This was supposed to be a classical one, but I hurt my wrist after practicing too long every day with too much tension. For the first time I recorded a guitar accompaniment part in order to figure out and learn the lyrics of a new song. It turns out that singing without the guitar is way easier, and actually listening to the recording of your own voice immediately after is enormously helpful. Almost naturally your ear will suggest different things to try to affect the tone. In summary, I discovered that using the recorder right at the beginning is both super helpful in learning a song (because you can save your hands / wrists from strumming the same chords over and over again), but also in developing your voice across the long run. I mean I know you're supposed to record yourself and listen because you can't trust the sound thats resonating in your own head, but so far I've only been recording at the very end after rehearsing over and over again.
I need to learn how the hell these guys "smooth out" a recording that doesn't fatigue the ear. I know that more instruments and having more contrast helps, but I guess yeah I see how you can make a lot of money finalizing a CD to the pro level because I have no idea.
Take aways (I never would have thought of had I not put the guitar down)
- Intonation: Especially on long or final notes if you gotta hold em out or if its the last note of a descending line you're more likely to be a little flat. No wonder my choir director in college would always say "aim for the top of the note!"
- Darkening vowels: Words like 'me' or 'going' end on a bright EE sound which sounds nasally, so you have to open up your mouth, so the sound becomes more... wide? I say 'darken' because the opposite is definitely 'bright' and words like 'easy' can really hit your ear like a laser.
- Brightening vowels: When I'd have a long open vowel word like 'stone' or 'I' I'd notice that I was going flat more often, and just slightly brightening pulls the pitch up - but don't do it too much because then you'll go nasal and you'll have to darken it down again.
- Signal Strength: Yeah you get a way better recording when you have the mic right up to your mouth instead of away from you trying to record the voice and guitar at the same time. You also don't have to sing as hard and things can happen more naturally - like I was surprised how much vibratto was coming out when I've been trying to figure out the secret for years!
Ishida
Shit now I need to learn this one playing guitar at the same time...