Vocal Help

[ezjohn]

I've been searching and haven't been able to find a thread about help for RB vocals, so I'm starting one. A couple questions....What EXACTLY do the different colored bars mean in the vocals section? What are some pointers for newbies like me? What are the differences in Easy, Medium, etc as it applies to vocalists? More pitch range, perhaps? Love the forums!

[sporkBrigade]

I've been searching and haven't been able to find a thread about help for RB vocals, so I'm starting one. A couple questions....What EXACTLY do the different colored bars mean in the vocals section? What are some pointers for newbies like me? What are the differences in Easy, Medium, etc as it applies to vocalists? More pitch range, perhaps? Love the forums!

The color question is answered in the tuturial in the game. I suggest you watch those so that you know how overdrive works.

As for Easy vs. Expert, the only difference in level is pitch accuracy. The actual pitches required are the same either way. But on Easy, there's a large window where you'll get points. On Medium, that window shrinks. On Expert, that window is very small, so for all purposes you pretty much have to be right on pitch to get any points. Nothing else changes.

A few tips to get you started. Start your phrases early. Until you learn to control your voice better, it's going to be hard to find the pitch, especially when you start a phrase. You'll lose a lot of points there until either you start your phrases early, or you learn to hit a pitch clearly at the get go. The latter is really hard, so give it time.

Try different octaves. If they're high, try dropping down. If they're low, go up. In general, going higher will make it easier for you to hear your own pitch, so you might want to try that at first until your ear develops.

Talky parts don't require pitch, but the do detect your vowels. Even if the singer is mumbling, you shouldn't. Be clear and on rhythm and you'll get more points.

[ezjohn]

Thanks for the tips. So let me get this straight...when the voice "tubes" turn from green to yellow/gold, thats when I'm in overdrive? And when I am in the gold artwork section, I can sing anything for extra points?

[Zero3ffect]

Thanks for the tips. So let me get this straight...when the voice "tubes" turn from green to yellow/gold, thats when I'm in overdrive? And when I am in the gold artwork section, I can sing anything for extra points?

When they turn to yellow, that means it is a section of the song where you can GAIN overdrive. When you see the "gold artwork" section, you say something random into the microphone like "YEAH" or just make a loud noise to activate overdrive.

[xyberviri]

Is it just me or does it seem that for some people there "normal" Singing range is in the middle of two scales

so like from mid scale to high is the low end of your voice, and from low to mid is the high end of your voice, and moving octaves just goes into a range that hurts a little bit after about 3 or 4 hours of signing.

I really wish we could off set the vocal ranges by 1/4 octaves or that you could calibrate that games vocal range to that of your own.

[Project_Mercy]

One more thing I'll point out, because I don't think it was mentioned in the tutorial and it seems to throw people off.

You need to 'activate' the big rock ending (much in the same way you activate overdrive in the freeform sections) to get the BRE points, but you don't need to continue making noise. The continued noise isn't generating extra points. I had a vocalist once at my place that gave me a headache from constantly screeching during big rock endings. His voice output got turned down a few big rock endings later.

My biggest tips to you as a starting vocalist. Sing clearly. Don't attempt to add growl or vibrato or anything to your voice, even if you hear the vocalist doing it. It will change your pitch slightly. Also, don't change octaves mid-song if you can help it, it will take the game a few seconds to figure it out, and during tha time it will score you as a total miss while it's doing it.

[Lady Siara]

Is it just me or does it seem that for some people there "normal" Singing range is in the middle of two scales

so like from mid scale to high is the low end of your voice, and from low to mid is the high end of your voice, and moving octaves just goes into a range that hurts a little bit after about 3 or 4 hours of signing.

I really wish we could off set the vocal ranges by 1/4 octaves or that you could calibrate that games vocal range to that of your own.

Wow, that sounds like a great idea. O_O

[strtfghtr]

Is it just me or does it seem that for some people there "normal" Singing range is in the middle of two scales

so like from mid scale to high is the low end of your voice, and from low to mid is the high end of your voice, and moving octaves just goes into a range that hurts a little bit after about 3 or 4 hours of signing.

I really wish we could off set the vocal ranges by 1/4 octaves or that you could calibrate that games vocal range to that of your own.

Same thing happens to me I tend to go higher than my normal range to get a better score, I wish we could do some kind of voice calibration

[sporkBrigade]

Is it just me or does it seem that for some people there "normal" Singing range is in the middle of two scales

so like from mid scale to high is the low end of your voice, and from low to mid is the high end of your voice, and moving octaves just goes into a range that hurts a little bit after about 3 or 4 hours of signing.

