Have you ever had a recording from a client that sounds awful? They sound far off and muffled. You started the recording with good intentions though. Your client was close to the mic and it should have worked but it didn’t. I’m sure your client has told you they wish they sounded better when you played it back to them. If only there was a way to make this easier. It’s possible. Sometimes people just need some simple step-by-step instructions to make their voice sound better when recording an app, so I wrote this post to help them do just that.
Are you a singer or actor and looking for an app that improves your voice? You don’t have to worry anymore. You will find everything you’re looking for as I am going to share the list of best apps that make your voice sound good. By using these excellent singing voice editor apps, you can make your voice clearer, deeper, and louder on app.
With so many people looking for an easier, more portable way to record, it was only a matter of time before digital audio workstations (DAWs) found their way into an app format. Today, we’ve got tons of different ways to record a quick vocal on our phones – with some artists even using their stock Voice Memos app. They then take these recordings, hand them off to a mixer, and let them work their magic to clean everything up and sounding better than ever.
Of course, a lot of hassle could be saved if you were able to make your voice sound better without having to send it off to a pro, right? Having the ability to completely tune a vocal by hand in these mobile apps isn’t quite possible yet – but with the tools at your disposal, it might not matter. Until we get full ports of the biggest and best vocal processing plugins, here are a few approaches to making your voice sound better using the apps available right now.
The Classic App: GarageBand’s Extreme Tuning
Looking for that classic AutoTune effect right from your phone? Many producers these days don’t even bother with the finesse of massaging a vocal into place – they go for the AutoTune effect. You know the one I’m talking about that T-Pain made famous and we’ve heard variations of in half of the Top 40 hits released ever since.
With Extreme Tuning in GarageBand for iOS, you’re able to take a vocal that you recorded right on your iPhone or iPad, insert the effect, then dial it in with pitch control and distortion. For the best results, Apple also recommends setting the Key & Scale of the song in your Song Settings menu.
The limitations of Extreme Tuning are apparent to anyone who’s used tuning software like AutoTune, Melodyne, or Waves Pro – you don’t have nearly as much control as you might in one of those programs. Instead, you need to find a balance between the available settings to allow the app to tune in real-time as the song plays.
Combined with other processing in the app such as EQ, compression, reverb & delay, even a subtle amount of tuning in GarageBand can be an effective approach to making vocals sound their best inside of an app.
New & Improved: Spire
Despite its introduction to the market nearly 6 years ago and an amazing creative development team (iZotope) behind it, the Spire app flew under the radar for many pros and home recording enthusiasts until recently. What started out as a 4-track recording app for iOS with basic functionality has recently grown into a full-fledged mobile DAW complete with record, edit & mix functionality. Pairing it with their wireless Spire Studio interface unlocks even more potential.
But we’re here to talk about better vocals – and that’s where Spire Pro really starts to shine. Pulling from the innovations iZotope has made with their RX (audio restoration), Nectar (vocal production), and Ozone (mastering) softwares, Spire Pro users get a whole collection of extra features aimed to maximize their results including:
- Background noise removal
- Plosive cleanup with virtual pop filtering
- Built-in tuning, formant shifts & other vocal-centric effects
- Personalized soundchecks that avoid clipping and shape tone automatically
You can download the Spire app for free from the App Store or check out iZotope’s product page for more information on the Spire app, Spire Pro & Spire Studio.
Top Rated App: Voloco
Similar to Extreme Tuning, Voloco is a real-time app that’s fully capable of tuning vocals, but its extended features are what really make the app stand out from the crowd. Not only can you get classic automatic tuning, but the app also offers harmony & vocoder effects for someone looking to get creative with his or her mobile vocals.
Voloco has nearly 35,000 reviews with a 4.8 out of 5 star rating on the app. With a clean interface, simple controls, and easy export options, it’s easy to see why.
Best Results: Record & Export
This may seem obvious, but if you’re truly looking to get the absolute best results from your vocals, there is no substitute to learning how the tuning process works on a computer with enough processing power to give you vocal editing capabilities. Having this skill set will inevitably carry over with you when the day comes where fully mobile tuning and mixing is a reality.
