Fixing my rap voice

S

StanleySteamer

New member
Hey guys, pretty sure this is a generic question but here it goes. So I started rapping like 6 years ago and I used to always write before I made beats. Then making beats and engineering became a full time thing for me and I didn't have time to write raps and all that. Currently I don't have any artists and I am trying to start rapping and all that. I feel like my lyrics and my structure and flow are on point but my voice just sounds too high pitch and nasally. I have pretty good breath control and I don't find breathing or taking breaths to be an issue. Just the fact that my voice is high pitched more than I want it to be and I sound kind of nasally. What can I do to reduce my nasally sound and high pitched sound and add more bass and a deeper more serious/aggressive tone to my voice? Thanks a lot guys!
 
Easy fix!

I would start off by de-noising your vocals if you don't already. This removes the background noise and will let u turn up the vocals louder than you would be able to otherwise.

After that I would pitch correct them (yes even though it's a rap). Here is where you could bring down that pitch to something that sounds better.

Then I would eq them. With a huge narrow boost, sweep your eq between 600-1200 hz and see where it sounds the most nasally/worst. Then cut out as much of that as you need to,
Make sure to high pass filter the vocals around 100 hz so they're out of the way of the bass/kick too.

Move on to compression and add about 3-6 dB of gain reduction to make them sound deeper and more serious/aggressive. You can find a free & very simple compressor below

Download Free Leveling amplifier plug-in: TLs-3127 by TbT

Hope that helped!
 
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StanleySteamer said:
Hey guys, pretty sure this is a generic question but here it goes. So I started rapping like 6 years ago and I used to always write before I made beats. Then making beats and engineering became a full time thing for me and I didn't have time to write raps and all that. Currently I don't have any artists and I am trying to start rapping and all that. I feel like my lyrics and my structure and flow are on point but my voice just sounds too high pitch and nasally. I have pretty good breath control and I don't find breathing or taking breaths to be an issue. Just the fact that my voice is high pitched more than I want it to be and I sound kind of nasally. What can I do to reduce my nasally sound and high pitched sound and add more bass and a deeper more serious/aggressive tone to my voice? Thanks a lot guys!
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I think you're looking at it completely wrong. Trying to shape your naturally, nasaly rap voice into something else is just trying to take a sound and make it a different sound. If you try to force yourself into a different rap voice, you won't have a believable performance. And more importantly, you won't ever develop YOUR sound. Your voice is your own, and I think it's a common trap upcoming rap artists fall into to try and make it something else. Don't be ashamed of a high pitched, nasally voice. A lot of rappers have that. Own it. Like making your rap name an insult people used to throw at you. Take it and make it your own.

So all in all, I don't think anybody's voice needs fixing. Just be you.
 
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Get comfortable with your voice, or stop rapping. Double your vocals to make your voice sound slightly different. Rap using less intensity to make it sound calmer and less scratchy or nasal. But most importantly, get comfortable with your voice or just don't do it at all.
 
This.

You do know 2 of the top 5 rappers of all time have a nasally voice (Eminem) and a high pitched voice (Jay-Z). Also, a higher pitched voice is desired in pop music. Ever hear of Adam Levine or Michael Jackson. You hit the voice lottery.

On another note, I'm reminded of an interview with B-Real of Cypress Hill who said that he, "purposely made his voice higher pitched to differentiate it from his group members." Consequently, he became the most popular guy in that group. Hope all this helps you realize that you should be happy with your voice. Have a great rest of the day!
 
UncleDutch said:
This.

You do know 2 of the top 5 rappers of all time have a nasally voice (Eminem) and a high pitched voice (Jay-Z). Also, a higher pitched voice is desired in pop music. Ever hear of Adam Levine or Michael Jackson. You hit the voice lottery.

On another note, I'm reminded of an interview with B-Real of Cypress Hill who said that he, "purposely made his voice higher pitched to differentiate it from his group members." Consequently, he became the most popular guy in that group. Hope all this helps you realize that you should be happy with your voice. Have a great rest of the day!
Click to expand...

Not to mention Eminem's voice has matured over the years and yet people prefer the MMLP and Slim Shady LP.
I love hearing Bo Burnham's voice too, even though it's not particularly pleasing. I like it cause I like Bo Burnham and he's himself on stage. Kendrick just did a whole song in his K-Dot voice on Hood Politics. Love that track.

You just gotta get good at you. Earl Sweatshirt is incredibly sluggish with his rapping, but he's in complete control of what he's doing, more so than he lets on. It's sort of like deadpan rapping.

Oh and Childish Gambino of course. His voice isn't completely nasally, but listen to I. Pink Toes, III. Life: The Biggest Troll (second verse), II. Shadows, Unnecessary, I. Flight of the Navigator, 3005, Freaks and Geeks, Outside. All of those you will find a voice that actually reminds you more of a boy than man, but that's the aesthetic he builds. The album Because the Internet has a story around it, and the story is about a character literally called The Boy. He fits the role well, as he's kind of still a boy trying to work through the world.
 
If you have a microphone with a directional polar pattern, try positioning yourself so that you are closer to the microphone. This will increase the bass being picked up from your voice. Experimenting with mic placement in general mic will help you get a more desirable sound.

I would also take some time critically listening to other rappers (those with high & low pitched voices) and compare it to your voice. If the nasality is truly too overwhelming to sound decent in a song (I suspect this won't be the case) you can make some cuts with EQ.

I wouldn't recommend trying to change your voice while rapping. As already mentioned, it might not sound authentic. Another tip would be to do vocal warmups daily and prior to recording. Singing up and down scales might give you more flexibility and control over how you use your voice.
 
Not often you read a thread and EVERY SINGLE RESPONSE has something useful to add!!
I've picked out useful bits from every response that will undoubtedly help me... So cheers lads. Good work!
 
EQ and Compress. Try to sweep some frequencies and cut the ones that have that "nasal" sound. Apply some compression and light distortion to bring harmonics out. Thats how I start mixing vocals. The rest is up to you and your taste.
 
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