How to tell if your voice is bad or the technical recording is bad?

M

MatthewWallinMKW

New member
I have been writing for a bit and performed my raps infront of people. Everyone has said they are really good and I should record it. Ive just been testing out some recordings on a shitty webcam microphone for fun and needless to say it doesnt sound good. Would any good well known rapper/artist sound shitty on a poorly produced recording without effects added (compression, equalization etc)?
 
So, unfortunately, microphones don't work as they would in an ideal world. Ideally, the sound you pick up would already sound perfect, but if you're using a bad webcam microphone, the vocals are just not going to sound good. So much of the actual sound comes from 1) the recording equipment 2) the mixing and 3) the headphones/speakers. Without a decent amount of the three, no matter how good or bad you sound, you will most likely sound bad or worse than if you had proper recording technology, a professional mix your track and add the right amount of plug-in manipulation, and a good playback system.

To answer your question: yes, many good sounding artists will sound very shitty on a low-budget system without any mixing.

My recommendations: look into Yeti brand microphones. They're not bottom of the barrel and far from the best sounding microphones but they're extremely versatile and well worth the $100-$150 they cost. Also, I would look into a DAW, nothing fancy or expensive, just to get some basic mixing going. If you have a Mac, Garageband is free and is more than enough. You should look into some quick tutorials on compression, EQ, and reverb.

Also, look into this course: https://www.edx.org/course/music-production-vocal-recording-berkleex-bmpr365x-0
It's a free course and covers the basics of about everything from how to use the different microphones, to mixing and whatnot. The guy teaching has worked with Madonna, Usher, P-Diddy, etc. I took this class and learned SO many things.

Feel free to message me with any questions! I'm more than happy to help out a fellow musician!
 
i think having a voice for rap music is vital. Though the recording plays a part, you either have the voice or you don't and people with the voice usually don't have second thoughts about it, ya know? lol

i wouldn't get discouraged. For one, i haven't heard your voice; it could be great and second you could always pick up a career as a song writer. just because you don't have the attributes doesn't mean your skill should go unnoticed

it also may be the way you deliver the words, if your voice is really monotone youre going to to bore your audience, you need to confident in order to sell these lyrics. it could be a number of factors at this point
 
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The important thing with rap for me is flow and content. When someone is a good story teller and their delivery is good the voice itself wouldn't bother me at all
 
Not sounding like everyone else is a good thing too, it makes you memorable. I think sometimes confuse sounding unique with sounding bad.

Now time to contradict myself and possibly get hated on: a lot of people I hear rap sound bad because of the way they choose to annunciation when they rap. Basically they pronounce things to properly and just sound too white/not street/too proper/whatever.

Go listen to any song by pusha t. I would contend he is a top 5 in the game right now in ever category. Listen to his voice flow and annunciation. Then go watch an interview with him. He's pronouncing all his r's and shit he sounds so proper like a college English professor. He kind of puts on a bit of extra hood flavor in his voice.

Now I'm in no way calling him fake or nothing like that (he's a goat for me), but I'm saying learn from your masters.

Also I'm aware this could totally not be your problem I just hear it pretty often so I thought maybe you'd find it helpful.
 
@MatthewWallinMKW

Have to agree with the above: Yes, you could put pretty much anyone in front of a webcam mic and they'd sound awful.
Remember that professional recordings are often double and triple tracked to make the vocal sound thicker, not even
mentioning compression, EQing and reverb.

So don't beat yourself up about it. Have someone properly record and mix your voice before you decide that your voice
is no good ;)

All the best,
Friedemann
 
If you were to ask me nothing sounds more horrible than an over saturated auto tuned voice.. As far as your voice and the equipment goes, i can't really make an honest opinion, because i don't know how your voice sounds or what type of webcam aka recording device you use. Most likely at times it comes from the recordings and the way it's filtered through the speaker. So my suggestion would be to record yourself on numerous devices/microphones and compare them before you make any judgements on your voice.
 
When you're recording make sure that you have the same aggression and mindset, that you have when you perform in front of people. I've seen many rappers that are good in front of an audience, but when they record their tracks they sound like pussies, because they think that they are only performing to the microphone.
 
Good points above. Also, keep in mind that hearing your own voice recorded always sounds kind of weird before you get used to it. You're so used to hearing your voice "inside your ears" when you talk, that hearing a recording of your own voice will play tricks with your head.
 
get a 50$ condenser microphone, sony has some good ones. get a 5$ pop filter and you're good to go, invest some money in your craft !
 
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