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What do you think about my band's singer?

#181
aggrokragg said:
Couple things:

Your singer is off-key for sure. He could really embrace it though. Just don't write anymore ballads.
I'd suggest he check out the bands Saint Vitus and Harvey Milk as examples of making that style work.

Also, is he taking lessons pre or post-recordings? If it's pre, tell him to find a new teacher to spend his $$$ on. You guys are young so keep practicing and use criticism as fuel to keep getting better.
Click to expand...
Speaking of Harvey Milk. Here is a new release from two of my bandmates a few others including Creston Spiers (singer/guitar) for Harvey Milk also recorded by Kyle Spence (drummer for Harvey Milk).
Some people may have trouble getting on board with Neil's voice but oh well...it is what it is and I can dig it.
Checkout my bandmates new LP | TalkBass.com
 
#183
I'm the Guitarist of Unemploid. The previous post was my brother, the bassist, and I wanted to state my opinion.

The Singer in general is bad. He's very agressive and you should to that in the future but he can't sing and, in the end, he's not at all right for the band. Your music sounds percise while the singer, even though doing what he's more accustome too, is just messy and not at all what the song is.

Like I said, you want to stick with him being aggressive but he's still messy which not only the oposite of the song but makes the band seem not up to par. I say not up to par because that first song, absolutly terrible. It's not amateur, you wish it was amateur. That first song would make everyone in the croud of xfactor think your singer is mentally ********.

What you guys are doing, your doing it right (solos could use some work). Most importantly, I think the singer needs to go. Get some with ranger and, I know it's hard now a days, don't get a screamer. Take a look at Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, or Journey. Excluding Journey, these are the real screamers with range. The Singer you need is someone that has some scream in him but has range and control.
 
#184
I don't feel comfortable when I have to provide negative feedback but in this case must admit that the singer needs good vocal training with a good coach. Though he is a very emotional performer, he doesn't know how to breath properly and he's using more his vocal cords for intonation rather than breathing.
 
#187
This is not really my genre of music, but I can appreciate music that is played well of just about any genre. But, to me, both of these tunes are somewhat painful to listen to. I am super sensitive to intonation, especially playing upright for many years, and when the pitch is off, it ruins the tune for me. Its just sad that he cannot hear the pitch problems. That being said, vocal training can help pitch, but one has to understand there is a problem.
 
#188
Some people in this thread forgot that there are nice ways to give criticism.

But anyways. Your singer's style actually suits the music for the most part, he just may need a little tightening up in some technical areas like intonation. I would simply recommend he spend some time practicing his vocals outside of practice, he would probably improve rather quickly. There are many resources out there that can help him along...books, youtube videos, or a vocal coach. Many people don't take the time to practice singing like one might practice the guitar. Study, perform technical exercises, understanding the theory behind it..etc.
 
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#189
altarsofmadness said:
Well, my band just finished recording its first album and well, I love it (who doesn't love its band's first album?). However, a lot of people say that our singer is not that good. I really like his vocals, but I know this could be an acquired taste. I should add that he is also our main lyricist and our keyboard player.
So, what do you think?
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Music doesn't get much more depressing than that. Guess the title makes sense.
 
#193
I bet Bruce Springsteen's been told his voice sucks. I know that Kurt Cobain was told he should not be the lead for Nirvana. You know what you've got in your lead singer, if he is working to improve, and you like his sound, work with what you got. (until something better comes along)
 
#194
Wow, some of you guys are really soft selling your responses. As much as that may be "polite", I don't think it's actually kind or productive. I didn't bother reading all 10 pages though (got through about 4).

First I'll talk a little about the music.

The fake drums and sequenced General MIDI sounding keys are a huge turnoff. Poorly recorded real drums will always have more vibe than clean and sterile fake drums. At the very least have the drummer overdub real cymbals onto the fake drums. and if the band has a keyboard player, the keyboard parts (which are pretty simple anyway) should be played by a human. That way at least if they have that GM plastic sound, they will have a bit of an organic vibe to them still.

The first song was pretty boring as some other people mentioned. Just a generic chord progression that seems to go forever (I didn't listen to the whole thing). The second track was better, you guys should stick to stuff more like that.

Now to the singer.

He isn't. I don't know if he can ever be. Of the couple minutes between the 2 songs I was able to get through, I'm sure there was a single line with no off key notes, and usually the only time he hit the correct notes was when he was slurring between 2 wrong ones. He needs literally at least 6 months of intensive vocal training on a mountain somewhere with a Chinese monk who will poke him with sticks and give him ancient herbal potions that will give him super powers. If he can't get his pitch under control, he's not a singer, bottom line.

His enunciation is also deplorable. Guessing you guys are from somewhere in SA or eastern Europe or something, but singing in English because that's what's cool. But even Max Cavalera is mostly understandable, and across the pond, Cristina Scabbia has the voice of an angel with English diction to match, even though she's a native Italian speaker and has a pretty heavy accent when just talking. This isn't AS important as the pitch, but it would be very helpful. I literally could not understand a word he was saying. It all sounded very garbled.

