Sorry to darken up such a nicely going thread but stuff like relative pitch and the relationship between inner ear and outer ear hearing appears to what separates the so called naturals and gifted from the majority of us all.
I found this an interesting read I did not want to link it as it`s from a poster reviewing a bands singer.
"Not to dog pile on the vocalist, but
I would have to agree with the overall
opinion of him thus far.
As a musician/vocalist myself, I would
have to say don't dump the guy, just
make him the lead guitarist and hopefully
he can hide his voice as a background
vocalist.
Listened to the song, and can tell you for
sure, that your vocalist has a problem with
his inner ear/outer ear relationship.
This is very common. Used to run a full
blown studio. Saw it all of the time.
We had one of the first 24 track digital
(ADAT) studios in town. Bands would
do great until it came down to the
vocalist laying down tracks.
"That's not what I sound like!!!"
Was often heard..."No, that is
EXACTLY what you sound like,"
we would have to tell them.
ADAT's, with their digital accuracy, had no
SNR problems and ZERO noise floor. Most
bands are used to playing with the noise floor
of the crowd, or just the loudness of their own
instruments. This often hides the lead vocalists
lack of ability to correctly hit notes.
In the digital studios of today, it is not
easily hid; and people have resorted to
using tube pre-amps to "warm" up the
digital clarity.
Others, resort to autotuning, of which I am
no fan at all. If your vocalist can't cut it, get
rid of them, because like it or not, it is the
vocalist, 9 times out of 10, who sells the band.
No joke, about 90% of the bands we recorded
never made it out of the studio. Their sessions
usually ended with the firing of the vocalist, who
was still in disbelief, because they could not HEAR.
If you have never heard of the inner/outer ear
relationship, I will briefly explain. The vocalist
has two ways to process pitch correction and
intonation. The first, is done through the fluid
and bones of the body, through resonance of
their teeth, etc.
A person with good relative pitch, can sing in tune
by using the inner method. The problem develops
when the vocalist is incorrectly processing what
they hear OUTSIDE of their body, in comparison
to what the INNER ear is hearing.
As example, when I lay down a track, to me,
it sounds the same when I listen back to it,
as when I 'heard' it in my inner ear, singing it.
On playback you should only be listening
with the outer ear (If the music is 90db,
you are going to listen in your inner ear
as well, as 90db will affect your body
fluids.)
If your inner/outer ear relationship is in tune and
sync, you will hear exactly what you thought you
sounded like when doing the take.
But if, on playback, the vocalist thinks that they
sound 'different' or out of tune, they must work
on and use relative pitch, and this can be corrected.
The vocalist must record themselves singing, say,
with just them and a guitar. Do it on a simple boom
box. No need to waste studio time doing this.
The vocalist must be honest and listen to the mistakes
in the melody line. When listening back to the take,
the vocalist with an inner/outer ear problem SHOULD
be able to HEAR the mistakes. This is because they
will only be listening with their outer ear on playback.
If they cannot hear their mistakes, and think that
they sound in tune when they are not, it is time to
dump that vocalist.
Only about 1% of the population are actually tone
deaf, and believe it or not, most people possess a
bit of relative pitch. In case any readers have not
heard of relative pitch, it is quite simple to explain.
PERFECT pitch is when, without hearing a single
note, the vocalist can say, sing an A note and be
right on the money. Our band once had to tune
to my voice as for some reason, we ended up at
a gig and not one of us had a working tuner.
Singing harmony for a person with perfect pitch
is quite easy, because anyone who has perfect
pitch already has relative pitch.
RELATIVE pitch is when you HEAR a note, say,
A again, and you can not only MATCH the note
in frequency, but can also sing the fourth/D or
fifth/E by "ear". But, the vocalist with relative
pitch cannot hit that A note spot on, without
hearing other notes to base their own pitch
upon.
I wouldn't dump your current vocalist, it is hard
enough to find dedicated, talented musicians who
all get along. I would tell him to develop his
inner/outer ear relationship, and after a month
or two of dedication, if he still can't stay in tune,
delegate his vocal responsibilities to singing some
back-ups.
He is not terrible, he is just not in tune. I would
have to say that he sounds a bit like Hatfield from
Metallica. If that grind in his voice (actually called
a pop belt) is being produced incorrectly, he will
develop nodes and ruin his vocal chords within
a year of gigging out.
That raspy texture should be coming from
FANTASTIC air production, not by clenching
down on the notes in the throat.
Oh, also. A vocalist's intonation might sound
sharp/flat for a few reasons. Pitchy notes come
from two places. First, if the vocalist is not singing
from the diaphragm, using the J curve, the notes
are being shaped in the throat - this is not
reliable, and this is why many vocalists sound
good some of the time, but not all of the time.
If correctly singing from the diaphragm using
the J curve, notes might still be 'pitchy' at first
use of the correct technique, but this can be
corrected by practice.
It is caused by air production.
Higher notes require more AIR, not more
squeezing the notes out through the THROAT.
When I first started taking lessons, there was
a very scary period of time....After I had trained
enough to stop singing from my throat, I could
actually no longer do it. But, I could not yet
effectively sing in tune using the diaphragm.
I went through about, say, a good month
or better where I was incredibly pitchy. It
takes time and conviction to make the switch.
The difference is quite simple. Sing one set
incorrectly and be DONE....or, sing three sets
correctly and be able to sing three more without
blowing your voice out for a week.
Good luck in finding a REAL vocal instructor
though. There are many people out there who
know enough to be dangerous.
Back in the day, I was chosen as lead vocalist
for a band of hired guns. This was a band that
was hand picked by a talent scout. Turns out
he was Kip Winger's agent, and he turned me
onto my vocal coach. He has worked with Ann
and Nancy Wilson/Heart, and Jeff Tate from
Queensryche (to name a few).
Just saying that to let you know that I am not
some dude sitting in his mother's basement,
pretending to know it all."
