"Aging Vocals and microphones"

I am getting older. My voice is getting older as well. I play and sing 2 sets with a group every weekend.I don't sound quite as good as I once did.Of course,I seem to be the only one that notices.

I am not up to date with current mic technology. :shock:

So,here is my situation: Is there a microphone or microphone/whatever... that can assist in improving the quality of my vocal tone,strength,etc...? Some type of magical technology that essentially...restores the voice of my youth and makes me sound better than I actually am?

Example: I play my 1976 D55 through a chorus pedal,then an equalizer to produce the sound I like.

Is there a microphone or mic technology which will do something similar?

I am serious...and perhaps a little vain. :roll:

Some type of magical technology that essentially...restores the voice of my youth and makes me sound better than I actually am?

Click to expand...

Isn't that what the alcohol is for?? :? :? (joke)

~nw

Ha! :lol: :lol: :lol:
Nigel,that is so righteously funny!!
Thank you!

I tried Nigel's approach when I was younger... I didn't sound any better but I thought I did.

Anyway, I'm in the same boat you're in. I always used to think of myself as a pretty good singer but age does take a toll. Now I sound more like Tom Waits than Tony Bennett. :lol:

Seriously though, you might consider consulting a good vocal coach. Nobody thinks they need one but almost everyone could benefit some from expert advice. Since everybody's voice, skill level and technical challenges are different, a professional voice coach will be able to identify specific areas to work on and give you some new techniques and exercises to get you singing better than ever. A good coach should be happy to work in whatever style or genre you're interested in.

this is how Ozzy has solved it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qrUEG29Tuc
:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

At the risk of being serious, you play two sets, every weekend, with the same group, right?

1) Do you sound okay when you're singing at home without a mic, or has that changed, too?

2) Do you start off okay and then it gets rougher?

3) What kind of mic do you currently use?

4) Who else sings and what kind of mics do they use?

5) Do you have any monitor speakers (in-ear-monitors, etc.) ?

6) Can you hear yourself in the monitors or are you straining your voice so you can hear yourself?

7) What kind of PA do you perform the two sets through?

8) What kind of material? In other words, how hard do you sing? [by the way, I didn't put that 'cool' emoticon in my post]

9) How much do you sing during the week? In other words, do you keep your voice exercised?

your 56 year old friend, gilded

I dunno nuthing about a product called auto tune.

I have heard some of the most popular Pop Stars use it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto-Tune

taabru45 said:

AlohaJoe said:

I tried Nigel's approach when I was younger... I didn't sound any better but I thought I did.

Joe, you didn't read the directions.....the more the audience drinks, the better you sound.. :lol: :lol: Steffan

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

I heard a recording the next morning when I was at a gig the night before and drunk on whisky Boy - was it BAAAAAAD

AlohaJoe said:

...

Seriously though, you might consider consulting a good vocal coach.Nobody thinks they need one but almost everyone could benefit some from expert advice. Since everybody's voice, skill level and technical challenges are different, a professional voice coach will be able to identify specific areas to work on and give you some new techniques and exercises to get you singing better than ever. A good coach should be happy to work in whatever style or genre you're interested in.

Click to expand...

A good idea, methinks.
I've not had private, one on one coaching, but did have some group help in church choir several years ago. At 55 my voice & singing are the best they've ever been. No alcohol involved.

Thanks for the input folks...very funny commercial Krysh!

Great question. At the risk of embarrassment, I've got to ask this Harry.

I know it must be an enormous aid as all the professionals use monitors, but I've never used one and never understood how exactly that helps? We all grow up without the aid of something playing our sound back at us and a few are able to stay on key. But what role does a monitor play? Just amplification above the sound we create to aid in staying on key and in tune? Please excuse my ignorance.

West

Boy, I say boy, you ain't ignorant!!! [apologies to Foghorn Leghorn!]

First off, you wouldn't use a monitor unless you needed one, so there's nothing to be embarrassed about, amigo.

Off the top of my head, people use monitors speaks when they can't hear their voices (or some other part of the band) over the main PA, when the acoustics are so poor (where they are standing) that they can't hear anything, or finally, if they are like me, they are so deaf that they need to boost their voice to hear it.

