Vocalist Audition Idea: Rockband?

[Haysoochreesto]

Originally Posted by Dogbertday

Why not learn a hand full of covers to play for auditions and let the siner pick 2 of 5? or something like that

This X 2

[totallyfrozen]

I guess it depends partly on your genre, but if you REALLY want to hear a vocalist and all the control, tone, timbre, power, accuracy, etc. have him/her sing acapella.

I'd even want him/her to use a microphone and sing amplified so that you can see how well the singer is accustomed to using a mic. There are techniques to using a mic; you don't just hold it up and sing into it. There are ways to control your volume and plosives and dynamics by properly using a mic. You can see if the singer knows how to use it to get the best sound. You can also hear if the singer can sing on key and can hit the proper intervals without depending on the music as a crutch.

Some of the best vocalist auditions that I've seen were at a karaoke bar. The singer is in front of a crowd of strangers, mic'd, and has the background music (and YOU don't have to learn the tune first). Of course you have to go to a GOOD karoake bar--with a GOOD DJ. I've been to some that have crappy DJ's and the EQ is too bright and the volume too high. It just sound like a bunch of kittens in Hell. If you find a good club, that's a really good way to see how the singer follows the music and tempo, etc. Might as well audition 'em live like that...you don't want a singer with stage fright anyway.

One song acapella; one song karaoke.

Meh, maybe I'm Old Skool but Rock Band would be my LAST resort. You don't have enough control over the quality and the rest of it. I mean, for starters: what kind of a microphone do you use with Rock Band? It ain't a real one! Of course, if you're just play some screamo Metal or something like that it's not as crucial to have an accurate vocalist, IMO. You might be able to squeak by with a Rock Band audition.

[totallyfrozen]

Originally Posted by EddiePlaysBass

I don't like it. Our singer's girlfriend has a very good karaoke voice, she can really impress. But she sang with us twice and it was really, really awful. And to me, RockBand sounds like it's basically karaoke.

HUH
What's a "karaoke voice"?

Are you talking about someone who scores well in karaoke contests? If so, that's meaningless.
Karaoke can be a decent tool if you are only using it for the backing tracks. You have to audition the singer with your ears not by watching the screen. Heck, if the singer knows the song he/she shouldn't even be looking at the screen. For an audition, the singer should already know the song he/she is singing. Karaoke contests are just party games...they aren't a good test of singing ability.

Also, we shouldn't under estimate the effect that the sound system has on our perception of the singer. If the audio sounds like crap, we might think the voice sounds like crap--even if it doesn't.