(Help!) Almost finished jazz song but awful singer

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(Help!) Almost finished jazz song but awful singer

Postby Scherzando » 01 Aug 2013 06:27

So I'm writing my first vocal song (normally I do purely instrumental work), and it's getting near completion - or at least, it's looking like something vaguely coherent. Only problem is... I'm a shockingly bad singer. Thing is, I've put a fair amount of work into the song and I don't want to quit now; by the same token, I had always envisioned myself being the one singing it, so I don't want to get anyone else in to do the vocals, either. As such, any help or advice would be much appreciated (and before anyone asks, no, I've never had any vocal training of any sort).

Here's the track*: https://www.dropbox.com/s/4e4iuxhts065z ... aft%29.mp3

And that's after it's been put through Melodyne and had a laughable attempt at EQing, by the way.

*By listening to this track you agree that I am not liable for any ear haemorrhaging and/or deafness (temporary or permanent) and/or brain damage
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Re: (Help!) Almost finished jazz song but awful singer

Postby sellyme » 01 Aug 2013 06:56

It's actually pretty good. It could be better, definitely, but it's not like it's detrimental to the song, in my opinion. There's a lot of songs with worse vocals.

I can't really give you much advice beyond that, but don't be so quick to discourage yourself.

EDIT: Oh wow, forgot I still had this avatar here. That's nice and relevant.
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Re: (Help!) Almost finished jazz song but awful singer

Postby Conchetupony » 01 Aug 2013 16:13

You're being too hard on yourself, your voice is good. Mine's way worse.

They feel a little too roomy: could be that you added too much reverb to the vocals, or that the room you recorded in has bad acoustics (undesired natural reverb). EQ is fine - your voice sounds naturally like that and there's not much you can do to get it to sound different.

The very first line, in the intro, seems a bit off sync.

Maybe lower the overall vocal's level? I feel it's overpowering all the other instruments.
oops I dropped the bass

will you pick it up for me
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Re: (Help!) Almost finished jazz song but awful singer

Postby Scherzando » 04 Aug 2013 07:30

So I prepared a new draft which is slightly (slightly) less terrible than the first attempt - basically I stopped using excessive vibrato on every damned syllable and focused on singing with a bit more precision. Still had to Melodyne it to hell, of course, but the result is a teensy bit more appreciable to the ear now: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/150 ... 202%29.mp3

Also, I think I figured out what was causing the reverb/echo sort of effect from the first draft - it's because I'm apparently really bad at EQing, haha. This one has been un-EQ'd, and I think it has a warmer, fuller tone to it.

Thoughts?
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