First song recorded - vocal advice?

Hey all - I've been mostly a guitarist throughout my musical career, but in the last year I have been without a serious band and I'm trying to learn to play (and sing) all the things needed to make songs. Here's my first recorded song - I keep trying, but I'm unhappy with how the vocals sound. I don't think they're awful, but I do think they clearly stand out as the weakest link of all the parts.

I've taken some lessons on vocals but they were from my guitar teacher, who wasn't an expert on the subject himself. He was a very good singer, but I think he was just kind of regurgitating what he learned in his vocal lessons to me, and that may not have been the best guidance. I'm going to seek lessons from somebody more qualified soon, but I was wondering if anybody here had constructive comments on my singing.

Here's a link to the song:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=1073277&songID=9210446

your recording seems good, and singing seems good, but seems a bit low in the mix. maybe an acappella or acoustic song/recording might be easier to judge the vocals

side note: are u already on the soundclick charts? didn't u just upload the song today? -_-

i'm hardly a qualified singer but it sounded very decent to me. i like the tune, reminded me of Squeeze.

Thanks for the kind words so far - I'll try and upload an acoustic video or something soon to get a more direct representation of my singing, but my main goal now isn't performance, it's recording, so I thought that would be a good thing to present as well.

Also, I did notice it seems I'm on the charts and I have no idea why. I haven't told anybody about that song other than in this post and a similar one in HCFX that only like 2 people viewed...i wonder if it's some sort of error

yeah, but still, its a good song lol

oh by the way, can u tell me what u think of my vocals?

its just a rough take of me playing guitar and vocals together

though i'm not sure if the sm58 really suits my voice. lol

sounds a bit muffled but plz check it out. lol

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=1073519&songID=9214366

Sounds pretty good man, but I agree it is a bit muffled and hard to hear the details. I think a bit of compression on the vocals (just enough to even them out & sit better in the mix) would allow us to hear the actual tone of your voice better. But you've got a fullness to your voice that I feel I lack - keep going & post more!

The whole package seems very good to my ears. Your vocals are double-tracked, right? This can make it hard to assess vocals, but even so I think you're doing very well as a singer--your voice is certainly suited to this kind of music.

You are also, by the way a really good arranger, songwriter, and producer. Nice work all around.

I liked your voice, man, just keep practicing and it'll come easier IF you're having any difficulty, but it sounds smooth and generally great to me.

Thanks for checking out my clip

and btw, yeah this is definitely weird, my song is on the "charts" now too

Thanks guys, as you all know, encouragement from peers & other musicians really helps. I think a lot of it is just that I've scrutinized my vocals for so long and in such detail that it's hard for me to hear anything but the flaws, even though I know I've improved a great deal over time.

And yeah, each part is double tracked, and in the chorus I added a 3rd track to the main melody line so at that point there's 7 layers of me singing (3 main melody, 2 harmony, 2 octave up of the main melody)

Ok, here's me singing a Death Cab for Cutie song with just guitar:

[YOUTUBE]-x5Y1eJfl-U[/YOUTUBE]

even though i've never heard this song before, i think that was a good rendition.

overall, its good. off key on a couple of spots, but no one is perfect. lol

i think your middle and upper middle notes resonate well, and are your strengths from what i heard. you lower notes are not as strong, but all these are probably characteristic of your voice type.

yeah, i'm definitely aware that at times i'll hit a note not quite on pitch. part of it is focusing on playing and singing at the same time, but i'm just making excuses. does anyone know any drills that help you fine tune your pitch in particular?

yeah i totally understand what you mean. In a band setting I always sing and play guitar at the same time too. The clip of me singing my song was also recorded of me playing the guitar while singing at the same time.

its kinda hard to get a balance sometimes. when i sing while playing guitar, it boosts my singing confidence, so my vocal style improves but my vocal quality lessens, like one thing would be the 'shaking' factor when strumming the guitar, it may tend to make the voice shaky, i find. When I just track vocals alone, the vocal quality improves, but i kinda lose that rock attitude/feel. and also the guitar may be pressing down on the diaphragm as well, making it harder to coordinate the singing muscles.

also another thing, recording with closed-back headphones can tend to throw off singing pitch, because you don't hear your own internal resonance as much, this is the same phenomena why people need in-ear monitors, because they simplify can't hear themselves as much. for studio recording of vocals, u can try to remedy this by listening through only one side of the headphones, while the other ear is open. also, another thing, if you're practicing acapella, and you wanna hear yourself better, you can cup both of your ears with your hands, with the back open, and then listen to the room sound. you can occasionally do this to check your tone/pitch. this is the closest sound to what others hear you as, aside from recording and playback.

another reason for singing off-pitch would be not visualising the note in your mind enough before singing it. and also not enough concentration, like sometimes i would sing off-pitch when my mind wanders while singing.

practicing scales helps to a point regarding the pitch, but repetition of the particular phrase is probably more effective i find.