I recorded someones vocals tonight and they sucked,

Hey guys, So tonight i had someone over who had wanted me to record his vocals for a long time now, And as soon as they started i knew exactly what was wrong! They still had not found their voice yet, still using the inside voice almost as if they could not perform over a certain volume.

And this is normal for a beginner from what i have seen, But how do i tell him? it's his first time i don't want to just throw demands at him so straight out the gate like that, But he thinks just because he hears stuff i have made that is good i can just magically make his recordings sound good with editing.

He has potential and his lyrics sounded good on paper but just don't want to be to harsh so soon as it may discourage him, So i call upon you wise Engineers to grant me advice of the subject.