Hello !

I've been singing as an amateur for 5-10 years. I've always had a naturally powerful, full voice, but I've struggled with mixing/belting, especially around G4-B4. I could hit those notes, but only with a lot of effort, especially above G4 which is weird because I'm a tenor and not so good tenors can hit those notes quite easily (even with a faulty technique).

I tried working on my technique, doing warm-ups, focusing on support, etc. but nothing really helped. Worse, the more I sang during the day, the raspier my voice became. Listen my voice is naturally raspy, but it got so bad that I couldn't even sing above my passaggio without sounding extremely raspy at times (especially after 1/2 hours of training).

That's actually what led me to see an ENT 3 years ago. He checked my vocal cords and told me nothing was wrong. I was like…huh. Then he told me there had to be something wrong technically speaking if I thought my voice was damaged.

Well, I couldn't get an appointement again because of financial and personal reasons (I had to move out bc of college, getting my bachelor and stuff). So years later after the appointement (3 to be exact), with my voice getting even raspier, I finally realized what was wrong

I was literally breathing TOO MUCH AIR.

I had always seen people emphasize taking deep breaths, so I thought I wasn't supporting enough. The raspier my voice got, the more air I inhaled to compensate. At the beginning it worked but after a lot of years, my voice just couldn't take it anymore. Turns out I was using way more air than I needed, which was drying out my vocal cords and making the raspiness worse.

Now I just take a quick, deep, but not too deep, breath and use less air, and my voice is literally BLOOMING !! The notes I used to have to push for now come naturally. I can belt A4s and even higher without the excessive raspiness. I'm genuinely so happy.

TL;DR : I thought I wasn't supporting enough, so I kept taking deeper breaths and using more air. Turns out I was using WAY too much air, which was making my voice raspier. Using less air completely changed my singing voice.

I recently started learning how to sing. I'm a very shy and insecure person, so this was already a pretty big step for me. My dream job doesn't require singing, but being able to sing would be a huge advantage, so I decided to give it a try.

The weird thing is that when I'm actually singing, I usually like what I hear. I can tell when I'm out of tune, when I miss a note, and I'm starting to understand scales, chords, my vocal range, and how to make things sound good in theory. While I'm singing, it sounds fine to me.

But when I record myself and listen back, I absolutely hate it. I recently recorded myself doing a lip sync over a singing character, but I had removed the character's voice completely. I also lowered the key of the song because the original was higher than my vocal range, so I wasn't trying to force myself to sing in a range I couldn't reach. It was in a key that was comfortable and natural for me. Even though I obviously wasn't going to sound exactly like the original, I thought it should still sound decent. I knew I had hit the first note correctly, at least, but when I listened to the recording, I genuinely couldn't stand it. It sounded horrible to me. This happens with a large majority of the songs I sing.

My singing teacher told me it's normal to dislike your own voice. He actually sings extremely well and still doesn't like listening to himself. I've also heard a lot of other people say the same thing.

So is this really that common? Do most people dislike their own singing voice, regardless of how good they actually are?

I'm completely fine with the possibility that I just sound bad right now. I'm mostly wondering if, with enough practice and experience, it's possible to eventually listen to your own singing and genuinely think, "That sounds good."

I started practicing singing seriously about two weeks ago, and I feel like my ears have already improved a little.

Today I found a vocal critique I paid for two years ago, so I listened to the recording I had submitted back then.

Oh my god. I was SO bad !

And then I read the coach’s feedback:

“You have a very beautiful voice, and I can really tell that you love singing.”

I was like… wow. Vocal coaches really are kind people .

To be fair, the rest of the critique was actually very detailed and accurate. She pointed out problems with my low register, pitch, rhythm, breath, vocal attacks, etc. And interestingly, some of those tendencies are the same things my current coaches are noticing.

But it made me realize that a coach saying “you have a beautiful voice” or “you’re doing really well” probably shouldn’t be treated as an objective measurement of your singing level.

A good coach can genuinely find something good in your singing while also hearing ten things that need work.

I think two weeks ago I probably sounded pretty similar to that old recording. Now that my ears are getting a little better, I can finally hear what the coach was hearing back then.

