I found some Axl Rose tone and grit.

[Opaa]

What do you think? This is not yet my ideal voice I'd like to sing with, but this is a step closer I mean those are high notes and there's some good grit. But it's a bit too whiny and thin I think.

My michelle: http://maihinnousu.net/s/10918

This is my more normal voice, then I add the grit as I go higher. This sounds somehow a bit better imo.

Mr brownstone: http://maihinnousu.net/s/10917

[akarawd]

Hi Opaa,

I like it very much, I think it sounds great and close to axl's tone.

Is there any way you can explain how you did it ? Does it hurt at all ?

Especially that 2nd clip where you go over the passagio and get into this strong, gritty high voice is very cool.

Well done !

Thanos

[ronws]

"Mr Brownstone" had better centered notes. "My Michelle" was still good but you wavered a fraction here and there, as I think you were wavering in breath support. Not a big problem. Just commit to the breath support and trust that the note will be there.

I think you wavered in the high end because it sounds like you are doing rasp the way I do it. "Leaky air." Slightly backing off adduction while slightly backing off breath support to balance the vocal chords. It's very subtle and I think you mostly had it. Perhaps the note onsets were throwing you off. That can be fixed, imo, as I said before, just commit to the breath for the note and it will be there.

[analog]

Hi Opaa,

I like it very much, I think it sounds great and close to axl's tone.

Is there any way you can explain how you did it ? Does it hurt at all ?

Especially that 2nd clip where you go over the passagio and get into this strong, gritty high voice is very cool.

Well done !

Thanos

Agree with Thanos...great sound!

[Opaa]

Thank you for feedback! akarawd I was taught this by another hard rocker. He basically told me that I need to squeeze more out from my stomach area and drive the voice to an "overdrive". So it will not feel in the throat, in fact I think he said it will feel in the soft palate too. That's what Jamie Vendera says also, but I'm not too good at feeling anything in my soft palate : D But yeah that's the way I found it. And it didn't hurt at all, just takes some more energy than singing without it. It kind of feels like it might hurt if I lost my focus and let it slip somewhere else you know, but it didn't hurt at all the way I did it now.

ronws I'm not sure if I'm doing what you're doing. I might be though, cause after finding my distortion I only focused on the tone itself, not the sensation anymore. At first I squeezed more and it took more support and power, and then after doing it for a while it kinda released a bit and just felt a bit easier and natural.

[ronws]

Then I stand corrected. For you are using the other method of rasp that the bigger singers use, which is overdrive the note. And I don't mean overdrive in the resonance but overdrive with support. What Jaime might call the power push. Equally well done.

As for feeling the area behind the soft palate (which is what you are actually looking for right now,) try this. Inhale a short breath with your mouth open. You should feel a cold spot back there. That is behind the soft palate and that's where you want to feel the note, the action. Higher notes may feel in a higher spot. When I hit my really high notes, it feels like I'm ringing behind my eyeballs.

[Opaa]

Hey here's another one, Welcome to the Jungle! Now I just added a bit of grit here and there without thinking about it too much. This is quite "natural me" at the moment Not trying to sound like Axl or add crazy amounts of grit this time.

http://maihinnousu.net/s/10942

It's crazy that there was a time when I literally was stuck with my chest register and didn't even know that those high notes exist. My voice was way too strained in speech too. I wasn't a good singer back then anyway. Once I learned that theoretically I should be able to learn the technique for those high notes and there are no physical limitations in my way I had no choice but to go for it. I've been going for it for about 2 years and actively since last spring or summer. Best part is that I feel like I'm just getting started here Unlimited possibilities lie ahead!

This is great and even though I'm new to this forum I'd like to thank you guys, cause it's forums like this and teachers and students like you here that have helped me so much on my way so far. It hasn't been always easy and I'm sure it won't be in the future neither. I hope this will inspire somebody, cause all I try to say is that anything is possible if you want it and you commit yourself to it. I already know I will get to where I dream to be.

Getting deep here, hope you don't mind!

[ronws]

You have the Axl grit and believe it or not, you sometimes hit a note like Geddy Lee, even with the Axl rasp or grit.

I would challenge you to try some lines from "Priests of Syrinx" or "Bastille Day."

I have a hunch.

[Opaa]

Hey thanks for that soft palate stuff, I think get it now. I've been doing it right but now I know better what the sensation is supposed to feel like. And thanks I might start to practice Bastille Day... ;)

[jonpall]

I liked all of those clips. Even though they're not perfect (an occasional pitchy note here and there, the english pronounciation might be better from time to time, the tone is usually great but not 100% of the time), I'd say that you shouldn't worry about the minor details and DON'T start to do anything very different from what you're already doing because then you might lose the ability to get that tone. I think that you've just NAILED the way how to produce that Axl grit, which can be transferrable to a sound very similar to 99% of the great rock tenors in history. So just keep doing what you've been doing and try to really master singing like this (AND in a more normal, clean way) with ease and feeling. Cheers!

[jonpall]

Btw. this has nothing to do with what CVT calls "overdrive". The CVT overdrive is a shouty vocal mode where your vocal folds are as thick as you can get away with. Here, he's mostly "intensifying" his sound and brightening it ... and then calling it "overdriving his tone" - which makes perfect sense - it's just that some beginning CVT people might get confused.

[jonpall]

And I liked My Michelle more than Mr. Brownstone, mostly because I wouldn't use that sound you used in the low notes for that song. I'd probably try to make it sound a bit more like Axl's or give it more "attitude" (more twang plus a darker sound colour, to be more accurate). In your take, the "attitude" only comes in in the high part. That is FINE for some other song, but not this one, IMO. Don't get me wrong - you sound good there (besides the accent, which I suggest you try to fix a bit, IMO) and could used that soft-type of sound in many, many songs. But it sounds like you've really GOT it when it comes to distortion. I'll also bet that it isn't as insanely loud as some people might think, right? I mean, you COULD make it louder but then it would probably hurt. In CVT terms you're using mostly curbing in the high part of the voice (C4-C5) and metal-like-neutral (neutral with twang) in the very high part (C#5 and above) - as your underlying vocal modes, that is. I don't know how familiar you are to each those terms, though.

[Opaa]

I've taken couple of CVT lessons and I'm somewhat familiar with CVT terms and modes. I guess you would be right with the curbing and MLN, but I don't analyze myself with CVT terms anymore, I feel better off without them right now. But you are right that it isn't that loud, just a medium volume. Not shouting at all. The loudness comes mostly from twanging I guess, and I have a kind of sharp tone up there so it feels kinda loud to the listener.

Thanks for pointing out those things to improve and I agree with them all, I will improve all those things in time. I really must work on my English cause my "finnish accent" just doesn't do it at all..

One more clip, I can't help it they just keep coming! Zeppelin - Rock n roll: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/8384032/7.2%20rock%20n%20roll.mp3

At the end there I scream an Ab5.