For those that are brand new to the world of audio production, you don’t need to break the bank getting set up to do this. A simple laptop or desktop (even one that’s a few years old) will support a basic DAW and tuning software. Check out our tips on building a home studio on a budget to see just what you’d need.
Once you’ve got the equipment for mixing, you’ll want to research the available computer apps for tuning and find the one that seems most intuitive for you. I’d recommend starting with the three listed above (AutoTune, Melodyne & Waves Tune). All three offer different tiers depending on the features you want and trials so you don’t have to spend money until you’re sure it’s the right fit.
For most beginners the basic versions are going to work just fine. If you’re looking for the least expensive option – Waves Tune LT is just $29.99, although with a bit less control than the other options.
Great Sounding Vocals Are More Than Pitch
I mentioned it briefly with GarageBand, but it bears repeating: vocal tuning alone does not create a great sounding vocal. Professional mixers combine dynamic processing and time-based effects (a “vocal chain”) to get the results you hear in your favorite songs. Without a vocal chain, vocals often tend to sound under-produced and amateur.
If you’re looking to take your vocal productions to a truly professional level, come check out The Ultimate Vocal Producer’s Handbook in the JST VIP section of the site. Inside, you’ll get the secrets to every vocal producer’s toolbox and learn how they’re structuring their songs around the vocals for maximum results.
More Alternatives
Voloco
Voloco also ranks highly on the list of the best voice enhancer for singing. It is a very reliable app that can help to record tracks, demos, voice-overs, and video performances. It will carefully keep your data and track your progress.
When you are practicing, it will automatically remove background noise and let you correct the pitch of your voice to keep you in tune. You can also use varieties of presets for compression and reverb effects to polish your recording.
The free beat library is also available. You can select from thousands of free beats made by top producers to rap or sing over. And it automatically detects the key of the beat to make sure you’re in tune when you are singing.
Perfect Pitch
Perfect Pitch is one of the best apps that make your singing sound better. It provides a special and unique method of teaching to promote your beautiful voice.
To make it clear, it offers a great training program to boost your motivation and singing skills. This program consists of different levels. If you go through them step by step, you will promote your performance gradually. You can also take singing lessons which are easy to understand even if you are a beginner.
You can import your favorite songs from the Internet and practice singing them. It will detect and display your singing pitch accuracy in real-time, and you can easily tune and train to improve your singing. It also has studio effects to enhance your singing performance when you practice.
VoCo Vocal Coach
Just as the name suggests, VoCo Vocal Coach is a nice vocal coaching app to make your voice sound better when singing. With its simple and friendly interface, you can improve your singing easily.
It lets you adjust the playback pitch according to your voice type like Bass, Baritone, Tenor, Alto, Mezzo-Soprano, Soprano. You can also make a playlist for your training session containing your selected tracks.
The playback speed can be adjusted as well. You can also fine-tune the starting pitch of the track. When you are training, you can see the on-screen animation that illustrates the pitch and vocal register.
It also supports the four different learning approaches: vicarious (listen to demos of pro-singers and learn new styles & techniques), experiential (sing with guidance and make notes to journal your progress), systematic (create playlists based on lesson plans from your vocal coach or singing program), and diagnostic (record your workout and critically listen to the recording).
Sing Sharp
Sing Sharp is another cool app to make your voice sound better when singing. It is also an amazing educational tool that can not only teach you to sing well but also broaden your musical outlook.
With this application, you will access a wide range of functions. You can use the vocal range to find out your highest and lowest pitches. This will make you understand how to practice them.
The flexible system of achievement tracking is also available: it records all of your victories and failures during the process of practice. Additionally, you can use the cool studio effects if you like the karaoke singing style.
How To Improve Your Singing Voice: The 5 Keys
But what does it mean to have a “good voice”?
And what can you do if you don’t have a good voice but want to sing?
How can you improve your singing voice? What are the best singing tips out there? How much does your vocal range matter? What should you focus on when you practice singing?
What makes a voice “good”?