I really wish we could off set the vocal ranges by 1/4 octaves or that you could calibrate that games vocal range to that of your own.

The entire band, minus drums, are playing in a key. If you change one, you change them all. That's a lot to ask. Dropping/Raising octaves should cover 95% of the song. Plus, if you're singing correctly, with time your range will expand. Just gets easier from there.

I hear you, though. I'm totally in the same boat. Every song in the game is either above or below me, nothing in the middle. :\

[superkurt13]

You need to 'activate' the big rock ending (much in the same way you activate overdrive in the freeform sections) to get the BRE points, but you don't need to continue making noise. The continued noise isn't generating extra points. I had a vocalist once at my place that gave me a headache from constantly screeching during big rock endings. His voice output got turned down a few big rock endings later.

How exactly do you activate the BRE? Do you just have to say something at the start and it will give it to you? Do you need any overdrive in reserve to do it?

Also, can anyone please explain how exactly starts are awarded? Is it based are accuracy, points, or a combination of both? Will using my Overdrive effectively help me earn stars faster?

[sporkBrigade]

How exactly do you activate the BRE? Do you just have to say something at the start and it will give it to you? Do you need any overdrive in reserve to do it?

Also, can anyone please explain how exactly starts are awarded? Is it based are accuracy, points, or a combination of both? Will using my Overdrive effectively help me earn stars faster?

You can activate the BRE anytime before it ends. If it ends, and you haven't activated it, you lose the points for your band. You can activate it with any loud word or sound or "Woo", just like an Overdrive activation.

Stars are based on points, and points only. There is no other factor for Stars.

If you're Solo, Overdrive doubles your multiplier. Even if you don't have a visible multiplier, it's still assumed as 1x. So that would become 2x. 2x becomes 4x, etc etc. Maxes at 8x. Obviously this increases the points you get, so yes, it makes stars easier.

In a full band exerience, the first Overdrive activision makes a 2x multiplier, just like when you're alone. Every stacked Overdrive after that just adds another 2x to the multpilier, maxing out at 8x bandwide. Cool thing here is that a 4x multiplier for vocals combined with an 8x band multiplier means your getting 32x the points for every phrase. Good times.

[ezjohn]

Thanks again to everyone who posted help, that clears up alot of my questions! Please feel free to keep it going with any other helpful hints, tips and lessons learned..Rock On!!

[superkurt13]

You can activate the BRE anytime before it ends. If it ends, and you haven't activated it, you lose the points for your band. You can activate it with any loud word or sound or "Woo", just like an Overdrive activation.

Thanks sporkBrigade, that answers my question; I hope you don't mind me asking another. So I understand how to if I don't participate in the BRE by activating it then the band won't get any points, but will anything I do add points to it? For example, the faster a guitarist strums, the more points he will accumulate during the BRE, but can anything the vocalist do add points or is he just needed to get whatever points the rest of the band make?

[Blue-Alloy]

Nope. The vocalist only needs to contribute once to the Big Rock Ending and after that it's up to the other band members to make the most of it. Singers can't add to the score.

[shaybo]

I put a bunch of vocal help stuff here http://www.rockband.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18703&page=2 before I saw this thread. :( Don't know if it might help or not.

[the_finn]

i'm not a 'singer', in that the only time i've ever 'sung' for the game was ALONE and that was just to try to unlock some other songs i hadn't unlocked yet w/ guitar (as the playlist is not quite the same sequence); but anyway i digress..
one thing that helped me get through those toughies was.. well, ..cheating: you can hum out the pitch instead of actually singing the words (for most songs), tho on a few songs this doesn't quite work due to the nature of the words' rhythm and length.

In short, the game (obviously) doesn't use voice recognition and you can use this to an advantage-- just hum the correct pitch in the octave that feels comfortable. (granted, it doesn't' quite work for those long-stretched words without turning blue)

[superkurt13]

one thing that helped me get through those toughies was.. well, ..cheating: you can hum out the pitch instead of actually singing the words (for most songs), tho on a few songs this doesn't quite work due to the nature of the words' rhythm and length.

I'm not sure if I would consider it cheating to hum instead of singing. If the goal is to score as high as possible then why not hum if it gives you an edge? It's still your voice.

Humming is great if you're trying to max out your score, but if you ever play with people or at a party then it is kinda lame.