Vocals - Do's and Don'ts
  • Know all the lyrics by heart. This is a big one for 3 reasons:
    1. If you are reading you are thinking about reading and you are not feeling it.
    2. Paper or notebooks are reflective to mid and high frequency sound. The reflection from the paper sounds BAD.
    3. Paper is noizy. Paper shuffling on your recording will probably sound amature.
  • Warm Up! Your larnyx (voicebox) is a muscle. Even something like singing major and minor scales for 10 minutes will really help.
  • Drink warm liquids like water and tea's. Honey or lemon is ok. No milk or dairy because it will create mucouse.
  • Learn your voice. Try singing operetically to thicken your voice and pay attention to how it feels in your chest neck and head. Then recreate a little of that feeling in your songs.
  • Over-enunciate your words. Be slightly to very animated with your delivery. It will not sound funny. It will however help with the energy and intelligability of the vocals.
  • Smile while singing. This is taught by many voice teachers. It is an easy way to sound significantly better.
  • Singing over a rock band is hard work. Singing as loud as you can just to hear yourself is not going to help you develop your voice. Try getting the band to turn down and have the drummer dampen his drums and cymbals. The vocals are as important as anything. If you make this point to the band because you are really going to work on your voice they will most likely be supportive. Have a GOOD sound engineer help you set up your practice so that everyone can hear.