Under a Glass Moon (Dream Theater) Cover

[Keith]

Ok, here is a good example of how I forget to dampen my larnyx, you can hear me get real quacky in some of the first part, but I am able to focus and do it right in the second part (I think) . This song has lots of low head tones and high chest tones making it one hell of a workout. I only managed to hit the highest note one time at the end, I doctored the note with a lower one for the other times that I was supposed to sing it - as JL used to do when his voice was shot. I think I am getting better with stronger head tones and covering the low ones. Any thoughts?

http://www.soundclick.com/player/single_player.cfm?songid=11680198&q=hi&newref=1

[Elrathion]

Listening to your voice I hear the finished product in my head and it sounds beautiful. Once you'll be able to lean more into those head tones, your voice is going to be off the roof. Right now you can still hear you changing your mechanism. It's good that you keep training your voice in this direction though, as it's certainly lays good within your voice.

[ronws]

I like how, no matter what you do, you stay on pitch. It inspires me to do the same.

[Wes90]

It's good but to my ear the falsetto parts don't fit very well. I mean Dream Theater play those high songs because Labrie can hit really high notes without going falsetto, which sounds weaker than full voice and in a heavy metal song like that, in my opinion, it's not the best vocal register.

[Keith]

The only time I sang falsetto was the highest note in the song. The rest was head voice.. So not sure what you mean

[jco5055]

The only time I sang falsetto was the highest note in the song. The rest was head voice.. So not sure what you mean

I think he's falling into the common misconception that if you can't hear elements of your chest voice tone in the singing, and if it sounds very "clean" then it must be falsetto; when in actuality head voice can sound relatively falsettoish, especially for beginners.

The Range Place forum is notorious for this (you might know them as the guys that make the range videos on youtube for certain singers). I posted the videos I have in my post in this sub-forum, and they are convinced that I'm using pure falsetto the whole time.

For the actual song, pretty good job. I feel that quite often you have a very LaBrieish tone; I'm assuming you are probably some kind of tenor?

[Keith]

I'm a lyric baritone

[Keith]

Thanks everyone for listening :)

[jco5055]

I'm a lyric baritone

How did you come to know this? Have you had some professional voice training or choir singing? I tend to use terms such as High Baritone or Low Tenor, which I got from the Range Place, and I find it easy to use because they have a whole list of pretty much every notable rock singer and his or her classification; it allows me to pick fellow High Baritones (Like Geoff Tate, Chris Cornell, Hansi Kursch) and experiment with my voice and see if their styles are useful for my own voice.

[Keith]

I took a few lessons before I purchased the pillars program

[jco5055]

I took a few lessons before I purchased the pillars program

oh ok thanks.

[Keith]

Ps pillars got me to where I am in 4 months ..

[jco5055]

Hey I don't mean to clutter up your thread with questions of my own, but using you being a lyric baritone as my sort of starting point to figuring out what my classical voice type would be, where does your passagio begin? I know Robert has said it's usually between E4 to A4, but I personally switch at C#4, though I can belt comfortably up to about E4, and uncomfortable up to around an G# or A4 lol

[Keith]

My passagio starts at d#. ... I tend to bring chest up to E# ish depending on what i am singing - if I only have to go as high as f(ish) I'll stay in chest - if I keep going up, I'll switch to head. I think the point is to keep the musculature for low head tones if one has to keep going up, and keep chest if you only have to go to lets say F..

[ronws]

jco - I've never thought of fach or voice type so much as based on passaggio point as I hear it based on the range and dynamic of the voice.

Having heard your voice in your videos, and simply based on those hearings alone, which is hazardous, you are mostly a lyric baritone but you can sing some high notes. Like Geoff Tate, who is also a baritone but he can sing up to A5.

As for lyric opposed to light, people in this forum are more prone to use the classical terms, whether we are dealing with classical music or not. We speak a lot of italian here, even though most of us don't speak italian.

Appoggio, passaggio, dramatico, lyrico, tenor, soprano, basso, baritoni, etc, etc.

[Guest]

Ok, getting back on topic. I listened to the song a few times over the last couple of days and I listened to the original. As always I think you did a great job. There's nothing I can say really that wouldn't just be repeating what you already said yourself. The high notes. A bit weak at the start, some better ones along the way and strong at the end. The last "sky" was nice and strong but then "time" right after that kind of missed.

Nice vibrato at the end of the high notes. The covering on words like me and disappear worked well. I heard a couple of others also that were good. IMO the high notes are getting better although they are still your only weak spot.

Definitely thicker though.

Nice job Kieth.

[Thewall]

Nice singing dude. Keep it up!

I see a lot of talk about headvoice, falsetto etc. What James Labrie did most of the time back then was belting. In CVT-terms it's called edge. Which means adding a lot of to twang the chestvoice to a thinner and sharper sound to reach those high notes. No bridging (like Mr. Lunte teaches) is done until the very end of the range when going from chest directly to neutral or "head voice". You can try it yourselves.

Try the vowel "e" like in the word "edge". You should keep a broad tongue and make sure your tongue is in contact with the upper teeths (first/second molar). Try to pretend that you have a pea on the back of your tongue that you have to sqweese against the back of your soft palate. It sounds almost nasal but it's the way to do it. If you do it correctly it will sound very free and healthy. Having good support is of course essential as well.

I'm not saying that the TVS approach is wrong. This is another way of singing in the upper part of the range and it's quite common.

Pardon my english :)

[Keith]

Thanks for listening! I'll give that a shot :)

[Thewall]

Good luck But be careful. If should feel easy, not strained. But it MUST be loud.