Just wondering, if anyone else singing voice changes from live to recording playback.

For me, I'll be totally on-key for the live but in recordings I'm always off-key not sure if it's Audacity, my microphone (Konami's American Idol mic is what I use) or not. I KNOW it's not my ears, to other people in the room I'm on-key when I'm recording, but the playback is off for some reason. Top of that my singing voice also sounds higher. o.O It's weird.

More than likely, it's your natural voice that you're hearing. It's true that different microphones can have an impact (some are more treble heavy, others are more bass heavy, and then there are mics that are more balanced but these can all be changed with Equalization), but 99% of the time, the mic will pick up what you truly sound like. Recording program of choice makes no difference either. You'll sound the same in Audacity as you do in Mixcraft, Audition, or Sony Acid.

As for what you hear and the difference when you record: our ears have a way of tricking us into thinking that our voices are deeper than they are and in-key, but that's because we primarily hear our voices as resonated through our skulls. Recordings - when played back - take out the resonance of our skulls (what we hear) and reveals what other people hear. Your voice doesn't keep the resonance you hear when it leaves your mouth and what sounds like the right note to you, can in actuality be sharp or flat. Your voice hasn't changed. You just now know what the rest of the world is hearing.

All above, what Laurent typed is true. The voice you ear (yours) and the voice others ear aren't the same. You should sound like a diva, but others ear a dead voice. That's normal, Lauren explained why.

About being off tune, you can fix this easily, in almost 90% case if you rise volume of the playback in your headphone. and please use both headspeakers, ok ?

I rarely tune singers now, but when it happens I have to rise tone, means that singers are mostly off tone, bellow the note. I accept plus or less 20% semitone, above this dispersion I tune or ask resing if too off.

Hope it helps.

Kitkat wrote:

All above, what Laurent typed is true. The voice you ear (yours) and the voice others ear aren't the same. You should sound like a diva, but others ear a dead voice. That's normal, Lauren explained why.

About being off tune, you can fix this easily, in almost 90% case if you rise volume of the playback in your headphone. and please use both headspeakers, ok ?

I rarely tune singers now, but when it happens I have to rise tone, means that singers are mostly off tone, bellow the note. I accept plus or less 20% semitone, above this dispersion I tune or ask resing if too off.

Hope it helps.

It's helpful, though I don't plug in headphones to hear playback. Not because I don't want to, but because for some reason when I plug in headphones you don't hear the sound going through the or any sound in general. Plugging in headphones mutes the sound. This didn't happen when I first got my computer years ago in 2007 and this seemed to start about 4-5 years ago. It's due to that why I don't use a headset mic. ^^'

TaYuMi wrote:

It's helpful, though I don't plug in headphones to hear playback. Not because I don't want to, but because for some reason when I plug in headphones you don't hear the sound going through the or any sound in general. Plugging in headphones mutes the sound. This didn't happen when I first got my computer years ago in 2007 and this seemed to start about 4-5 years ago. It's due to that why I don't use a headset mic. ^^'

That could be a driver issue, interference from a program, or merely an issue with volume control. When you put your headphones in, right click on the volume icon in your taskbar (assuming you're using a Windows OS) and go through Volume Mixer, Volume Control options, and Playback Devices.

Volume Mixer: everything should be at 100

Volume Control Options:
- 'All devices currently playing sound...' should be checked.
Sound devices should be your speakers. Check that box as well.

Playback devices: click on the speakers, click properties. Look on the Levels tab and make sure it's 100. Go to Advanced and check both boxes if they aren't. Check if your recording program has sound with input monitor on. Alternatively, try unchecking them and see if you get sound in your recording program when monitor input is on. Those boxes work differently for everyone.

When you start to record, make sure you turn off any program that can use your speakers, mic, etc. No skype, browser, or games. Better yet, save the lyrics and mp3 to your computer. Copy paste the lyrics in wordpad or save the google doc in a file type you can open. Check the preferences of the program you're recording with too.

If none of those methods work, then it's a safe bet that you might need to update your driver. If you know the model of your machine and the brand, go to the manufacturer's website (dell, acer, gateway, compaq, etc.) and look up the audio drivers for your machine. Don't download them if they're not at least 2012-2013. Just search their names (realtek, etc.) in google and look for their official website. You should be able to get results for drivers from this or last year. When you find the driver you need (make sure it's compatible with your OS and up to date), download and install.

Hopefully any one of these solves your problem.

LaurenLCD wrote:

TaYuMi wrote:

It's helpful, though I don't plug in headphones to hear playback. Not because I don't want to, but because for some reason when I plug in headphones you don't hear the sound going through the or any sound in general. Plugging in headphones mutes the sound. This didn't happen when I first got my computer years ago in 2007 and this seemed to start about 4-5 years ago. It's due to that why I don't use a headset mic. ^^'

That could be a driver issue, interference from a program, or merely an issue with volume control. When you put your headphones in, right click on the volume icon in your taskbar (assuming you're using a Windows OS) and go through Volume Mixer, Volume Control options, and Playback Devices.

Volume Mixer: everything should be at 100

Volume Control Options:
- 'All devices currently playing sound...' should be checked.
Sound devices should be your speakers. Check that box as well.

Playback devices: click on the speakers, click properties. Look on the Levels tab and make sure it's 100. Go to Advanced and check both boxes if they aren't. Check if your recording program has sound with input monitor on. Alternatively, try unchecking them and see if you get sound in your recording program when monitor input is on. Those boxes work differently for everyone.

When you start to record, make sure you turn off any program that can use your speakers, mic, etc. No skype, browser, or games. Better yet, save the lyrics and mp3 to your computer. Copy paste the lyrics in wordpad or save the google doc in a file type you can open. Check the preferences of the program you're recording with too.

If none of those methods work, then it's a safe bet that you might need to update your driver. If you know the model of your machine and the brand, go to the manufacturer's website (dell, acer, gateway, compaq, etc.) and look up the audio drivers for your machine. Don't download them if they're not at least 2012-2013. Just search their names (realtek, etc.) in google and look for their official website. You should be able to get results for drivers from this or last year. When you find the driver you need (make sure it's compatible with your OS and up to date), download and install.

Hopefully any one of these solves your problem.

Just realized I didn't mention that I have Windows Vista Compaq Presario 2007 computer. Will this work for it too?

Also...
I did some research. Apparently covering your ears somehow is what can allow you to hear yourself singing. Which is why singers user earplugs (musician earplugs) singers also use monitors (I think IEM, In ear monitor is the name of it) during live shows. I've heard of people also using regular earplugs too. I've tried it a bit and it sounds better than before but I still need to practice singing with them on until I can get really used to it. It's going to take some time.

It should. Vista and 7 do have minor differences, but they're more or less the same OS (7 is just more refined and fixes some problems Vista has).

You can try that method, just be careful of yelling/belting where it's not needed. You can damage your voice if you're not careful cause you won't hear at full capacity. Warming up and working on breathing techniques help in keeping in tune as well.