You write songs, but don't sing. What do you like to use to track the vocal idea?

[Methlab]

If you any of you write rock music, you probably have experienced bringing the song to the singer and sometimes not getting back what you wanted on the melodies. You would love to guide them on it better, but your voice is about on par with William Chung and can not execute what you hear in your head.

So you can use your guitar or a synth to record the melodies...my question is..what kind of tones or sounds/synths do you prefer for this task? Many times the wrong choice can sound uninspired and steer the singer away from the idea.

I need to do this a lot more, and I would love to hear what has worked for you in the past.

[joeq]

I have used a flute sound from a keyboard in the past, and it has worked pretty well.

But a certain amount of fine tuning the melody one-on-one with the singer is almost always necessary and I don't think any sound (even a vocal) is going to totally eliminate that.

one time, I shifted the flute sound back a bit, left it in the mix and used it as an "echo" for the vox.

[Methlab]

I am not trying to eliminate the fine tuning, just get a basic vocal melody idea across to build on.

Anyway, I may just stick with the guitar..maybe chorus it..I just wondered what other people use. The flute sound is an interesting idea.

[joeq]

the nice thing about a synth sound is you can sustain the note as long as you need to, and also bend it with the wheel.

[joeq]

the nice thing about a synth sound is you can sustain the note as long as you need to, and also bend it with the wheel.

though I suppose sustain and bending are things that guitar also does well

[tazman]

I was in the same boat and that is why I have been practicing my singing, enbough to be able to hum the melody to the lead singer. I find that at least humming is much easier than singing out words.

[blue shades]

I would highly recommend Korg Triton synth vocal sounds - one or two of these are perfect for your purpose
Good luck!!

[gearaddict]

I would highly recommend just singing it..I cant sing either but Im sure you can lay down a crapy Guid track..I know it's a bit embarrassing but hey..thats what you gotta do!!

[Darc]

I always sing them myself although I´m a crappy singer. Afterwards I´m correcting the pitch in the DAW to the notes I wrote .
Works great and its not that time consuming as playing/bending etc. it´s always good enough as guidetrack - just my way to do it.

[goldenlotus]

Practice singing. Part of being a good songwriter is being able to communicate your ideas. If you keep trying you WILL get better.

[tzujan]

I am the worst singer, but sing the rough vocal myself then use melodyne to fix it. Works great and conveys my idea. I also study the vocal range of the demo singer, figure out where their breaks are and if they can't deal with it in my key then I will transpose all necessary notes (that I cant hit) to their key.

[Methlab]

Thanks guys. I will try singing the notes. I have actually done ok before, I don't know why I am so hard on myself.

I will NOT post the results. lol

[RKrizman]

Even though I can't really sing, I do anyway and autotune it. Even if it's lame it gets the melody idea across, and leaves something for the singer's imagination. You do have to have a sense of humor about yourself, though.

-R

[JP11]

I thought, based on the ranting and raving, autotune and melodyne made crap singers great?! You mean you still need a modicum of talent? That stinks. Maybe in a few years they'll work that out.

[synthoid]

There are some nice vocal pads available on various romplers and samplers. The Fantom has a bunch built-in, under "Vox" patches. These are sometimes purely synthetic, sometimes natural samples that have been manipulated. They are nice for mocking up a lead vocal, for testing harmonies, and for making guide tracks for use by background singers, especially if you can find one that's reasonably close to the timbre of the singers who will evenutally sing the parts.

-synthoid

[WestBerliner]

yeah, like a few have suggested, i'd just record the vocal melody. just sing it. trash it when you're done with it if you like, but put the idea down.

i've been doing more vocals, and you do get better at it the more you do it. I personally never really liked the sound of my voice, but i've found a sound that i like after trying for long enough, and have really just had to accept the fact that i won't sound like any of the people i imagine in my head singing my song.

and no worries about posting results
good luck!

[Mr. Liszt]

Well, working on your singing voice can never hurt so might as well go for it.

But...

Playing your vocal melody on another instrument can also be quite revealing in terms of the strength of your melody and chord pattern. To see if it is really effective or not. And likewise it can reveal wether or not your melody is even solidified in your mind in the first place! To find out if your just BSing yourself or if you have a real idea working.

Additionally one could try this. And I say that there are going to be some exceptions in some genres and some songs but by and large a great (cause why go for just good) pop chord progression and melody should hold up to some extent on any combination of instruments. I know this from hours and hours of taking pop hits from most genres and periods and breaking them down to two parts, melody and bassline (or chord progression) and playing them on my simple upright piano. I have played probably hundreds of hits and other songs that I admire this way and they are all strong even when scrutinized like this. Hits are still impossibly awesome. This taught me an immeasurable amount of truth about music. Where the bar really is. Though I must say that I still do not fully understand it all and why it works and probably never could. This is all a lot easier of course if one can quickly adapt a song to a two-part piano arrangement already.

[gearaddict]

Originally Posted by Methlab

Thanks guys. I will try singing the notes. I have actually done ok before, I don't know why I am so hard on myself.

I will NOT post the results. lol

Man IF you herd me sing you would bash me all day on here..but I do it anyway...Dont worry about it..If your dealing with a professonal singer than it will not be like some one on here talking sh*t about you...they will listen to what needs to be done and try to do it!!!! Just go for it...I have to wait till every one in my house is goan to lay vox. thats how bad I feel about it, and my wife keeps telling me Im good...Im guessing it's because she's my wife though!!

[virtualsamana]

Originally Posted by JP11

I thought, based on the ranting and raving, autotune and melodyne made crap singers great?! You mean you still need a modicum of talent? That stinks. Maybe in a few years they'll work that out.

Ha ha very good point indeed. For all the ranting, you still need a talented singer to make a track sound good even with autotune's assistance.

[robertbonello]

if you're not happy sounding like a cat on heat but can kind of keep pitch then perhaps just sing it into something lowfi, or even just dirty it up. a harp bullet mic perhaps? or a really cheap computer mic, or an old cassette recorder?

that way you have an excuse for the vocalist ready... "i just picked up any old piece of junk lying around and quickly mumbled a quick guide for you".

You run the risk of influencing the vocal perhaps in ways that you don't intend to by singing the melody though...