Theory of Karaoke Lesson 4: Record Yourself
- Jason Burchard

The title itself may scare you, but if you’re wanting to improve your singing, recording yourself can help. It’s amazing what you don’t hear while you are singing. Sure, you’ll notice some of your imperfections while singing. Record yourself and listen, and you’ll be putting yourself in the shoes of some stranger in the karaoke bar who has to listen to you.

The first task to take care of is to see what equipment you have where you can record yourself. Hopefully you have a karaoke machine with a tape recorder. If not, you can record yourself on your computer. One way with a PC computer is to go to the start menu, select accessories, then select entertainment and you’ll see the voice recorder. Another way to record on the computer is from websites like www.singsnap.com or www.thesimsonstage.com. There you can share your recordings with others if you choose. If you can’t record yourself with a karaoke machine or on your computer, use a handheld tape recorder or even video tape yourself. Decide on which method you are going to use in recording yourself and you can proceed to the next step.

The second step is to decide on what song to sing. Pick a song you know well and enjoy. Read the lyrics over and practice the song. You don’t even need to use the karaoke machine during practice, just get yourself a little more comfortable by singing with the lyrics in front of you. You can do it at your own pace and it helps you to think of what the song sounds like without having the music to help you. Practice one final time using the karaoke machine or the karaoke webpage of choice.

Now for the fun part. Prepare your recording device and sing the song all the way through without stopping to start over. Just as if you were singing at a concert, you can’t start over. Be sure to consider your volume levels and the quality of your recording device. Amateur tape recordings do diminish the quality of the sound quite considerably. However, it will still help to point out your areas of improvement. But, while knowing the quality is reduced and that your own voice always sounds funny, you’re not as bad as it may sound to you.

On to the not-so-fun part, you need to play back your recording. Take down notes of your more serious problems. Are you having trouble hitting high or low notes? Is your voice scratchy? Are you singing too loud or too soft? For instance, Eric Clapton’s "Tears in Heaven" is sung very softly, almost in a whisper. I remember singing this a couple of times in public and once in a contest. I didn’t realize I was far from singing it softly. The song emotes so much pain, but I was singing with more of a hateful pain than a sad pain. I wasn’t screaming, but you can imagine that one is a bit more loud than the other.

Now that you’ve listened to your recording, can you fix your flaws? You should be able to practice them. Sing those parts over and see if you need to sing higher or lower, louder or softer, etc. It doesn’t have to be exactly like how the original was performed. Discover how your voice best fits the song. With practice and improved skill, you will gain confidence.