If you play electric music, a raucous little guitar amp could be putting out 100-115 decibels of sound, right next to you, while you are trying to sing. That's not quite as loud as a Jet Engine, but I guarantee that you would have a hard time discerning if you are singing in pitch in that situation. You certainly wouldn't hear the other singers very well, either.

If you can't hear yourself, you tend to make up for it by singing harder, which a) strains your voice and b) often causes you to sing a bit off pitch.

Lots of people who can't hear very well, start singing worse and don't understand 'why'. Perhaps, they chalk it up to 'Old Age', when it's just Deficient Hearing.

That's all I can think of right now. Holler back at me if you got more questions.

Harry aka gilded

krysh said:

this is how Ozzy has solved it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qrUEG29Tuc
:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Click to expand...

Guess I'll be using my cellphone a lot in Arlington :roll:

gilded said:

Boy, I say boy, you ain't ignorant!!! [apologies to Foghorn Leghorn!]

...
If you can't hear yourself, you tend to make up for it by singing harder, which a) strains your voice and b) often causes you to sing a bit off pitch....

Harry aka gilded

Click to expand...

When in fact, the thing to do is to learn to open the "pipe" of your torso & sing from the gut. It doesn't feel loud, but it strengthens the power behind the voice & projects it out. When you get it, you'll hear & feel the difference in vocal quality & power.(& an increase in the useful range, probably)

Thanks guys, Harry I appreciate the info.

West

I'm new to the board but I would like to chime in on what has worked for me.
I am 49 years old and I have recently gained a vocal quality and range that I could only have dreamed of a year ago.
The way I did it was to quit smoking. I haven smoked a cigarette in a year...well, a year on November the first. I had pretty much given up on singing. I had dropped tunes that I used to do in G down to F. E was the next step.

Man, there is nothing more pitiful than an old fart singing "He stopped loving her today" in E. That was me.
I had let cigarettes destroy my voice.
Finally after a pretty rough gig in which I basically sounded like an old worn out has-been I sat in my car and stared at the pack of Marlboro lights (which I dearly love) and did some seroius soul searching.

Do I want to sing or do I want to smoke cigarettes was the question. I threw them away and never looked back.
The first month my voice was worse than when I was smoking. By the three month point I was singing as good, all the time, as I was on those rare nights when my voice didn't completely suck. By the six month point I was back to all the original keys of the songs I had dropped two steps. Now... believe it or not I have increased my vocal range an octave and I have a vocal power that I have not enjoyed in over 20 years.
There is nothing more satisfying than being able to grab that high note and let it soar!
I've been smoking ever since I was 15 so I honestly can say that my voice is better now...at 49 ...than it was at 19. (now if I could get the looks of my 19 year old self back)

Anyone that smokes and has vocal trouble....quiting is the answer! That is step one.
It's not age it's the cancer sticks. Ever hear an old man who has smoked all his life talk without a gravel voice? I haven't. It takes its toll after years and years. The good news is you can turn it around and get that old voice back in shape...I'm living proof of that.

The only bad part of quitting is coming to grips with all the wasted years of inferior damaged vocals that people were paying to hear.

It may have been a smoker that coined the classic night club bandleader line: "the more you drink the better we sound"

Back last Christmas I had a bad case of flu - doesn't usually get me - had to take some days off work which is rare and lost my voice which had never happened before. It took weeks to come back, but as it started to come back I found I could do a great imitation of Sachmo (wonderful world) and Lee Marvin (wandrin' star) :mrgreen:

jimistone said:

I'm new to the board

Click to expand...

Welcome. Very good advice. Some of the range compression will be age related. While I was the only tenor in the room who had the guts to volunteer for the high B in the Sanctus of Durufle's Requiem it has been years since I could handle Immigrant Song

I can recommend in ear monitors. I bought a set from Miracle Ears. They were not cheap, I could have bought an S100 for what I paid, but I feel like I'm singing in a studio when i'm on stage. I can isolate just what I want to have piped in from the board and it has done wonders for my singing. Like anything you get what you pay for. There are cheap alternatives out there but I think they do more harm than good. Pay the $$ and enjoy the sound!!!