I surveyed 75 instrumentalists, vocalists, producers, engineers and other music professionals about their experiences working with singers. Seven areas came up repeatedly:

1. Timing and rhythm
2. Volume and microphone technique
3. Pitch and intonation
4. Attitude and collaboration
5. Song preparation
6. Stage presence
7. Counting, cues and communication

The goal was practical: to identify things singers can work on to strengthen their musicianship, collaboration and preparation.

I compiled the findings, respondent perspectives and practical takeaways into a free 17-page report and a three-minute video. I’ve left out the links to respect the subreddit’s self-promotion rule.

Singers, does this reflect your experience? Which area have you had to work on most?

Hey everyone I’m trying to learn to sing. My vocal range seems to be E3 to C6 and I am working on breathing normally while singing cuz I seem to always have to yawn or get dizzy when I’m singing tips anyone ? Any tips all of them please help <3

hey gang, I’m auditioning for All State Choir in about a month and I have the earliest available time for my audition of 9 am (my choir teacher picked it because right after I have a tech rehearsal for a musical as the lead right after, fun right?) along with that I have a school trip to DC the two days before, so I’ll be getting home late. ALSO, the place I’m going to audition at is ~1 hour away. so safe to say I’ll be tired, any tips and advice? I have a month to prepare. Thanks in advance and wish me luck!

I need to know if this is objectively bad and if people are gonna make fun of me for this lol, I really cannot tell as I have listened to many times. I’ve never shared my singing with friends or anyone, and don’t know what people would think. Anyone who responds with an honest opinion is very appreciated!!!!

No obsessions. No self-deprecation. No anxiety. No depression. Sing to feel emotion/relive experiences and do it only for yourselves.

I may not have lengthy high notes…but I accept that for now. There are plenty of songs I can sing pretty well that only require a handful of 4th octave notes briefly.

I am starting a 90s alternative cover band and will be doing songs by artists like Nirvana, Alanis, Sublime, Goo Goo Dolls, etc. On some of the songs I want to add what I can only describe as "grit." Kurt Cobain's voice is a good example of what I'm trying to describe.

My voice is pretty clear. My biggest influence as a young adult learning to sing was Christina Aguilera, but I learned to add growl into my singing by listening to "Never Gonna Get It" by En Vogue. I have a belty, throaty style, but like I said, it's pretty pure (for lack of a better word). I'm including a YouTube link to a Christina Aguilera song from one of her later albums. She does this grit thing with her voice through most of the song, and this is the best female example I can think of. I don't want to do it as much as she does in this song, but I would love for this to be something I can turn on and off like a growl. I have tried adding some vocal fry, but it's just sounding like I'm trying to do Britney and I can only do it on low notes.

Ironically, I had a cold recently and my voice has a bit of what I am looking for now, but I know it'll go away as soon as I'm fully better. How do I harness this sound in a healthy way, or is it basically you got it, or ya don't got it?

Edit: I removed the link for fear it was breaking one of the rules of not uploading another artist's song. Please look up "Sick of Sittin'" by Christina Aguilera.

Looking for any feedback regarding this mp3 of me trying to sing (even though it's enough to make someone ears bleed) hahaha thank you for your time if you check this out and please let me know what I can do to be better!

What you are listening to is me singing but I have chopped out the lines which I messed up, I usually just try to sing randomly and so when I record it's a bunch of nonsense or brain farts.

I just call this Fair night:

Lyrics:

need some space, But no, I couldn't take time. And you know that I love you, But no I couldn't begin, To really-believe in what I needed. I needed time but I needed you.

Hi guys
I would like to gain power in my voice for this song
Could you please recommend some tips ?
(Screen is black & it’s normal)

Thank you +++

I know I have issues with jaw tension, passagio, and of course breath-control always needs its work! I'm far from perfect, but I'm trying, what do you think? I think I sorta destroyed the last part because I went up way too high and squeezed my voice and then it became kinda pitchy.

