can somebody explain this to me?

[wing]

the other day i was just playing around and singing some smiths songs and tears for fears songs... and i found i have much better control over my voice and pitch this way.

so after time and time again of testing this "british 80s voice" up against my regular natural voice (the one i speak with and therefore sing out of), it seems the british 80s voice always has much better control over pitch and everything. wow. even people i've sung to agree.

but why? i'm not british, for one... and another thing is, i have to MAKE this voice happen. i have to actually conciously think of it. it's not as natural as me just singing with my voice-- the one i speak with.

so why then would i have so much better control with it?

and you what sucks about being a bad singer whose only chance of keeping the pitch is with a british 80s voice? the fact i don't want to start an 80s pop music band! when i try to use this voice in other applications, with music i actually like, it sticks out like a sore thumb. it just sounds goofy.

should i try capitalizing on and developing this voice? am i doomed to only being able to sing like a british 80s singer that will never fit the type of music i really love to make?

[JGriffin]

Perhaps it sounds better because you need to put more conscious effort into it. I find that part of the faux brit thing is where in your mouth you're forming the words, and that the american thing is farther back in my throat and the brit thing up towards the teeth (this comes from my theatre minor back in college as well, studying dialects). If it sounds better, try modifying it so you still have the control and quality but not the obvious britishisms.

[Mr PC]

It is so tricky. The way to sing well is to let yourself go and concentrate on the vowel sounds, letting your true sense of pitch take care of itself. This is what you do when you fake a british accent. The pressure is off, because you are goofing off, and you are just trying to sound british, so you are deliberate in your vowels.

You can't steer too much when singing, just try to make good sounds and forget about pitch. You've proven that you have good pitch if the british stuff sounds "on", so just sing out. Easier said than sang, though--


PC

[JamesHE]

it's easier to imitate voices than it is to sing. You've already heard what "how soon is now" and "everybody wants to rule the world" are supposed to be sung like. You haven't heard yourself sing outside of the context of being yourself, so it's hard to hear what your "supposed" to sound like... especially if you've yet to really sing it right.

talking out of my ass obviously

I have the opposite experience- when I try to sing Jeff Buckly songs I realize how out of control and shitty my voice actually is. I *should* be able to sing an octave under him and pull it off- facking impossible. I wanna sing pretty, but I'm just ugly *sob*

[OM15.2]

wing you're a funny guy. It's so damn nerdy the questions you come up with but I love it.

so yeah anyway what the others already said -
You are holding your voice and mouth in a deliberatly controlled way, and you know exactly what pitch to aim for cause it's someones elses song.
Thus giving 'better' results.


cool question.

[wing]

oh, no, i've been trying it in my own songs that i've written. it still sounds more on pitch, and i have better control.

...?

[OM15.2]

oh, no, i've been trying it in my own songs that i've written. it still sounds more on pitch, and i have better control.

...?

well the fact that you are deliberately holding your mouth in a controlled way to emulate a brit accent is still relevent to your own songs also. It's giving your pitch and maybe tone more focus and control.

I know try a different accent and see if it works too.

[wing]

oh, no, i've been trying it in my own songs that i've written. it still sounds more on pitch, and i have better control.

...?

well the fact that you are deliberately holding your mouth in a controlled way to emulate a brit accent is still relevent to your own songs also. It's giving your pitch and maybe tone more focus and control.

I know try a different accent and see if it works too.

hmmm... what will it be? russian? jamaican? chinese?

[Al]

Not so strange really, when you have the likes of Mick Jagger and Robert Plant who all try to sound American.

Al

[bobbydj]

Maybe you're too convinced you can't sing - so taking on an accent that's not your own is kind of a step towards actually being someone else - sosmeone who is not the Wing that can't sing. It's weird - I think a lot of singers do this. Bowie got through personas like no fucker's business. Perhaps it was partly so he could pull off different voices. I was listening to Rebel yesterday and he really sounds like he's going for a Jagger thing on that song. But compare that to his vocals on Low - the thin white Duke shit. Totally different again. Anyway, bottom line is that I think some of the most accomplished singers kind of become someone they're not in order to get the vocals 'right'.

As for the notion that a Brit accent somehow helps to make the throat and mouth more of a means by which a more pitched voice can emerge - I don't buy it. I mean, for one thing, I seem to be able to pitch better if I do something slightly yank-sounding. So again I think it's about becoming someone else, if only to a slight extent. I love it when Bob Pollard goes all limeyfied. It cracks me up. And I've never ever thought -oh my god how fuckin contrived!!' His voice is just so convincing somehow. It just sweeps you along. You're caught up in the play acting of it all. Or something. Fuck knows.

The other point I was going to make was that while your 'false' limey voice probably sounds really Brit-like to you, it would probably sound INCREDIBLY Texan and American if I heard it. Seriously - accents are rully rully difficult to do convincingly. Dick Vandyke anyone?? So basically if taking on something of a Brit accent is what it takes I say fuckin go for it. Maybe it'll just be a kind of pair of ladders which lets you climb up to a position where you get enough self-confidence to use your own 'real' voice - and the Brit accent will fall away like the first stage of an Apollo rocket as you launch yourself into the deep space of vocal freak outs. What?? Wtf?? Metaphorical overload!!

[elijahn]

its obvious to me.in that style of singing you are using your thorat to control your pitches which is easier but wont last in a whole night because you need to come from the belly to get your breath to support your voice. if you do that then you will be more emotional and potentially more revealing. eventually belly or diaphramatic breathing will give you more power and confidencebut there is an emotional risk.

[getreel]

Russian. For sure Russian...It sounds really cool!

[zoetrope]

The real question is how long could you sing with the fake voice before your throat felt trashed. My guess is you are "over-controlling" your voice and using throat muscles to force the fake sound, and over time this will hurt your voice. If you sing with your natural voice in a relaxed manner it won't be as controlled, but ultimately it will sound better. That's my 2 cents worth of mumbo jumbo.

[housepig]

hmmm... what will it be? russian? jamaican? chinese?

jamaican. sing everything like Bounty Killer. get all rude bwoi on it.

lawddaMERcy...

[HuskerDude]

the other day i was just playing around and singing some smiths songs and tears for fears songs... and i found i have much better control over my voice and pitch this way.

I do the same thing. I was totally unable to sing on pitch ever until I started singing along to my Smiths records. Doing the "Morrissey voice", for whatever reason, I was suddenly able to nail all his songs. That gave me the confidence to open up my voice when I was singing other stuff. There's something about the way he sings (very constricted throat for me) makes it pretty easy to nail any note in your range.