Smitty's Singing thread (1,524 views)

[Smitty.]

Wassup name is smitzes/smitty
i am 14
me and my band released our first EP where i played drums and sung most of the vocals

I would like some feedback on my vocals on it

lemme just give you a run down of my vocals

SPOILER: Click to show

{Vocal Summary}Not gonna boast about how big of a raneg i have, and how i can shit my way down to Fb#0 and dickwhistle up to X9, but lemme give you a run down
I am generally comfortable in the mid range of my voice but sometimes i can go into around the upper belting area of my voice. I often get very uncomfy and quite shit sounding at like anything above A4. If i do end up going higher than A4 is almost always B4 and will HARD stop at there, nothing higher and if i do go higher than aits most likely going to be backing vocal. I am slowly working on my belts to become more better and to have more strength in them as of now they're not very good when i go to the higher reaches of my voice. This is a big contrast from most of last year where i always belted in songs in the higher parts of my voice with like no technique whats so ever, Yet i kept wondering "Omg why can't i belt this high anymore". My Falsetto is pretty normal as you'd expect from a 14 year old, now and days there mostly used in backing vocals and doesn't get put in lead too much. I am comfortable mostly in the lower 5th/upper 4th octave with my falsetto. Now for my screams. When i first started singing my vocals sucked, they fucking sucked alright lol. But when i joined trp and the discord around like half a year ago thanks to many peeps such as themriron2 , Seb , Holsety , cmen gave me some tips on my singing but cmen was the one who especially helped me out with my screams. My screams have improved sice then but they're about as most as you can get from 14 year old. which means theyre ok, theyre not great by any means but it could be worst bascially. My Lower register(As of rn) is probably the register that is my strongest as i fele much more comfortable singing here(hence why i do it a lot in my songs), Back then my lower register sucked lol and wasn't strong Well i was 13 ofc it fucking wasn't, which is why i ever so BARELY used it in songs and only used it when i kept rangewanking because rangewanking is the key to everything. Now that my voice has started breaking and has gotten lower i am actually very comfy and decent down to the mid second octave(like G/F#2 or so) and has started to use it more in songs. I Normally dont ever put a lot of my lower vocals in the lead vocal and are mostly backing but sometimes they do get to shine. I really dont know or care about my voice type, i am 14 so cant put a label sicne my voice will keep changing and growing so bascially uhhh fuck that. have fun reading this long ass vocal summary

Now for you to hear my vocals here: disenchanted1.bandcamp.com/releases

feedback and thoughts would be appreciated

[Velsarie Vivardesque]

Hello bud, get a better producer, there's some man talking and occassionally raising his voice in your beautiful instrumental :scratch:

[Gatr]

Ok bud, let's take it back a few steps now

[Velsarie Vivardesque]

I'm foolin' bud, I'm god awful myself. The songs have potential, the only thing lacking is vocals but it can be improved. Did you show it to the big brothers in Discord, or anyone else? What was the feedback or thought process behind releasing it at this point?

[themriron2]

Yeah I'm going to side with Faz here overall. I will however try to offer more precise reasoning:

Regarding the production end:
- The instruments are well produced and they sound good, but the vocals are clearly recorded on much lower quality equipment. There's a lot of clipping and distortion.
- Some backing vocals are buried in the mix almost to the point of inaudibility. Use EQ, not volume adjustment. (As a rule of thumb, if you're using straight volume control at a level greater than +/-6dB, you're doing it wrong - use EQ and compression)
- Compress the vocal line better (look up some tutorials for your DAW) to balance dynamics better and make it easier to fit them into the mix.
- The chromatic pitch correction is causing correction to the wrong notes in the wrong key in some songs, and in some songs it's not aggressive enough leading to notes that are still flat or sharp.

Regarding the singing:
- Vocals would sound better with better production but it's also quite clear - and I mean this constructively - that you're not paying any attention to your vowels. Your vowels are creating a very amateurish style of singing that, in extreme cases, manifests in stuff like this. Currently your vowels have too much edge on them and lean quite nasally sometimes, and they sound too harsh.
- You're also not closing a lot of words correctly. Words like "mine" should be sung on the vowel for as long as possible before being closed to the "n" sound at the end, otherwise you get a horrible nasally "MIYEEN" sort of sound. That's not to say that nasal singing or edge on your voice can't work as a stylistic choice, but here it seems to just be unpolished singing.
- Better vowel placement will also allow you to darken your voice better for the lower parts, as they currently carry an almost childlike brightness, and allow for easier + more pleasant mixing and higher belting.
- There are also parts on this EP where your higher belts sound very strained. A "strained" sound, again, can work stylistically but you have to be able to control it and it has to have decent technique behind it otherwise it may cause vocal damage and doesn't sound pleasant. Use a more mixed sound (practice mixing by sliding between head and chest and use more mixey vowels) and make sure you're supporting your voice properly. It may be a byproduct of the nasal vowels, but it does sound like your belting technique could do with better support, so ensure your breathing is good and you're getting good diaphragmatic support.

I've tried to be as constructive as possible. Ask if you need clarity on anything.

[Velsarie Vivardesque]

My last two cents is that you also don't seem to feel the rhythm, you try to chase the music ending up sounding so rushy and not convincing at all. It's not in sync is what I'm saying. But it's nothing that can't be fixed over some time. Don't know what pitch you intended to sing but even if it's on there, it's not with the correct intonation at all. Overall, take these notes from the supreme vocal masterminds who can sing anything in this world and try to put it to use and release a banger next time.

[Smitty.]

so its been a year, got a new mic and i still like singing so here's a couple new covers

Hooker With a Penis - Tool Cover youtu.be/-hUBWm86Q-w
Lost in Hollywood - System of a Down Cover youtu.be/gwSDrABydfI
In Pieces - Linkin Park Cover youtu.be/47cb5kkNfXM
Climbing Up the Walls - Radiohead cover www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2VrdeR_2Fo

[Brenda]

I absolutely love the cover art for Backpack.
Regarding the music, the beats are tight and the vocals are pretty.. engaging? I don't know how to describe, they're not technically perfect but I really do like your voice and feel a certain connection to it that makes it very pleasant to hear, often in this kind of genre I feel distanced from the music, and I should say it's really not for me much (the music), but unbiasedly speaking I think it sounds really good.

Then I decided to listen to the Climbing Up the Walls cover. I really like it, there are some instances of head voice and it sounds very lovely, the screams are also great, although I do have to ask if you used some sort of pitch correction for the vocals, because some of the notes seem to lack the modulation of natural vocals, and there's nothing wrong with using pitch correcting softwares, I myself use it sometimes, I'm a human and not a professionally trained singer, so I make some small mistakes, like overshooting low notes at times. Anyway, just wanted to ask, and don't feel embarrassed to answer positively if it's the case, like I said, it's normal.

[Smitty.]

Mar 9, 2022 22:10:45 GMT Brenda said:

I'm a human and not a professionally trained singer,

the reason the vocals sound like that is because i am not a human and i am a robot, thank you for ur kind words though random human