Karaoke Forums

Does anyone else have this problem? After hearing myself sing a few times when I was able to record, I'm ready to hang it up.
You see, I'm a smoker......phlug.
I smoke so much by the time I get home from work after 2 days, it's a wonder I'm still breathing. My throat is scratchy, I can't stop coughing, everything is clogged...yuk.
Sometimes I wonder if I sound this way at karaoke night when people are telling me....you did an awesome job on that song...or, you need to be in a band or something....or, I think you missed your calling....etc...etc...
Does anyone else ever think that people are just being nice? Or are you sure they're giving honest compliments?
The thing is, I can tell when I stink, and I think I can tell when I'm flowing effortlessly. But I shouldn't have said "effortlessly". The style of songs that I sing take alot of effort most of the time.
And then I get home..................I SUCK!!  :(

The same here , thats why I am the Badsinger.

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I can neither confirm nor deny ever having or knowing anything about nothing.... mrscott

Have someone record you at Karaoke night...then you'll know...don't listen till the next morning .....

I think (although I don't know since I'm not a vocalist) there's a psychological phenomenon where many individuals are extremely critical of their voice when they hear a recording of it. I can't sing any style that living creatures in this galaxy would recognize as harmonious.  I'm not sure how many people initially do hear, see, or perceive themselves as other's perceive them.  This isn't to say with a few coached skills, such as learning how to breath, phrase, project, your optimal range, etc you wouldn't become an excellent singer.. For me, it'd just be alot of effort, I wasn't born with the knack for singing (even though I'm a musician).  Our voice is unlike any other musical instrument IMHO.  The only reason I got involved with Karaoke at all, was as a training tool..  Personally my singing preferences are some of the classic rock male baritone/tenor vocalists that have a gravel (likely from smoking);  My own voice is too clean sounding.  I like classic rock/ballad style vocals.  Yet if someone told me my voice would be great for covering Bob Dylan, I wouldn't be thrilled.  Alot of today's recognized popular vocalists aren't what many would consider technically fabulous singers. Many just have a signature style that caught on, or became something in time people got used to, sort've like media exposure trains the viewer and listener some of the time.. Many unique signature styles just evolve over time, not unlike other "acquired tastes"..  As to whether or not my howling and congested-nasally clean sounding voice would ever become a signature style somewhere down the road ?...well, not if I have any say in it...

Fact that you can hear what sounds decent to you, and you can hear what doesn't sound acceptable to you is a definate plus !!   Probably you, not unlike people like myself can benefit from some instruction, or a couple of singing lessons.. We can't all be naturals, or self taught.  When I sing a song I really like, (for whatever reason beit over-active imagination, delusion, or deafness) I might think I'm coming close to covering the actual original artist.  Thank God for tape recorder's however.. Without such devices, I wouldn't otherwise realize how much of an @$$ I could've made of myself in public.

My current mindset is I suck, my voice isn't meant for public display, yet behind closed door's with good enough sound insulation, I can still fantasize, and try singing because short of a gag, nothing is going to stop me from killing my houseplants, cracking mirror's, and scaring fly's and cockroaches out've my condo.. We all suck at something and this is my niche of that realm. I still enjoy trying to sing in private. Especially if I don't torture myself with a tape recorder.

A question I have, is how many of us really can hear ourselves as we might sound to others ?   To me,  our own voice comes across MUCH different than our playing a musical instrument. In my particular case, there's a strong tendency to loathe my voice qualities.  That doesn't necessary mean when I try singing the Scorpion's, or Boston what I hear on a tape is the vocal timbre of that psycho from " The Silence of the Lambs" of course,        --that'd be an improvement !

Hey Steven, I know a way to hear yourself as you are heard by others

use two 8 1/2 x 11 pieces of cardboard, or something like that just has to be thicker than a sheet of paper, now hold each right by each of your ears, but place them such that they are in front of the ear, between your ear and your face, but close to the ear, and angle them somewhat towards the front of your face. You'll hear your voice like others hear you. Cuping your hands behind your ears it not the right way.....

