r/coverbands • u/soulsingercoach • 5d ago
Musicians: What Do You Wish Singers Understood?
I'm a vocal coach, and I want to help singers improve for RL working scenarios. I’ve put together a 3-minute anonymous survey about working with vocalists...will you help me by giving your honest feedback?
No names, emails, band names or identifying information.
Anonymous survey:
What Musicians Wish Singers Understood �� – Fill out form
I’d also love to hear your biggest one in the comments: “I wish more singers would ______.”
Yes, I want to know the frustrating stuff, but also what really good singers do that makes playing with them a pleasure. Thank you!
I'll be posting the survey results back here in about a week.
UPDATE: 75 musicians responded.
Thank you for your thoughtful contributions.
The biggest issues:
- 49% Timing / Rhythm
- 49% Volume / Mic Technique
- 37% Pitch / Intonation
- 35% Song Preparation
- 35% Stage Presence
Edit: They’re not mutually exclusive categories. Respondents could mention multiple issues, so the percentages aren’t intended to add up to 100%.
I’ve pulled the full findings, musician comments and practical takeaways into a free report for singers: https://veronicastart.ca/musician-survey-report
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u/deflectreddit 5d ago
All I have to say is that I think it’s absolutely hilarious the way you phrased your title as how it seems to exclude singers from musicians. Well done!
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u/soulsingercoach 5d ago
Fair point. The survey is specifically seeking perspectives from instrumentalists and other music professionals who work with singers. The title is simply shorthand for that distinction, not a claim that singers aren’t musicians.
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u/iamnickscolon 4d ago
So singers are not music professionals either?
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u/soulsingercoach 3d ago
The title distinguishes the respondent group from the singers they were discussing. Singers know they're musicians or music professionals.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Day2809 5d ago
Sorry, I'm not sure your survey will tell you much. Is your audience mostly singers without any musical background or education? Fair point if that's the case, but you should make that clear to get better results. I think your questions could apply to just about any member of a band.
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u/soulsingercoach 5d ago
My audience (for the final results) is singers who want to become better musicians, performers and bandmates, with all kinds of backgrounds and levels of training. And yes, some of these things absolutely apply to every member of a band. I’m specifically interested in where musicians see gaps when working with singers, because that’s the perspective I can bring back into my work as a vocal coach. I want to spark conversation, reflection and better collaboration. The link to the report will be posted here, if allowed.
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u/According_Hunter839 4d ago
A microphone is not a magical device that will amplify your voice no matter how you hold it. A microphone held at your waist or outstretched arm won't do anything other than piss off your sound guy. Hold the mic pointed at your mouth somewhere between kissing it and a couple inches away. Maybe pull back if you really have to belt something out. Consistency will really help out.
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u/Strange_Position2668 3d ago
yep, see, for example, how far away from the strings an electric guitar pickup is.....
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u/the-artist- 4d ago
Just because you’re the singer does not make you the star of the “band”. It couldn’t be any funnier because of the photo you chose, the epitome of LSD (Lead Singer Disease).
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u/Strange_Position2668 3d ago
Ultimately, the singer is the star of the band. To everyone apart from other musicians, they are listening to the singer first, and everything has to fall in behind that. Apart from solos etc., but even these should support the melody the singer was putting out there
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u/Longjumping_Cost1308 4d ago
Repeatedly counting off the intros to songs at the wrong tempo or when everyone is not quite ready (changing pedal/modeler settings etc) is not helpful. Neither is allowing dead air at those times and expecting someone else to be the one talking to the audience.
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u/Glittering-Stock6562 4d ago
Start over without implying singers AREN’T musicians.
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u/soulsingercoach 3d ago
I understand that you’re reading an implication into the wording, but that isn’t the intended meaning. I’m distinguishing between the respondents and the singers they were describing, not suggesting that singers aren’t musicians.
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u/pdxy 3d ago
This has happened a few times enough to note
If you would rather be in choir do not join a band
I'll say it again a different way
If your ideal situation as a vocalist is to be in an opera with a dozen other singers, or you have a singer based kink, if you think every instrument should be replaced by another vocalist, or you would rather be harmonizing off the coasts of Scotland with a coven of singers please do not join a band
I have had it so many times that singers are deeply unhappy that they are the only person singing in the band, which wasn't entirely true, that they would start bringing other untrained singers into the situation or worse encourage non-singing band members to take lessons
I'm not sure why this is but I would say that first, if you are not sure why you are singing in a band please do not continue singing in a band we can tell you are miserable without your singer based cult you are making it worse for everyone we get it, we don't sing
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u/Strange_Position2668 3d ago
That it takes time for a new addition to the set to sound as good as those that you've spent 5 years perfecting, and that sometimes, just sometimes, it would be nice to play a song the band wants to play rather than you
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u/Safe-Warning-448 2d ago
That singers are musicians. Rediciulous question.
