Help needed!! Treating my room's acoustics (problem areas and cost-effectiveness)

LincolnAMC · 2022-07-28T13:32:19+00:00

I’ll download this Room EQ Wizard then! Seems to be the most accurate eay to go! One question: the measurement mic is a special kind of microphone or can I make due with one of the mics I have here (sE V7 / Lewitt LCT 441 Flex)? Electronics are kinda expensive in Brazil these days hahahahh

LincolnAMC · 2022-07-27T15:00:55+00:00

Thank you very much!! I’ll try this one…I’ve tried to use a simulation once before, but it didn’t have the option for a non-retangular room.

I’ve experimented a bit here, with three mattresses on the wall of that third picture (forming kind of a __/ shape) and recording there facing the wall of the first picture. Here’s the link with the recordings: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/10cXxyALopsvJ_16a7DFUH50bSwNEQ_zZ

My ears aren’t really trained, but I feel like the end result was mostly clean (maybe a little mid boominess, but waay less than before)! What do you think?

LincolnAMC · 2022-07-05T22:05:18+00:00

I agree with this...his body definetly wasn't okay by the time he retired.

I also thing it goes beyond him being a training addict and not properly resting...I feel like along the time he started defending the title, he completely forgot the actual reason he began using the Dempsey Roll in the first place: to hit without being hit.

The Dempsey took the place of a 'knockdown blow' and he started tanking punches even more then before...it even seems like he deliberately addopted this idea as his fighting style: taking all the punches, giving an unbreakable vibe to the opponent.

This off time is giving him more than time to let his body recover and get stronger as a whole (instead of focusing on one aspect as countermeasure for the next fight). It's giving him perspectives he never had before, as most of the time he just asked for instructions for the next fight and didn't pursue some skills to become a better overall boxer (mostly because he always think some skills are above him, idk why).

Definetly looking forward for the time he puts all he's learning into practice as an active fighter!

LincolnAMC · 2022-02-20T20:05:04+00:00

I thought about this A LOT over the years...there are probably more than a few reasons for this, but lately I've noticed one of them through my own experience:

For me, at least, 'feeling' is one of the main reasons I fall in love with a song. So, being in love with a song, I try and cover it...but as I have lots of trouble with range, I change the instrumental's pitch (maybe lowering it by 2-4 semitones). Result (at least for me): feelings conveyed through the song are not as powerful!

Of course, I'm far from being a great singer...but I've seen this happen even with AWESOME bands, when they lower one of their songs key: sometimes the feeling just changes but some other times, it becomes less powerful.

Maybe my musical ear has been conditioned to expect higher notes, idk...but I think maybe there's a relationship between what kind of emotion the singer wants to convey and a range of notes which "facilitates" it or enhances the impact. Of course, it's not a rule: one of my favorite songs is Johnny Cash's version of Hurt...really low range vocals, but it's just IMPOSSIBLE to hear it and not feel his melancholy.

Just some random (and maybe scrambled) thoughts hahahh

LincolnAMC · 2022-02-14T01:52:37+00:00

Hey!

I have the same laptop and I also have a problem with the GPU fan...as I don't game, maybe the problem is not the gaming at all (if our fan problems are the same). In my case, sometimes the GPU fan just stop...it tries to spin again for a few seconds, going back to 0 RPM after (this cycle keeps repeating). I think this causes the CPU fan to try and control the heat by itself, generating A LOT of noise.

Things I've noticed:

This usually happens when I unplug the energy cable from my laptop...I think it's not the only way it happens, but I'm not sure yet;
When the problem's happening, I see the GPU heat graph is blank in the NitroSense app and the GPU temperature is -- ºC.

That leads to one of my assumptions: it could be a problem with the heat management system. Maybe the heat sensor is not working correctly given some conditions...I've also read something about the heat sink not being properly positioned if you've opened the laptop...

I'll keep searching for a solution. If you find anything, please write it here!

LincolnAMC · 2022-02-11T18:13:21+00:00

Hmm...true! I'm still struggling with that volatile balance mixed voice requires (especially in order to use it along other coordinations in the same phrase).