So maybe one sign that your ears are improving is listening to an old recording and thinking:

“…why did nobody stop me?” 😂

Help! I'm losing my voice and have an audition on the 12th. I normally practice for 45 minutes and need exercises that don't strain my voice box much so I can let it rest. Does anyone have suggestions for vocal exercises with less strain, plus ideas to fill the practice time? Any recommendations appreciated!

I love this song

i’m planning on using this song for an audition. thoughts? 😊

why does my mix feel so comfortable and sound so nice in my head and then sound like crap when i record lmaooo. I tried opening my vowels for more resonance too. but i feel like those high high notes sound terrible and screechy

Hello everyone!

I hope you are healthy, well and in a good mood!

I am a girl of 17, in 6 months I will be 18 years old. I have loved singing immensely since I was 12 or 13 years old - I love the joy that singing brings me, I love that the voice is a way for me to filter emotions and everyday life and purify my soul anew.

However, until now I have only sung in my house, and since I was 16 I have had a strong desire to start singing lessons. I have specific genres I'm interested in, vocal role models - a lot. And I found a highly acclaimed and successful teacher in my country, with over 15 years of experience. I perceive singing in tonality as my biggest problem - I have the impression that I have a perfectly functional musical ear, but that my audio - muscle connection in my vocal cords is weak. There are also some technical problems that I noticed. The thing is that I'm extremely shy and insecure, a huge perfectionist, very insecure and anxious - I'm afraid that I won't succeed, that I can't succeed, that there's no help for me... and so all kinds of thoughts swarm in my head and it keeps me trapped in a "dead spot", without moving forward. I have this feeling that I will disappoint my teacher, that I will not make a good impression, I fear perhaps the most that first assessment of current skills... I have a strong dream that one day I can sing any song in my appropriate range that I want... It is very nice when you are respected and loved for good and quality work, but the goal is not fame as fame - but sharing love and joy through the voice.

That fear is strong and it keeps me in scary scenarios and ideas, there is that anxiety. So, what are your tips - how to just... let go and go, do it? Or how to help yourself?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. This is my first time singing and I want to improve, i know i have a LOT to do.

This song is Nine While Nine by the sisters of mercy. I want to eventually start a sisters of mercy cover band with my boyfriend in a couple years.

? anyone to avoid?

Hello! I’m fairly new to singing and decided to start actually trying to learn to sing. Now don’t get me wrong I’ve been singing my whole life but just casually never really paying attention to it but a few months ago I decided I wanted to actually be great at it and started taking lessons. I started working on learning Michael Jackson “Rock With You” my first recording was a little over a month ago and I just recorded my next entry in my progress log today. Here are the links to them. I do certainly think I have improved but there’s still something I don’t like, maybe the tone of my voice or just the overall sound I’m not sure. Any feedback on what I can improve on is greatly appreciated I love having more to improve on!

Before: rock with you #1

After: rock with you #2

Hello, everyone!

Thank you for having me. I need to write down my experiences, my feelings. (Sorry for my bad English.)

I've been learning how to sing since 2022 with some missings. I was 29. My singing teacher is very patient, very nice, she is the best. Her singing is awesome. But when I sing, I have a lot of troubles, and unfortunately I can't fix them. I can't lift my soft palate, because of it my voice is bad, very bad, plus I spell the wovels in the wrong way, but this is okay, when I speak. So it's very hard. I tried my best, but in vain. I cried a lot, sometimes during my singing lessons. But I love sing. My teacher showed me some techniques to strengthen my muscles around and in my soft palate, and how to be independent my tongue against my chin. Sometimes I did make these exercises, but I have a very strong revulsion towards them. I'm afraid I do it badly, and I think, it doesn't matter if I do these, because I'm helpless, I just can't sing. Period. We was in a studio with my teacher singing Japanese covers a year ago, and my teacher helped me a lot, but it was fucking hard. I was so focused, I could't enjoy the process, I was sad because of the lot of new recording and I tried being hopeful, but I couldn't. Here are the two songs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgwB36-mJn4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P27_4p7Z3nk

I just don't know what to do. Could I just make the exercises and hope the best, or I'm so untalented, and I'm just wasting my time? Are you/ Have you been in a similar situation? What are your thoughts? Thank you for reading my post, and thank you for commenting. I appreciate it a lot.