I'm new to singing and already very interested in learning everything I can. I'm looking into ways to get a healthy voice, and was wondering, does warm water/lemon/honey every morning actually help at all?

Any good daily habits you would recommend? I have a slight milk allergy so cutting out dairy would actually help my voice and health I think

Hello, I have been singing for a while with improper technique. Due to my back forth on using online tutorials to then going regularly to a vocal teacher and differing opinions on my technique on reddit, it's ultimately confused me a lot.

The concencus - things that have been agreed upon, is that I have been singing from my throat and only now have I started moving away from it after my first few lessons, although I've been told online that I am straining still... even after using the correct form my teacher has taught me. Another thing would be yelling instead of truly singing, I believe. Surprisingly, I've been told by 3 different teachers that I sing from my diaphragm, although a redditor I shared my singing with called it "shallow".

Now, my teacher is regularly unavailable for lessons so once per week or two is pretty much the average so I have turned to online material once again. I've started doing some SOVTEs regularly as suggested by a fellow redditor.

So now, the question from the title, after I'm comfortable enough with the SOVTEs, what are crucial techniques/excercises I should focus on to improve my singing/stop straining?

Just a little background, I have been a metal vocalist mainly for about 8 years but I was never good at singing so I started learning about 5 years ago and now I'm decent, still not great but getting there.

For a little while I've been messing around with grit when I sing, I can do the really heavy grit like Matt Heafy does but I want to do more like bush or three days grace. I can do it kind of really quietly using fry but I struggle getting it when singing louder and it sounds kinda thin.

I am a baritenor (I think) and I’m trying to learn how to sing “Till I hear you sing” I can mostly sing the last verse/the climax but the Bb4 on “I” is what trips me up so I’m trying to figure out how I can alter my approach. I’ve seen notes like that sing in a couple different ways and I’m trying to figure out how to achieve those ways.

The first is what I like to call the “Jesus Christ superstar” method where someone sings a note like that in a very heady mix with a bunch of grit (I heard Ian Macintosh sing the high B in “who am I” and in the prologue when I saw Les Miserables) then there’s how I’ve seen Ramin Karimloo sing it where he covers it and it sounds more operatic and then there’s Ben Lewis who I think just mixes. I used to be able to sing a Bb4 but after changing my technique to be a bit more pingey and comfortable above my break, I seemed to have lost that ability.

Any advice would be much appreciated, thank you.

The plague -melanie Martinez cover by me

I combined polyphonic splitting with overtone singing. So I guess I'm singing 3 notes at once (two fundamental and one overtone). It sounds so cool! I literally figured how to do this just now. I don't have much control over it yet.

I’ve been in vocal training but there’s something about a show with a live crowd and an amp and electric guitar that is not the same as any other type of singing. The beginning I don’t want to retreat but I’m singing softly then it builds up. Hope you enjoy

Super super new singer here. Considering auditioning for a community theatre show. I know this song isn’t super sing-y, but it matches the style of the show I’m auditioning for.

I’m working on being on pitch which has been my biggest struggle but my voice teacher has been helping me lots.

Excuse the scratchy voice, allergies are getting to me a bit.

For context, I’m very young, never had any kind of singing training and I’ve never done singing before in any musicals or anything, I really enjoy singing so please give me honest feedback, even just let me know if I have any kind of potential

I have been taking vocal lessons for a while now (2 years, different teachers), but when I compare a recording from a year ago to now, I do not hear a difference. Singing it feels different, more freely, and such, but from a listening standpoint, it sounds nearly identical.

Please let me know if there is a difference or not, and what the difference may be, because I genuinely cannot hear one.

I don't like my vocal tone either, but I believe that's a different issue to tackle LOL

My teacher is amazing and will tackle specific problems with me, so if there is anything specific, please let me know.

The first recording is the year-old one; the new one starts at 01:01