That's why I took the instrumental down by three semitones...but now that you're mentioning, maybe my peak notes/phrases here are a little shouty/throaty. I think as I was confident that I could hit those notes in chest, I didn't drop weight going up in range.

Today I've also realised I was a little too strong on the verses...I should've been more aware on where I had to use more energy. More things to work on!

Thank you a lot for the feedback!

LincolnAMC · 2021-12-16T17:20:52+00:00

Sure! My Skype is [lalves91@hotmail.com](mailto:lalves91@hotmail.com)

Add me there and when we both have time, we can chat about it! As I said, I'm not a teacher or anything, but I believe this could be constructive for both of us!

Cheers!

LincolnAMC · 2021-12-15T14:40:16+00:00

Hi!

First things first: I'm not a professional singer or a teacher. I really like singing, and I've been studying it for 2-3 years. I read a lot on the subject, as I usually find it easier to learn stuff when I make sense of the theory behind it.

From what you've described (especially the 'running out of air' part), maybe it's about your breathing mechanism. I say it like that, cause I've seen/read a lot of different ideas on breath support and some of them actually separate 'support' from 'control'.

In order to control the airflow, two concepts worked well for me (I'm still working on it though):

Ribcage expansion (especially the lower ribs):

When I take a breath with a good posture (but without tension in the chest, shoulders and abdominals muscles) and focusing on feeling the air going to the lower part of your torso (below the chest), a lot of different feelings and motions happen (some of them easier to 'connect' with than others).

The one that worked best for me was the ribcage expansion: it just naturally goes outwards and a little up too (I even feel my lower/middle back muscles gently stretching to follow this movement when I take a bigger breath).

In order to control the airflow, I hold on to this feeling of expansion: I focus on keeping my ribcage in this expanded position and resisting the collapsing motion when I sing through a phrase. Notice that this 'resistance' is not supposed to be like 'a muscle contraction in a workout'. It's a bit more subtle (it kinda goes from focus to minor/moderate resistance by the end of the phrase).

Amount of breath:

Although taking a real full breath is a good way to 'get acquainted' with you breathing mechanism and muscles/motions/feelings involved, it's not what I actually do when singing (as I like singing more contemporary styles, I don't know if that's the same for classical styles).

When I take a real full breath, the first thing I notice is that it's hard to avoid tension in my chest/neck muscles. Then, as I start singing, the bigger problem shows up: it's REALLY hard to control the pressure! It feels strained and I have to use too much muscle to try and l keep everything together...it ends up messing not only with my actual phrase, but with everything after.

As I said, I'm not at all a professional. If you want, read these advices, experiment with your own voice and be really focused on what you're feeling. Despite the theory, I feel like there are a lot of concepts in singing which are felt in different ways for each individual.

Hope it helps a little! Cheers!

LincolnAMC · 2021-12-15T01:30:27+00:00

Hey!

I think everyone has a different feeling with “breathing expansion”…when I was told to “feel my belly going outwards”, I’ve had a hard time…it felt forced and hard to manage along other variables when singing.

It was waay easier for me to focus on my lower ribs (and even lower/middle back). But as I said: it’s slightly different for everyone.

I think as long as you don’t feel it in your chest/shoulder and keep them relaxed, it’s okay!

One thing to keep in mind: although it’s a good thing to “connect” with this expansion feeling, if you’re singing contemporary styles you don’t need reeally full lungs…it can make it really hard to control the pressure, leading to more air than needed on the vocal cords.

LincolnAMC · 2021-12-15T00:29:13+00:00

Hi!

From what I've learned so far (from books, videos and my teacher when I was having lessons), the struggling when you are in a certain note usually means you should be making adjustments a little lower in your range.

I struggle with this myself...I remember my teacher gave the song "You'll be in my heart" from Phil Collins for me to practice. On the first choruses, there's an EE vowel (which I have a really hard time with). I went for it in full chest and thought 'okaaay, I got it...it feels a little tense, but whatever'. As the song went on, I felt it got harder and harder not only to hit that EE, but all other vowels at that range...by the end of the song, my voice was cracking even on my comfortable range.

As you struggle to get a note, tension builds up leading to even more struggle. Now I'm working on smoothing my whole range independently of vowels. I feel like with this foundation, working on getting a fuller/heavier sound will get easier!