Russ,  Thanks !   I never knew that !  That's interesting.  I'll give that a try tomorrow.  I best get a good night's rest in preparation for an event that might be traumatic  LMAO..  

Honestly,  I appreciate the info. I'm going to try it tomorrow.

Russ, why is it that that method enables us to hear ourselves as we actually sound to others, however a tape recorder doesn't enable us to do-so ?  Any idea ?

Do you enjoy singing? That's all that matters. I sing because I truely enjoy just singing. Sure it is nice to be complimented, but I do it for the feeling it gives me more than for others.

If we all had everything it took to be a recording artist we would be.

If you go home at night after singing and feel horrible about it, don't do it. It is supposed to be for fun.

We all question are abilities, if we didn't we'd be egotistical. When I start thinking I sing as good as the artist or better shoot me.

I tell people all the time (when they think they've messed up a song) most people don't even listen that closely. If you sing a couple wrong words or your voice worbles once or twice people don't notice. They are drinking and trying to have a good time.

Some of my best singers are the hardest on themselves. I wish they would just relax. We aren't professionals and when you start taking it that serious it isn't fun.

I'd say if people are coming up to you asking you to sing or telling you that you did a good job your doing better than average.

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He he he....that Steven guy, he is so well spoken.
Ask a question and you'll get everyone's answer rolled into one reply........thanks Steven. (I wasn't being a smart a$$ btw, just applauding the effort you put into your conversational skills. )
I think my problem at home is that I can't really let loose with my family in the other room because I sing with high volume most of the time. Not a screamer, but at a level that doesn't let my voice crack.
When I get up in the bar with a mic, and the music is much louder than anywhere else, (except my 18-wheeler of course....I'm crankin' out the tunes in there), I don't have any inhibitions, I actually feel comfortable, but nervous at the same time. Now what kind of sense did that make?
And I also have this thing about being able to sing good when I'm sitting rather than standing. That sounds far fetched, but I think it has to do with tightening of the abdominal muscles that allows me to control my voice better. When I stand, I have to find that comfortable position as in sitting all over again.
So, it might be possible that my trying to perform at home is making me feel inadequate?
I need a day when nobody is home, take my little karaoke machine and hook it up to my home stereo (it cranks), then try to record like that and see how it turns out I guess. I've done this before, but the rest of my family doesn't like the cranked up "dad" for very long. But first, I have to find out why my computer won't accept these recording programs I've been trying to use. I don't understand it. I have plenty of useable memory to support the programs I've tried, but then they all start locking up?
Maybe they're scared of my voice?
I don't know.....you guys tell me. I have 1 half-a$$ed sub over in the showcase....have a listen if you get a chance and let me know.
Thanks. Perry

That's actually perfectly logical.  Probably even good technique when you sing louder, which likely means that when you are restricted and can't project diaphragmatically, or sing in chest voice you essentially don't have the space to sing your style period.  When you are restricted and have to hold back, you are just singing in head voice and that can't possibly sound the same. I'm not a vocalist as I stated, and hopefully someone that is will step in, yet it sounds to me that at home, you can't sound as good being so restricted.

Some things just can't be done at certain times..  I live in a condo with neighbor's all around me, NO WAY I can pull out one of Saxophone's most of the time.. Wouldn't be a good idea for my own technique, and the neighbor's wouldn't be thrilled either.  Look at the operatic tenor's and what they must put into their singing ?  Their whole head, sinus area and body becomes a resonating chamber they use to project.  If you can't project, it's tough or impossible to sing in real voice.

(I'm going out on a limb making such an assertion btw)    LOL.

Probably not even the best idea to practice singing under such restricted conditions. When I was in college, and didn't have access to the music recital hall, I'd take the horns out into the woods someplace where I didn't have to worry about disturbing anyone.. If you can find some private place, take a pitch-pipe and practice your accapella away from other people that'd be a good thing.  I used to go out into the woods and try to sing, but got tired of animal control throwing a net over me.

