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 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?” 😂

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."

Hi all. I'm mtf trans, but have a naturally baritone/tenor voice. Ariana is my biggest vocal inspiration and I can sing most of her stuff, but naturally struggle because my biological range is lower than hers. Any tips on how I could sing in that range and reach/maintain a soft feminine timbre to match the pitch comfortably?

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.

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.

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 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.

For some context, I've been singing since the 4th grade; I am now 16. I would classify my voice as a low alto or possibly even a contralto. I also LOVE belting. I've never taken lessons outside of school (though I never really participated). As I've gotten older, my voice has most definitely improved. I've been "teaching myself" since the pandemic. I've probably watched hundreds of videos on warm-ups, vocal technique, etc. My singing and technique have improved significantly this past year. I would say my biggest technical struggle is vocal placement.

I've recently noticed a glaring issue when singing, and sometimes even when speaking. The best way to describe it is an intense hoarseness that has pain similar to that of reflux. I could also describe it as feeling like I swallowed a rose thorn. Should I try to see an ENT?

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 was wondering why my voice is raspy and asks me to clear my throat after using a mix to sing effortlessly from e3 to e4 and it happens after 5 minutes, what could be causing it to be raspy and was wondering where I was going wrong. I'm fully relax aswell like its easier to sing that way than using my full chest voice in the 3rd octave.

So I was wondering is it like a falsetto mix and maybe its not good for a baritone to start with lighter voice? To me it feels like covered and relaxed effortless siging when I do it but i realized it tires my voice out quickly and they become raspy?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/15qmdZXfrRNxozZ-HMz-He6mSw3rFY7Nf/view?usp=drivesdk

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1K9cXm2L15Z5wRJN9ZwS-RfSfU1NYwa85/view?usp=drivesdk

Nothing scientific but I've recorded a cover of "Pillowtalk" by Zayn with these two mics hoping, to find the right microphone for me as a Male vocalist up in the tenor range and seeing which mic I should keep/sell.

All recordings were made in an untreated room, about 4 inches away, and the vocal chain is basically straight from my MOTU M4 to FL Studio running a compressor and stock reverb. The only EQ I have is for a high pass filter on 40Hz. I've tried to gain match them as best I can. Any feedback is appreciate!

What are the best Beatles songs to practice singing G4

i sing mostly in japanese this song is a japanese song with a few english in it.
i train my voice for 4 months now(128 days) ,
and i feel im getting better than 4 months ago overall
my dream to become a singer in a music group.
i began singing since i was 12 years old, so i work on my voice, train, and record everyday.
is my voice pretty
thank you 💗

hey guys Im 15 years old mezzo soprano begginer singer.Even though my voice isn't fully settled yet, it's more or less getting there, and I have high goals for myself. Where should I start?

Music & lyrics: Bjørn Sponberg

Hi everyone!

I have joined my school musical because I was getting too much FOMO as I worked backstage and all my friends are actors, and now I have to sing almost every single song in the musical since I’m in ensemble.

The thing is, I’ve never actually tried to sing well, and I also have somewhat severe rhinitis that requires nasal cleansing twice as day or else I can’t breathe. It had been that way since I was 7 so for ten years. I still have that nasal voice as my baseline speaking voice even with the cleansing treatment and sometimes I have to do three times a day and still sound like my nose is blocked.

Is this something that’ll make singing harder or sound nasal forever? I don’t want to make the whole ensemble sound horrible.

If this helps, I like singing while strumming on guitar but I only like singing songs that are unconventional like Tim I Wish You Were Born a Girl or I’m Cool(I love the Will Roland version). I don’t think I’m that bad at tone hearing but I still can’t ear tune my guitar after 5 years of playing it so maybe mildly bad?

And those who are wondering, it’s not allergic rhinitis! My specialist doctor(in my country nasal-ear-throat special doctor is a thing) told me it is likely chronic.

Thanks!

Okay so on my best days my range is e2 to f5 including falsetto. My head voice range is what varies a lot. Some days I can comfortably go as high as e5 in head not falsetto. Oddly enough my falsetto doesn't extend much past my head voice. Anyways, then on my worst days, I can only comfortably reach e4, which is a whole octave less. I would say most days my comfort top note avg is c5 in head voice.

In summery for my head voice, my average high is c5, my worst is e4, and my best is e5. Even though c5 is my average high, its that, an average, with it fluctuating -4 semitones to +2 semitones from c5.

With all that in mind what exercises and techniques should I practice to get a more consistent point at where my head voice tops out at? Also, is a full octave range of where my head voice tops out at considered a normal amount of fluctuation?

Your input and advice is much appreciated.

Because I can't. My high chest voice note is a shaky E4. And when I do any sort of head/mixed voice exercises, I can't go over the break without switching to falsetto. Am I supposed to keep doing the exercises to expand the range there or find out whats wrong before continuing?