Karaoke Forums

I love this place and the people here, so I thought I'd make an attempt to get some new conversation going.

When I first started here, I was trying to sound like the originals on every song I sang – the way my voice sounded changed completely from one song to the next, depending on who sang it. But Syberchick sent me a mail not long after I got here that really resonated with me. She encouraged me to try different singing styles, to listen to myself closely and find that one sound that really appealed to me. She told me it might not even sound like me at first, but that once I found this unique sound, I’d know, and from there I could really start to become my own artist rather than just a karaoke singer. Well, some of that wasn't exactly what she said, but that’s what I took away from her advice – and it’s worked!

The first sub that really struck me was Drops of Jupiter, where I heard a light, sweet sound in my voice I hadn’t really heard before. Until then, I’d been focusing on Evanescence and other songs that were much bigger sounds – sounds I’d always thought were where my voice sounded best. But then through a couple of Alison Krauss pieces, then Wicked Game, Silent Lucidity, and other songs, I started really focusing on the lighter, sweeter sound, and I saw my voice in a different way.

Then once I got my new microphone, I did some Sarah McLachlan and discovered a really nice whispery sound –a bit of extra breathiness, audible consonants, etc, that totally re-wrote how I hear my voice. This site has been such a road of discovery for me, and I can’t say how cool it’s been.

So what about anyone else? How has your impression of your own voice changed? What part of your voice now are you most proud of? Is it different from how you thought you sang best before? Looking forward to hearing from others.

I read a book by a vocal coach who said that a good training device for finding your own unique sound is to imitate certain artists to the point where you can sing other artists' songs in the first artist's style.  Do that for several artists and eventually, as you discovered, you'll find aspects of your own voice that you never knew existed.

And besides that, it's kinda fun.  Ever done "Summer Wind" as Axl Rose?  Okay, neither have I, but it would be fun to hear.

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Reward: nine yen in drawer.

For years I have been involved with singing on stages from Texas to North Carolina.  I never liked my voice and it always amazed me that people were willing to pay their hard earned money to come to listen to me.  Everytime I would record my voice or hear a recording of my voice I would cringe and shake my head in disbelief! "No one in their right mind would want to spend their money to listen to that!" I would say, and walk away or tear up the tape! .  I was one of the original singers and had one of the original bands that headlined the Brand New Opree in Odessa, Texas where I did shows with people like Larry Gatlin, Ronna Reeves, and many others who now are making a lot of money in country music.  I have heard the applause, signed autographs, and sold tons of cd's to date and I must confess, it took me a long time before I could listen to myself and be happy with the sound I heard.  I have never tried to copy anyone else. If I sound like someone else it is by accident, or maybe it is just a country thing I dont know.  I have always just stepped into the mic, closed my eyes, and sang from my heart.  However it came out was the way it was supposed to come out as far as I was concerned.  When I cut my first cd, I was so unhappy with the studio that I made them let me in the control room to remix it myself! I liked it some better after that but I was still unhappy! That cd so many copies that the writer of the title cut was placed in the country music hall of fame back in November of this year!  And I have made a pretty nice profit from the sell of the cd.  The second cd, was done in appreciation to a lot of people who constantly come to my shows to listen to me.  I thought they were crazy to listen to my voice because I was still not happy with what I sounded like.  When I cut that second cd, suddenly, I began to recognize something in my sound that I really liked.  I personally decided it was because of the quality of cd production of this cd as opposed to the first one.  When I subbed my first tune here in SS I immediately went back to listen to what it sounded like and for the first time in my life, I actually was happy with the sound of my voice.  What have I done differently you ask? Not a thing! I still sing the same way I always have! Friends who are not memebers of SS that come to SS to listen to what I post tell me constantly that I still sound the same.  After listening to myself sing every song I have posted here in SS, I have finally come to like the way I sound.  There are some things, that for a country singer, I have found that I do like.  I like the lows in my voice, I like the smoothness, and I like the over all tembre of my voice.  It has taken me a long long time to get to that point but I think I have arrived! That is until I sub something and everyone avoids it like I have the plague or something and I look at my sub and growl, "You suck!" and then I wish I could pull my sub off but I am stuck with it! Gee, I really have decided what the heck! I stay busy singing! Actually way too busy to worry about it! I do tv apperances, my tunes get played on the radio sometimes, I do charity benifits, and I sell a lot of cd's! Something must be right so enjoy it! Don't analyze it to death!  Since I have rambled on and on, taken 5 minutes of your time to read this (and in so doing, set you back 5 years in your life! ), bored you to death, before you start slashing your wrists, I am going to quit typing and leave while I still have some fragment of dignity left! Amy, you sound great!

Honestly....I haven't really thought about what I like about my voice.  I could name off 100 or more things that I don't like.  I think I have a fairly good voice for country but would love to do some of the other stuff and do it well.  It's really hard for me to keep the country "twang" out of songs that aren't country.  After I'm through with them....they sound country....   I've been trying to work on that in some of my other subs but by some of the comments I don't think I've succeeded yet  My voice is low so I usually stay away from stuff with really high ranges.   I envy you girls that sing those pretty songs.   I do alot of male songs because the vocal range is just a lot more comfortable for me.   Some people have said that they think the low voice is sultry but I don't see it.  

I guess if I was looking to really try to make it in the music industry I would probably take some serious voice lessons but since this is a hobby I just try to do the best I can and try to take everyone's advice in consideration.  

