chris..
i gotta say several things mate..
1. a persons biggest enemy can be lack of confidence.,
so take the attitude i can do this.
so what if your worried bout criticism..have confidence.
also understand this is supposed to be FUN !!
there will ALWAYS be folks that criticise no matter how good the vocallist.
my attitude is i do my best with vocs and if i fail n get arrows
in my back i accept it and move on and try better on the next song.
but i learnt decades ago if i worry constantly bout critique..
i would never get a song done. worry can kill creativity etc etc.

2. just go at it gradually developing vocal technique.
and play to your vocal strengths.
look at neil young...or leonard cohen...both good examples
of people with therir own vocal style WHO DO THEIR OWN THING/style of vocs.
can leonard sing like a mezzo soprano ??..nope.
but he has his own lower register style.
the key to it all is working round ones weaknesses and developing ones vocal style.
and playing to voc strengths.
3. use something like realband where you have lots of traks you can experiment with
lots of vocal takes mate. experiment lots with comping together the best vocal takes.
over time youll thus start to realise what works and what doesnt.

what do you have in the way of gear ??
any mics ?? mic pres ?? sound device ??
if you have no gear , to save me lots of typing read my tips in the tips n triks section as to el cheapo gear
n recording with no money.
for example you could get a cheapo dynamic mic for 50 buks into a cheap sound interface that has a mic pre built in.


but above all HAVE FUN AND DO IT WITH CONFIDENCE.
sure youll fail..EVEN THE BEST FAIL sometimes.
if a voc part dont work belting it out..try softer or whispery n see if that
works and vice versa.
the key to the whole thing is to work around ones voc weaknesses
AND JUST GET IT ON AND DO IT.

i wish you every success mate n god bless.

retired puter engr....powertracks on amd......NICE !
"what is the black art of audio engineering ?"
my silly songs...motagator.com/bmanning
see my tips in the tips section.