Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Ok, finally got my REAL microphones and amplifier to work which
gives a very high quality recording compared to the crap I used for awhile.

I posted this song before with the old crap mic setup, but this version
is about 10x better. Its 2MB. Probably better for most to download it and play it locally.

I sang this with a soft voice, I usually sing much more strongly, but it gives
a whole different feel and sound. Tried it soft here because it suits the
thing better.

http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/12/6/1628750/BubblyGoodwav.mp3 (http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/12/6/1628750/BubblyGoodwav.mp3)

I'd like constructive criticism. If you don't want to post it, send a direct message.

Honestly, You sound like a guy trying to sing in a higher pitch, semi falseto... which does happen to most of trying to sing...  you dont have the resonant harmonics that a female has while singing... that diffrence between those soul singers of the 50's and the beachboys and well, actual female singers...  Some people cant tell the diffrence, but being in a professional band, Im still fighting to sound female while singing most of the time...  Singing softer generaly DOSNT help by the way... part of the resonance comes through with the force by which were singing...

After I figured out the true diffrence between the male and female voice, I worked with my ex wife to figure out a workable voice training...

first off you have to know how to do a breathy voice, and hit a major falseto...

1: Forget about pitch as a goal...
2: speak in your normal voice... feel the top of the voice box, you should feel a vibration, then feel the bottom of your voice box and you should feel a roughly equal vibration....
3: speak in the highest falseto as you can... try to totaly kill all vibration at the top and bottom of the voice box...
4: This is the hard part... learn to speak with the vibration only at the bottom of the voice box and reduce the vibration at the top of your voice box as much as possable...  It uses muscles I didnt know I had till I figured it out... and seriously, it helps in passing physicaly too cuz it helps hide the addams apple if its nott too large by literaly forceing it in and up at the same time.... Literaly you can describe it as "shifting gears" in your voice... after a while it becomes your primary nature to have it shifted all the time and dont even have to think about it.
5: once you have mastered <or atleast gotten> #4 now you add some breathyness to your voice... let out just alittle more air while speaking with out adding any volume... this gives the "marilyn monroe" effect and will make your voice awsome...

This all is alittle harder to do with singing, but sence I sing in the car all the time its how I practiced...  Im not a great singer or anything, I just do backing vocals and am still trying to learn how to harmonize with the guys now so....

hope that helps  :)

Huh, yeah Lynn, but my normal singing voice is even higher pitched!
The average pitch here was around 325 Hz.
My talking male voice is F0=240 and I get mamed on the phone all my life.
So, I have no pitch goal since I'm already easily over the female pitch
just trying to sing softer.
I usually sing very soulfully and strongly instead of soft and mellow.
Seemingly singing softer is not my forte.

Thanks for the comment Lynn.

I would say the S's, Try to sing them more sharply, I hear a blurry, that I know is a SS, but almost doesnt sound like it..

Better than I would ever do hun,

I bet you have a amazing normal speaking voice

For the quality of the song, I would say a ok to fair female singer, but dont try american Idol anytime soon.

Perhaps in punk pitch in a singer is not important, but I doubt it.  Pitch, though something we all can't get right, is something we all hear, making a singer without pitch like a drummer without rhythm (Mickey Hart, we're looking at you).  I watched people walking out of Siouxsie Sioux shows last week shaking their heads because her voice is so gone she can't even do her old hits anymore.  Sad really for those who heard her back in the 80s.  Pitch is a lot easier to hit when you force it, rather than going breathy.  And if you could put a click track in your headphones while you sing, it might be a good idea.

Renate, no advice here, but I have trouble not going flat when I sing and play guitar at the same time. I've also heard pub acts with the same problem. Seems to be more common with guitar than any other instrument. I wonder if there're some lower harmonics that we're picking up on.

I don't have the same problem when someone else plays guitar and I sing, just when it's me playing. Helps to be standing up though.

Dennis

All the singers I know swear by the Wired In-Ear Personal Monitor Systems. because they can hear themselves and adjust.  It was very hard to do in the old monitor set-ups, and if you are on an amp and speakers, without a monitor its all but impossible.  In a studio, you put the singer in an isolated soundproof booth and then put real expensive cans on them so they hear themselves, and pretty much themselves only as they lay the track down.

I think too often that people are listening to the speakers, and not the note in their head - but I can't carry a tune in a bucket unless I'm doing a Dylan song, and most people don't think Dylan even sings.

