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The Agentic Lab

2.2k members • Free

Rock Singing Success

269 members • Free

17 contributions to Rock Singing Success
Released an Album
I happened to release an album last week https://tothesun.bandcamp.com/album/autonomic-solipsistic First I'll say a little something about this song from it https://tothesun.bandcamp.com/track/the-shepherd-and-the-slaver It was one of the ones recorded longest ago. After it was recorded, it was brought to my attention that the way I was going about the more aggressive sort of lines in it was resulting in an epiglottal growl. When I revisited this song, I didn't really think it sounded bad and decided to keep it anyway. If I claim it as a stylistic choice, then no one has to know that I didn't have control over it. I added some overdrive to it and then added a more lifted, crisper take to the choruses to give them some variety and stand out, leaving the old line as a double. So the choruses are newer and show more of the control I've developed in avoiding that epiglottal sound. As for the other songs recorded more recently, I did consciously avoid that sound on them when singing more aggressively.
0 likes • 19d
@Draven Grey The shouty nature really isn't by design, I would say. That's maybe the main thing I'm working to get under control. It's all a work in progress (my voice, that is). But I am very much of the mind that you can't just train and train and expect to get perfect before you even begin doing a thing; doing the thing is an essential part of getting better. So if that was the skill I had at that point when recording this song, then here is accurate documentation of it. Technical skill isn't what makes music good, anyway. Of course, in order to have more options in expressing yourself, if you really care about your craft, you owe it to yourself to always be trying to improve and get more control over your skill. Personally, I'm seeing so much progress that anything I post will automatically be outdated. So it's true that I always seem to be posting my worst songs since they were the ones that were recorded months ago. Ha ha. Pitched singing is definitely what I'm going for, so I am training on it for sure. I feel like I have a pretty good foundation for it, although my clean singing has mostly been in the style of Thom Yorke of Radiohead. A strong mix, very high and back. What I'm training on now has a totally different placement. I've attached something I just recorded the other day that shows the maneuverability I've developed in this new style. Believe it or not, I'm actually singing with grit in that clip. It may not sound like it, but it's actually the exact same shape as when using the heaviest of grit (plenty of cry plus smoker's voice), just the most subtle application of it. The placement feels very high up, but also a little forward. I've discovered there's this sweet spot you can nail, which feels like it's just under the nostrils, or maybe the very, very top of the upper gums. Smoker's voice gives you the shape, but to describe it more from the outside facial expressions, it's flared nostrils, maybe a little bit of a stiff upper lip and wide mouth, as in corners of the mouth pulled back, but also jaw open top to bottom. It's a sneer or an expression of disgust. Those expressions probably look far less extreme when singing with such a minimal amount of grit as in my clip, but it is the exact same thing. Relaxing into that spot for heavy grit but keeping it just as utterly effortless is what I'm working on mostly now and I am getting there.
1 like • 19d
@Kenny Kendall Hey, thanks. It's not intentionally lo-fi. It has just as much fi as I feel is necessary to convey my ideas and I spend no more time and energy on production than that. I'd rather be playing instruments and singing than clicking things on a computer. I would never make music specifically to fit into one genre or to not fit into one genre. I'm just making whatever I feel like. I wouldn't even know what subgenre it would supposed to be fitting in. I suppose I wind up gravitating towards noise people online (both of the labels I've released something on are noise labels) but that's just because they'll accept anything, heh. Honestly, 99% of noise music I can't stand myself.
Weekend Wins! Share Yours!
What’s something you’ve been working on that you’re excited about or proud of? Share a clip with us! Raw and unedited, straight from your phone works great—even if you don't see this until after the weekend. I'm really excited about what recording the attached clips means for me. More on that in a bit. I got a little too into it and loud by the end of the clip, which made the distortion harsher than I intended, but still totally comfortable. The song is the second verse of the song "The Weight" that I wrote a while back. It's taken over a year of work to change my voice from The Silent Still’s style into the newer “Hard Rock with a Southern Gothic soul” style. I only recently finally fully relaxed into the new voice. I feels a bit nostalgic too, like I’m going back to a lot of the gospel roots I started in 35 years ago, but with FAR more skill than back then. 150+ songs in, I’m excited about bringing the top songs of this bunch to fruition later this year. ***** As the main vocal coach here, I want to note something for any of you still struggling to really nail a new vocal technique or sound. The average timeline to go from learning a completely new technique, sound, or vocal shape, to being able to naturally relax into it seems to be: 1. Two to six weeks to build a general understanding and feel for it. 2. Two to three months from start to be able to do it on purpose, but still having to think about it. 3. Eighteen months from start to do it without thinking much about it. Some people are more intuitive about certain aspect of the voice and speed up that process greatly. Some haven't built the foundations they need in order to have something solid to build on top of, and end up taking years to get where they want to be. Sometimes it can seem like each new thing requires going back to the foundations and rebuilding one piece at a time into the new thing. But on average, each new thing you add follows the above timeline. That's not to say you can't train multiple things at once.
Weekend Wins! Share Yours!
1 like • May 31
In the spirit of sharing something that's totally unfinished, I'll post just this one line I recorded yesterday. I just went through a large move, so I haven't really been able to sing in any serious way for about a month. When I finally started again, I find I'm pretty rusty, but I also feel like I was able to come to what I was working on from a new perspective. And things are suddenly starting to fall into place that I was struggling with before. I feel like I have the understanding and it's just a matter of putting in the reps to get back on track. In particular, I'm really trying to relax into adding subtle grit to effortless singing and I think this line exemplifies that
Acoustic microphone shield
I'm curious about that foam shield you have around your microphone in the background of your videos, @Draven Grey. What would you say that does for you? Do you have any recommendations on which to buy? I've thought about getting one a lot before and even tried making one myself at one point.
1 like • Apr 23
@Draven Grey Hmm-hmm. I may end up with one of these myself soon.
**𝗡𝗢𝗧𝗘: 𝗠𝗨𝗦𝗜𝗖 𝗠𝗢𝗡𝗗𝗔𝗬 𝗣𝗢𝗦𝗧𝗦**
I want to remind everyone that Music Mondays is a great time to share your own stuff or stuff you find really cool. Just sharing and entertainment without having to share lessons learned, analysis, or the like. ***𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗰, 𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲*** I'm not one to share music just for the sake of filling up Music Mondays, so I haven't posted a lot on Music Monday for a while. This is mostly because what I'm personally working on is still in production—from my own music, to a new big project that's still forming, and a few people that I'm either producing or writing with. To be honest, I'm in the middle of an unexpected divorce that took over my time for while, so I haven't posted nearly as much as I've wanted to in general. While I'll still be busy for a couple of months, I'm finally able to start planning more time creating and being more active here.
**𝗡𝗢𝗧𝗘: 𝗠𝗨𝗦𝗜𝗖 𝗠𝗢𝗡𝗗𝗔𝗬 𝗣𝗢𝗦𝗧𝗦**
1 like • Mar 30
I'll post something just for the sake of posting something. Here's a little song that I threw together in a month or so for a compilation that was going out. The theme was the rebirth of the sun or solar and lunar cycles or whatnot. https://soundcloud.com/to_the_sun/lux-aeterna https://selenemusick.bandcamp.com/album/amaterasu-2
Every other line when recording
I tried what you had mentioned before, @Draven Grey, in just recording every other line during a vocal take. The difference is night and day. It's so much easier to get good takes! Thanks for the tip.
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To the Sun
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@to-the-sun-1207
https://tothesun.bandcamp.com

Active 4h ago
Joined Nov 12, 2025
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