I'm comfortable with what I do but I wish I could do so much more.  SS is a great place to learn.   So I guess I'll continue to try other songs sometimes besides country just for the challenge of it.  I just bought a headset with mic so I can start trying my hand at singing straight to the computer and doing some mixing.  I would have never done this had it not been for SS.  So SS has made me look at myself and wonder if I could really do better.   Time will tell!  LOL

Amy, You are still young enough to make it.  Keep following your dream!  You have a wonderful voice.  

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SAY IT WITH MUSIC!!!!

Interesting question.  In general, I do try to sound like the original artist and I am happy with that because I get a lot of compliments about my "imitations".  To me, that's a high compliment.  I think, for the most part, though, even though I think I am trying to sound like the artist, it is filtered through my own inherent style, as much as I try to imitate.  Not that I have a definite style, but, you know....to the extent that we all do inherently. I really have no clue about how to develop a "style" for pop/rock/country.

Sometimes, though, when I *THINK* I am trying to sound like them, I listen to the recording and I don't like it.  So then I change it and make my voice sound more "round" or sing through the notes more, and then it ends up sounding more like the original artist even more (and makes my voice sound better).  So you just never know.  I sing it the way I think it sounds on the original, and then go by the recording, as to whether I leave it that way or work on it to make it sound different.

When I was taking lessons, one of the things he was working with me on was making my voice sound "rounder" because I have a tendency to sound very "tinny", for lack of a better word.  That quality sounds ok on some pop music but not on others, and certaintly not classical music.  Sometimes in my recordings I feel I have overdone the roundness and have to pull it back a little.

By "roundness", not sure if I can really convey it but it means opening up inside the mouth more and making the mouth more round (but not in any rigid way) and making a more mature sound, rather than letting the sound spread or be nasal or whiny.  I hope that makes sense

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~Suzanne Lanoue~

I think, like Mike said, a big part of what I like about this site has been listening to my own stuff so much that I've finally grown to like it. Every time someone says something about a song that I hadn't thought of, I tend to go back and listen to the song again, trying to hear whatver it was the person referred to. Hearing your own voice from so many perspectives is definitely a learning expreience.

Interesting topic, Amy

Hmm, let's see... I've posted replies to questions about my own voice here before, going into grave detail about how I started singing karaoke in the first place, so I won't go into all that again.  But I will repeat myself somewhat by saying it took me years before I could sing publicly and not cringe every time I heard my own voice.  I've been singing as long as I can remember, but it was always with another person or along with the original recording (and the other person had to be really loud, because if I heard myself over them, I'd quiet down.)  Even in junior high and high school choirs, I was always encouraged by my teachers and peers to sing solos, but I could never bring myself to do so.  Too shy.  In fact, I couldn't sing solo even if I was completely alone, no one within earshot.  The sound of my own voice without someone else's really didn't sound good to me.  But, it was a personal goal I had set for myself:  One day I would get over my fear of public singing and sing, even if it was just once, in front of someone else.

When I first heard of karaoke, I thought "Wow!  You mean just ANYONE can get up on stage and sing a song?  FOR FREE?"  I simply had to do that... eventually.  It took me a good 5 years before I could even turn my song slip in without lots of liquid courage and shaking like mad at the mere thought of that handwritten karaoke slip leaving my hands.  And usually, by the time I was capable of turning in my slip it was too late for me to get a chance to sing anyway.  After attending karaoke off and on over the course of 5 years, I discovered that while consuming liquid courage helps to lower your inhibitions, it doesn't always make for the best sounding singer.  At least not in my case.  So that became another goal:  Stop feeling the need to drink myself into oblivion, bite the bullet and sing sober.  The first time I did this, it was terrifying!  But, I heard MY voice for the first time and realized it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was.  Getting reactions from others like, "OMG, you can ACTUALLY sing!" helped tremendously.

That opened the door for me to listen to my own voice more intently when I was alone.  I started practicing at home with backings and working to develop my OWN sound rather than trying to immitate the original artists - as I had always done before.  I learned that I can immitate certain aspects of different recording artists' voices, but never entirely, so I decided it was pointless to keep trying to sound like them when it was clear I would never be able to do that.  I know a lot of people who try really hard to always sound like (or come close to sounding like) the original artist and to me all that makes them are good immitators.  Why not sound like YOU?  If I can sing a song and sound similar to the original, that's great and all, but I would like for my own voice to be recognized as well.  That's why I like the amateur recordings here so much.  People can pick out parts where you sound similar to someone else, but they can also hear your own unique flavor.

I've started embracing my own voice more over the last year than I ever had before.  Songs I used to sing when I first started singing publicly sound completely different to me now than they had then because I actually allow my own voice to come through rather than concentrating on sounding like the original.  What I like best about my own sound is what has been described to me as a "smokey, whispery" sound.  Especially on songs that require talk-singing.  I am able to use the talky-whispery voice for long periods of time without needing to breathe, whereas I would have to really work on my breathing for other songs.  I used to use full-voice for those parts, and now I know to just use my own natural voice instead.  One thing that really helps me is picking out songs that are in my range, rather than singing songs just because I like them.  If I know they're too high, or too hard, I won't even attempt them.  Maybe that makes me one of those "safe" singers, but it saves me a lot of headache when I'm finished with a song and I don't tear my performance to pieces and wish I had sang something else.

And now that I have written a short novel.....

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