Rhythmically he wasn't so great either but this was less noticeable. But if he works on his phrasing and enunciation, it will go a long way towards making the whole thing a lot more palatable (which will be pointless if he can't reign in the pitch SIGNIFICANTLY).

On the plus side, his tone isn't half bad, but that gets lost with all the other problems (which is literally every other thing about the vocals). I didn't get to the lyrics because as I said I couldn't understand them. I'm going to go out on a limb though and say they could probably use some work too.

You guys as a whole are maybe not a lost cause, but I would take down anything you have online right now, and just take the next 6 months to a year to really practice and individually and as a band (esp the singer), work on your song writing, and all that. Maybe at that time write and record another batch of songs that you keep to yourselves, and then probably by round 3 you should be hopefully ready for public consumption. I would strongly advise getting a different singer though.

Good luck.
 
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#195
Rattfink said:
I bet Bruce Springsteen's been told his voice sucks. I know that Kurt Cobain was told he should not be the lead for Nirvana. You know what you've got in your lead singer, if he is working to improve, and you like his sound, work with what you got. (until something better comes along)
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Totally different situation. Those guys will never sing Puccini at the Met, but while they have somewhat unconventional voices, they have great phrasing, are on pitch more often than not by a wide margin (maybe not so much live), and they have voices that are generally pleasing to the people who like they kind of music they play.
 
#196
Omega Monkey said:
The fake drums and sequenced General MIDI sounding keys are a huge turnoff. Poorly recorded real drums will always have more vibe than clean and sterile fake drums. At the very least have the drummer overdub real cymbals onto the fake drums. and if the band has a keyboard player, the keyboard parts (which are pretty simple anyway) should be played by a human. That way at least if they have that GM plastic sound, they will have a bit of an organic vibe to them still.
Click to expand...

Well, there AFAIK there are no programmed drums on the album, that song does feature some heavy reverb on the drums tho. About the keys, they are not MIDI programmed, they were played on a middle of the road Yamaha synth (an MOX6), which of course doesn't sound like a real Grand Piano, but is as good as we could get.
Thank you for listening.
 
#197
altarsofmadness said:
Well, there AFAIK there are no programmed drums on the album, that song does feature some heavy reverb on the drums tho. About the keys, they are not MIDI programmed, they were played on a middle of the road Yamaha synth (an MOX6), which of course doesn't sound like a real Grand Piano, but is as good as we could get.
Thank you for listening.
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So, OP, now that you've heard all 10 pages of responses, what do you think now of your band's singer? Will you change anything or keep marching forward? And, do you regret having asked?
 
#198
Tom Lane said:
So, OP, now that you've heard all 10 pages of responses, what do you think now of your band's singer? Will you change anything or keep marching forward? And, do you regret having asked?
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Well, we won't fire our singer, that's certain, I mean, that was not even an option. I see that a lot of you guys have really detested his vocals, like seriously, but I believe it may be a combination of, one, most of you are not really into the style, and, most important, two, he might be out of tune a lot of the time. I do like the vocals on both songs, specially on the first one, because (this might be explained by knowing the song's back story and being involved in its creation) it drips with feeling, I mean, even if he is out of tune, he can get a message across, he can get a feeling across, which I believe is even more important, or at least is more important for me.

He' still getting lessons tho.

And no, I do not regret asking, I mean, we are pretty good at accepting criticism, and after reading some of the, albeit childish, responses, I don't think any review will negatively impact me.

And, thank you all for taking the time to listen to us :)
 
#199
Great attitude.

I don't think you've answered my question yet, though I might have missed it as I'm not following all that closely. How come you didn't use autotune, or some other type of pitch correction? I mean, it's not terribly difficult these days to get someone who can't sing in key, IN key, for the recordings. I think yer shooting yourself in the foot not doing that.

Live, it's easy to pull that kind of stuff off. In the studio - well, you heard the reaction here. Why not go the extra mile so that you can pull in more people? I'm fairly certain that the vocals being in key a bit more isn't going to hurt you in any way. I'm equally certain that his being out of key isn't going to help you much, also.
 
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#200
Joe Nerve said:
Great attitude.

I don't think you've answered my question yet, though I might have missed it as I'm not following all that closely. How come you didn't use autotune, or some other type of pitch correction? I mean, it's not terribly difficult these days to get someone who can't sing in key, IN key, for the recordings. I think yer shooting yourself in the foot not doing that.

Live, it's easy to pull that kind of stuff off. In the studio - well, you heard the reaction here. Why not go the extra mile so that you can pull in more people? I'm fairly certain that the vocals being in key a bit more isn't going to hurt you in any way. I'm equally certain that his being out of key isn't going to help you much, also.
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Sorry, hadn't read the question somehow.
About autotune, well, I don't think we even considered it, but it does sound like a great option now. I'll talk to the guy who did the mastering and ask him. Any estimate for that?
 

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