With or without you from U2

[ronws]

Back to my irish heritage, amongst my mongrel lineage (german, english, irish, scottish.) Mongrel is a breeding term. Any two purebreeds is a mutt. Anything more than two pure breeds is a mongrel. Anyway, I like this sing lyrically, melodically, and it shows off range, too.

"With or Without You" by U2, covered by me.

[akarawd]

Considering the fact that you play and sing at the same time, you've done a great job. The lows are somewhat unstable but I liked it a lot when you go higher up in your range "nothing left to loose..."

I am not sure if I hear a little "rasp" in your tone because of the recording quality, but your tone's very good.

[ronws]

Actually, I think it was a little of both. I don't consciously do a rasp but try to capture the emotion of the song. However, on this recording, I recorded guitar on one track and sang along on playback. But it starts out with me doing the song with both guitar playing and singing at the same time.

[mvrasseli]

To be honest I think was the better song you've posted, it's good. I think that you sing more on tune in this song because You use less the "passagio" and I think it's your biggest problem, when you have to switch headvoice and normal voice I feel a great difference on tone even considering the bad record equipment. Correct me if I'm wrong. See you!

[HolaChau]

Nice, I really liked this, and it reminded me of this

[ronws]

Nice, I really liked this, and it reminded me of this

I thought of that, too! And check out the Axis of Awesome "4 chords" video in the related videos from your link.

And mvraselli, yes, I've been having pitch issues in passagio. I've been fixing that with air pressure control. And, in some cases, if the words are problematic, either I change the pronunciation to an easier vowel or I go higher.

[ronws]

I just listened to it again and I couldn't remember doing any rasp. So it must be the mic clipping or something. And it seems Audacity added some harmony that wasn't there. That is, I didn't sing harmony to the lead. So, I am having technical problems, it seems. And the sound quality is like that of an old phonograph.

[akarawd]

Hey ronws I've been reading your other posts and wanted to share sth with you ;

I have had the luck to record and produce some mediocre singers with top-notch voices and lately an amazing singer with an amazing voice. Please note the distinction I make.

Never have I seen a singer who can just get back from work and nail a song without the need to re-record certain parts. Ever. It always takes relaxation, knowing the lyrics and

especially the melody down to its last detail and most of all time and stamina to perfect every single phrase. Not to mention the amount of realigning and pitch-correcting

that takes place afterwards. What I'm trying to say is your dedication and will are hard to find and if you had the time and equipment paid singers have you'd be surprised at your abilities and progress.

If you need the vocals of a song taken out (it's not perfect but fine for what we do) let me know.

Best,

akarawd

[ronws]

Hey ronws I've been reading your other posts and wanted to share sth with you ;

I have had the luck to record and produce some mediocre singers with top-notch voices and lately an amazing singer with an amazing voice. Please note the distinction I make.

Never have I seen a singer who can just get back from work and nail a song without the need to re-record certain parts. Ever. It always takes relaxation, knowing the lyrics and

especially the melody down to its last detail and most of all time and stamina to perfect every single phrase. Not to mention the amount of realigning and pitch-correcting

that takes place afterwards. What I'm trying to say is your dedication and will are hard to find and if you had the time and equipment paid singers have you'd be surprised at your abilities and progress.

If you need the vocals of a song taken out (it's not perfect but fine for what we do) let me know.

Best,

akarawd

Thanks for the kind words. And you're right, pros may spend a week recording just one song and editing tracks and pieces of tracks together to create a seemless, spotless whole.

Where as, I tend to come home and record live or only two tracks. One guitar, one vocal. And when you hear the vocal, that is one track, not snippets from here and there. If I go from a high C to middle C, or vice versa, that's in that performance. Even David Lee Roth and Melissa Etheridge admit to adding bits to the vocal track when their voices are rough from a cold, or smoking and drinking in a night club, or hollering and shouting at a sporting event, in order to get an extra layer of rasp in Melissa's case or a subterranean low in David's case.

And I thought physical exhaustion had contributed to some of problems, as well. My job is extremely physical. To get an idea of what I am putting up with, grabs 20 lbs of weights (approx weight of tools that I carry.) Since you can't fit a ladder in a sauna, go up and down the steps a few times. Set the sauna temp with med humidity at somewhere between 95 and 100 F. Now, start doing that at 6 in the morning. Stop at 8:30 for 15 minutes buy by going to a room that 85 to 95 with slightly less humidity and a slight breeze. That will feel like air conditioning. Go back in, endure this some more, essentially walk around in circles in the sauna to get a feel for the constant physical exertion. Stop at 11:30 for lunch for 30 minutes. Go back in and stay there until 2:30. Then you get in you car, clothes literally dripping with sweat from 8 hours of this and that's my day. And the other day, for about 2.5 hours, we received a shipment of lights at the school remodel. Since the delivery truck had no pallet jack and no lift gate, I had to push the pallet of lights to the end of the trailer so that the big forklift could get it. For 29 pallets. Pushing across a wood floor. Once outside, I grabbed a small pallet jack from the mechanical company and the forks were too wide so I had to tip the pallet up on a side and get the jack underneath and carry the whol thing. Up an incline and into the building and disperse each pallet to a classroom, inspite of other people, power cords, crap on the floor. For all of those 29 pallets. By myself. And imagine doing it at my age of 46. Not to mention that the weather changes in Texas play hob with my sinus and I get some allergies. And then go home and perform and record "Gethsemane" or the "Immigrant Song" by Led Zep. That's the next song I want to do but I won't post it. I've already been told that I have posted too much. If I do post it, it will have to be in the main site. When you do go home to do that, I want you to put away the nice mic that you have, the one that cost a pretty penny. I want you to sing and record on your cellphone, for the sound quality that I am getting out of my mic.

And, in spite of eating bananas and drinking water all day, I am getting dehydrated for electrolytes because, in the middle of the night, I am awakened by severe cramps in my legs. So, I'm not getting a sound sleep.

So, sometimes, I do hit a slightly off note in passagio. But I think I am improving that by better breath or air pressure control. But sometimes, exhausted is just being exhausted all over.