How good is good enough? (request for help)

Okay, so I've been working on my first album, sadly without any real DIY gear other than the instruments I make, which is a large part of why I'm not around much anymore.

I've been having an enormous amount of trouble with my singing. I've always been aware that I'm not that great of a singer, but on some songs, I can do well enough. Others, though... This track, called "The Flight of the Great Machine" (pretentious enough for ya? ), has been very troublesome.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7330808/The%20Flight%20of%20the%20Great%20Machine%20%28Beta%204%29.mp3

But here's one I did okay with:

http://soundcloud.com/darren-landrum/time-to-go-rc2

I've had pretty extreme mixed reactions, all the way from, "it's only rock and roll so who cares?" all the way to, "it's so horribly unlistenable that I wish you'd get a real singer", which I guess is something of a compliment for my songwriting skills, but is not really helpful otherwise.

So I thought I'd turn to some old friends here to see where I stand and maybe get some real, usable advice on what I can do.

Thanks!

(Just a note that I'll be removing that file in a couple of days, since I don't want too many potentially awful pre-release version floating around, though that's probably just flattering myself. )

I listened to "It's Time to Go." Very nice song. It feels like the intro to a bigger work...remember concept albums? I liked all the sounds including the vocal... Reminded me of Todd Rundgren's voice. The emotional connection was there. Just needs a touchup with Melodyne. That sax sound is cool. 

Try playing the melodies with an instrument to give yourself a guide
that may make it harder as you become even more aware of where you are out
but should improve your singing , you may have to keep recording , listening recording
listening until you develop your vocal abilities , maybe a lesson or two for breathing ?

Hey,
I listened to it and there's only one note that you're having trouble with
"and yet SO young"
everytime that note comes around in your progression you sing a little sharp.
this is totally normal.
Sometimes when I sing a song I have to listen back to it to figure out which notes I'm pulling or pushing out of tune.
it must be something about the note that it's next to that makes us lose our reference point.

I would do as OKGB says and play that part of the melody line on an instrument until you can hit that note. you'll probably have to sing  it flatter than what feels right to hit it. I have no doubt that you can do it. you are right on with the rest of the notes.

by the way I'd love to see this miraculous 2 dollar sax...can you post pictures?

Thank you all for your feedback!

I've tried using an instrumental guide and it didn't help at all. It just made me have to concentrate too much and I would lose where I was altogether, keep forgetting lyrics, and so on. More trouble than it was worth.

Something I have yet to try is to ReaTune (Reaper's built-in version of Autotune) my vocal and then sing back along to it.

The good news is, based upon everything you've all said, I can probably punch-in short sections rather than spending another hundred takes re-singing everything.

Seriously, I have one song (not either one of these) that has over 100 takes, and it still isn't there. It ReaTunes up well, though, so I'm going to try the "sing back along" trick with that one. It doesn't help that I wrote a very difficult melody involving fast run-ups to diminished sevenths and stuff like that.

EDIT: Oh, and here's a link to an instrumental I did just recently. This mix has been refined since then (drums lower and nudged to push the beat a little, rhythm synth up a bit, and I changed out one of the double-speed organ solo riffs) but this gives the basic idea.

http://soundcloud.com/darren-landrum/third-contact-release

Here's a blog post on how I did the drums without a kit. http://dmlandrum.noisepages.com/2011/08/six-samples-to-snare-heaven/

Oh, and here's an old video about the miraculous $3 sax: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMNIoaI6KXs

So why do I have little problem singing along with a favorite song in the car?

I'm beginning to think that my real problem is simply needing to practice my songs and get to know them more. I'm wondering if the idea that "I wrote these melodies, so I should automatically know them" is something of a myth. It's just that I've seen so many other singers, trained and untrained alike, have zero issue with mastering a new melody straight away, so I feel like I have to be capable of that, too.

I'm going to burn the pitch-fixed versions to a CD so I can sing along to them in the car. That should help a lot.

Try choose a different key.
Or meditate 10 minutes befor singing and realy focus on the emotions that lie in the text.
When you relax your mind your voice will follow.

Darren, your voice is like mine so hopefully I can help.

I too am a great singer in the car - but only when singing along to certain artists. I affectionately, and half-jokingly, refer to this as the "four note range." I echo DerErber: transpose the song a half step down and it's a whole new ballgame. You could try the other direction and find a falsetto that works for you.

Take the vocal to the shower and restart at different notes until you find the sweet spot. Keep singing while you dry off. Walk in your towel to the studio and play your new vocal line on your keyboard. Retrack the song in the new key. Your new effortless delivery sounds more natural, more beautiful.

This is literally what I do.  And it works better than autotune. Because the problem is not just pitch, it's the performance of a guy who's straining to hit notes.

If you're unable to retrack the instruments, you can try the vocal at a slower speed - if Reaper has that ability. Good luck. And thanks for sharing your blog and video.

Love the $3 sax!