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Singing!

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BeoPuppy:
Well, from conversations I've had it seems that it's important to stand up whilst your singing. This helps breathing .... and, depending on whether you want to sound clean or not be careful about smoking and drinking. If you want a clean voice don't smoke and drink too much. (But there is a rumour that it helps loosening the cords to ingest one shot of scotch before singing).

Oh ... and warm up. Do vocal exercises for a bit.

That's all I know and it may be bull.

Good luck though.

Thrillho:
Okay, I'm a singer, I can help with this.

1. Smoking and drinking fuck you up. Don't do it before a gig, and do it as little as possible the rest of the time.

2. Anything dairy coats your throat and so ruins your projection and sustain. Try to have as little as possible in the days leading up to a gig. Drink water instead of other stuff as much as you can or want to.

3. 'Biting the mic,' whether you  were kidding or not...don't go close to the microphone. Microphones are made to catch sound from like, a conical area, and you don't need to go as close to the mic as say, Ian Curtis or Liam Gallagher do, with their mouth actually touching it. This is unnecessary, bad for the microphone, and makes you sound like crap.

4. During the solos, it depends on what kind of singer you are. It sounds dumb, but I tend to like, dance. Not in a dumb way. In a way I would while I was singing, just without singing. Or you could just get some water

5. Stand up straight, stick your chest out, and pull your arse in. It helps you project. Think the way Robert Plant or Paul Rodgers stands when doing one of their big notes. The leaning back? They do it a bit extremely, but to a lesser extent than they do it it actually is helpful.

6. I've never had singing lessons, so as far as improving range or warmups I can't help you professionally - but I can tell you one thing, my range has improved immensely over the last few years by gently pushing my voice. Songs that are JUST within my range on a good day, that I can only JUST reach and it's a bit of a strain (but NOT painful, if something hurts your voice to do, don't do it, at all, and that includes screaming for a metal band if that's your forte; that requires training in how to breathe and where in your body to pull the scream from) but I can just get it. After a few months of singing that same song, my voice would adjust to that level slowly, and sooner or later it would become comfortable for me to sing it. Then I could move up further. With this method, not only have I outsung a choir on my own, but my range is now way, way wider and I can sing falsetto. If you've heard my speaking voice, that's miraculous.

TrueNeutral:
Thanks, man. I really appreciate it, especially since you're a singer and probably know your stuff.

I don't smoke, but I'm quite the junior alcoholic, so I guess I should cut down on that.

I hadn't even thought of the leaning back, but after a short attempt I did immediately notice that it helped.

Thanks for the help.

Thrillho:
S'what I'm here for.

Borondir:
I'm also a singer so I'll try to chime in with what I can.  I don't do rock singing however.

First, all that stuff about drinking water and not alchohol or dairy is absolutely correct. Anything else will negatively affect your vocal folds.  Also smoking is bad, for obvious reasons, both your lungs and your vocal folds.

On breathing, it doesn't really matter whether you are standing or not, the important thing is to have excellent posture, which is of course easier when you are standing.

Sticking your chest out is good, but don't lift your chest to breath, that just constricts you...instead, breath deep into your diaphragm (sorta inbetween your chest and stomach) and just let your chest cavity fill with air, rather than sucking air in.

Also, mics are there for a reason when playing amplified, don't sing at full volume, basically ever, it will only hurt your vocal folds.

And finally, always, always, always warm up before you sing. At all. Even just practicing.  You'll be able to sing higher, better, and your voice will last a lot longer.

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