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Recent Entries from Our Blog
Delivery for Singing Songwriters
Good quality delivery is absolutely dependent on the energy you put out to the audience. With strong breath support and vocal technique you can deliver your songs with the intensity appropriate for the message you are trying to convey. Your message should flow through you and to the listener. You want your notes to connect. Primary focus should be smooth movement throughout every phrase. Often, without good support the voice wobbles or is choppy and can distract the listener from the message. This smooth flow is called “legato”. It is a technique to learn and practice, however, just being conscious of it can make a difference. So start there.
My experience is that the key of the song is the biggest culprit for limiting the potential of its delivery. A common mistake with songwriters is to sing every song in the same key, or sing in low range because they think it is the most comfortable. I believe this is due in part to the writer not knowing their own vocal potential. For example, a slow song that’s melodic and intimate throughout is going to sound better in the low to mid range of the voice. The melody of a power ballad is usually written so that the chorus is anywhere from a third, to an octave higher than the verses. In this case, the singer should determine the key by the strongest notes/ words in the chorus. The strongest notes in the vocal range are usually upper-mid range, or “belting” range. High-energy songs are great with the choruses in the mid to upper-mid range throughout or with the verses in the mid range only.
Is this confusing enough yet? Are you thinking, “What is my low range, my mid range, my upper-mid range?” Well, there are general technical rules to explain this, but I prefer to explain it this way. Start by singing the very bottom note that you can hit. Find it on the keyboard or guitar and write it down. Then continue singing by half steps or whole steps. Your low range will have several notes. When you feel like you have to use a little more effort to sing a note, you are entering your mid range. Find this on the keyboard or guitar and write it down. When you again feel like you have to use a little more effort to sing a note, and you get louder you are entering your upper mid range. Write it down. When you reach very loud and feel you can’t go higher you are at the top of your upper mid range. If you keep going and your voice “flips over”, you have probably entered your head voice or lower high range. Notice that your head voice will get stronger if you continue going higher. The average singer should have about two octaves of total range. At least an octave and a half should be below the place where the voice “flips over”. The notes that you wrote down can assist you in deciding what key you want to sing a song.
Song delivery Critiques
Demo Recording – Singing Tips
Before the studio:
Practice your songs ahead of time. Rehearse with your band or accompanist as well as on your own time. Perform the song live before recording it if you have the opportunity. That way you can get used to putting the feeling into the song and take it with you to the studio. Memorizing the words can be very helpful in allowing you to put more feel into the performance too.
Record yourself singing and listen back to it over and over. If you do not have the means to do this, wait until the accompaniment is finished in the studio and lay down a scratch vocal. Take home a copy with and without a scratch vocal. Use the track without vocal for practicing your lead. Don’t be concerned with the background vocals while practicing or recording your lead. Use the scratch vocal track to practice any “extra” vocal parts like ad-libs and harmonies. Go back into the studio to record your final vocals another day (one week should be long enough).
Putting the time and preparation into your material means you will not be disappointed alter and wanting to re record. It also means less time and money spent in the studio with a much better result.
In the studio:
When the engineer adjusts the mic stand for you in the vocal booth, make sure the mic is as low as your chin so you sing down to it. This helps to prevent lifting the chin and possibly straining.
If you have the opportunity to practice with headphones take advantage of it. HINT: I find that hearing myself in the headphones and in the room at the same time ensures better pitch. I put both headphones on and then move one of them back slightly, about halfway off my ear.
You may want to pump the volume of the music into your head to “get into it” more however, be careful when doing this because it can really mess up your pitch.
Note: Be sure to read “23 Recording Studio Terms” blog if you are new to the recording studio.
23 Recording Studio Terms
…That a Singer Should Know
- Backgrounds (BGVs) – background vocals
- Call and response – part of a song where a line is sung and there is an answer line
- Comp (comp track) – includes all the best takes from all the lead vocal parts recorded and wrapped into one final compilation track that is ready to be mixed by the engineer
- Control room – where the engineer sits; where all the buttons and sliders are; where the lava lamp is
- Demos – a compilation of songs used to demonstrate a person’s talent or songs or both
- Engineer – person who records and mixes all the music; the tech person; often the producer as well
- Filter/ Pop Screen – the mesh screen in front of the mic that you are singing into; it helps to dampen harsh or noisy consonants, such as ‘P’, ‘B’, and ‘S’
- Harmony – complementary vocal part that is not in unison with the melody
- Headphone amp – small box in the vocal booth used to adjust overall headphone volume
- Headphones (cans) – how you hear the recorded music AND your voice in the vocal booth
- Hot – voice is too loud and the engineer may have to make adjustments; you may have to step back a little from the mic as well
- Levels – Volume levels get checked by the engineer to make sure everything has a good balance and that nothing is too hot. (see Headphone amp).
- Melody – a sequence of single notes that is musically satisfying; the “main part” in a song
- Music stand – place to rest lyrics and sheet music
- Producer – often also the engineer; specifically, the producer decides what instruments get played where and how and puts everything together; a producer works hand in hand with the artist and the engineer.
- Punch (Punch In/ Out) – when you want to keep a recording on a track, but want to redo something on that same track, you will “punch” that part i.e. “Let’s punch in on the first line in the second chorus.”
- Roughs – comped tracks without mixing
- Scratch track – (vocal) recording that is only for reference
- Stack – recording the exact same vocal part on a second track to match the first track
- Take – a take is a recording on a track i.e.: That was a good take. Save that!
- Track (noun) – A (digital) signal that represents a single channel of audio. Usually one track contains a performance of one musical instrument. By the time a singer is finished recording vocals for one song they could easily have ten tracks of just their voice. A breakdown of what 10 vocal tracks might look like: lead vocal 3 times (3 tracks), pick one lead and stack the choruses (1 track), 2 different background vocal parts, stacked (4 tracks), vocal comp (1 track) = 10. Tracking (verb) – the act of recording
- Unison – more than one person singing the same vocal part at the same time
- Vocal booth – isolation area where the vocals are recorded
How to Sing Without Strain
Usually a singer will strain for notes that they believe are too high. That is part of the problem. You think the note is high so you reach for it. Then you might even “hit” it or… you might not. And if you do “hit” the note, how attractive is it if it’s been “hit”? If you are straining when singing then you are in fact doing something wrong. You are going to have to try to sing differently if you want a different result.
Higher (not high) notes demand more breath pressure than notes that are lower. That’s how the body works. It is more breath pressure that you need instead of straining in order to execute that note. Think about this. If you can sing a note while straining, it makes sense that you could sing the same note without straining. The problem is the strain NOT the note. All the energy you put into tensing, reaching, pushing and tightening is interference. If you think a note is (too) high then you prepare your mind and body to reach for it. Do the opposite. Relax your mind and body, plant your feet and let the sound move through you. Let it all go and let your diaphragm take care of carrying your notes for you. If your diaphragm is not strong enough, you’ll have to adjust, i.e. change the key of the song, use your falsetto, or sing it later when you are stronger.
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