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What makes someone think they're a vocalist?
- Thread starter Joebarnes
- Start date
Just don't be afraid to seriously consider it and be certain of your talent or lack thereof.Singer are pretty much the worst people. Generally anyway. There are exceptions. But most people who end up JUST singing are FAR more interested in being on stage and the center of attention than singing. Now, for SOME good singers that need for attention can translate in good stage presence and charisma, but for 99.5% of the rest it translates into being a total snugglemuffin.
So yeah for a lot of them singing is not the priority. I mean i constantly lament the lack of any good singers nowadays. Everyone wants to sound the same. And yes i do partly blame all the idol like shows. Either they want to just belt it out (and if female, like an african-american woman too) OR they just want to sound "real" by just breathing into the microphone (look at almost any indie band with a woman singer) . There seems to be no middle ground now, like, people who have their OWN voice and who can hit the right notes without making a show of themselves. You're not in a musical...
So yeah for a lot of them singing is not the priority. I mean i constantly lament the lack of any good singers nowadays. Everyone wants to sound the same. And yes i do partly blame all the idol like shows. Either they want to just belt it out (and if female, like an african-american woman too) OR they just want to sound "real" by just breathing into the microphone (look at almost any indie band with a woman singer) . There seems to be no middle ground now, like, people who have their OWN voice and who can hit the right notes without making a show of themselves. You're not in a musical...
For me, those shows just showcase people who have more ambition than talent, and have found the uncanny ability to suck every last nuance of soul out of some seriously great pieces of music.
Technical ability is one thing.
Art is another.
Once in awhile I hear someone who can do both, but usually they are named Whitney Houston.
The applause often isn't for the performance, but for the fact that it's over!
This from the man who put the "harm" in harmony.
the first thing I ask a vocalist is "do you have a microphone & stand" ?
The answer usually gives you a clue.
Hey, how can you tell that a singer is knocking on your door?
You gotta tell them when to come in. Ha!
The answer usually gives you a clue.
Hey, how can you tell that a singer is knocking on your door?
You gotta tell them when to come in. Ha!
jive1
Commercial User
From a thread a started a couple years ago:
To the family and friends of those who can't sing,
I implore you to not encourage them to sing in public. Encourage them to take lessons, practice, or whatever to improve, but don't encourage them to sing in public. For when that happens, musicians suffer.
It all began in childhood. Yes, your child was cute singing out of tune and out of time, but as a teen it gets old. Even though you bought your child a fancy new PA in high school, it did not improve his vocals. Our band appreciated it, but after the last battle of the bands, I had to attend college out of state to have any chance of finding a gig or getting laid.
I wish it ended then, but it didn't. People like this still get encouragement for some reason. Sometimes your silence is implied encouragement. So, they continue their quest to be a singer, challenging the conventions of pitch, meter, and dynamics while torturing the musicians behind them. As musicians, we have a more keen sense of pitch and time, and it hurts us more than it hurts you.
From the open mic trainwreck caused by them not knowing when to come in to the audition with a monotone falsetto version of Summer of 69 that's a 1/2 step flat, the band gets blamed for that. Really, it's not our fault, and please don't agree with them when they use that excuse. Trust us, when we think they suck, they actually do. We don't fake those faces.
I know that you are trying to get laid by that cute girl by flattering and telling her she can sing. And sometimes, it works. But, while you hear her wails and moans in bed, we have to deal with her moaning and wailing over "I Will Survive", and trust us it's not sexy. And bands, just because you have a female in the band, you don't have to make her sing anything if the can't. See:Yoko Ono.
And for the guys who are good instrumentalists, but terrible vocalists, please encourage them to improve before subjecting their bandmates to their journey in pitch and time. We really enjoy their playing, and we're not jealous of them and trying to keep them down. We want to save our band from embarassment. Even though you think it's cute and get turned on when he sings "Wonderful Tonight" to you, it clears the bar when he does it and no-one gets any action in the place. I know you deal with crying children at home while we're out gigging, but please know that we're suffering too.
So, I beg you to go past just your polite smile, and just say they need to practice before subjecting an audience. Or just say they suck. Encourage them to learn, practice, improve, but don't encourage them to sing in public. Each time a flat, out of time version of Summertime is sung, a glimmer of hope dies in a musician.
Please, do it for the musicians.
Why is it so hard for someone to come up with a hundred dollars to get a SM58 and stand? I have hundreds of dollars tied up in a SVT, cab, amp, and pedals, and I was able to scrape together some cash to buy a decent mic.
I don't get it. It would be like me showing up to an audition and saying... "Got a bass? How about an amp?"
jive1
Commercial User
It's not just the money, but the mic itself.
First, do you really want to be singing into a mic that possibly dozens of others folks have been spitting into for years? I sure don't.
If I had a really great voice, why would I want to sound like crap through the $20 Radio Shack mic the band provides? Or even if the band provides a decent mic, why wouldn't I want to use a mic that works best for my voice or ergonomics? I know I sure would.