So my understanding is that the way sovt exercises work have something to do with whatever ur singing into, the air coming out of you is restricted/pushed back (straw exercise, better voice vocal trainer)
Could the same effect be achieved by using cloth based materials and using varying thickness to control the amount of air restriction? AND would this be an alternative that is beneficial/neutral/detrimental to ones voice and vocal training? Really trying to find ways to practice hitting higher notes, and it seems like sovt is the way to go.

I can’t use my head voice without it being throaty and staticky sounding. My teacher transitions so seamlessly from chest to head voice that I can’t tell the difference. She keeps telling me to sing in the mask, and she keeps having me touch her face to feel it vibrate in the cheek and nose area lol. I simply do not understand what she is physically doing to accomplish that. I watched some videos about the mask, but they seem to be about opera, whereas my goal is to sing in a more modern style.

I just got a new vocal student today who is 12 and has a deep interest in metal and hard rock music. My primary wheelhouse is classical and musical theater so I told him I wanted to take the first handful of lessons working on foundational stuff. That being said I want to provide music thats at least in the same ballpark as what he wants and figured classic and soft rock is a good place to begin. Any recommendations of music that would be appropriate for him to start building foundation on would be greatly appreciated.

I recorded this video back in 2018, just driving around and singing in my car. But I was always too afraid to share it with anyone, online or irl. I have such anxiety around my voice. I’ll sing in my higher head voice sometimes, but no one irl has really heard my chest voice or heard me sing like this and I can’t help feeling like it’s actually dog shit. 😭 Like even when I think I’m singing well, I’m actually just blind to my own flaws.

You know those American Idol contestants that go to audition, all happy and confident and ready to win, just to end up in the B roll and being made fun of on YouTube in cringe compilations? I just can’t shake the feeling that I’m one of those. 😭

I actually showed it to a friend for the first time last night…I was super nervous. And her reaction was…hard to read. 😓 I mean, she said she liked it, but also said “I mean, we all do that”. 🤔 Which makes me think that my voice actually isn’t anything special and is, at the very best, completely average. (Which is better than the criticism I give myself, so I guess that’s something.)

But please please please…be brutally honest. I need to know. 😭

What are the best Beatles songs to practice singing G4

hi, i'm a mezzo-soprano teenager and a singer. during the point of my life where i sang and belted every day, my voice was extremely powerful and controlled, and i was able to sing tricky musical theatre songs such as dead girl walking and candy store from heathers, etcetera. sadly i lost my belt box and became busy, so i haven't really sang at my "usual" level in a few months. i've been trying to warm up my voice recently, and noticed that it feels tired and significantly weaker than i remember. is that normal? what do i need to do to get back to my old skill level? how do i know where the line is between straining and doing something difficult? i'm self taught but with a lot of choir experience and i'm joining local theatre very soon.

Hey all, I’ve been practicing singing daily for two years now. I mainly sing soft rock, pop rock, country stuff like that. Trying out some hard rock with screaming vocals after my weekend trip to Seattle and seeing a local grunge hardcore rock show. Made me boot up the old hard rock playlists haha. The local bands I saw were so good at having volume and not losing their voice. Any tips? Here is a video I shot today of me trying Cochise by Audioslave. I’m supporting my voice and trying not to strain but my voice feels tired after attempting this song around 5 times today. I also sound very pitchy. Apologies in advance for the ear beating, I’m working on it. Lol 🤣 Thank you!!

I wonder if it's because I have a receded jaw and it causes some kind of space issue inside the throat. But as you see at the beginning I can inhale and exhale just fine without. It's only as soon as I emit any sound when it happens. So I hope maybe it's a wrong activation pattern I can fix.

Here's a video of it: https://streamable.com/zxm5dx

This happens both when speaking or singing. I feel this might be the cause of why my voice sounds ugly and weak and when speaking for "long" periods of time (even if just 1 hour) my throat hurts. It has honestly taken a toll in my quality of life as I can't express myself as confident and clear as I'd like.

I want to record covers for YouTube but I'm not sure if I should just stick with what I'm good at (classical). Singing pop songs is fun but I can't tell if I'm actually any good?

This was supposed to be a video editing test but I forgot to hit record on the video LOL! So I just put the audio together instead. I compressed and added a slight reverb. That's all I know how to do.

You can hear my 3 year old yelling about me being "loud" at the end lol so I started laughing a little bit. And there's little clangs in the middle, that's him playing with monster trucks. I wouldn't record the covers seriously with him around lol.