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Hi everyone,

I will prefix this post by letting you know that I have a terrible voice.

Basically I am after any techniques or effects to hide, as best as possible, the obvious pitfalls in my singing ability.

[youtube:399145e8e4]http://www.youtube…] In this song, for example, you can tell that the singer isn't technically gifted, but I love how he sounds. Any ideas on how to make a similar effect?

Thanks,

Steven

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Comments

RemyRAD Sun, 05/24/2009 - 14:18

There's nothing wrong with his voice. It's a stylistic thing. And it should be treated as such. You want to accentuate what you believe to be his inadequacies. You're wrong! What you need to do is compress & limit his voice more. Much more. Maybe some extreme stylistic EQ to create more of a acoustic 78 rpm photograph horn or, telephone like effect. But I wouldn't necessarily do that except as an effect once every so often as opposed to throughout.

So let's review. You need to Jack it up. You can still use some effects such as light flanging, with some echoed reverb but not as a predominant coverup. Keep it in the background. He's not Pavarotti because Pavarotti is dead. And it doesn't sound like he's trying to imitate Pavarotti, so tell him to use more air when he sings. Tell him to freaking breathe. He needs to suck in more air to emit more air. He sounds a little limp Dick to me? And he is too young for VIAGRA but maybe not so young that he couldn't SeeAlice? So make him sound like something otherworldly? But keep him up in the mix don't try to bury him, he's not dead like Pavarotti.

All right, Domingo isn't bad.
Ms. Remy Ann David

anonymous Sun, 05/24/2009 - 14:39

Codemonkey wrote: Sounds like a reverb, and a second track distorted (tubes maybe).

The chorus, it's double tracked (or a delay) and panned wide.

Thanks for your help, I will try those effects.

RemyRAD: Thanks for your reply but I think you misread my post. I was the terrible singer asking this question, I'm not asking for tips for me to pass on to the singer of the sing I posted. It's Nicky Wire from the Manic Street Preachers, by the way, So I'm not in a position to do so even if I wanted to :p. I just wanted tips on how to hide my pitfalls in a similar way to the way he does.

BobRogers Sun, 05/24/2009 - 15:07

The most important thing for a less talented singer is to know your limitations. Know your range. Know where the break in your voice is. Take some lessons to learn to manage it. Pick songs in your range. Learn to sing them in pitch. Try to search out singer/songwriters who don't have much vocal talent and also lack the confidence to stretch their range. One of my specialties is "Hurt." Full range is an octave. Most of the notes are within a fifth. The "stretches" reach down instead of up. There are some people under the mistaken impression that I can sing because of that song.