We all instinctively know a good voice from a bad one. You have probably heard amateur singers and thought “wow, they really can’t sing!” But what is it we’re reacting to?
More importantly, what could that person change about their singing to sound good? What advice could you give them on how to get better at singing?
Here are the 5 keys to having a good singing voice. These singing tips will cover the skills that will help you sing with confidence, good technique, and consistency. These practice tips on how to improve your singing voice are great complementary learning to singing lessons, and will also help you improve your singing on your own.
1. Being in Control
Certainly one of the most noticeable factors in whether someone seems like a good singer or not: are they in control of their voice?
Having good vocal control means staying “on pitch”. This means singing the pitch of notes accurately, rather than a bit sharp or flat. It also means not wandering off key or singing in the wrong key to begin with.
Singers with good vocal control are able to sing each note distinctly for the intended musical effect in a melody or harmony. They can also handle note leaps accurately, not jumping too far or not far enough in pitch whether they’re hitting high notes or low. Working on your control will help improve your singing. Singers with a good voice have strong vocal control.
2. Good Tone
Singing tone is a combination of a few different factors, but it basically means “the overall sound of the voice”.
It’s almost always the vowels in words which are sustained in lyrics (i.e. “ah”, “oh” “ee” etc. rather than “ch” “ss” “th” etc.) and singers with good tone use clear consistent vowel sounds.
Tone also means the overall timbre (characteristic sound) of the voice. For example, is it hoarse or smooth, hard or soft, broad or narrow, light or heavy, and so on. To improve your singing and your tone, it’s a great idea to practice both your head voice and your chest voice, and be able to recognize when each is best to use – low and mid-range notes are often more comfortably sung in chest voice, while high notes require use of your head voice. It may also help to practice singing those sustained vowels to get the right tone in whatever register you are singing in. Singers with a good voice have good vocal tone.
3. Clear Enunciation
It doesn’t matter if you’re hitting all the right notes if every word is mumbled. Good singers have clear enunciation, crafting each syllable precisely as intended.
Of course, in rock and pop music the delivery of lyrics is much more relaxed and you might not sing crisp syllables. Even here, each word should be expressed exactly as the singer intends.
Practicing your enunciation is an easy way to improve your singing voice, and get better at conveying your lyrical message! Singers with a good voice clearly enunciate each word they sing.
4. Strong Support
One thing which can mark out a bad singer is that their voice seems weak or feeble. To improve your singing voice, you must have solid vocal support for your singing. This lets you produce good clear notes which sound strong and don’t waver. Vocal support makes you a better singer, and a stronger singer.
It also helps you to produce a broad tone rather than one which sounds thin and feeble, so you can sing certain passages and songs better. Although you might occasionally want to sing with a weak-sounding voice to best suit a particular song, a good singer must also have a voice which is capable of producing a strong broad tone. It’s better to have all your bases covered.
Vocal support comes from a combination of good posture (a hunched back is not conducive to good support!), proper breathing technique, and overall practice and development – all of which help improve your singing. This will also make it easier to hit those high notes over time, and they’ll sound better. Singers with a good voice have strong support for their singing.
5. Suitable Volume
This is another immediate tell-tale sign of a poor singer: many people are either blasting out every note, or singing so quietly you may barely hear them. The listener is either deafened or frustrated by having to strain to hear. Either way, sing at a suitable volume or they won’t want to hear more!
Learning to sing at an appropriate volume is essential for sounding like a good singer. The volume must suit the music, varying appropriately with the musical phrasing, and be at the right overall level to match the other musicians and please your audience. Vocal control will greatly help you sing at a suitable volume and improve your singing.
Conclusion
When you or your band is in the studio recording music, how do you make your voice sound so good? The answer is simple: it’s the magic of actually being there. When you’re in the recording studio, you’re able to perfectly execute acoustical nuances that just can’t be replicated over digital signal processing. The moment to recreate these sounds digitally can be a very enjoyable part of recording.
Sometimes, the quality of your voice recording can be better than others. You don’t have to settle with the sound quality you get from an app that records voice from your microphone. You can actually make your voice sound better by using certain tips that can help in getting a perfect quality.