yay, that’s an easy one. just sing at the volume you feel most comfy with. case closed.

ok, the answer really is that easy but maybe i should get into the surroundings a little. i get this asked a lot, especially by guys who want to sing in a rockband. there’s loud drums, even louder guitars and who knows what else. so they’re trying to sing, find out they’re not loud enough, try to turn up the vocal track on the mixer but it’s already all the way up or the feedback is almost killing them. what now?

believe it or not, my guess is every singer has been through this/has to go through this – at least in loud music. and there really are ways to deal with it. the path most of them choose is to shout as loud as they can into the mic because that damn voice is just too soft. unfortunately that’s not only the most used strategy, but the wrongest as well. this will eat up all your energy in no time, maybe it will make you croaky but it surely is not good, or better: dangerous, for your voice. and by the way, do you really think it will make that much of a difference, loudnesswise? hehehe, that’s too cute….

in certain styles, drums have to be played loud to sound appropriate. i’m not talking about those heavy-hitters who never heard about sound, feel or touch – the good thing about them is, drums can become loud and louder…..to a certain degree. once that point is reached, they won’t get any louder – they’ll just sound bad. with guitars it’s a little different. most decent amps have way more power than one will need. one example, my Laney 100HS (or HL? not sure…) – about 16 years old – is a 100 watts amp top, fully tubed. it’s placed on top of a Laney 4×12 cabinet. the master volume goes up to 10 (surprisingly). i once tried to turn it up to 3.5 and thought i’d die right there on the spot. usually i’m playing it at 0.75 – i know, i know, those things don’t get louder once they’re turned halfway up, just more distorted but i say anything more than 2 is just plain useless because you’ll not be able to stay in the same building. so what about the walls of amps and cabinets you often see on big stages like this one (ha!)? i’m really sorry to destroy your dreams but those are all fake. you’d be amazed and maybe a bit disappointed how clear and soft a really good stage sound is (and how rare as well….). at least i was. on stage you need to hear what you’re doing, not get killed. the power is for the audience – that’s what a p.a. is for.

anyway, my point is as a singer under normal circumstances you’ll simply have no chance of winning the loudness race against your bandmates. an exception might be a professional p.a. in the rehearsal room but that’s hardly the standard i guess. and even then it would not be very wise to turn it up until you’re louder than the others.

you’re facing more than one problem here:

• the voice is the strongest instrument when it comes to expression but regarding volume it’s weak compared to the others.
• it needs to be in front though
• singers usually have the worst equipment of all bandmembers (more on that later)
• the standard rehearsal room sounds like complete crap
• it’s harder for singers to hear themselves
• feedback
• egos (here they are again)

because this category is meant as some kind of a lessons-collection, i want you to think about this first. can you come up with ways to solve those issues? at least try, i’ll prove you wrong tomorrow ;-)

take care