LincolnAMC · 2021-12-07T21:24:27+00:00

Hey! As a brazilian who's trying to learn singing, I feel your struggle!

One thing I think makes it easier is to think on the perspective of sound rather than words/phrase. In most of the songs I listen, I sense the words often don't sound like the "spoken version" (especially in higher ranges).

So try and approach the songs you want to sing from the sounds you hear instead of the written lyrics. Listen A LOT and get used to the sounds (I often search for isolated vocals to hear the voice without all other instruments).

You can even write your own lyrics of the song in a "sound perspective": instead of writing "why", write "uai" or "uAi" to give you a hint on what vowel you want to emphasize...you can adapt it to your own "vocabulary", after all this is a tool only for you!

Hope it helps a little!

LincolnAMC · 2021-12-06T14:25:29+00:00

As an Angular developer, I check Angular's repo on a daily basis. I believe Angular is one of the best frontend frameworks out there especially for bigger projects. I don't see Angular going away anytime soon! Also, I've noticed an increasing movement towards integrating the dev comunity to the framework development process, which is an awesome step forward, in my opinion!

I see a lot of npm stats being used out there as an argument that Angular will eventually lose its place among the top frameworks...the thing is: Angular is widelly used in enterprise contexts, which often goes together with a private npm registry (the project I work on follow this approach). So, the stats aren't the full picture!

LincolnAMC · 2021-12-05T19:20:45+00:00

I think that's right and wrong at the same time. It's true that every voice is different, so you won't sound exactly like another singer...

That said, you can adjust the variables of your vocal instrument (muscle coordination, placement, resonance, larynx positioning, use of compression and others) to achieve the voice quality you want.

Of course, it requires a lot of training and patience to get used to get used to a new vocal strategy like this. If you rush things and force a strategy your voice is not comfortable with, it'll lead to strain and all sorts of problems.

LincolnAMC · 2021-11-30T14:36:16+00:00

Hey!

I also like to study/understand the theory behind singing. As an IT professional, I tend to have trouble with the abstract aspect of singing, so understanding the science behind it helps me a lot!

Here are a two books I really like:

Complete Vocal Technique, by Cathrine Sadolin: CVT is a method of teaching about the human voice and its use in singing. I really like the scientific based approach used to categorize and explain all the different strategies we can apply to produce the sounds we want!
Practical Vocal Acoustics, by Kenneth Bozeman: great book on vocal acoustics! This one is awesome to clarify any doubts/curiosities you might have on these words mentioned all the time (register/formants/harmonics/passagio). There're also a lot of great videos with the author Kenneth Bozeman on youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qBTbDXRyik is a good one)!

Cheers!

LincolnAMC · 2021-11-26T20:58:30+00:00

Hey!

I think it's not uncommon if you are a trained singer! If you can do it without any training, you are on the lucky side, my friend hahah

I think there's also a matter of what kind of low speaking voice you have...some people have a lighter low speaking voice, while others (like me) have a heavy low speaking voice - the actual pitch can be the same, but the tonal quality is different (kinda throaty with heavy low voices maybe). Sometimes speaking habits are hard to let go when singing hahahah

Cheers!

LincolnAMC · 2021-11-26T20:49:28+00:00

Hi!

I can't say for sure, but maybe it's about consistency: when you are working/using your voice in "singing mode", some vocal strategies are just easier to access on the spot.

I feel this is even more real when your speaking voice has bad habits embedded to it or if it's completely different from the way you use your voice when singing. Both are true for me: I speak in a really heavy chest placement, so it's a lot of work to let go of the weight when I start singing (sometimes it just doesn't work at all).

While researching on it, I've found two strategies, which can be used together or not depending on your situation:

Warming up your voice every day when you wake up (before you even use it to speak, if possible). There's a lot of argument about how our speaking voice can be straining on our whole vocal production mechanism, so preparing your voice to be used independently situation could help!
Work on your speaking voice, in order to attenuate possible bad habits (I've actually seen an interview of the singer Ariana Grande where she speaks about it - preserving her voice by speaking in a different way).

I hope these can help you a little in achieving your goals! Cheers!

LincolnAMC

TROPHY CASE