You just described me to a tee.

(Some of my best singers are the hardest on themselves. I wish they would just relax. We aren't professionals and when you start taking it that serious it isn't fun.)



(Do you enjoy singing? That's all that matters. I sing because I truely enjoy just singing. Sure it is nice to be complimented, but I do it for the feeling it gives me more than for others)

I do it for my pleasure also, but I also want to entertain others as well, otherwise I'd probably give up for good. I think a little encouragement goes a long way towards molding a person's true ability.

(I'd say if people are coming up to you asking you to sing or telling you that you did a good job your doing better than average.)

Yeah, I don't know what my malfunction is?
I know I do love to sing, but I like to mimic the actual artist as closely as possible. The KJ said before, you need to hear yourself sometime, but I can't record you, (copyright laws), so I've always taken that as positive encouragement, and I strive to become better everytime which is probably driving me crazy.

I am so with you on this one! I can not sing full out at home. I always get more out of my voice when I'm out. I definitely struggle more with a piano too. I think it has a lot to do with comfort level and the volume of the music. Put me with a mic with a band or karaoke and I can hit Whitney Houston's high notes. Put me at home forget it.

I am a smoker too. I hate when I get the singers throat tickle. I will be singing and I'll have to cough so hard my eyes water. It only happens once in a while.

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[shadow=pink][glow=deepskyblue]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[updown]~*~ MONKEY BUSINESS KARAOKE~*~ [/shadow][/updown][/glow]

You mean it isn't about being famous, and getting jumped by a line of star-crazed Dominatrixes in the bar parking lot ?  What have I been wasting my time trying to learn to sing for  :(


(heading over to the jocks Forum)






See, thing's are different for me.  Put me with a mic with a band, and the minute I turn my back the mic disappears.

Hey Steven,

Its just that you hear yourself without the dropoffs, imperfections of tape recorders, or any recorder, microphones, electronics, blah blah blah....its you real and natural voice. You're going to find your pitch is slightly higher than you thought...you don't have to sing, just talk.....start out by placing the two sheets right in front of the ears, almost touching the ear lobe, sticking straight out at a 90 degree angle from your head, then just angle them both forward without moving the part that is touching your head. Make sense?...


Russ

Yes Russ,  Thank you !

That sounds like the silliest thing - of course I've got to try it

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[shadow=pink][glow=deepskyblue]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[updown]~*~ MONKEY BUSINESS KARAOKE~*~ [/shadow][/updown][/glow]

That's a clever & valuable bit of info IMHO.  It's interesting when Russ mentioned that a person will find that their pitch is slightly higher than they anticipated. Reason being, so often when I've heard aspiring rock vocalists they seem to be efforting to push their range higher than they can comfortably sing. Seems that many males (classic rock genre) want to be able to sing into the first tenor range and reach an area Steve Perry, Paul MacCartney, and only a few other's can reach comfortably in the rock genre.  Yet if many amateur's, and unskilled vocalists perceive their singing pitch to be lower than it actually is, that might account for why. I wasn't sure if our difficulty hearing our voices as we actually sound to others was a psychological, or physical phenom. Perhaps it's abit of both.

Ther are several singing lesson courses online such as this one After learning these tecniques the best way to record amd improve talent is using a sofware that tracks the vocals seperately.. Then the vocal tracks are eq'd efx are applied the mixed down with the music...After a few sessions confidence and talent is greatly improved..

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I think it just goes down to the saying "You are your own worst critic"

I feel most comfortable when singing along with the original artist, especially in the car, but if I turn down the volume, then I just don't feel as much freedom to sing.  And that's when I'm alone!  If there are others around, I feel the need to repress myself.  I think I developed a complex when in school because all my friends were in choir and everyone would tell them THEY sing great, but my voice was never noticed.  I just assumed that it was because I sounded awful, and I kept that mentality until now.