singing help

[PrestoMovie]

i just got Rock Band for christmas, and i'm having trouble singing some songs.

actually a lot.

sometimes i have trouble hitting the high pitch parts. like no matter how high i sing the pitch detector won't reallly move. and i can go HIGH. and sometimes i can hit them fine without even going high.

and i have the same problem with the low parts.

can someone give me some tips on how to do vocals in rock band correctly?

[JMcSquared]

Well, I am pretty good at hitting the high pitched stuff on most songs but there are those like Highway star that always get me. No not the begginning either (I can actually hang with it) but when it gets to "I'm a High way star" I can't get "way" or "star" while still keeping the pitch I had for "I'm a High". That makes completeing the song a pain since it's repeated at the end a few times.

Just hit what you can to move on and come back later to better your score.

[Impyshaz]

The system doesn't actually read pitch it just reads notes so you can actually go any octave as long as you have the right key. So this means if you go too high you actually end up at the other side of the detector. If you can't get the high note to register then you can try going one octave lower.

I have also had problems on some songs/settings getting the detector to move with me when I move down in key (like on the songs where you hold a long note but gradually change the pitch). I don't know why but it will lock in place and I can't move it. The only solution I've found is to stop and restart the note. This lowers your score but avoids getting a messy rating :/

[emburn]

Some people, including myself, just have to accept that we aren't singers and might never be. :)

[Impyshaz]

There's a really good thread stickied which answers questions and provides tips. They have a lot of great info for singers. One that I find very helpful is that you shouldn't be ashamed if you have to play some songs on easy. Most people don't have a god-like range and can play every song. Easy is designed for you to not have to kill yourself trying to get every note, but more for just having fun. I can't sing Bowie or Sweet Leaf (Black Sabbath) to save my life so I have to kick them down to easy.

Also, if you can't sing very well on a song and have to sing on easy if you sing loud, with lots of energy and emotion it will forgive your tone. And you wont get bored playing a song you can't do ^.^

[Moon_Monster]

Make sure that you're not too far or too near the mic either. Experiment. I found that if I turned the mic sensitivity too high when singing at a normal volume, I did much worse because I think my notes got distorted.

[Impyshaz]

I can only sing very low notes (the long ummm parts) if I turn the mic away from me and sing at the back. I don't know why but it works...

[PrestoMovie]

Some people, including myself, just have to accept that we aren't singers and might never be. :)

the thing is, i actually sing well.

i'm in my school's choir and i've had people tell me i'm pretty good.

i know what notes i can hit and what i can't.

not trying to brag or anything.

but i've seen videos of people that are terrible (the IGN video review) and they still get good scores and hit the notes.

it's just the way i see it no matter how good or bad of a singer you are, there's obviously a way for you to still do good in rock band.

the game's supposed to be accesible after all.

[PrestoMovie]

thanks for the help.

i'm testing out the mic sensitivity to see what works.

[Sinch]

Something that helped me in accuracy is to flip between octaves during the song. Like a poster said above about Highway Star, when you have the phrase coming up just sing an octave down, and then when it goes back into the groove, go back to your octave up. You have to experiment with the songs to see where you need to flip up/down and back. I don't have the range that these other singers do, but you don't need to make it sound pretty, just get the right notes in whatever octave you need to use for your voice.

Also, if you think you know a lot of these songs, listen to them carefully or really watch where they change their pitch. When I first got onto the game, I generally did worse on songs that I knew, rather than ones that were still new to me.

Good luck to you.

[Blue-Alloy]

Also, if you think you know a lot of these songs, listen to them carefully or really watch where they change their pitch. When I first got onto the game, I generally did worse on songs that I knew, rather than ones that were still new to me.

I think this a key point. A problem that a lot of real singers will encounter with Rock Band is that they're a little too good for the game. By that I mean they know their own strengths and weaknesses in vocals and can sing a song to the best of their ability to make it sound good for their voice. Rock Band will punish you heavily for doing this. It wants clean pitches, no variance or waver and it wants you to follow the notes of the song EXACTLY with no flourish or individuality thrown in. At least on Expert. If you're singing for fun, you're probably better off on Hard or Medium where the game won't be so unforgiving if you add a little flare to your singing, but if you're talking about Expert, then it's almost not really about Singing-singing for fun anymore, and is more about trying to unlock the puzzle of "what sounds does the game want me to make in order to get a good rating?"

I find generally that a lot of no-pressure fun can be had singing on the lower difficulty levels, but it requires a slightly different mind-set if you're singing on Expert. Particularly if you're singing for points and not for the fun of it.

I suggest listening to the song, possibly going into practice mode and just turning down the music and all other sound effects so that the vocals are the most prominent. That's the easiest way to see if you're hitting the note the game wants, or if you're hitting the note that you think sounds best, but actually isn't what the game is looking for.

[PrestoMovie]

i'm kind of getting better at it, but still having trouble with notes that are mostly in the middle section.

those i can almost never get.

[Gryffindor]

Blue-Alloy nailed it. The game is very unforgiving if you don't sing exactly like they programmed it for. For example, in "I think I'm paranoid" there's a mystery long note in there that I swear is NOT on the original recording.

It's kind of sad in a way because no singer (nor musician) ever plays a song the exact same way over and over. This is why concerts never sound exactly like the CD (unless they're lip syncing).