have some acoustic treatment in the room, but its not the best, yet still dry enough to record. One homemade 2x4' panel using recycled fabric, some cheap acoustic wedge foam, a couple of blankets and foam mattress (its my bedroom). I'm planning to revamp the room maybe some time this month, turn it into a dedicated studio space, build some rockwool panels and corner traps. And yeah, my intention is to get more accurate bass. Last month I finally put out my first full-length song and I ended up checking my mixes on in the car to try to balance the bass. On top of the bass, I feel like the midrange was a bit challenging to get right as well. I'm just trying to limit the amount of guesswork i need to do and get a more accurate sound. I dabbled around with mixing short demos but this was the first time I've gone through the entire production process. I have my monitors setup about 1 foot away from the wall, in equilateral triangle formation with ~3 feet distances. I usually mix at moderate volume, with occasional moments of quiet and loud volumes. Should I look specifically at monitors with front-porting? Or would rear-ported monitors be okay to consider in my situation? Ideally I've been looking at the ADAM A7X's, but it's a bit over my budget. Maybe Yamaha HS7 or HS8 would be in my budget, however they're rear-ported and I worry I don't have enough distance away from the wall. Would rear-porting be an issue? Any suggestions for models of monitors?

Is there a recommended studio monitor size depending on the size of the room? Right now I am using 5" KRK rokits. Was considering upgrading my monitors to get a better response. My room is 12 x 9 feet (with 8 feet ceiling). Would a studio monitor with a larger woofer (6, 7, or 8 inch) be viable for a room of this dimension? Thanks

I think one mistake for a beginner to avoid is playing for too long. Most beginners haven't developed the strength in the fingers required to play for long periods of time. If they push themselves to go longer than they should then injury can occur. Make sure to pace yourself when you practice, know what you're capable of and allow yourself enough time to rest.

Those are a great pair of microphones. My main drum overhead mics. Works nicely on acoustic guitar too, maybe even better than Rode NT5 IMO.

Hi John, In my opinion, many different mics can be well used as a drum room mic. An important factor to consider is the the mic location. You can try experimenting placing the mic different parts of the room, different directions, height, etc. If your room is smaller, you could also try placing the mic in another room. I record drums in a small room, but i keep the door open, then place the room mic in the room across the hall, with that door shut. I would maybe consider the acoustics of the room when choosing a mic. For example if the room is bright sounding then avoid using a bright mic. I am currently using a Shure SM81 as my drum room mic, using the positioning I just mentioned. It does well in my situation because the environment is somewhat bright but the mic is fairly neutral and flat. I originally got the SM81 to record acoustic guitar, but in my opinion its quite a workhorse, does fairly well on many instruments. I even use it for vocals. In my latest song called "Winter" (link below in my signature), the SM81 was used to record the drum room and also the lead vocal. I also used SM81 to reinforce the sound of the drum sidestick as well.

I'm not much of a music theory person. You can say that everything was played or written by ear. I just try playing around with different melodies, harmonies, rhythms and see what fits or how they complement each other. The way how I composed the music was by layering on different harmonies together. Every instrument is playing something different and distinct. There's the synth line playing on the left side. The piano and guitar fill playing on the right side. Bass guitar underneath playing its own harmony as well. And on top of all that I have the vocal melody.

Thanks, it definitely has been quite a gruelling process, especially since I'm doing almost everything myself. It might be difficult for the casual onlooker to understand how much work was put into this effort. I'm also planning to carry on with more songs soon. I plan to release songs on a regular basis going forward. Regarding the whole songwriting approach of this song, it varied a lot. I actually began this song years ago, but shelved it because I did not know which direction to take the song. I believe the first thing I did was write the melody of the chorus and bridge together, with the chorus having partially completed lyrics. In my earliest versions of this song, the chorus used to be the verse and the bridge used to be the chorus. However I felt that this arrangement didn't provide enough movement or impact to complete the song. Some time later I revisited the song, and I decided to add in another section, a softer, mellower part, which became the verse in the song now. The lyrics and melody of the verse came to me simultaneously. After this change, I rehearsed the song with a band, and everyone felt that the mellow first verse gave off a pretty strong emotional response, so I finally knew that I was going in the right direction for the song.

That's usually a good sign. When things are going right, the body should tire before the throat does. As breath control improves, the pressure on the throat and vocal cords becomes less, which protects the throat and as a result will increase vocal stamina. The abs aren't the only important muscle group involved, I find that the back rib cage muscles (intercostal) are just as important, which are used to hold back the breath pressure.

My favourite mic to use on acoustic guitar is the Shure SM81. I usually point the mic at the fingerboard around where the neck and body meet, from about 8-12 inches away. I find this approach to give a very balanced tone. I'm not a huge fan of miking the sound hole. I used to mic the sound hole in my beginner recordings, which didn't sound great nor was it very usable. I think most small condenser mics would be sufficient; I've also used mics like Rode NT5 and Rode M5 and they do nicely. It really depends on the sound profile of the acoustic guitar as well. One guitar can sound drastically different from another guitar, some may be warmer sounding, some may be brighter sounding. So the choice of mic should compliment the characteristics of the guitar. You should also keep in mind the role of the instrument within the song mix.