Singing Attempt - 30 Seconds To Mars

I'm a 17yo male. I've always (subconsciously) wanted to be a singer as a child. I remember swinging on my swing set singing Bon Jovi and Heart (lol). It wasn't until a couple months ago when I thought I was alone at home, so I was singing in the shower, and of course my brother was home. He ended up telling me that I wasn't too bad at all and if singing is something I'd like to do then I should practice and join a band.

This was when my subconscious desire to be a singing came on full-force. The only alone time I have at home is after school Wednesday since I get out of school early, and that's when I sort-of practice singing. I guess it's not really practicing, since I'm just blindly singing along to different songs, but oh well.

One of my favorite bands is 30 Seconds To Mars (their older stuff, mainly), and I typically practice singing along to their songs.

I record myself singing via my iPhone. It's always weird hearing your own voice, lol. The main thing I noticed is my "tone"; my voice isn't very "smooth", it almost sounds like my vocal cords vibrate a bit too much. I naturally have a somewhat deeper voice, but so does Jared Leto, and his singing voice sounds nothing like his speaking voice. Mine does (to an extent). Let me clarify: I'm not in any way trying to imitate Jared's voice, but I just want to make my voice sound a lot "smoother" and clear like his is. I just feel like my chest "vibrates" way too much when I sing, high notes or low notes.

Ok, sorry for the long post. Here's a (crappy quality) recording of me attempting to sing a portion of Was It A Dream by 30 Seconds to Mars: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlsXEIc-TMI (btw - my voice usually isn't as "shaky" as it is in this video, maybe it's because i was walking around alot while recording, it's hard for me to stand still and sing for some reason)

Sharing my singing on a forum is so, erm, "embarrassing" to me, I have a feeling it's not that good, but I hope it is. PLEASE, any advice would be GREATLY appreciated!!!

Thanks

Alex

Hmm...not bad dude, not great, but decent for not having any real training. Your tone is good, what I noticed that stood out was that your breathing sounded a bit off. I'd work on singing the lines in more of a legato, instead of hammering on the consonants...let it flow more. Never heard the tune, so I don't know how Leto sings it...but I would look into taking some lessons if you're serious about singing. You're off to a good start, with some proper training I think you could sound pretty good.

Thanks, staticsound. What exercises can I do to help with my breathing? I've also noticed that my voice sounds "airy". How can I fix that? Are there any other things that I should improve on (well, most of it lol, but you said I was decent so yay).

Also, one last question. When I sing at my comfortable range (around the range i was in in Was it a Dream), I feel my chest vibrate....alot. I can STILL feel my chest vibrate when singing higher notes (does this mean I'm not in my middle voice? I'm having trouble finding it). I wish I would have posted a better clip of my singing, as I sounded not as good as I usually do....hmm. Next week, after some practice, I'll post a new video.

Just make sure you're breathing low...when you inhale, your shoulders shouldn't rise at all. Your ribs/solar plexus should expand, not your chest. Singing does not not require that much air to be released. I'd work on that and some cord closure exercises to lose the"airiness". Do some "gee, gee's" or really nasally "nay, nay's" on any scale of your choice. The vibrating in your chest is normal...middle voice is a very hard place to find and train. You're basically looking for the sweet spot where your using head and chest resonance at the same time. This takes a bit of practice and the right teacher to achieve, in my experience.

Oh, and ALWAYS make sure your larynx is staying neutral, and not not shooting up into your chin on the higher notes!