In the beginning, back in the late sixties and early seventies, the monitor systems were put into place to combat the problem of the slew rate.  It was a minor, very slight, delay between the note you were playing, and the time it took to get to the PA.  But, it was enough to throw the best people way off.

I will agree that most people seem to hit notes flat rather than sharp, which given the choice is preferable.  For years the Dead has a woman sing with them, Donna Jean, who on most of the live recordings was always flat, but they stuck her between the drums where she could not hear herself think, much less sing.  The last few times DSO played the Fillmore she has shown up, and with the in-ears, its amazing - she is spot on every note, which is how she sang in the studio too.

And yeah, for an acoustic guitar, you don't hear it right, the sound hole is facing away from you.  Electric stuff is different.


P.S. What kind of mike are you using, the standard for vocals is the Shure SM58, which most singers like because its good, without being too, too good.

Hey guys, forgotten me :-).

Was I that off pitch and flat!!
Sure I know I wasn't hitting all cylinders, especially when experimenting, but
hopefully my assessment of how I sing is not completely off from people listening.
This is a Shure58 clone mic.

Don't like it that much, since it does not reproduce my voice that good unless
I put the volume up and I'm closer (which is how they work I know, but hey).
I should have bougth a condenser mic instead, but good ones where too
expensive at that time for me.

Most people like my singing, so even off I suppose it must have its charm  ;)

I actually couldn't get it to play for some reason, Keira. Downloaded it, but it wouldn't play.

Dennis

Well, yeah its flat, but that's better than sharp.  I think flat is often a result of trying to sing "breathy" as opposed to "belting" - which is why singers tend to belt out songs, that force behind the note helps it find its mark.  You should be able to download some free pitch oscilloscope somewhere on the web.  And you do have people here who can tune a 12 string by ear (I'm impressed, I never tune without a tuner) or in my case, who've been running a sound board for decades, and we are trained to listen.

It's also the result - or not - of a plain voice with no F/X, no instrument (which helps find the pitch) or anything else.  I give you credit for guts, most of the pros I know wouldn't walk out with just a guitar and vocal thinking it leaves them all but naked on stage.  To sing without any of that, I'm not sure even the best would sound all that good.  A bit of reverb at the very least, though most of the pros are also using EQs, gates, and some pretty special F/X.  Or in the case of Hanna Montana - just recording the show before they leave home and playing the tape while they are on stage.

Play with a condenser mic sometime, but I'm sure you will find out why real singers don't like them, but use the SM58.

Quote from: Renate on February 19, 2008, 09:59:34 AM
Keira:

Your file has this goofy Adobe xmpMeta stuff at the beginning.
It's probably throwing off some MP3 players that aren't resilient.

It's also got a ID3V1 tag, but only with a few screwy charaters.

Renate

opened right up into quicktime for me just fine

me too

Keira, I couldn't get it to load either. I'm not the most computer literate person in the world. I'm going to see if my friend can help me :)

Are you using Vista?

People use Vista?  There is a huge market in the US for people who can take VISTA off, and put a previous operating system on. But no, I'm all about Apple.

Run linux... Apples are ripoffs, pc will always be best.

you are right, but not all of us are nerds, or don't care to spend the time to become nerds, for us Apple is not bad.

Apples are just bascially PC with a different Operating system, you can buy a HP laptop thats faster and just buy Panther OS and still it will be less than $1000 cheaper, it doesnt take a "NERD" to understand that one.

Apple got to a point where they couldnt keep up so they went to IBM for thier processors, they are basically overpriced PC's.

Though I try to think of myself as 'not a nerd' I did have Trash 80 computer a way back in 84, and used to upload set list in DOS to the 'WELL. - on an acoustic coupler to boot.  So, perhaps I'm a nerd after all.  I still remember the DOS commands.    But a computer is NOT an operating system, its a tool, and the easier it is to use it, the better the tool is.

I'm using the MP3 PRO encoder that's made by the fraunhofer institute, those
that have the original MP3 patent, so I'm guessing that they must follow some
MP3 standard :-).

Many free decoders like those in winamp are very basic though.
Though this codec is suppose to play allright with standard mp3 decoders,
maybe the decoders that don't work are non-standard ?

I think this is playing WinAmp, but my Apple plays it too.

I don't think you sound like a guy!  Atleast, not about halfway through.

But the way you say, "toes," is so hilarious.  Gotta work on those T's:-)