Ego? Stubborness? Friends/family celebrating mediocrity?
The singer of one of my bands can't sing to save his life. He's as flat and off-key as they get, he can't control the level of his voice (he'll mumble a chorus and suddenly yell the last line out of nowhere) and I'm pretty sure he tries to copy Kurt Cobain's vocal melodies every chance he gets. We've told him time and time again to re-do his lines and, at one point, to even consider taking vocal lessons but he insists that his voice is fitting for the music we play and that "raw is good" and that every other person he;s played with has told him his voice sounds great. Now, I'm all for sounding raw...but there's a big difference between sounding raw and sounding off.
He's convinced he sounds great and nothing we say is going to change that. That's his perogative. If he wasn't such a close friend, I probably would have bailed a long time ago. But I suspect a big reason for his insistence to sing comes from other friends not being entirely honest with him - whether its to not hurt his feelings or maliciously I'll never know.
The singer of one of my bands can't sing to save his life. He's as flat and off-key as they get, he can't control the level of his voice (he'll mumble a chorus and suddenly yell the last line out of nowhere) and I'm pretty sure he tries to copy Kurt Cobain's vocal melodies every chance he gets. We've told him time and time again to re-do his lines and, at one point, to even consider taking vocal lessons but he insists that his voice is fitting for the music we play and that "raw is good" and that every other person he;s played with has told him his voice sounds great. Now, I'm all for sounding raw...but there's a big difference between sounding raw and sounding off.
He's convinced he sounds great and nothing we say is going to change that. That's his perogative. If he wasn't such a close friend, I probably would have bailed a long time ago. But I suspect a big reason for his insistence to sing comes from other friends not being entirely honest with him - whether its to not hurt his feelings or maliciously I'll never know.
So, when the answer is: "Yeah, but do you guys run balanced? 'Cause my Neuman is a condenser and needs phantom power" THEN you've got something. You don't know if they can sing, but at least you know they aren't stupid.
Call her out! Say, "Well, this is a garage. Make a little room fellas, and pull your car in. Let's test this theory!"
I'm part laughing, part crying reading this.
I am in the same situation as the OP. Our old singer, Steve, was pretty decent at what he did but he left for a couple reasons; one, he blew his voice out over time and our last gig, which was 5 hours, finished the job off. Secondly, the 1 hour commute for rehearsals got to be too much for him. We liked Steve. He wasn't the best but he wasn't the worst and generally audiences (and by audiences I mean women) liked him because he was charismatic and pretty good looking.
So now we've been auditioning for a new vocalist and I think every nut-job in a 50 mile radius has honed in on us.
The overwhelming commonality of all the candidates?
Karaoke.
It seems like if they sang Summer of '69 and everyone liked it, they are a vocalist.
Over time, I've settled on one question I ask "vocalists", and if they can't answer it.....they aren't vocalists....
"What key do you sing in?"
Sooooooo many people respond with "whatever key the song is in".
Red flag #1.
I am in the same situation as the OP. Our old singer, Steve, was pretty decent at what he did but he left for a couple reasons; one, he blew his voice out over time and our last gig, which was 5 hours, finished the job off. Secondly, the 1 hour commute for rehearsals got to be too much for him. We liked Steve. He wasn't the best but he wasn't the worst and generally audiences (and by audiences I mean women) liked him because he was charismatic and pretty good looking.
So now we've been auditioning for a new vocalist and I think every nut-job in a 50 mile radius has honed in on us.
The overwhelming commonality of all the candidates?
Karaoke.
It seems like if they sang Summer of '69 and everyone liked it, they are a vocalist.
Over time, I've settled on one question I ask "vocalists", and if they can't answer it.....they aren't vocalists....
"What key do you sing in?"
Sooooooo many people respond with "whatever key the song is in".
Red flag #1.
I've been singing since the freaking seventies, and I wouldn't have a clue how to answer that question.
What key do I sing in?
What kind of question is that?
I think it's a dumb question, and I don't appreciate the implication that I am somehow "not a vocalist."
I can sing in any freaking key.
a good one. If you sing regularly, even as a non-musician not knowing keys, you should have been informed from previous sessions what key you do a song in. This way you can inform the band. If, for some reason (it happens), they cannot play your key then you should know an alternate key.
I recently started singing at a local jam. I am not a vocalist, I just enjoy singing and the audience doesn't seem to mind. I keep a cheat sheet (read tablet) where I keep the song list that I have done and what key the band decided I was doing so that the next time I am up I can tell them title and key.
in response to the so-called 'improperly encouraged bad singers' .. it is not always that they are bad, just inexperienced and stage fright kicks in. This easily can cause someone with a decent voice to totally blow it. No, they are not ready for a full time gig as lead singer but they could do with more face-to-face time with an audience and not family, voice tutor, etc. If possible invite them up as a guest from time to time and see if they develop.