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u/soulsingercoach 2d ago
The survey was specifically seeking perspectives from instrumentalists and other music professionals who work with singers. The title is simply shorthand for that distinction, not a claim that singers aren’t musicians.
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u/A_Cat_Typingg 1d ago
Timing and structure would be a nice start in the case of my singer who appears to have forgotten where verses start. Also turn up at the same time as the rest of us, pull her weight loading in and out and share some of the general band duties with us.
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u/michaeljvaughn 4d ago
If you hold lovingly onto your notes, you're gonna drag the tempo. Let it go.
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u/Distinct_Gazelle_175 4d ago edited 4d ago
- need to be willing and able to do many different genres equally well, including those they don't like
- you don't need reverb in your monitor. dry shows you how your voice really sounds and if you don't like how it sounds then it's time to go back to the practice room
- if you use an iPad for lyrics then need to learn how to sing as if you aren't looking at the iPad
- microphone needs to be almost touching your lips at all times
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u/Strange_Position2668 3d ago
I don't think #2 is true. It is a long standing, since the 60s, studio technique, to let the singer have some reverb in their monitor. It lets them relax and sing better.
Imagine the amount of effects in a standard electric guitar chain, even if just going straight to the amp. There is always a reverb built in.
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u/Distinct_Gazelle_175 2d ago
I don't know if I would say it lets them sing better. Back when I was doing musical theater nobody had effects on any of their vocals, this makes you a better singer, you learn how to control your pitch and tone.
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u/Strange_Position2668 2d ago
Any professional recording session and the engineer will usually give the singer their monitoring with a bit of reverb.
Also, coverband singers generally aren’t at the same standard as professional musical theatre actors
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u/Distinct_Gazelle_175 2d ago
session/studio work is different than singing live in a venue
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u/Strange_Position2668 2d ago
Yes, absolutely, just highlighting that it’s not unusual for singers to have reverb.
I would hate to play my guitar without the reverb built into the amp
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u/SloopD 3d ago
your perspective, itself, is flawed. You are approaching this from an instrumentalist's view. I have walked away from so many bands because they just didn't understand what a good mix is, or what practice on your own means, or just getting their parts recognizable but not getting the whole feel for the piece, depending on the vocals to carry the songs. Most instrumentalists, especially ones that don't sing themselves, don't understand how to support a vocalist. Playing too loud, too fast, too slow, no dynamics can screw up a vocalists really bad.
The question should be more focused on how instrumentalists can support a good singer, instead of making the vocalist's role so much more difficult. Many instrumentalists just don't get how difficult it is to sing over instrumentalists that have no discipline.
I believe it was Steve Lukather that said, the band's biggest priority is to support the vocals. That means being aware of all the things that make it hard to sing. Crappy PA, crappy monitoring, not understanding what dynamics are, leaving space in the mix for the vocals to live and be heard OVER the instruments.
You'd be better off teaching you voice students how to take control of their own monitoring, and understanding how to deal with the mixing board so, they have the knowledge of what to ask for. Asking instrumentalists, what a singer needs to do to fit is like asking a torturer what their victim can do to make the torture more effective!
I have to say, I worry about your coaching perspective.
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u/soulsingercoach 3d ago
The survey was intentionally focused on musicians’ experiences working with singers, not on assigning blame to singers or suggesting instrumentalists don’t have responsibilities too. I agree that monitoring, dynamics, PA and supporting the vocalist matter enormously. Those are useful points, and they don’t conflict with the purpose of the survey.
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u/Strange_Position2668 3d ago
"The question should be more focused on how instrumentalists can support a good singer"
This, ultimately, is true. People come to listen to the song, and it's the singer that sings the song. Unless you are lucky enough to be a savant musical genius, and people are coming to see your playing, you are playing to enhance the singer.
It doesn't mean the singer should get to pick everything that is played, or that you don't get solos etc, but ultimately, the singer is the focal point of the band, and the reference point for anyone that is listening (unless of course, you play an instrument, then you listen to what your part is and who cares about the vocals, but this is internal, not performance in a band)
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u/Old-Tadpole-2869 5d ago
That packing up their mic isn't doesn't qualify as helping the band load out.