How terrible am I?

First of all, your not terrible! Terrible would not even trying at all!

I've not actually heard the song that you are singing so its hard to tell what you are trying to achieve with your voice. It sounds quite nasal to me, and if thats what your going for, then great! But if not then you might want to spend some time on reducing that nasal sound. It could be a combination of things, maybe a high larynx or possible the position of your soft palate.

When you sing put your finger on you're larynx (or voice box) and see if it rises when you go higher, its expected to rise a little bit but if it shoots up and closes up your throat it can cause restriction of sound. If you find this is happening you want to work on keeping it under control. Try focusing on the feeling that you get in your throat when you yawn... as this is when your larynx is low and soft palate high. You can also try making an over exaggerated yogi bear impression. Singing like that will keep your larynx low. It will be something that your voice will have to get used to, but practice with it often and you may see results.

If you find its not your larynx then it may your soft palate. Your soft palate is the bit at the top of your mouth towards the back, if it tightens as you sing or talk the air is directed to your nose and you get a nasal sound. If you don't want this, gaining conscious control of your soft palate can help direct the air where you want it to. Get a mirror and look in your mouth as you sing, be conscious of what your muscles are doing and try and focus on getting them on what you want them to do.

As its your voice we can only give you so much advice as we don't know how you want to sound. But record your voice, use a mirror, be conscious of what you are doing with your mouth, throat and breathing and then you will have better control over your voice :D.

Keep on singing,
Nath

Thanks for getting back to me! And thanks for all the help! Nasaly wasn't really what I was going for, so I don't know what the cause of it is. It was either me or possibly the recording...but I won't make excuses, I know I'm not that great of the singer. But maybe I will keep practising, you never know...

Thanks again for replying!

my wife has a beautiful singing voice, but still came across a very nasal sound. We discovered it was the microphone (equivelent to a Shure SM58 but it was a Radio Shack brand for $35), so we went ahead and and spent $200+ (which still isn't alot for a mic) for a AKG C 2000 B (good all-around condensor mic). Sure enough, the nasal sound was completely gone, and nothing but cooing soft vocals came through loud and clear.

So try diffrent mics, I believe that may be a part of the problem.

oh and no, your not terrible :D

my wife has a beautiful singing voice, but still came across a very nasal sound. We discovered it was the microphone (equivelent to a Shure SM58 but it was a Radio Shack brand for $35), so we went ahead and and spent $200+ (which still isn't alot for a mic) for a AKG C 2000 B (good all-around condensor mic). Sure enough, the nasal sound was completely gone, and nothing but cooing soft vocals came through loud and clear.

So try diffrent mics, I believe that may be a part of the problem.

+1 I have that AKG too, and its a good mic. There's a reason you'll see mics retailing for upwards of several grand.

Imho, It's pretty bad. your mumble quiet a bit and very nasally and the pitch shots up and down like crazy. but none of that isn't fixable. If it's something you wanna get better at, I recommend taking lessons.

I think you need to differentiate between your singing and your voice. Your voice . . . your instrument . . . . is there . . . . and there doesn't appear to be anything wrong with it. Like any instrument it needs training and practice. Work on it. It'll get there!

The first time I recorded my singing voice I was in shock. I couldn't bare to listen to myself. After a lot of practice . . . and still practicing . . . . . I've come a long way. I'm sure in time you'll feel the same way.

Good Luck!

Neil

I'd also recommend recording yourself a lot--I find that listening to myself over and over has muted somewhat the disgust I used to feel at the sound of my voice. I sometimes rather like it now, and I never believed that would ever happen. :)

The combination of lessons and obsessive recording has worked for me!

Keep on singing!

Best,
Jersey Jack

Choose a very simple song first something with a few notes and something we all know then you can practice getting the notes. Make sure it's a song in a key you can manage.

It sounds like you probably can pitch the notes though it's not clear as no-one here seems to know what your singing.

So simple songs...... blowin' the wind maybe? Pretty memorable tune pretty easy to move to different keys too I think.
Maybe knocking on heavens door I've heard lots of different versions but again it's about finding the right key for you if you can play guitar and have a capo it would be easy to move around but your best singing it first and seeing where it suits you.

Any other suggestions?

um, Stand By Me, some Beatles tunes (esp. early stuff, its pretty melodic but not too hard, AFAIK)